Sackoon vs. Sanitee vs. Night Owl vs. Chronocerous

Mr. Tweedy · Post by **Mr. Tweedy** » Mon Aug 18, 2008 6:21 pm

Gigi the cat is the fictional character that most resembles my wife. (She admits this.)

Post by **normsherman** » Mon Aug 18, 2008 7:12 pm

I'm going to rent this tonight if I can find it.

BTW- I hadn't even noticed this till now- next round is a raptor/shark/armadillo/panda match-up. Perfect.

Mr. Tweedy · Post by **Mr. Tweedy** » Mon Aug 18, 2008 7:45 pm

Rent which? We mentioned 3 different movies: Pom Poko, Howl's Moving Castle and Kiki's Delivery Service.

Of those, I can only recommend (highly recommend) Kiki's Delivery Service. I haven't seen Pom Poko and I didn't like Howl's moving Castle, but Tom seems to like all three.

strawman · Post by **strawman** » Mon Aug 18, 2008 10:49 pm

I liked Howl's Moving Castle, but Spirited Away is my favorite Miyazaki. If we could just get Studio Gigli to collaborate with Norm, DC would flat out whup Disney butt.

Mr. Tweedy · Post by **Mr. Tweedy** » Mon Aug 18, 2008 10:52 pm

strawman wrote:I liked Howl's Moving Castle, but Spirited Away is my favorite Miyazaki. If we could just get Studio Gigli to collaborate with Norm, DC would flat out whup Disney butt.

I'd say DC already whups Disney butt.

strawman · Post by **strawman** » Mon Aug 18, 2008 10:56 pm

Mr. Tweedy wrote:
strawman wrote:I liked Howl's Moving Castle, but Spirited Away is my favorite Miyazaki. If we could just get Studio Gigli to collaborate with Norm, DC would flat out whup Disney butt.
I'd say DC already whups Disney butt.

I understand, but I meant where other people are aware of it.

tbaker2500 · Post by **tbaker2500** » Mon Aug 18, 2008 11:12 pm

Mr. Tweedy wrote:Rent which? We mentioned 3 different movies: Pom Poko, Howl's Moving Castle and Kiki's Delivery Service.

Of those, I can only recommend (highly recommend) Kiki's Delivery Service. I haven't seen Pom Poko and I didn't like Howl's moving Castle, but Tom seems to like all three.

Oh, to be honest, I don't even remember what Howl's was about. I was just making a joke earlier.

Best Ghibli movies:
Spirited Away
Porco Rosso
Princess Mononoke

The rest are equally good, really.

If you haven't seen any of these movies, you shouldn't call yourself a DC fan.

adam · Post by **adam** » Mon Aug 18, 2008 11:30 pm

[edit] discussion about rethinking the voting procedure moved to new thread.

adam · Post by **adam** » Mon Aug 18, 2008 11:34 pm

oh, and ive got pom poko in my miyazake collection at home. it's great. pretty long, and i guess sortof slow, but the hilarious novelty of the little racoons balls swingin around whenever they run carries your attention through it. it's part of his many environmentalist themed movies- hardcore. i can only think of maybe 2 of a dozen ghibli's that arent centrally about deforestation/urban sprawl/conservation etc. he's like the al gore of japan. but brilliant and actually talented.

Mr. Tweedy · Post by **Mr. Tweedy** » Tue Aug 19, 2008 12:17 am

adam wrote: he's like the al gore of japan.

NO! No one deserves that comparison, not even... um... no one!

Seriously, though, Miyazaki's stuff never struck me as really eco-nut tree-hugger stuff. It's never as simple as trees=good, internal combustion=bad. Industry is never demonized, nor is humanity in general. It's always about understanding and respecting nature, trying to balance our need for resources with respect for the Earth the provides them. Like in Princess M, it's not just that humans are bad and messing up stuff, it's that neither the gods nor the humans have the patience to learn about each other and adapt to a mutual accommodation. It's all bout understanding the "why" of things instead of just reacting. It's never black vs. white like (vomit) Fern Gully and such.

Al Gore offends me immensely, but Miyazaki never has.

Not to start a whole eco-thread...

I confess to thoroughly enjoying Whisper of the Heart despite it's being a total chick movie.

delfedd · Post by **delfedd** » Tue Aug 19, 2008 2:09 am

Oh, completely off topic, I remembered something from last night. I was thinking of people to try to recruit, when I almost posted the mega-beasts on 4chan. Fortunately for Night Owl, I remembered that Sackoon has huge balls, and decided against sharing it with 4chan.

StalinSays · Post by **StalinSays** » Tue Aug 19, 2008 7:18 pm

delfedd wrote:Oh, completely off topic, I remembered something from last night. I was thinking of people to try to recruit, when I almost posted the mega-beasts on 4chan. Fortunately for Night Owl, I remembered that Sackoon has huge balls, and decided against sharing it with 4chan.

Dude: share, share no matter the consequence. Releasing this thing to as large an audience as possible is goal number one. Once round 3 is ready for the big time, Norm and I will post a rebel yell topic on this exact idea. Its about making this competition as big and bold as a pair of Tanuki testes.

StalinSays · Post by **StalinSays** » Tue Aug 19, 2008 7:29 pm

Oh Ghibli, I love you so well. My new roommate owns Pom Poko, It's on my final checklist, and will put me 3 movies away from having seen the complete DVD discography. Wish I had access to the Miyazaki directed Lupin, or the new new newest release about the enchanted gold fish, but I'll live. With you guys on those lists, though I don't dig as much on the strictly kiddie ones (Kiki, Totorro). Love the epic fantasy tales like no other. My personal list:

1) Spirited Away
2) Porco Rosso (it'd be number one if it actually had an ending)
3) Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
4) Howl's Moving Castle
5) Princess Mononoke

Mr. Tweedy · Post by **Mr. Tweedy** » Tue Aug 19, 2008 7:48 pm

I haven't seen Porco Rosso yet.

I didn't like Howl's Moving Castle at all. It has some (very) cool ideas in it, but it seemed way too random, just a bunch of scenes that happen in no particular order for no particular reason.

Spirited Away = Awesome.

StalinSays · Post by **StalinSays** » Tue Aug 19, 2008 8:12 pm

Porco is what I'd call Ghibli's 'most beautiful' movie, and I loved the mood and spirit. Like Tailspin, done horribly, horribly right. Don't let my nitpick spoil a thing - 100% worth a view, I was just frustrated I didn't get hours and hours more of the characters.

I perhaps underrate Mononoke, because I saw it out of order, and the spirits theme lost some of the appeal, having been played out so well in others. Also, I'm a little miffed over it constantly being sited as the one, essential identifier of Miyazaki's product (by the critical press, in lists, or in bios), being as I greatly favor my 1 and 2.

You're completely right about the weaker central thread and narrative in Howl's - it left something to be desired. I think it was just the sum total of the fantastical scenes and visuals that made enjoy the final product so. I also 'did it right' : it was my only Ghibli movie seen in theaters (the Disney'riffic El Capitan in Hollywood).

tbaker2500 · Post by **tbaker2500** » Wed Aug 20, 2008 1:21 am

Mr. Tweedy wrote:I haven't seen Porco Rosso yet.

Well, you should watch it tonight then.

Bo's description is pretty on the mark. It definitely a movie that you don't want to end. But if they made a sequel, I'm sure it would ruin in.

*sigh*

Mr. Tweedy · Post by **Mr. Tweedy** » Wed Aug 27, 2008 5:59 am

Well, I just finished Porco Roso. It was... "disjointed" I guess is the word I want. Slapstick comedy that employs machine guns... That actually kind of describes the whole movie. I couldn't ever figure out which parts were supposed to be silly and which were supposed to be serious. Why is the guy a pig? Is that just because he was fun to draw or does it mean something? How do I reconcile the sad and sober commentaries on the futility of war with the complete absurdity of the final battle? A lot of screen time is devoted to allusions to Porco's personal history, but nothing is ever explained well enough to really understand what the history is. We just know that a bunch of sad stuff happened way back when and now he's a pig. And what's all the allusions to Italian fascism and the fictional world's impending version of WWII? It seemed like it was mentioned way too much to just be a convenient plot device. Other stuff.

I feel like a big stick in the mud, but I just didn't get the movie. It was interesting and some parts were funny, but in the end it just seems like a jumble of unrelated ideas... Which is pretty much what I though of Howl's Moving Castle too. Like there were great concepts there for two or three different movies, but squishing them all into one film just made a mess. It's a visually attractive mess with some fun moments, but still.

Sorry. Please don't hit me if we meet on the street. (I wear a name tag that says "Mr. Tweedy" so you'll know it's me.)

Interesting trivia: The girl Theo looks like my wife in cartoon form, sans the red hair. The whole time I kept thinking "That's what Mrs. Tweedy would look like if she were an anime character who was friends with a flying pig."

Meh. You'll just have to take my word for it. I can't find pictures that really show the resemblance. (Between Jeanna and Theo, I mean. The resemblance between me and Porco is obvious.)

StalinSays · Post by **StalinSays** » Wed Aug 27, 2008 7:46 pm

I'd say it's in the smile. Would have to see you with that little mustache and the round glasses. Kick ass Halloween costume a' brewin.'

Disjointed is a fair criticism. But I don't think to the same extent as Howl's. Once the scene is set by that first sequence, you follow Porco the rest of the way. As for the various puzzle pieces of themes and inferences, I was able to stick them together in to something satisfying.

It's an 'age of innocence' tale, a dreamy, not quite real look at an Adriatic realm gone for good. The War was reality setting in, for pilots with pasts, for pirates without brutality, for a life of lying by the warm water in a comfortable hammock. The world catches up to and consumes such storybook vistas. Porco Rosso is a farewell visit to a world in extinction, a literal flight of fancy. You the viewer are invited to experience its sentimental and silly last hurrah as spectator. America will someday be an imperial power, and not a laughable Cowboy Curtis. Its a happy wave good-bye, a certain dementia of ideals.

Porco as pig is a red herring. My take was just it being a visual device for 'Porco the jerk who ignores reality, ignores his past.' As he touches one of those things directly (like when he inspects the bullets prior to his showdown with Curtis) that veneer dissipates. Ghibli is just being Ghibli with that concept. As I noted as a primary detraction, an ending would've helped. Things weren't tied up and presented as neatly as Spirited Away or Mononoke.

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Sackoon vs. Sanitee vs. Night Owl vs. Chronocerous

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