What a sweet film this is. Not that it's all pleasant -- it isn't. But we do get to see inside someone's head, someone for whom dreams are reality and a way of dealing with the complexities of day to day life.
Bong Joon Ho's “THE HOST”
I’s fun to see a decent monster movie again.
Tony Bill's FLYBOYS
I love airplane movies, but Flyboys is just plain awful.
Satoshi Kon's “PERFECT BLUE”
Why is this psychological terror/murder mystery/serial killer story a cartoon?
Satoshi Kon’s MILLENNIUM ACTRESS
One of the most mature, evocative, creative, and melodramatic movies I’ve seen all year is an animated film, directed by the same director (Satoshi Kon) as the realistic yet disappointing (to me) potboiler Perfect Blue and of the excellent Tokyo Godfathers.
Satoshi Kon’s "TOKYO GODFATHERS"
Satoshi Kon’s TOKYO GODFATHERS, like his MILLENIUM ACTRESS, proves again animation’s spectacular dramatic and artistic potential. From an unlikely story Satoshi weaves a dramatic and humorous tale that soars above cliché and treacly melodrama.
Hayao Miyazaki's SPIRITED AWAY
Back when I first heard the story of Spirited Away I thought that this would never go over big in the U.S. (young girl gets lost in an abandoned amusement park populated by vacationing spirits and seeks a way to turn her parents back into humans from pigs?) I thought it would make an excellent candidate as a simultaneous theatrical/DVD release, given its probable small target audience.
Hayao Miyazaki's PRINCESS MONONOKE
This is an epic adventure interspersed with elements of Japanese folklore, magic, feral teenagers, giant wolves, strong and aggressive women, warfare, politics, terrific music, and enough related plot lines to kill a horse.
Joseph Sargent's "Something The Lord Made"
Very few movies accurately depict either research-based advances in life-saving surgery OR the deadeningly real impacts of racism on life, mind, and spirit. To see these two themes intertwined with such ferocious dramatic impact in a film is nothing short of amazing. Yet here it is.
The Illusionist
This is an intelligent, beautifully photographed and acted, and hugely satisfying romantic tale. Magic, love, and sleight-of-hand are at its core.
Robert Zemeckis' CONTACT
What I like about this movie is that it dares to bring to the big screen, with all the bells and whistles available from modern Hollywood, the age-old “conflict” between science and religion. And it does so in an intelligent, uplifting, and human manner.
Powell & Pressburger's A CANTERBURY TALE
I admit to being somewhat of an Anglophile, so I was prepared to like A Canterbury Tale as delivered by the crisply produced Criterion DVD.
I have a confession to make.
I enjoyed this movie.
A great and gross little horror film.
Hayao Miyazaki's “PORCO ROSSO”
This is an astonishing, moving, and intelligent animated film about a post WWI Mediterranean air pirate who is half man and half pig.