Dubbed anime should be outlawed.

I watched The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies finally. Seems rushed, like no one other than Bilbo got any closure after the battle (which ended too quickly offscreen).. hopefully the extended cut fixes all that. It's like Jackson wanted to prove he could make a film under 2 and a half hours, but this one really needed to be closer to 3.

On the boat guys:



The pool thing:

Yeah, no. I'm not a big fan of Howl's Moving Castle, either, but saying all dubs suck is just objectively wrong.

I'm actually on a big Studio Ghibli kick at the moment. Howl's Moving Castle isn't one of the best, but I still think it's pretty great. Check out Nausicaa of the Valley of the Winds or Castle in the Sky if you're willing to give a couple more a chance, Necro.

Yeah, Castle in the Sky and Princess Mononoke are absolute must-sees. Nausicäa is great too. His most recent, The Wind Rises, was a really nice piece of work as well. Interesting to see him take on a much more real world-based story.



Yeah, they can work sometimes. I actually enjoy the dubbed dialogue of Akira a lot more than the original, it brings quite a bit more believable personality to the characters. Surprising but true.

I too liked Howl's Moving Castle, but I watched the sub.

I know this is the movie thread, but surprisingly enough Miyazaki's best work is actually the gigantic Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind manga, which the movie adapted just a tiny part of. It's a massive epic that took him 12 years to write/draw, and it's definitely worth reading if you like Miyazaki at all.

I only ever collected the first 4 or 5 issues of it back in the '90s (ran out of sources for it after that), but yeah, it was really impressive and evocative. Beautiful stuff. Definitely one I'll have to get in trade paperback format someday.

(or just pirate it)

Ah. True. But I like books! Reading things on screens isn't as fun. /offtopic

I just saw it yesterday with a friend. I saw the dub, since my friend only can prefer dub.

...I liked it, but I had some huge problems with it. Mainly for three reasons, there wasn't really any huge "moments of wonder" that I usually equate with Miyazaki works.

Second: spoiler time. .

Third, That curse has really loose rules, doesn't it?

In short, good but definitely not his best by far at all. I would give it like a 6/10 or something.

Haven't watched Howl's Moving Castle in years and only saw it the once when it first came out. I remember thinking the writing was pretty shoddy and basically the biggest problem with the film, but for the life of me I can't remember anything about the plot now.

Honestly, I haven't seen Howl's Moving Castle in like 8 years and can't remember a lot of super-specific details about it, I just remember liking it quite a bit, though not as much as most of Miyazaki's other movies. Keep in mind it was adapted from a British fantasy novel, so some of the plot details that may have had more room in the book probably had to be rushed a bit to fit into a movie.

Also I think some people might be missing that weird curses that don't really make sense, random plot elements, shit popping out of nowhere, etc. is kind of par for the course for that kind of children's fantasy - see The Wizard of Oz. Of course it's super convenient that Dorothy's house randomly lands on the witch who was wearing the Ruby Slippers, and of course it doesn't make sense that the Wicked Witch of the West is killed by fuckin water - it's just fun and silly. A lot of the stuff in Howl's Moving Castle struck me the same way.

The one Miyazaki movie I never hear people talk about is Porco Rosso - maybe because they don't like it, I don't know, but I really really enjoyed it. I guess the story is more "adult" in that it's essentially just a character drama with some very very light fantasy elements, but I just find it a very good, straightforward story about likeable characters who pilot sweet airplanes. Sure, it's not as super original or life-changing as Spirited Away or Princess Mononoke, but it's a very human (porcine), personal story that doesn't really suffer from its smallness.

Yeah, I've been told by just about everyone I know that enjoys anime to check out Princess Mononoke, apparently it's preposterously good.
More flicks:

The Fault In Our Stars: This surprisingly worked really well for me. Super touching movie. Yeah, it was emotionally manipulative in some ways but I had no trouble abandoning myself to the story and it was overall well acted. Shailene Woodley is great in it and anyone looking for a sad movie could do a lot worst. I don't think the cancer thing is a gimmick as I've seen some desperate attention seekers claim on the internet. 8 on 10

Spongebob Sponge out of Water: This movie is a mess. It doesn't know what it wants to be and Anthonio Banderas is super random and obviously was in need of a quick paycheck. It doesn't feel like a long episode of the show, nor does it possess the coherence and increased focus that the first movie had. Instead it plods, with occasional very surreal moments thrown in that almost work. It's very much a kitchen sink movie. I'm just not sure who the target audience was. I saw it on opening night (for some reason) and at some point, this kid cried out ''what is happening?'' I agree, random kid. 4 on 10

Captain Philips: Oh my lord this sucked super hard. Was Tom Hanks' performance in this really noteworthy, guys? The only part of his acting that impressed me was the very last scene where the extent of his ordeal hits him all at once. Beyond that, it's simply Paul Greengrass making yet another poorly shot, shaky cam movie with molasses slow pacing that tries to be exciting. It drags and drags with overly long scenes that don't accomplish much and Tom Hanks is old and boring. It should have been called Captain Phillis. 3 on 10

Tourist Trap: This was weird, man. An almost bloodless slasher that visually reminds me more of Texas Chainsaw Massacre with it's masks and colour scheme, though it doesn't approach that movie's relentless madness. The kills are unpredictable, there's some super weird plot elements like telekenisis and sentient mannequins that work really well for some reason if you just go with it, and it tries to be unpredictable with who the killer is but fails in an amusing way. The mannequins and their theme song are great, and it's got a twist ending that adds nothing but is hilarious. It's a lot of fun. 7.5 on 10

Madman: The pinnacle of ineptitude. I really enjoyed it. This is the slasher that has character behaviour the most far removed from regular human behaviour than any slasher I've seen. In fact, probably than any movie I've seen. The entire cast look like they're related and inbred. There's an infamous hot tub scene that has to be seen to be believed. And the structure is hilariously simplistic. Someone dies. Someone goes to investigate alone. That person dies. Another person goes to investigate alone. Then you think you're going to get a final girl scene and it ends abruptly. It's wonderful. The killer design is painfully bad, and he even has a cheesy theme song! Honestly, it's worth watching to see how little effort can really be put into a slasher while having it come out weirdly enjoyable. 7 on 10

Mr. Peabody and Sherman: I really enjoyed this. The puns were great, it was educational if you were to watch it with kids, I laughed out loud a bunch of times, and the characters were endearing. I really grew to care what happens to them. Never saw what it was based on, but it was funny as shit. Got slight Doctor Who vibes, don't know if that was intentional. 8 on 10

Sleepaway Camp: Well, I sure wanted a lot of these characters to die. And the homoerotic vibes present with all those shorts and half shirts was pretty weird. The kills were weirdly pg-13 for what I expected. It was semi-entertaining, but predictable. Sure it's got that weird twist which is pretty great, but it pales in comparison to a movie like The Burning. Also, this was probably intentional, but Angela's adoptive mother was the most over the top annoying character possible. 6.5 on 10

Paddington: Super endearing movie. Everyone involved look like they're having a whole lot of fun, especially Nicole Kidman as the bad guy. Lots of small touches I enjoyed. Like how Peru is always referred to as Darkest Peru. How endearing Peter Capaldi's grouchy old man character is. How it's such an overwhelmingly NICE and polite movie that it makes you happy to watch. It's got a sweet and brisk pace that keeps things moving in an enjoyable fashion and some surprisingly fantastic cinematography. It reminded me of Wes Anderson lite. I wish I could have caught this one in theatres. 8.5 on 10

The Taking of Deborah Logan: Another good found footage movie. This is a possession movie of sorts, but with a more creative angle that hasn't been done to death. I like how they used the old woman and alzeihmers. It was genuinely frightening and the actress who plays Deborah Logan was fantastic. She really goes all out. There's some great use of snake imagery, and characters with believable motivation. When shit gets too hardcore, one of the camera men quits and is never seen again. Would reccomend to someone who wants a fresh angle to that exorcism crap that was flooding the market a little while back. 8.5 on 10.

Terror Train: Pretty awful, tedious slasher with David Copperfield and David Copperfield's awful haircut in it for some reason. 5 on 10

True, but it's also wrong to use dubs if you're anything other than dyslexic or a child. Why would you?

I only consider Spirited Away and Kiki's Delivery Service as Ghibli 'must sees'. I liked a few others but Howl's Moving Castle was truly unbearable and I couldn't wait for Princess Mononoke to end.

Museum Hours - Low key but interesting Austrian film about what art and museums can mean to different people. I liked how it steered clear of the academics and the two characters were newcomers to the art world, but parts of it felt amateurish with a few too many aimless shots of Vienna. Still, it never felt preachy or pretentious and it had a nice ambient feel almost documentary-like at times.

Porco Rosso was definitely cool, though when I watched it I was hung over and periodically vomiting, so enjoying it took a force of effort. Will certainly revisit it, probably in the near-ish future. Did you see The Wind Rises, fsm?

I haven't seen it yet, although I mean to. I also haven't seen any of his really kid-oriented stuff, like Totoro My Neighbor, Kiki's Delivery Service, etc.

I finally watched the 1987 straight to video Forever Evil yesterday. I've owned the tape for probably about 8 years but never watched it because it looked horrendous. I should have left it unwatched to keep the mystery alive. The pacing of the movie was all over the place. It starts off with an annoying lady having tarot cards read and we're introduced to the main demon Yog Kothag. After that we're introduced to a group of young adults and it starts looking like it's going to be an Evil Dead rip off, which would have been fine by me, but all but one are killed within about 15 minutes. The kills were pretty gory and well done but it all happened so fast that you're not really left with anything else for the rest of the movie. The next hour is tedious exposition with the ending picking up only slightly. At nearly 2 hours it is far too long for this type of horror movie. If it was 90 minutes of a group of idiots getting slaughtered by the demon it would have been pretty enjoyable, but instead the filmmakers tried to make a film that's somewhat unique for a horror movie, but ended up fucking it up.

I always thought it was only on VHS but I just saw on amazon that a 2 disc version was released in 2004 that includes a 'directors cut' with 9 additional minutes. I can only imagine how thrilling of a watch that must be.

Because all anime is dubbed in the first place and, gasp, sometimes the English voice actors are very good?

I can understand the argument for dubbed live-action stuff but for anime? C'mon, man.

Miyazaki:

We watched Howl's Moving Castle a couple of weeks ago. I liked it much better than the last time, which was years ago. I'd found the animation impressive, but the story contrived. This time, though, it occurred to me that I wasn't supposed to have context for most of the curious things that occur, and it basically forced me to have to take them for granted. It's a bold strategy. I didn't mind at all. It's a clever movie with a very sweet and interesting story.

Totoro is beautiful. We'd been meaning to watch it, but ended up going with Princess Mononoke instead, which is basically perfect. I feel the same way about Totoro. Exceptional, accessible, and subtle with essentially chronic appeal.

Speaking of awesome, I haven't watched Akira in a long time.

Dubbed isn't really the right word. The native language voice actors are selected to fit the role and the characters are animated with a particular voice in mind, and I don't mean the way the mouth movement fits the words. The differences in expression between Japanese and English makes it especially certain that you're going to get drastically different characters by changing the voice.

Watching any film in anything other than the language in which it was written and filmed is just unacceptable to me. Voiceover actors are invariably hacks and rarely convey the appropriate emotional context of the dialogue.

You heard it here first, folks: the dubs for Cowboy Bebop, BECK, Black Lagoon, Fullmetal Alchemist, Steins;Gate, et al are bad simply because they're not Japanese, according to chaossphere.

Maybe I'll have to do a Miyazaki weekend and revisit Nausicaä, Porco Rosso, and Howl's all together. Should be cool. I notice no one has yet mentioned Ponyo ...



Yeah. Totoro is one of those films I feel like you have to be some sort of heartless bastard to not enjoy. But I guess I can see the childlike vibe of it annoying some people. Heartless bastards are technically people, too.

That's largely because it's nothin' special. Certainly not a bad film, but it doesn't really stick with you. It just happens.

Sorta my point there. Hehe, yeah, something about that film just didn't quite hit the mark, though stylistically it was really well done and I definitely appreciated the variation in aesthetics. Miyazaki's stuff does tend to stick to a visual formula, so it was nice that Ponyo broke the mould. Definitely worth watching, I'd say, but sadly fails to achieve any classic status.

A Miyazaki film that doesn't get mentioned that is actually excellent, though, is Lupin III: Castle of Cagliostro. It was the man's first film and, in my opinion, one of his finest. Truly a classic.

I'm pretty sure it was the first Miyazaki film I ever saw, way back in...'94/'95? At that point I don't think I even knew who Miyazaki was, just that the movie was really neato. Should throw that one into the Miyazaki marathon lineup, too, it's been ages since I've seen it.

Kiki's... is pretty kid-oriented as far as Ghibli movies go (well, I guess at least half of them could be considered "kids movies") but is a total classic and one of the best, I'd say. Such endearing characters and her pet/familiar cat is a badass. I also love Totoro but need to rewatch it. Has anyone seen the newest Ghibli, The Tale of the Princess Kaguya? Gotten rave reviews from everywhere I've looked and the animation style looks really fucking cool. Will definitely watch soon.



One of the few I still haven't seen so I will get on it ASAP.

Gonna watch 'Hobo with a Shotgun' tonight. Never got around to watching it before. Time to rectify that.

Damn straight, wanna fight about it?

Seriously, that just happens to be my personal preference for watching films. no point getting all snooty about it.
Just imagine if some fool went and recorded their own translated English vocals over the music on an old Norwegian black metal CD. That would be pointless and stupid, even if they performed it well. Same goes for dubbing films. I want it unadulterated and uncompromised, the way it was originally made. Dubs are for kids and people who can't read.

Third volley!

Housebound: This was a pretty hysterical, unpredictable ride! I love the main actress. It only struck a balance between horror and comedy for about half an hour though, then it became a straight over the top comedy. I heard this was being remade and I don't really see how it could be improved on. It is what it is. 8.5 on 10

VHS Viral: Eh, mostly not good, but a bit better than the second one (except that batshit crazy cult segment who's name escapes me.) The TOTES RADICAL DOOD skaters fighting skeletons bit was awful, as was the wraparound segment that had zero work put into it. The magician dude segment was pretty fun, and the parallel universe one was like something a bizarro fiction author would write. I enjoyed it. It was really creative. I've liked everything I've seen from Nacho Vigalondo so far. Haven't seen Open Windows though, that looks terrible. 6 on 10

Hardware: I don't know what I was expecting. I like that it's the most red movie I've seen. I sort of like the design of the robot. It was funny how weird the main girl's eyes were and how drugs played a part in the narrative but the whole thing felt like a weirdly shot 90's music video. Which is just not enjoyable for an entire movie. Lemmy is in it for 5 seconds, so that was pretty cool. One thing I did enjoy was the super perv voyeur neighbour. That guy embodies the movie. Just no subtlety, everything super exaggerated and such. You can tell the director was just trying out what he thought was some cool shit. It just got a bit tedious. 7 on 10

Saw 5, 6, and 7: My girlfriend made me watch these with her because she's a big fan of the series (for some reason) and because I just HAD TO see the ones I deliberately skipped. Well, these are just the pits. They get increasingly shittier, too. Not since the Hellraiser sequels have sequels sunk to quite this level. The detective guy who turns out to have been an accomplice of Jigsaw has the same amount of charisma as a pet rock. He also looks like he recently survived a botched plastic surgery caused aneurysm. The kills have basically as little thought as possible put into them. The movies look ugly as hell. Looking low fidelity, overly dark, and with about two colours. It keeps throwing lame twists at you in an effort to make you forget that Jigsaw died two movies ago. They try to make him still be an important character because the other characters we're stuck with make us want to headbutt a wall. Also, a special word for the seventh, Saw 3D. The gore effects in that one are worse than any other movie in the series. In fact, they're worse than many low budget horror films. It's all very obvious CGI. Just tripe.
2 on 10 for 5 and 6. 1 on 10 for 7

Her: Joaquin Phoenix, bro. I love all the risks you take as an actor. But maybe you're a bit overambitious. I thought the movie was interesting, and posited some interesting question, had some interesting insight into relationships, but it lost me at a few points. It's probably just that I lack some patience, but when 90% of your movie is a deeply lonely man talking to a voice by himself, it gets kind of boring. Still, points for taking an idea to it's logical conclusion and for not having a typical Hollywood ending. No Mickey Mouse shit here. 7.5 on 10

Rudderless: Fantastic soundtrack. Great performances. Compelling story. It's a bit repetitive, and you can predict what will happen a few times, but it's such a good movie. The last scene is perfect. The twist was pretty low key but turned everything upside down for me. Was really involved in this. 9 on 10

Cold in July: This was compared to Blue Ruin to me and featured Dexter with a so it seemed like a no brainer. What I got was an okay late night movie with a sweet pulsing synth soundtrack. It's no Blue Ruin, and the last half hour feels like a different movie but it's competent enough. Nowhere near a necessary watch, but if you're strapped for neo-noirs you could do a lot worse. 6 on 10

The Nut Job: The pits of animation. Boring as fuck. A supremely grating voice acting turn from Will Arnett. How did they get Liam Neeson to be in this? Fuck this movie. Actually unwatcheably dull. 1 on 10

The Lego Movie: Liked it a fair bit, though my enjoyment dropped off in the last 25 minutes or so. Still, it's overall funny, and all the voice actors seem to be having fun. Especially Morgan Freeman, who is surprisingly one of the highlights. Lots of sweet commentary on conformity and society, and animation that ended up a lot more awesome than I expected from anything Lego. It's still a movie length commercial, but you forget that it is. Also, Chris Pratt is in everything now and I'm ok with it. 8.5 on 10

The Talented Mr Ripley: Holy shit! This was a masterpiece. I've only watched it just now because I can't stand Matt Damon but this is an acting tour de force from him. A brilliant character study. It's spectacularly shot. The director shares my Europe boner. The intrigue just gets thicker and thicker and thicker. You sink into the story like sinking into a tar pit, but you just let it happen. I thought it was the end several times but it kept going. Even Gwyneth Paltrow is great. How is this possible, you ask? Just watch it. A brilliant portrayal of madness and obsession. 10 on 10

So your personal preference is to be a snooty dick about it?

If you wish to perceive it as such, sure. It's insulting to the effort put in by the original voice actors as far as i'm concerned. Or maybe I should have put another after that statement since apparently i'm not allowed to use dry humour here any more.

Interestingly, a lot of Japanese DVD/BD discs have no Japanese dub on them, just subtitles and the original dialogue. So I feel that they have great respect for keeping films as unadulterated as possible, and it should be reciprocated. Russians on the other hand are seemingly the biggest assholes about it, many of their DVDs have Russian dubs only.

Since when does dry humor preclude you from being a snooty dick? In fact, the two go hand-in-hand.

It obviously causes a lot of people here to be pathetic crybabies too.

What a load of preposterous nonsense! *thumbs nose, replaces ejected monocle*

There there, my darling, dry your tears, you know who's got your back, if you know what I mean, wink wink.

HO HO HO OHH YESSS HMMMM HMMMMMMM

Yeah go ahead and pat yourself on the back there. You win the prize!

soooo yeeeah, anyway back to movies. Been watching The Pirates! Band of Misfits by the creators of Wallace and Gromit, and what a great movie, Aardman Animations can do no wrong as far as I'm concerned. What's more is you can enjoy it purely visually as well with it's excellent claymation, hours spent meticulously posing and re-sculpting on what might be 20 seconds of film. Well recommended. 4/5

Yep, Pirates: In An Adventure With Scientists! (as it's marketed in the UK, because apparently the word "scientist" is anathema in other countries) is awesome. Ashley Jensen as the hilariously named "Surprisingly Curvaceous Pirate" kicked it into outer orbit for me. Claymation has been getting a second win lately; from Pirates to ParaNorman to The Boxtrolls, there've been some really great entries lately. Anyone here seen Frankenweenie? Tim Burton is bleh but claymation rules so IDK what to do.