Tag: #BanBossy

From Common Sense Media list of movies with strong female characters: http://www.commonsensemedia.org/lists/movies-with-strong-female-characters; http://www.commonsensemedia.org/ban-bossy

My Neighbor Totoro “Tonari no Totoro” (1988)

#140RVW

Miyazaki-san writes & directs an instant classic. His 4th picture is an as good as it gets child’s view of the world & its wonders. #catbus

宮崎さんは書いていると、インスタント古典的に指示します。それは、世界及びその驚異の子のビューを取得するように、彼の第四絵は良いです。＃のネコバス

What’s more:

My Neighbor Totoro became my favorite of Miyazaki’s features before I was halfway through the film. (Since I’m not always as brazenly enthusiastic about his films as my daughter, she warned me prior to watching that we would need to divide the house if I didn’t love this one. I swear that didn’t affect my judgment, though…)

People everywhere love Totoro and it’s easy to understand why. Even by the standards of Miyazaki, who has a well-deserved reputation for understanding the way children think and putting it on screen, Totoro has a child-like glee to it.

The man just seems to understand kids and their unique outlook on the world.

It was very interesting watching this 1988 86-minute film so soon after seeing his latest, 2013’s two-plus hour The Wind Rises. While I maintain my belief that his latest is the best of his works, I really loved My Neighbor Totoro for almost entirely different reasons.

Where in some of his other films, such as Ponyo & Spirited Away, I felt the strangeness of the worlds detracted from the narrative, Totoro has a straightforward story that is only enhanced by the otherworldly components.

This is a truly entertaining tale; if you removed Totoro and the Catbus and the Sootsprites it would still be a very good movie. The emotions and behaviors of the children is so authentic and tone perfect that you welcome the other characters – but you don’t need them. The children are driving the (cat)bus…

Poster:

Trailer:

Bechdel Test:

Pass

The Representation Test Score: A (14 pts)

(http://therepresentationproject.org/grading-hollywood-the-representation-test/)

Main Cast	Hitoshi Takagi Totoro (voice), Noriko Hidaka Satsuki (voice), Toshiyuki Amagasa Kanta (voice), Paul Butcher Kanta (voice: English version)
Rating	G
Release Date	Sat 16 Apr 1988 UTC
Director	Hayao Miyazaki
Genres	Animation, Drama, Family, Fantasy
Plot	When two girls move to the country to be near their ailing mother, they have adventures with the wonderous forest spirits who live nearby.
Poster
Runtime	86
Tagline
Writers	Hayao Miyazaki (written by)
Year	1988

March 10, 2014

Julie & Julia (2009)

#140RVW

To uncreatively borrow cooking motif, film equivalent of Chinese food; very good but you’ll be hungry again in an hour. Streep is Streep…

What’s more:

Julie & Julia plays out almost exactly as advertised. If the trailers looked interesting and funny to you, you’ll find the movie interesting and funny. If it doesn’t grab you, hey, you’re not going to miss anything by skipping it.

Countless words have been used in describing Meryl Streep’s talents, so I’m really not going to bother going on at length about her acting here; it’s fantastic. Better still is the interplay between her and Stanley Tucci. The relationship between Paul & Julia Child is a uniquely lovely and supporting partnership that is a delight to watch.

The main reason to see this movie isn’t the acting, though. It is the story. Two stories, really, as two women of entirely different time periods and lives strive to achieve something great. The stories are woven together by the always excellent Nora Ephron. The late Ephron both wrote and directed Julie & Julia, and it was her last film. It’s not her greatest work, but it is a nice capstone on a remarkable career. Bon appétit!