In October 2009, the filmmakers went into an abandoned psychiatric hospital to explore the 'haunted' institution, famous for its radical treatment of patients with mental illness. Electroshock, insulin therapy, and lobotomies were commonplace. Once inside, the filmmakers quickly discovered that they were not alone; this story is based on their experiences.--------------------------------------------
Dated Released : 2012
Quality : BRRip 720p
Info : imdb.com/title/tt1588886
IMDB Rating : 3.1 (278 users)
Star : Oliver Stone, Alexander Wraith, Sean Stone
Genre : Horror

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Mei Mei (Zhu Lin) a 16 yr old Chinese orphan dreams of nothing more than being part of the 'perfect' family. When her orphanage travels to Australia to par-take in The Australian Choir Festival Mei Mei takes the opportunity to find her Australian Sponsor Dean Randall (Guy Pearce). However what she finds is far from what he depicted. Initially mismatched and disconnected the two begin a journey in search of belonging, family, redemption, love and acceptance.--------------------------------------------------------Dated Released : 2011
Quality : DVDScr XviD-ZJM
Info : imdb.com/title/tt1704161/
IMDB Rating : 9.0
Star : Guy Pearce, Zhu Lin, Lincoln Lewis
Genre : Drama | Music
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Manny, Diego and Sid do their greatest adventure when the continent became a floating iceberg.
Apart from his friends to make ends meet, they do use the ice as a makeshift ship Manny and his friends are challenged to become heroes and do things that are impossible, such as dealing with the creatures of the sea, explore the new world, and battle ruthless pirates.
Meanwhile, Scrat reunion with kacangnya and take Scrat into places never before he had visited before –-–-–-–-–-–-–-–-–-–-–-–-–-–-–-–-–-–-–-–-–-–-–-–-–-– Info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1667889/
Release Date: 13 July 2012

Genre: Animation | Adventure | Stand Up Comedy
Stars: Ray Romano, Denis Leary and John Leguizamo
Quality: CAM
The Encoder: -
Source: NEW CAM XVID AC3-26 k
Release Info: NFO
Subtitle: Indonesia, English
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Agent J (Will Smith) and Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones) is assigned to monitor the activity of extra-terrestial on Earth. Strange things were happening when J can't find K. Agent J and then find an Agent K has been dead for more than 40 years. In an effort to save the life of a young Agent K (Josh Brolin), agent J traveled back to 1969 to stop the murder.-------------------------------------------
Dated Released: 25 May 2012
Quality: BRRip 720 p 3D SBS
Info: www.imdb.com/title/tt1409024/
IMDB Rating: 7.3 (7,145 users)
Star: Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones and Josh Brolin
Genre: Action | Stand Up Comedy | Sci-fi | 3D SBS

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The story revolves around Gautam Khanna (Saif Ali Khan), Veronica D'Costa (Deepika Padukone) and Meera Gupta (Diana Penty). Gautam Khanna (Saif Ali Khan) always had a dream to go to London and have a job. His dream is fulfilled and he gets a job. But his mom, Nita (Dimple Kapadia) says that she has to finalize his marriage to a girl and so he has to wait. She finds her perfect 'bahu' in Meera Gupta (Diana Penty). But she does not tell Gautam about this and tells Meera's parents even to not tell Meera. She tells Gautam to take her friend's daughter Meera as she has an assignment in London for 3 days. On the flight, Meera and Gautam befriend each other. In London, Meera has some problems completing her assignment and therefore fails to give it on time. She loses her job but then Gautam consoles her. They go on a beach party and there they meet Veronica D'Costa
-------------------------------------------------------Dated Released : 13 July 2012
Quality : DVDSCR [DDR].ShAaNiG
Info : imdb.com/title/tt2168910
IMDB Rating : 6.0 (519 users)
Star : Deepika Padukone, Saif Ali Khan, Randeep Hooda
Genre : Comedy | Drama | Romance
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Batman has not been seen for ten years. A new breed of criminal ravages Gotham City, forcing 55-year-old Bruce Wayne back into the cape and cowl. But, does he still have what it takes to fight crime in a new era?
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Dated Released : 25 September 2012
Quality : BRRip 720p
Info : imdb.com/title/tt2313197
IMDB Rating : 8.0 (4,126 users)
Star : Peter Weller, Ariel Winter, David Selby
Genre : Animation | Action
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Alex, Marty, Gloria and Melman are still trying to get back to the Big Apple and their beloved Central Park zoo, but first they need to find the penguins. They travel to Monte Carlo where they attract the attention of Animal Control after gate crashing a party and are joined by the penguins, King Julian and Co., the monkeys and a new arrival: a performing llama. How do a lion, zebra, hippo, giraffe, four penguins, two monkeys, three lemurs and a llama travel through Europe without attracting attention? They join a traveling circus. -----------------------------------------------------
Dated Released : 8 June 2012
Quality : BRRip 720p
Info : www.imdb.com/title/tt1277953
IMDB Rating : 7.0 (2,843 users)
Star : Ben Stiller, Jada Pinkett Smith, Chris Rock
Genre : Animation | Adventure | Comedy
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In 1818, Abraham Lincoln lived in Indiana with his parents, Nancy (Robin McLeavy) and Thomas (Joseph Mawle), who worked on a plantation owned by Jack Barts (Marton Csokas). There, Lincoln befriended a young African American, William Johnson, and intervene when he saw Johnson was beaten by a slave.---------------------------------------------Tanggal Rilis :  22 June 2012 (USA)
Quality : BluRay 1080p 1.27GB
Info : www.imdb.com/title/tt1611224/
IMDB Rating : 6.2/10 from 22,921 users
Star :  Benjamin Walker, Rufus Sewell and Dominic Cooper
Genre : Action | Fantasy | Horror
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In the land of Orlais, where battles are fought with swords and magic, a young heroine rises as templars, mages, and dragons clash. Cassandra, a brash and beautiful Seeker, must stop a conspiracy that threatens the realm's most powerful religious order, the Chantry of Andraste. Accused of treasonous crimes and hunted by friend and foe, Cassandra must clear her name and overcome her raging emotions in order to save the day and take her place in legend. -----------------------------------------------------------------
Dated Released : 2012
Quality : BRRip 720p
Info : imdb.com/title/tt2261471
IMDB Rating : N/A
Star : Luci Christian, Colleen Clinkenbeard, Pam D
Genre : Animation | Fantasy
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In the future, when robots have become a substitute for human labor, your robot RU-4 working in a Buddhist temple. Robot attain enlightenment and began to preach in the temple. UR, the company that manufactured the company, the robot considers a threat to humans, and decided to dismantle the RU-4.----------------------------------------------Tanggal Rilis : 2012
Quality : BluRay 720p 700MB
Info : www.imdb.com/title/tt2297164/
IMDB Rating :6.2/10 from 234 users
Star : Doona Bae, Joon-ho Bong and Ji-hee Jin
Genre : Comedy | Drama | Fantasy
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Dated Released : 27 January 2012
Quality : BRRip 720p
Info : imdb.com/title/tt1893195
IMDB Rating : 6.9 (372 users)
Star : Pierfrancesco Favino, Filippo Nigro, Marco G
Genre : Action | Crime | Drama
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A look at the controversial riot cops unit, told through the stories of three veteran cops and a young recruit.

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A Hollywood stunt performer who moonlights as a wheelman discovers that a contract has been put on him after a heist gone wrong.----------------------------------------------Dated Released : 16 September 2011
Quality : SCREENER-P2P
Info : imdb.com/title/tt0780504/
IMDB Rating : 8.7
Star : Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan and Bryan Cranston
Genre : Action | Crime | Drama
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When a naval fleet led by Admiral Shane (Neeson) to find suspicious objects, there was the brutal war the strange objects because it turns out the plane extraterrestrials who came to Earth. Not just the face of the enemy attack from the outside, Shane also must find a way to best his Alex Hopper middle (Kitsch) entered into a love affair with his daughter. However Alex Hopper is the best soldier military mainstay figure to face the invasion of extraterrestrials.-----------------------------------------------------------
Dated Released: May 18, 2012

Quality: BRRip 720 p

IMDB Rating: 6.6 (2,919 users)
Star: Alexander Skarsgård, Brooklyn Decker, Liam Neeson
Genre: Action | Sci-Fi
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Posted by Daniel Thomas MacInnes Categories: miyazaki, takahata

Toho, the film distributor of Studio Ghibli's movies in Japan, has acquired domain names for Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata's upcoming films - "Kaze Tachinu" (The Wind Rises) and "Kaguya-Hime no Monogatari" (Princess Kaguya Story).  The official announcements on these films are expected in the coming days and weeks.

Kaze Tachinu is adapted from Miyazaki's most recent color comic, about the man who designed the Zero Fighter which was used in World War II.  Princess Kaguya Story is an adaptation of the Japanese folk tale, "Tale of the Bamboo Cutter."  This fable was referenced in Takahata's 1999 feature film, My Neighbors the Yamadas.

Thanks to GhibliWiki for the original news scoop.

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Posted by Daniel Thomas MacInnes Categories: blu-ray, my neighbor totoro, screenshots
Of course, I couldn't post photos from Grave of the Fireflies without giving Totoro his due.  This BD really looks terrific.  The painterly quality of this movie shines as never before.  Observe the rust in the bucket, which looks ragged, or the lush background paintings, or the clean lines on the characters.

I think what makes My Neighbor Totoro work is that it's not really about the magical forest creatures.  It's really a movie about a child's sense of wonder, that special way in which the natural world sparks youthful imaginations.  Adults tend to take everything literally, and the value of myth and symbolism becomes lost.  Children have not yet been conditioned to this way of thinking, and so they view a world full of mystery and discovery, a world where a giant cat-bus makes the wind blow, and a single seed can grow into a mighty tree in a single moment.

Japanese masters like Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata understand the inherently symbolic nature of animation.  "All animation," Paku-san once described, "is a lie."  These are not real people and places, but drawings and icons of people and places.  To a skilled artist, this offers limitless freedom and possibility.  To an unskilled hack, well...have you seen Dreamworks' version of The Lorax?  Ack!  Truly, that movie is the anti-Totoro.

More My Neighbor Totoro Blu-Ray screenshots after the jump:

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Posted by Daniel Thomas MacInnes Categories: takahata
Happy Birthday to Isao Takahata, 77 years old, born on October 29, 1935.  A little belated, but there's still plenty of cake and ice cream for everyone.  We're all looking forward to seeing Paku-san's triumphant return to the director's chair in 2013.  He's been away for far too long.

In case you're curious, this photograph of the young Takahata dates from the 1965-68 production of Horus, Prince of the Sun.  It appears on the excellent 2004 Studio Ghibli DVD, "Yasuo Otsuka's Joy in Motion."  Every animation lover should add that documentary to their movie library.

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Posted by Daniel Thomas MacInnes Categories: laserdisc, screenshots
I wanted to share a couple photos from Marcee's birthday present - a Panasonic LX-600 LaserDisc player and stack of movies.  Included in the mix were the two Tim Burton Batman movies (yay), and the two Joel Schumacher Batman movies (boo).

I'm still trying to find the optimal video settings on our 24" Sony KV-24FS100, a solid standard-def CRT from 2002.  Sony completely fubar'd the color and bright/contrast settings on their sets, which makes calibration a real pain.  We had the set dialed nicely for broadcast and DVD/Blu-Ray, and now we'll have to calibrate again for LaserDisc.  Right now, my main concerns are the lighting (too harsh at times) and the color (too washed out and brownish).  Without a Video Essentials disc, I pretty much have to use the Schwartz to get the video settings right.

When Marcee and I watched Batman '89, the picture looked terrific by the end of side two.  The fiery destruction of the Axis Chemical factory was especially glorious and colorful, with not a pixel or digital artifact in sight.  And the climactic battle in the belltower felt magical; it somehow felt analog, like film.  I can't quite explain why or how, but I did perceive a difference in the way Jack Nicholson's Joker danced around.  Skipping around Elizabeth ('98) also yielded excellent results, and Looney Tunes: Curtain Calls was a revelation for animation.  Ace Ventura 2 and Robin Hood: Men in Tights looked very washed out and flat, however.  So the LD experiments continue.

Update (8-27): Changed photos to reflect more balanced TV calibration.  I also snapped the photos in motion, instead of using the CAV freeze-frame option.  This enables a cleaner picture and better represents the LD as it looks on my Sony CRT television. Related Posts : laserdisc, screenshots

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Posted by Daniel Thomas MacInnes Categories: blu-ray, grave of the fireflies
Like many of you, I'm greatly looking forward to seeing Grave of the Fireflies on Blu-Ray.  The US Blu-Ray will be released on November 20, just in time for the holiday season...oh, and the Studio Ghibli Film Retrospective here in Minneapolis.  Good timing.

Sentai Filmworks will not only deliver Isao Takahata's 1988 masterpiece directly from Japan (Fireflies and My Neighbor Totoro was released in Japan earlier this year), they have also created a new English-language dubbed soundtrack.  The previous dub dates back to Central Park Media's home video releases from the 1990s, so this will be an event to watch.  As always, the option.to play Japanese and English soundtracks is available.

However, when it comes to extras, you might wish to keep your existing DVD release.  Storyboards, deleted scenes, and original trailers are the only extras on the Blu-Ray.  That's slim pickings compared to CPM's excellent 2002 "Special Edition," which included an interview with Roger Ebert and a compelling discussion on the firebombing campaign in World War II.

Obviously, I strongly recommend buying the new Fireflies BD.  The picture quality will be spectacular, and the audio quality will be a clear improvement over the (lossy) DVD.  We Americans are falling far behind the rest of the world on Studio Ghibli Blu-Rays - here's a rare chance to catch up.  Please do what you can to support Sentai Filmworks, and encourage them to support the scene in the future. Related Posts : blu-ray, grave of the fireflies

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Posted by Daniel Thomas MacInnes Categories: laserdisc, screenshots
I only saw The Running Man once on VHS back in the '80s, and while I can barely remember any of it, I do remember that it was well liked by friends, and it was one of Arnold Schwartzenegger's more popular pictures.  It's a goofy comic-book action movie with enough brains and wit to keep me smiling.

Marcee and I are currently working through our stack of laserdiscs, and I really only threw this movie into the player because I wanted to save Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom for later.  I didn't expect much, probably a cheaper, lower-budget version of Total Recall, with the usual array of guns and explosions and cheesy one-liners.  I was very pleasantly surprised.  I enjoyed The Running Man's '80s cyberpunk vibe, which clearly rips off Blade Runner and The Road Warrior, and anticipates Akira, but thankfully loses the despair or nihilism.  Richard Dawson easily stole the show as the corrupt game show host; he was a joy to watch from beginning to end, and this was probably his best role (he was essentially playing a satire of himself).  I know I'm in the minority here, but I'll rank this movie above Predator in the pantheon of Arnold films (I'm a sci-fi kid at heart).

The laserdisc, a 1995 letterbox release, looks terrific, very vivid and colorful and good use of light and shadow.  Have I finally calibrated my stupid Sony CRT, I hope?  The picture is sharp and detailed, close enough to DVD, and retaining that magical "film-like" quality that makes LD shine.  And there isn't a pixel or digital compression artifact anywhere in sight.  Yay!  Oh, and please don't remind me that Running Man is available on Blu-Ray...I can't hear you, la la la!

When I was writing my Top 50 Movies list, I realized how much I was missing the simple joy of a fun movie.  Not everything has to be revolutionary, or inspiring, or challenging.  Right now, I'd much rather watch a popcorn thriller like Last Crusade than, say, nearly anything by Bergman.  I'm not about to embrace modern Hollywood schlock like, oh...The Hunger Games...ugh, that was the worst movie I've seen all year.  It's absolutely useless, like staring at a Pepsi bottle or a pair of shoes for two hours.  Do I really have to point out that The Hunger Games is a soulless, global conglomerate assembly-line franchise pitched to desperately insecure children who look to American Idol for inspiration?  Heck, the plot is nearly identical to The Running Man, a point that Marcee pointed out a couple times.  She's much rather watch Arnold in his Bruce Lee jumpsuit, too.

More screenshots are after the jump.  I'm using a Panasonic LX-600 with composite cables directly fed into the Sony CRT, for those keeping score.  Next up: I really have to hunt down that Criterion Collection version of Akira.

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Posted by Daniel Thomas MacInnes Categories: film festivals

On Friday, Minnesota Public Radio devoted a portion of their weekly radio movie hour to the Studio Ghibli Film Festival, now playing at the Lagoon Theater in Minneapolis.  Stephanie Curtis, known on MPR as "The Movie Maven," has been on my must-contact list for years, and one of these days, I'm going to send her a box of discs and movie files from the entire Takahata/Miyazaki canon.

You can play MPRs Friday program here.  In addition to Studio Ghibli, Steven Spielberg's "Lincoln" opens this week, and it promises to be a sensational picture.  Daniel Day-Lewis is the greatest actor of our time, isn't he?  He should be a lock for the Best Actor Oscar, if there's any justice in the world.

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The two-week Studio Ghibli Film Festival in Minneapolis closes out this Thursday, and we are playing the final four films: The Cat Returns and Mimi wo Sumaseba on Monday and Tuesday, Princess Mononoke and Omohide Poro Poro on Wednesday and Thursday.  It's a terrific lineup and we wish we could be there every day this week.  Sadly, we're down to our final two free passes, and we have to save our money for the move to a new apartment this weekend.

Marcee and I will be there on Thursday for the final showing of Omohide Poro Poro, Isao Takahata's 1991 masterpiece.  I thought it would be right for Ghibli Blog to be there at the very end.

Of the final four movies, The Cat Returns is the weakest of the bunch, and it's a good example of Ghibli's struggles to find new directors to follow Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata.  It does have its charms, but when you can also watch Yoshifumi Kondo's Mimi, why bother?  One is a decent movie best served by home video (and best paired with the short film, Ghiblies Episode 2); the other is an animation masterpiece by a skilled veteran who built a long career with the Miya-san and Paku-san.  I really wish I had money hidden under my couch cushions!

Princess Mononoke was Miyazaki's blockbuster smash that toppled E.T. from the Japanese all-time box office and brought international acclaim to Studio Ghibli.  It also sparked a notorious battle between Miya-san and Disney, and especially the Weinsteins at Miramax.  Now Lionsgate owns the home video rights, and it's questionable that we'll see Mononoke on US home video again.  If you get a chance to see this movie in a theater...run.  Don't walk, run.  You may not get another chance for a long time.

Omohide Poro Poro is the perfect closer, a style and genre of filmmaking that literally does not exist in the West.  Feature animation in the service of a weepy character melodrama?  With a pop culture nostalgia that rivals Quentin Tarantino?  And one that addresses contemporary Japan (ca.1991) as its vaunted bubble economy burst?  Somewhere in the mix lies a popular Japanese manga about a woman's childhood in the 1960s, and a modern quasi-documentary about organic farming and cultivation of safflowers for dyes and cosmetics.  Yes, this is a very deep movie.  Yasujiro Ozu would have been amazed.

Much thanks to everyone who attended GKids' Studio Ghibli Film Festival here in Minneapolis.  It's been terrific, and I really do wish it could have lasted longer.  I needed more time to save up more money!  Please come back!

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Posted by Daniel Thomas MacInnes Categories: film reviews, greatest movies
Yes, Citizen Kane is still number one in this house!

The Sight & Sound 2012 poll of greatest films has been unveiled, which means it's time for everybody to pull out their long lists of favorite movies.  And now, after many days of hard work and endless revisions, I present my rankings of the best movies ever made.  Short comments follow after the rankings.

Ghibli Blog Rankings - The 50 Greatest Movies

1. Citizen Kane (1941, Orson Welles)
2. Casablanca (1942, Michael Curtiz)
3. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968, Stanley Kubrick)
4. Lawrence of Arabia (1962, David Lean)
5. Seven Samurai (1954, Akira Kurosawa)
6. Star Wars (1977, George Lucas)
7. Duck Soup (1933, Leo McCarey)
8. The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928, Carl Th. Dryer)
9. The Third Man (1949, Carol Reed)
10. Vertigo (1958, Alfred Hitchkock)

11. Omohide Poro Poro (1991, Isao Takahata)
12. Mimi wo Sumaseba (1995, Yoshifumi Kondo)
13. City Lights (1931, Charlie Chaplin)
14. Ran (1986, Akira Kurosawa)
15. Apocalypse Now (1979, Francis Ford Coppola)
16. The Fog of War (2003, Errol Morris)
17. Paths of Glory (1957, Stanley Kubrick)
18. Annie Hall (1977, Woody Allen)
19. The Royal Tenenbaums (2001, Wes Anderson)
20. (tie) Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981, Steven Spielberg)
20. (tie) Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989, Steven Spielberg)

21. The Godfather Parts I & II (1972, 74, Francis Ford Coppola)
22. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000, Ang Lee)
23. Rules of the Game (1939, Jean Renoir)
24. Floating Weeds (1959, Yasujiro Ozu)
25. The Big Sleep (1946, Howard Hawks)
26. Nights of Cabiria (1957, Frederico Fellini)
27. Princess Mononoke (1997, Hayao Miyazaki)
28. Porco Rosso (1992, Hayao Miyazaki)
29. The Wizard of Oz (1939, Victor Fleming)
30. Elizabeth (1998, Shekhar Kapur)

31. Metropolis (1926, Fritz Lang)
32. The Searchers (1956, John Ford)
33. Throne of Blood (1957, Akira Kurosawa)
34. Modern Times (1936, Charlie Chaplin)
35. Young Frankenstein (1974, Mel Brooks)
36. Blazing Saddles (1974, Mel Brooks)
37. Pulp Fiction (1994, Quentin Tarantino)
38. Yojimbo(1961, Akira Kurosawa)
39. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1968, Sergio Leone)
40. Fantasia (1940, Walt Disney)

41. Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie (1996, Jim Mallon)
42. Ben-Hur (1959, William Wyler)
43. The Seventh Seal (1957, Ingmar Bergman)
44. Network (1976, Sydney Lumet)
45. Dr. Strangelove: Or, How I Leaned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1963, Stanley Kubrick)
46. Gauche the Cellist (1982, Isao Takahata)
47. Night on the Galactic Railroad (1985, Gisaburo Suugi)
48. The Red Shoes (1948, Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger)
49. Beetlejuice (1988, Tim Burton)
50. (tie) Clue (1985, Johnathon Lynn)
50. (tie) Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986, John Hughes) 

And now for a few quick thoughts.  You fine readers have no idea how many times I've shuffled movies around this list, adding this, dropping that, desperately finding a place to squeeze in The Royal Tenenbaums and Ferris Bueller's Day Off, trying to remember whether I loved or merely liked The Seventh Seal.  My mind constantly pulls out wonderful memories, reflective laughs and meditations.

I believe the key was writing a Top 50 list of movies, instead of the standard "Top 10."  With a shorter list, one stays careful and overly cautious, wary of giving up a cherished classic.  I won't cede Citizen Kane or Casablanca to anyone.  However, if I expand my palette to fifty films, a far richer landscape emerges.  Now I can embrace the vast history of cinema, honor the earliest classics, and raise the banner for modern pictures that deserve to be honored.  I could easily add another fifty movies without blinking an eye.  The Shining!  La Dolce Vita!  F For Fake!  Ivan the Terrible! Waking Life!  This could go on forever, which is an exhausting thought.

I'm thinking that I should write essays on each individual film on this list, make it a running series.  That would give me more time to explore each film in better detail than I can here.  Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions.  Enjoy.

Update 8/8/12, 1:11pm - Raiders or Last Crusade?  Last Crusade or Raiders??  Which movie Indiana Jones movie takes the #20 spot?  This dilemma has consumed me all week, and I cannot pick one film over another.  Raiders is grittier, pulpier, has scarier villians, and Karen Allen.  Last Crusade has more and better action scenes, is way funnier, and has Sean Connery.  Both are, essentially, the same movie, and equally great.

So I'm going to cheat and declare a second mulligan (the first one being the two Godfathers joined together at #21).  Raiders and Last Crusade will share the 20th slot, and you can just pick your favorite.  Now I'm going to walk away before I really get carried away.  This project is finished!

Update #2: 8/9/12 8:40am - More cheating.  Marcee and I watched Chaplin's City Lights last night, and I immediately realized my mistake in ranking it so low.  It deserves a Top 10 spot, but I can't fit it in, and I want to promote the two Studio Ghibli films, so we'll take 13th Place.  This is the final edit, I swear(chuckling)!  Thanks for your patience, feel free to hurl wisecracks.

Update #3: 8/9/12 10:20am - Great, I can't read and I can't count.  I really should pay Reed Nelson to be my editor.  There were two movies at #34, so I've shuffled things around...and we end with yet another mulligan.  But it's fitting that a "Top 50 Movies" list would really have 53, in a Calvinball sort of way. Related Posts : film reviews, greatest movies

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Posted by Daniel Thomas MacInnes Categories: dvd, panda kopanda
Earlier this year, Discotek reissued Isao Takahata and Hayao Miyazaki's two Panda Kopanda short films on DVD, under the common Western title, "Panda Go Panda."  The previous home video release was handled by Geneon, which featured a butchered title sequence and no extras.  This 2012 version is much better by all counts.

The two short films - Panda Kopanda (1972), Panda Kopanda and the Rainy Day Circus (1973) - are included complete and uncut, which is nice if you're a fan of Animal Treasure Island and My Neighbor Totoro and enjoy their opening credit sequences.  For picture quality, I cannot speak from first-hand experience, but it does appear that Japan's Studio Ghibli DVD has a higher bitrate, which means a sharper, cleaner picture.  The US disc trades a lower bitrate in exchange for a 40-minute interview with director Takahata, and a 13-minute bonus feature.  All of these extras include English language subtitles.

Panda Go Panda deserves to be a part of your movie library.  For every fan of My Neighbor Totoro, it's an obvious must-have.  For everyone else, young and old alike, these two short animated films are a delight, free of cynicism or insincerity or shameless marketing.  These are the sort of cartoons I grew up watching, and I would very much like to see that tradition continue.

Discotek has been on an absolute tear this year.  Panda Go Panda and Lupin III: The Complete First TV Series are only the tip of the iceberg.  It's easy for anime fans to bemoan the state of the industry, but these gentlemen are working their tails off, day and night.  They deserve your support. Related Posts : dvd, panda kopanda

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Posted by Daniel Thomas MacInnes Categories: miyazaki

"The debut film from Hayao Miyazaki, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind is considered by many to be his masterwork—and there are few films, animated or otherwise, of such sweeping scope and grandeur."

- Landmark Theaters, Lagoon Cinema (bold added)

They're off by twenty years.  D'oh!  This is why I need to score press passes to the Studio Ghibli Film Festival here in Minneapolis.  I've also volunteered to give free lectures to the audiences, and share some insights and history.  It's become my destiny to replay that Woody Allen-Marshal MacLuhan scene from Annie Hall, isn't it?  Ah, well.

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Posted by Daniel Thomas MacInnes Categories: spirited away
Reader Felix comes to the defense of Hayao Miyazaki's 2001 film, "The Spiriting Away of Sen and Chihiro," which I omitted from my 50 Greatest Movies list back in August.  He makes many excellent points:

"Spirited Away is a terrific movie, visually spectacular and endlessly creative, but I don't believe it is Miyazaki's best film. It's an escapist picture at heart, one that lacks the more complex and serious themes of the director's work. A great movie, but a little light."

I can't agree with this, and it seems to be a disagreement about basic undercurrents of Miyazaki-movies. Nothing about this movie as far as I can see is escapist in any strict, negative sense of the word. Surely you can draw this logical conclusion, but it would be accidental, a mere "reservation" depending on the context of your viewing as far as I can see, but not a lasting judgement.

For one, the altering of Chihiro is certainly not the effect of an escape from her issues, but a "finding of herself". I think this is quintessential in judging the whole "positive" outlook of Miyazaki per se, or else it would be hard to distinguish him from any other "pretty" entertainment, or it becomes a pure intellectual argument of the ideology that his movies present.

Then, Chihiro is emotionally challenged throughout the movie, and it is mostly frightening and dangerous, and the ending is not "sweet" but kind of regretful, which is not a nod to the wish to escape again (as maybe could be seen in the Peter Pan "mythos"), but a major element of life - but Miyazaki would probably say (as I've seen him do) that she will come to deal with it.

Also there are aesthetic elements which I think make it unique among his movies. There is this almost overly lush bathing house, but also this Zen-like, minimalist trainride and water landscape.

The infinite imagination that some refer to, on the other hand, and that may be seen as one element of escapism, I do simply do not recognize. I don't think it is very inventive at all, if I would look only for this, I would be very bored and could point probably to an endless list of more "inventive" or "visually stunning" examples. The lush invention that I see serves merely to create a certain atmosphere of life and the overfilled environs, but not much to marvel at.

A couple more things could be said, but that should be the essence of my view.

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Posted by Daniel Thomas MacInnes Categories: kaguya hime, kaze tachinu, miyazaki, posters, takahata

Today is the big day, everyone!  At long last, Studio Ghibli's newest productions have been formally announced at Toho's press conference in Japan.  Hayao Miyazaki's Kaze Tachinu ("The Wind Rises") and Isao Takahata's Kaguya Hime no Monogatari ("The Story of Princess Kaguya") will both be released in theaters across Japan this coming Summer 2013.  Let's take a quick look at each of the films.

Hayao Miyazaki - Kaze Tachinu

First is Hayao Miyazaki's next feature film.  Kaze Tachinu originally appeared as a lengthy color comic (manga) in Model Graphix Magazine in 2009.  It was a biography (of sorts) of the Japanese engineer Jori Horikoshi, a designer of airplanes who was, tragically, instrumental in the building of the Zero Fighter used by the Japanese military in World War II.  The story is also an adaptation of a novel (of the same name) by Tatsuo Hori; I haven't read the novel, but I have scanned through the untranslated comic (I have a copy on one of my hard drives), and I'm well aware of Miyazaki's style of loose adaptations.

If history is any judge, Kaze Tachinu will be as much a personal statement by Miyazaki as a biography or literary adaptation.  One of the movie's key scenes will involve the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, which is intended to be a parallel to Japan's recent earthquake-tsunami-nuclear crisis.  In the aftermath of the crisis, Miyazaki publicly declared that Studio Ghibli would eschew fantasy films, in favor of more realistic stories that speak to our times.  This may seem strange to Westerners who look to Miya-san as Japan's Walt Disney, but if you know the studio's output, and the careers of the old masters, this is in keeping with many of their greatest works.

Note the poster's tagline: "We must try to live."  It's taken from Hori's novel, but it also references the final lines from the Nausicaa manga.  Princess Mononoke also used the same line ("Ikiro!") back in 1997.  We have our first Ghibli Riff of 2013!

Kaze Tachinu promises to be Ghibli's grandest and most expensive spectacle to date.  Miya-san famously stated that he be "bet the studio" on his film.  It's his gung-ho, leave-nothing-behind gamble ever since Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind in 1984.  We'll make one grand movie, and if it's a hit, we'll make more; if it fails, we'll close up and go home.  And although he has never said so publicly, I do believe this movie may be Hayao Miyazaki's final directorial feature.  This may be his Abbey Road.  Stay tuned.

Isao Takahata - Kaguya Hime no Monogatari

Isao "Paku-San" Takahata: visionary,, revoltionary, godfather of the modern anime era, the greatest animation director who ever lived.  None of these titles are mere hyperbole; he has earned his reputation as one of the world's greatest living filmmakers.  In my mind, he is without peer.  At the recent Studio Ghibli Film Festival in Minneapolis, I was fortunate enough to see Omohide Poro Poro and My Neighbors the Yamadas on the big screen.  It was a miraculous experience.

If any artist suffers from the West's obsession with equating all animation with Walt Disney, it's Paku-San.  His work bears no resemblance to Mickey or Donald, to Bambi or Pinocchio.  Maybe there's a connection to Fantasia, with the love of classical music and daring visual variety.  No, you'd best draw comparisons to the great live-action filmmakers like Yasujiro Ozu, Jean Renoir, Igmar Bergman, Orson Welles, to documentary neo-realism and the French New Wave.  And, yes, to the great French and Russian animators like Lev Atamanov (The Snow Queen), Paul Grimault (Le Roi et l'oiseau), and Yuri Norstein (Hedgehog in the Fog, Tale of Tales).

And now Paku-San has returned, from semi-retirement, from self-imposed exile, however you wish to call it.  My Neighbors the Yamadas was brilliantly funny, quiet and humane, but it was also a firm rebuke against the drive towards "blockbuster" status that Studio Ghibli was embracing, as Miyazaki's Mononoke became a global hit.  Japan's audiences wanted big, epic movies, the kind Hollywood makes, and Miyazaki was all too happy to oblige and indulge.  Takahata offered Yamada-kun as his counter-argument: "Don't overdo it."  His 1999 film was savaged at the box office at the hands of a Pokemon toy commercial and Jar Jar Binks.

After serving as director for a 2001 puppet theater production, "Where Spirits and Fairies Dwell," Takahata contributed one short (60 second) segment for the 2003 anthology film, Winter Days, and then spent his time giving lectures, traveling, and working to build the Ghibli Museum's international film library.  He worked on film projects, struggled to find funding (Miyazaki would no longer gamble the studio's money in the wake of Yamada-kun's collapse), searched for stories and worth collaborators.

I don't think it's ever been stated directly, but I think the death of Yoshifumi Kondo hurt Paku-San the most.  As a writer-director, and not an animator, Takahata has always been dependent on a right-hand artist who could realize his visions.  In the 1970s, his star student was Hayao Miyazaki.  After that, it was Kondo, who proved invaluable on Anne of Green Gables, Grave of the Fireflies, Omohide Poro Poro, and Pom Poko.  Now, with Kondo gone, and all his peers retired or deceased, finding skilled partners is Takahata's greatest challenge.

Kaguya-Hime no Monogatari is an adaptation (all of Takahata's works, other than Pom Poko, are adaptations) of the Japanese folk take, "Tale of the Bamboo Cutter."  The legend was referenced briefly in My Neighbors the Yamadas, the scene where daughter Nonoko is born from a bamboo stalk.  This 2013 movie will tell the larger story, presenting an historical, emotionally-charged family melodrama.  It's Paku-San, after all.

The poster's tagline is interesting: "A princesses' crime and punishment."  Is this a deliberate reference to Dostoyevski?  Perhaps.  I can see Takahata addressing the larger and deeper questions of humanity in his film.  At age 77, he may not have an opportunity to create another feature film.  I would expect another Abbey Road movie, a summary of a man's life and career, and a probing of what it all means.  Mind you, I am only speculating.  We shall discover soon enough.

I am happy to see the watercolor style of Yamada-kun return.  I love that visual art style, and Studio Ghibli used it in a number of TV commercials, and their 2002 short film, Ghiblies Episode 2.  I'm excited just to see something new, different in animation.  I'm tired of all the CGI plastic dolls and noisy formulas.  We're actually going to see something unique.  We can say that of both films, Miyazaki's and Takahata's.  After five decades in film and television, this may be their final triumph.  We should savor the moment, and hold it as long as possible. Related Posts : kaguya hime, kaze tachinu, miyazaki, posters, takahata

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Posted by Daniel Thomas MacInnes Categories: blu-ray, grave of the fireflies, screenshots
Grave of the Fireflies Blu-Ray arrives on US store shelves today, courtesy of Sentai Filmworks.  Copies are available for $15-$20, with (hopefully) some "Black Friday" deals to follow.  This is a perfect opportunity to add a Studio Ghibli BD to your movie collection (and once again wonder why Disney fell asleep at the switch).

Now for a little good and bad news.  The good news, obviously, is the low price, which is far more attractive than the $80 it costs to import Ghibli BDs from Japan (retailers either kill you on the price or the shipping).  The bad news is the bitrate, which on the Sentai disc is one-half the rate of Ghibli's Japanese release.  The picture seems to lose a little subtlety in the color and light, and although it's minor, the difference is there.  That said, the US Blu-Ray trumps the previous DVD versions with ease.

I've included some photo comparisons, courtesy of DVD Beaver's review, so you can judge for yourselves.  As expected, the many extras from Central Park Media's 2002 DVD is missing, but this was to be expected.  The Ghibli BDs in Japan have few extras, in order to fit as much movie, as high a bitrate, as possible.  So I think we'll survive, and collectors will have reason not to sell their older versions.

More photo comparisons after the jump; Sentai Filmworks (US) disc on top, Studio Ghibli (Japan) disc on bottom:

Related Posts : blu-ray, grave of the fireflies, screenshots

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