Miyazaki's Weird One

I agree with the Japanese people: I didn't like this movie. Can't really say why, because it wasn't bad; I just didn't like it. I think it was mostly that the romance was too cheesy half the time. Like Karli pointed out, "I have tuberculosis!" Where did that come from?

I loved the planes, and Jiro's best friend, and Jiro's boss; everything was great, and interesting, and I think it would have been better if the romance had been left out. Also, did the romance add anything to the story? I don't think it did, except to make Jiro more human, as his boss said. Yes, I think we did need to see a more human side of Jiro; but could we not have seen it in some other way? And if it had to be romance that brought out his humanness, couldn't it have been less cheesy? Tuberculosis-dying-girlfriend-we wanna spend our last days together-the girl leaves to die alone- has all been done before and was just hyped-up emotion, I thought, and I think that Miyazaki, being Miyazaki, could have done much better.

Also, I've heard it said that the stories that should be animated are the ones that cannot be done in live action; I think this was a story perfect for live action, and I didn't really like it as an animation.

I have bashed this movie, I'm sorry. There were beautiful moments, like this one:

Chef

I was very surprised that I liked this movie. I thought it was going to be a cheesy, run-of-the-mill feel-good movie. Actually, I think it may have been the only food movie this semester that actually got me interested in the food.
        What should I say? I didn't think it was the greatest movie ever. I thought the chef's rise to stardom and getting a great, lovable job was way too easy and thus unrealistic; but, you know, some people get lucky, so I guess it could happen.
        The kid was not as "cool" and annoying as I thought he would be. He was almost a realistic ten-year-old; especially the scene where he was hurt by his father's strict command to do a lot of nasty work he'd never done before. Only a kid would take that as "You're just being mean to me!" It was fun to see him learn to do hard work, and learn to persevere in it and do it like it was his job, and being a kid was no excuse for cutting out. I loved the way he was always hopeful that his parents would get back together.
       It was also nice to see another story about an artist who does what he loves because of pure love. He wasn't making billions of dollars with his food truck, and he wasn't running after fame; he just wanted to make good art and have people enjoy it.

Evil Rulers

So, I came into this movie thinking that Sansho was going to be a good guy. He's a bailiff; he's in a position of authority, and I just thought he would be a good guy fighting evil; and the movie started out with a good governer fighting evil; but then Sansho turned out to be the bad guy. Why would you name a movie after the bad guy? I didn't feel like he was even a main character.

      Perhaps the movie was named after him because he represented the spirit of those days. Evil, selfish men were in authority. It reminds me of Prov. 29:2, which says, when the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; but when the wicked rule, the people mourn. There were some good governers in this movie, too, and their people loved them.
     It's an interesting subject to have for a movie; good rulers versus wicked. It's a story that still applies to our world today; and it's sad to think of how many people are mourning now just like the main characters of this movie.

Gojira

This movie was not as beautifully cheesy as I was hoping it would be. The Godzilla faces were pretty hilarious; I also liked the ground-shaking thuds that Godzilla made while he was still in the ocean.

I liked the plot point in which the scientist was afraid that his invention would be used for evil. Usually I don't like that plot point, for I've seen it so much, and it just seems preachy to me; "Oh, humans are innately selfish and will use all technology for wickedness." Well, yeah, but if that's your view, why do you bother to invent any technology at all, Mr. Scientist?

Anyways, for some reason I didn't mind it in this movie as much. I think I liked it in Gojira because this scientist was willing to die to keep his work from falling into the wrong hands-and he didn't just say that; he stuck to his principles. Not trying to support suicide here; that's not a principle I would support; what I'm saying is that this guy was courageous and selfless when he decided that, instead of hiding his invention, he would use it to kill Godzilla and save other people, even though he knew that it would mean his own death.

Impressive

The acting of these characters was amazing to me. Momo scooting around on her back was hilarious because it was so true. The mother who said hi to the kids, trying to make friends for Momo, was also so true to life.

The animation was often amazing, too. I remember one part; I think it was when Momo w
as dancing with Mame and the big demon; that I noticed Momo's knees rotate. You know, if you keep your feet planted to the floor and twist to look behind you, your legs can rotate-they're not bendable in only one direction, like a Barbie's legs. The animators of Momo actually animated that twist in her legs, and I thought it was very impressive detail. Who has time for that?

I also loved the parts with all of Mame's spirit friends. They are so strange and wonderful! The animating of the tall water spirit shooting out of the river or ocean was also memorable to me.

Somebody said that this movie was easier for them to take in that Spirited Away. I think I could say the same. Spirited Away is just a total fairytale; whereas this movie is very realistic; the only fantastic things are the demons, (and the letter coming back from the Dad, which I thought was just weird and a poor story choice). I like this mixture of a little fantasy and a lot of reality. I think there should be more stories like that.

The Ending

I didn't like this movie very much. It's possible I wasn't listening closely enough, but most of the religious stuff just didn't make any coherent sense to me. I am very annoyed about this because I think that was an important key to understanding the rest of the story-who these people were was based on what they believed about God and their pastor. (They considered their pastor's word to be God's word-that much I understood.) Almost everything that was spoken or sung about God and religion sounded like a mishmash of Scripture and platitudes in my ears, and I didn't know what to do with it.

The more I blog about and think about this movie, the more I think that there is more to be found in this film by delving into the characters, most of whom were pretty amazing creations; but, on the surface, it was hard for me to like this movie, because it was hard for me to see anything significant in it.
The ending made the whole movie worth it to me, though. Seeing two artists who loved to do their art, and wanted to do their utmost, whether anybody saw it or appreciated it or not-they just had that desire. And they were willing to not go out and show it if, to show it, they had to leave behind something more precious than fame.

Honor

I have often been told by old folks in my church that I ought to love my parents while they are alive; because one day they will be gone. "Tokyo Story" echoed that lesson to me. The grown children in this movie do not treat their parents very well. They try to please them, showing them the honor that they are due, but they try to do it with the least amount of inconvenience to themselves. The parents notice this; they're not stupid; but they try just as hard to not inconvenience their children; and if that means leaving their children alone, then that is what the old parents will do. The parents came to Tokyo to visit their children, but they only stayed for a couple days, and then they went home. The old mother dies suddenly after returning home, and I think the children (or atleast one of them) realize how they wasted their time with their mom. "I cannot serve her beyond the grave," one of the sons says, apparently quoting a Japanese proverb.

It was interesting how hard everyone tried to make the children's actions toward their parents seem right. "They are grown up-they have their own lives to tend to," the sister-in-law explains. "They are pretty good children-certainly not the worst," the old parents say to each other. But it is the sister-in-law's actions that show the shame of the children most clearly; the way she serves her parents-in-law with love, sacrificing all her comfort to give them the best visit to Tokyo that they can have. She is the one who honors them the most.

Willy Wonka

I thought it was interesting that Garrett and Leeper pointed out that Wonka seemed to set things up for the kids to get in trouble. I've seen this movie a million times, and I knew Wonka expected the kids to show their true selves in his factory-but I never thought he was so devious as to plot their demise. When you think about the seating arrangements of the boat and the wonkamobile, and the fact that there was a piece of GUM for Violet, and  Wonkavision for Mike T.V., ....maybe it was more than coincidence.

I've always liked this movie because the "good" guys had no shame for saying exactly what they thought. "If she's a lady, I'm a Vermicsious Knid!" Grampa Joe said of Varuka; and of course Wonka always did whatever he pleased.

All the characters are so good. Grampa Joe is so sure of everything; Charlie is so good; Wonka is so devil-may-care; Varuka is so spoiled; the other kids' parents are so selfish and uppity and sure that their kid is the best kid in the world; it's fantastic. I also love the plot-it takes its time, showing us the ridiculous people of the world who want a tour of the fantastic chocolate factory above all else; and it has its weird oompa-loompa sing-along scenes. I love movies that aren't afraid to have scenes that are unnecessary to the plot.

I've always wondered: do we learn anything good from this movie? Is Wonka worthy of being a role model? Does one good deed really wipe out one bad deed, as it does for Charlie? Should the oompa-loompas be singing about Violet's gum-chewing when she had much worse habits to be focused on (no, not the nose-picking)? Why do we let kids watch this movie? And why do we hail Roald Dahl as a great author, when all his characters/stories are like this?

"Swifter than an eagle! Stronger than lions!" hahahahaha. 

Hey, I found a web page where somebody traced all the Wonka quotes that they could to books and poems and such that the quotes came from. It's pretty cool: http://home.comcast.net/~tom.brodhead/wonka.htm

Mixture of Thoughts

This movie was pretty unique, I thought, and I wondered how much of that uniqueness came from the Mexican culture. I looked it up, and though I kept hearing about "full of Mexican folklore" and stuff, I really couldn't find much folklore; only the Day of the Dead celebration. So, I guess the rest of the stuff about the land of the remembered/ forgotten was all made up for the film?

The Day of the Dead artwork is there, though. The way that the deceased were all decorated and painted up like Day of the Dead decorations was pretty cool.

I loved the two god characters. Some may say their relationship was unrealistic and moved too fast, but I was convinced. I mean, the Greek gods were always back and forth like that in their relationships, so I just enjoyed it as a fairytaleish aspect. I also enjoyed the fact that film was a tale being orally told to some children.

Note about characters: It was nice that both of Maria's suitors were good guys. Yeah, Joaquin had his selfish moment of not wanting to share bread with Xibalba, and sometimes he was stupid, and he used a magic medal to boost his popularity; but he really was a good guy. He was always brave, even before he got the medal. Frankly, if you intended to be a soldier when you grew up, wouldn't you accept a medal that kept you from harm? That's just smart. The only problem he wanted people to think it was his skill that protected him, instead of a medal.
   Joaquin really did love Maria with a sacrificial love, and he usually treated Manolo right, except for the point when he and Manolo were about to fight. I was kind of annoyed that it was so obvious and set in stone that Manolo was going to win the girl. The only reason she liked him better was because he played guitar.
   

Music videos are awesome

  I don't understand how or why music videos got started, but they're pretty awesome to watch. What confuses and amazes me is that a lot of times, the video makes the song way more amazing than it would be just listening to it; and the video can totally change the meaning of the lyrics. Tom Petty's "Don't Come around here no More" would be super boring, but then they made it into an amazing, wacko video of Alice in Wonderland.

"You're on Fire" may have been my favorite one. Or maybe the Tom Petty one. It's a hard pick.

Sodagreen story blew my mind. We are designing 3D scenes in Ballinger's class right now in which everything is supposed to look like a toy. Sodagreen did the toy thing so well. The characters were great, but the toy landscapes were awesome. The ocean was so simple, yet I don't think I would've thought of making a wavy, metal ocean like that, with a crack for the boat to travel in. And they didn't just make it everything toy; they made it toy and showed its inner workings, too. I loved the birds:

Loved getting to hear a little bit about how some of the videos were made with stop-motion, or all in one shot, or by moving super slow mo. Crazy. 

Snippets of Stories

This was one weird movie. I enjoyed it.
   I loved that there was a main plot, but that there were also so many little streams breaking off of that plot and into other people's lives, for no apparent reason. The director literally had people run past the main characters and into a totally separate, mini story. Then we would come back to the main plot again.
      The scenes at the restaurant are especially memorable for me. We got to see these six or so men, obviously in some sort of business meeting, (though we never find out what kind of business, but it doesn't matter) ordering food. We can tell that they're all very formal and try suck up to the boss, except for the clumsy newbe; and this is all portrayed in one scene at a restaurant where the only words we hear them speak are their orders of food! (Brilliant) Then the camera follows the men's waiter to a separate customer who is eating spaghetti. What a transition! We don't even know it's a transition until we realize that we have now been observing a fancy how-to-eat class for young ladies for the last few minutes, and have just about forgotten the men in the business meeting. It flows right from the first scene to the second, so naturally. Brilliant.
    It's pretty cool to know that this is how life really is. There are all these strangers around us, and stories are happening in their lives on the same day that things are happening in our lives; and our stories intersect for a minute or less; and we never find out the rest of their story. The director of Tampopo showed us what some snippets of those stories might be; and we just enjoy it.

Loyalty

            When I watched the trailer for this movie, I thought it was going to be all about the psychology and the decisions of the parents in this story; but I ended up being much more interested in the boys' struggles and decisions.
       The two boys were not told, for a long time, that they had grown up with people who were not their real parents; in fact, I can't remember if anyone ever actually told them, but I felt like they kind of figured it out. They knew that weird stuff was going on, but they trusted that the adults knew what they were doing. The poor boy, though, didn't trust the adults as much. He wanted to know why the weird stuff was happening (wasn't that great? He was a never-give-in type like his blood father); and when nobody explained it, he took matters into his own hands and made his own judgement: his old family was his real family. Keita was more trusting. If his dad said, "Go live with this other family," he did it without a complaint, because his daddy told him to. He didn't understand, and he was very much hurt by his father saying "I don't love you as much as them,"  but he still obeyed his dad; because he's his dad. Keita was really hurt and confused. He loved his dad through anything; but his dad didn't reciprocate this loyalty.

           Some of the other bloggers were of the opinion that it would be attractive to go and live with a more "fun" dad. I think it would, slightly, be attractive; but when compared to my real dad, I'd take all his bad habits and his good, just because he's mine. Maybe that's just my personality, but I felt like that was where Keita stood, too. So, in the end, I thought that both boys always, throughout the whole story, regarded their old families as their real ones, and were always loyal to them, and only switched homes because of that loyalty.

           On the side, I was so relieved when the poor boy got to go back and live with his siblings. I have siblings, and I would be devastated to not only be sent to a new family, but to become an only child. No offense to only children, but gosh. I'd hate it.

           

Work our lives away

This was a good documentary; not one of those scripted things they show on TV that just makes you feel miserable because all the people are backbiting each other on camera. All the people in this documentary were courteous to each other, and often praised each other's work. Things as they should be.

Jiro's passion and faithfulness in his work made me think about animation a lot, and how much do I really care about it? How much am I willing to sacrifice to do well in it? How hard will I work? I think, also, that I saw in Jiro a certain amount of work ethic that was NOT something I want to imitate. I don't want animation to be my life; I want God's work to be my life, with animation being a part of that; animation as a means, not an end. I wonder why Jiro is so passionate about food. Is it because he has nothing else to devote his life to? He will probably die in his kitchen, and he encourages his sons to stick with this business their whole lives. Why does he think that spending your whole life in a kitchen (or we can plug in almost any other job) is worth it? Just to keep yourself living comfortably? Just to say you succeeded at greatness before you died? It seems to be very much in vain.

There were so many other interesting topics in this movie that I wish I had room to blog about. Jiro talked about how he misbehaved in school but still succeeded in the workforce, and the moviemakers made room in this film for Jiro's son to talk a bit about overfishing and why it is bad. You might not
expect to find such things in this sort of movie, but there they were, and they fit in seamlessly.

My favorite part of the movie was the fish auctioneers. It really was; despite the other good parts of the film.

Stories

I liked this movie a lot. This is the type of movie I would want to make someday. Can't say why. I guess I just liked how there were so many mini stories being told in one big story. I guess, maybe, it seems like more people are more likely to learn from a story that tells many stories; you know? If you make an hour long movie about just one story, maybe that story will hit home with a few people. But suppose you make a movie about 5 mini stories; isn't it likely that some of the mini stories will touch some people, and the other stories will touch the other people? It seems to me like these mini stories woven together make for more impact, because there's more variety, to match the variety of your audience.

Perhaps I also liked it just for its uniqueness. Who doesn't want to hear/tell a unique story?

So, two totally separate questions that I was wondering about:

Why is sitting with your mother under a clothesline a better memory to keep forever than a memory of Disneyland? What if your mother was at Disneyland with you? Would one be better than the other? What makes some memories worth keeping and others worth forgetting? Or are they all equally valuable?

One of the characters in this movie refused to choose a memory. He said it was his way of taking responsibility. How so? I really don't get that one.

The Mother and the Marriage

This movie was unlike any I had seen before, which was really a relief. I've been going to Signs and Wonders so long that I was beginning to fear I'd seen it all.

It was so strange to see the mixture of magic and historical accuracy. I've read a lot of old fairytales, and I'd say this movie completely fits into fairytale category. Fairytales are just plain weird because half the time nothing makes sense, and the characters always think everything makes sense.

If I remember correctly, an old lady at my church once mentioned a family that she knew who had this same tradition of one of the children staying at home until the parents died. I can't remember if it was the oldest child or the youngest; I think it was the oldest. I understand that parents ought not to be abandoned when they're old; but why can't a married child take care of the old parents? Doesn't that make more sense?

I think it was because of knowing that some people actually have this tradition that I at first tried to sympathize with Tita's mother. I thought she was just set in her ways and unreasonable, but not wicked. And when she constantly tried to keep Pedro and Tita apart after the wedding, I thought she did right (though she was really mean about it), because Pedro was married to Rosaura, and love is not an excuse for adultery. You know, he's the one who chose to marry Rosaura. I don't care why he did it, he ought to have been faithful to her, and Tita should've done right and let her sister have Pedro once she married him. Finally, though, (I think it was during the mother's bath) I had to admit that the mother was a total jerk, never mind the family traditions problem.

I did not like Pedro at all. He was plain selfish and stupid. Marry the one woman and ruin her life just to go around kissing her sister? Poor Rosaura. And as Tita said, why didn't Pedro just kidnap her at the beginning? It would've been so much better for everyone.

I want to end by saying that I applaud, like most people, when love is strong and lasts a long time through difficulties; but in this story, I thought the two lovers were wrong. They should have given up their faithfulness in romance for something better: faithfulness in marriage.

And I also want to say that I love Gertrudis. This is the best picture of her I could find

Plot Problems and other thoughts

So, I see that everybody else seems to have liked this movie a lot. So, I guess I will be the minority, because I thought this movie was boring. I thought it had a good plot at first, but then it stretched on and on, and then we get to the part about Daigo's dad dying, and the giving people rocks, and I was just like..."why is this in here? I thought this was a movie about death and life, and now we're on to talking about family issues?"

I loved the beginning scene showing all the performance of a Japanese burial preparation. I thought it was very interesting how they invited the family to "come closer and watch". I think I agree with Kayla though, that I don't think I would want to see one of my family members being washed for burial. I have been to a few family funerals, and it's weird and sad enough to just see them dead; then to see someone preparing their body for the coffin? Eee....

I was reading an article that talked about how the dead bodies were washed, and Daigo also spent a lot of his time washing himself in the bathhouse. I don't know what the point of that was, but it was kind of interesting.

I had a bit of a hard time with the character Mika. I know somebody else posted a blog about how adorable she was. I agree. She was adorable and self-sacrificing and wonderful, which is why I was shocked when she dumped her husband because he had a bad job. I know they consider that job unclean, but she was so willing to follow him and help him and cheer him up through anything... until that. I just had  a hard time believing her character would let us down at that point. Is it really that bad? Didn't she know somebody has to bury people?

The Trip

I thought it was funny. I thought they had a few interesting discussions. I was hardly ever bored (maybe because I was so busy trying to decipher their accents-especially Coogan's).

This movie was very conversation-driven, if that can be a term. We've shown a lot of those at S&W. Usually, I like the conversation-driven movies. They usually have fascinating ideas in them, and you never know what is coming next, and they go so quickly that your mind has to work to keep up. The Trip was not as fascinating as those other movies. Half their discussions were just silly, or they were singing.

So, this movie was pretty good, but not one of my favorites.

By the way, I'm curious about whether anyone thought about Coogan's accusation that Brydon avoided taking life seriously. I know Coogan was joking when he said it, but I think he meant it all the same. I'm of the opinion that people who act silly are not ignoring the serious things; they are just trying to remind people of the funny things.
Anybody agree with Coogan?

A Western with a Hero

I love this movie. It is so classic bad guy versus good guy, and the good totally wins. Plus it's funny.

I've watched a few westerns, and I can't say I really like any of them, mainly because the "good" guy is not really very good. It seems you're just supposed to consider him the hero because he's the main character of the story, even though his morals and actions are as messed up as everyone else's. In this story, I think Saburo is a hero completely worth admiring. He says he will do things for money, but as Kayla pointed out, he is not greedy: he gave away a lot of money to Nui's family. He does say it will be fun to fight the bad guys, but I don't see any problem with that. To fight evil is a good thing, so enjoy it.

There is one thing that Saburo does that bothered me: he didn't have any problem with lying. He even tried to deceive the old man into thinking that he wasn't a kind person. What was the point of that? Some would call it humility, but you don't need to be fake to be humble.

Lastly, on a different note, I loved the look of the cast of this movie. Many of the characters have such different silhouettes and stances, and are easily recognized from far away. The tiny constable, the bent over restaurant owner, the giant (obviously), the fat Ino. I just thought that was really cool.

All the Characters (well, three of them)

      This is the second time I have seen Spirited Away, and I definitely got a lot more out of it this time than last. The first time I watched it, I was very confused. I'd heard that it was based off of Japanese myths and folktales, but I think that confused rather than helped me. This second time I had a better idea of where the story was going, and I paid special attention to the characters, and especially to Chihiro's character transformation.
      Kayla pointed out that Chihiro's first act of selflessness was when she helped the little ashes carry the coal to the furnace. I think her character started to change even when she simply chose to trust Haku and go find the boiler man. She could have sat on the ground and pouted and made a scene and been turned into a pig, but she got up and went. Then she chose to be brave and insist that the boiler man give her a job, even though he wasn't at all friendly. Those were two big steps, and after that she just kept getting braver and more hardworking and less complaining....it was great.
     Lastly, I want to talk about Yubaba and Zeniba. They were so interesting, weren't they? Yubaba was greedy and had a lot of worldly wisdom. The first time I watched it, I thought she was the embodiment of evil; but she has her kind sides, such as caring (very poorly, but caring all the same) for her baby; also, she generally treats people gruffly, but she's not a tyrant, as long as they do a decent job and she gets her money. So, my point with Yubaba is, she's more of a human than a devil, I think. Her twin sister is actually quite similar. She's selfish, and if you're helpful to her, or if she takes a liking to you, she'll treat you well. If she doesn't like you, then watch out.
 

So many good characters