Cinema is Dope

[ View Image (1024×768) ]

Vintage Movie Wallpaper of the Day
Friday, August 22, 2008

This Hayao Miyazaki anime is rated as one of the best sci-fi films ever made of any kind! I’ve yet to see it and I’m thinking the wait is long overdue.

Japanese Cinema:
::: Jason Gray
::: Mark Schilling’s Tokyo Ramen
::: Midnight Eye
::: Nippon Cinema
::: Outcast Cinema
::: Ryuganji
::: Toronto J-Film Pow-Wow

Amazon.com Link:
::: Buy the Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind DVD

(Read more…)

[ View Image (1024×628) ]

Bounty hunter Porco Rosso and his seaplane in Hayao Miyazaki’s fantasy anime, Kurenai no buta aka Porco Rosso.

Japanese Cinema:
::: Jason Gray
::: Mark Schilling’s Tokyo Ramen
::: Midnight Eye
::: Nippon Cinema
::: Outcast Cinema
::: Ryuganji
::: Toronto J-Film Pow-Wow

Amazon.com Link:
Buy the Porco Rosso DVD

(Read more…)

[ View Image (1024×616) ]

More sweeping majestic fantasy from Hayao Miyazaki with Kiki’s Delivery Service (Majo no takkyûbin). The expression of Jiji the black cat is pretty funny in this still!

Japanese Cinema:
::: Jason Gray
::: Mark Schilling’s Tokyo Ramen
::: Midnight Eye
::: Nippon Cinema
::: Outcast Cinema
::: Ryuganji
::: Toronto J-Film Pow-Wow

Amazon.com Link:
Buy the Kiki’s Delivery Service DVD

(Read more…)

[ View Image (1024×554) ]

New Cinema Wallpaper of the Day
Tuesday, August 12, 2008

“No one but Miyazaki could have created anything like these moments, with anything like his mastery. If “Ponyo” is the start of his artistic second childhood, I say welcome to the sandbox,” says Mark Schilling about Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea over at the Japan Times (read here). This is great advance word on what is sure to be one of the best fairy tale and fantasy films of 2008… well probably 2009 for US audiences.

Japanese Cinema:
::: Jason Gray
::: Mark Schilling’s Tokyo Ramen
::: Midnight Eye
::: Nippon Cinema
::: Outcast Cinema
::: Ryuganji
::: Toronto J-Film Pow-Wow

SYNOPSIS

This is the story of Ponyo, a little fish from the sea who struggles to realize her dream of living with a boy named Sosuke. It also tells of how five-year old Sosuke manages to keep a most solemn promise.

Ponyo On The Cliff By The Sea places Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid in a contemporary Japanese setting. It is a tale of childhood love and adventure.

A little seaside town and a house at the top of a cliff. A small cast of characters. The ocean as a living presence. A world where magic and alchemy are accepted as part of the ordinary.

The sea below, like our subconscious mind, intersects with the wave-tossed surface above. By distorting normal space and contorting normal shapes, the sea is animated not as a backdrop to the story, but as one of its principal characters.

A little boy and a little girl, love and responsibility, the ocean and life - these things, and that which is most elemental to them, are depicted in the most basic way in ponyo on the cliff by the sea. This is my response to the afflictions and uncertainty of our times.

- Hayao Miyazaki

(Read more…)

[ View Image (1024×625) ]

The fantasy cinema of Hayao Miyazaki takes full flight in this timeless and classic image from My Neighbor Totoro.

Japanese Cinema:
::: Jason Gray
::: Mark Schilling’s Tokyo Ramen
::: Midnight Eye
::: Nippon Cinema
::: Outcast Cinema
::: Ryuganji
::: Toronto J-Film Pow-Wow

Amazon.com Link:
Buy the My Neighbor Totoro DVD

(Read more…)