Hayao Miyazaki’s films for Studio Ghibli are always enchanting, and The Secret World of Arrietty is especially so. I watched this film on my birthday, and I’ve been thinking about it ever since. Unlike many of the fast-paced animated films currently in theaters, The Secret World of Arrietty takes its time, filling the screen with […]
Tag Archives: film
The Moon has a Thousand Faces
In preparation for a film panel at WisCon 37, I’ve been catching up on my sci-fi and fantasy films. (More about my WisCon panels in another post.) So I finally got around to seeing Duncan Jones’ mesmerizing film Moon. To dismiss this film as an ordinary sci-fi thriller is really an injustice, since Moon pays […]
Roger Ebert
Of all the arts, movies are the most powerful aid to empathy, and good ones make us into better people. – Roger Ebert Roger Ebert died yesterday. When I heard the news, I felt a great sense of grief and loss, as if one of my dearest friends had been taken from me. I trusted […]
Rereading The Hobbit
I’ve loved J.R.R. Tolkien fiercely for many years. When I finally got to see The Hobbit on the big screen, I was simultaneously entranced, delighted, and dismayed. Very mixed feelings. I think I’ll have to see the film at least three more times before I’ll know how I REALLY feel. I got home from the […]
Film Series: Buena Vista Social Club
I’m focusing on documentaries this year for my local film discussion series, and we kicked things off on Thursday with Wim Wenders’ musical documentary Buena Vista Social Club. As he follows the lives of Ibrahim Ferrer, Compay Segundo, and other legends of Cuban jazz, Wim Wenders works with great elegance and subtlety. I always sense […]
Fantasy matters a lot
…so says Neil Gaiman, who was the keynote speaker at the Fantasy Matters Conference this weekend in Minneapolis. He read the opening chapter of his new (as-yet-unfinished) novel The Graveyard Book, which was really quite charming, spooky, and lovely. I gave a scholarly presentation on Peter Jackson and Hayao Miyazaki, and I was very glad […]