Last movie you watched

[Zunu]

Forgot to mention I saw "The Boy and the Heron" last week, likely Miyazaki Hayao-san's last Ghibli movie.

It feels like almost a Ghibli catch up digest, with elements that are reminiscent of many of Miyazaki's films. Putting things as vaguely as possible, the plot revolves around a boy during WWII who is rather abruptly introduced to his new stepmother (who against trope seems to be a kind woman) and moves into her home with father. In the town there's a mysterious tower. At some point events lead to his exploration of this tower which turns out to be a portal to another world, and certain secrets of his past are revealed and eventually resolved.

Anyway, this was a lovely, thoughtful film that I thoroughly enjoyed. As always with Ghibli, the animation was inventive and so careful and intricate. One podcast reviewer complained that the plot seemed a bit arbitrary, like Alice in Wonderland where Alice just kind of jumps from one dreamlike sequence to the next with no clear sense of direction, and while I get the comparison, I found it much more linear. To me, the boy's fantastical escapades seemed connected and built up to a satisfying denouement. At any rate, the critical podcaster and I agree on one thing: If you like Ghibli, you definitely want to see this, in the theater.

[erilaz]

^ Yes, great movie. I saw it at the New Parkway in Oakland a couple of weeks ago.

This evening, on Blu-ray:

WarGames (1983) — While trying to access a computer company's new games, teenage computer wiz David Lightman (Matthew Broderick) accidentally hacks into NORAD's system and initiates a simulation that could start World War III.

I saw this during its original theatrical run, 40 years ago. Two years before The Breakfast Club, it was the movie that launched my crush on Ally Sheedy.

[erilaz]

Godzilla Minus One/Minus Color (ゴジラ -1.0/C) (2024) — For the last week of its theatrical release, Godzilla Minus One has been re-released in selected theaters in black and white. They didn't just grayscale everything; they added a bit of a tint and just the right amount of graininess to make it look like a pristine print of a vintage Toho film (disregarding the 21st-century SFX, of course). Absolutely gorgeous.

I'll just add that the last line spoken in the movie actually packs more punch if you can understand the Japanese rather than relying entirely on the English subtitles.

Spoiler: show

Seeing it again, I'm no longer sure of this. First time around, I thought Noriko said "Tōsan", but now I'm not certain she doesn't say "Kō-san", which is what she calls Kōichi earlier in the film.

I did notice an actual goof in the subtitles, though: 戦闘機 sentōki 'fighter plane' was anachronistically subbed as "jet fighter" a few times.

[erilaz]

BLACKFOX: Age of the Ninja (2019) — Our girl Yajima Maimi is literally electric in this fantasy jidaigeki. It's currently (ha!) streaming on Tubi.

I also saw Maimi recently when I rewatched Miike Takashi's First Love (初恋, also from 2019), where she has a few lines as a drunken nurse.

[Zunu]

I saw Poor Things last night before it left the local theater. I'm so glad I did. This picture was so witty, bizarre, gruesome, and unexpectedly philosophical, as if Wes Anderson decided to do a collab with David Cronenberg and Ingmar Bergman. I don't think I've ever enjoyed Willem Defoe as much in his role as a professorial, gracile Frankenstein's monster-like surgeon with a personality more in keeping with Shelley's original than with the grotesque brute depicted in popular media. And Emma Stone as his ward or protégée of sorts was like a brain-damaged classic Helena Bonham Carter. And the supporting characters as well were so richly inhabited that when they were off-screen you wished you could follow their adventures, particularly one cynically wise tattooed woman played by Kathryn Hunter, best known for Arabella Figg in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix; I'd easily watch a whole movie of her backstory. One warning though, there is a lot of frontal nudity and graphic (though not explicit) sex. You wouldn't want to see this film with someone you're not comfortable watching sex scenes with (and if that uncomfortable someone is you... then this definitely isn't the film for you.)

I've always been indifferent to Emma Stone, but this movie is making me reevaluate her and watch some of her films that I've passed up like Easy A, La La Land, and especially The Favourite, which I meant to catch anyway for Olivia Colman. And perhaps her streaming series The Curse that recently concluded its first season on Showtime/Paramount+ to mixed reviews. My favorite film reviewer David Chen seems to like it, so I may really have to give it a try.

The book by Alasdair Gray has also made a sudden appearance near the top of my reading list.

[erilaz]

^ I enjoyed it, too, and I'm rooting for Emma Stone to win the Oscar for it. I really liked Lanthimos's The Lobster and The Favourite, so it's kinda surprising that this movie wasn't even on my radar until it hit theaters in December.

My most recent movie:

Daughter of Dracula (La fille de Dracula / La hija de Drácula) — Jess Franco's Hammer-inspired lesbian vampire film from 1972. It had some nice eye candy but was otherwise rather dull.

[erilaz]

Perfect Days (2023) — Japan's entry for the Oscars' Best International Feature Film category (nominated but didn't win).

Yakusho Kōji (from Tampopo, 13 Assassins, and many other movies) plays Hirayama, a man in his 60s who makes his living cleaning public toilets in Shibuya. Hirayama is old-school: he sleeps on a futon on a tatami floor, bathes at a public bath, reads paperback books, doesn't own a TV, listens to oldies on cassette tapes, and has dozens of tins filled with black-and-white photos that he has taken with his 35mm camera: pictures of sunlight filtering through the leaves of trees. He rarely speaks and seems perfectly content with his daily routine, though the people who interact with him tend to shake it up a bit. It's one of those mellow slice-of-life movies, charming and occasionally very funny. And even though it was directed by Wim Wenders, it's very Japanese.

[erilaz]

Firestarter (1984) and Freaks (2018).

Adorable little girl and her father, both of whom have extraordinary powers, are being pursued by government agents.

Summary works for both.

[rikkikow]

The Pyramid (2014)
A movie about Smart-Stupid people, Stupid-Smart people, and Stupid-Stupid people. There are no Smart-Smart people in this movie. I watched this on cable yesterday enjoying the Stupid getting their asses kicked. Then I watched the Warriors (pro basketball) get their ass kicked! Here is a description of said movie characters.

[erilaz]

Bugsy Malone (1976) — Scott Baio and Jodie Foster head an all-kid cast in Alan Parker's G-rated gangster musical, with songs by Paul Williams.