Studio Ghibli is Japan's most successful animation studio, with helmers Hayao Miyazaki ("Spirited Away," "My Neighbor Totoro") and Isao Takahata ("Grave of The Fireflies," "The Tale of Princess Kaguya") creating a bonanza for producer/prexy Toshio Suzuki. Generously adorned with clips from their films and their influences, the docu follows Ghibli's arc from a mid-'60s rebellion against working conditions at Toei Co. to its present powerhouse position, complete with public fun park. All interviews are illuminating, but Miyazaki is teasingly confined to pic's tete-a-tete finale with esteemed French comic artist Jean "Moebius" Giraud. Meeting of the wizened European, whose imprint is on films from "Blade Runner" to "The Fifth Element," and the apparently relaxed Nipponese helmer makes an interesting contrast, and will be of special interest to Francophiles. All credits are impeccable
Self - Interviewee
Studio Ghibli is Japan's most successful animation studio, with helmers Hayao Miyazaki ("Spirited Away," "My Neighbor Totoro") and Isao Takahata ("Grave of The Fireflies," "The Tale of Princess Kaguya") creating a bonanza for producer/prexy Toshio Suzuki. Generously adorned with clips from their films and their influences, the docu follows Ghibli's arc from a mid-'60s rebellion against working conditions at Toei Co. to its present powerhouse position, complete with public fun park. All interviews are illuminating, but Miyazaki is teasingly confined to pic's tete-a-tete finale with esteemed French comic artist Jean "Moebius" Giraud. Meeting of the wizened European, whose imprint is on films from "Blade Runner" to "The Fifth Element," and the apparently relaxed Nipponese helmer makes an interesting contrast, and will be of special interest to Francophiles. All credits are impeccable
2005-01-07
6.6
The phantasmagorical world of Japan's most famed anime house is delightfully unfurled for beginners and devotees in
A recently widowed, now single father struggles to raise his sixth-grade son with autism. The pressure of his job and coping with the loss of his wife proves to push him nearly to the breaking point.
Six escaped convicts and their female hostage make a desperate run for the Mexican border, where they stumble across a lost treasure of untold wealth, and find certain death instead on the Arizona desert.
Filmed over 3 years in Homs, accompanying 2 outstanding young men from the time they were only dreaming of freedom to the time when they are forced to change course. Basset, the 19yo national football team goalkeeper, who became an outspoken demonstration leader in the city, then an icon revolution singer, till he becomes a fighter... a militia leader. Ossama, his 24yo friend, renowned citizen journalist, cynical pacifist... as his views are forced to change, until he is detained by army secret service. It is the story of a city, of which the world have heard a lot, but never really got closer than news, never really had the chance to experience how a war erupted. a modern times epic of youth in war time.
As a result of a successful conspiracy against Menshikov, Peter II is prematurely recognized as an adult and is in a hurry to be crowned in Moscow. The Dolgoruky brothers gather for this celebration. There were eight of them - all-powerful and influential representatives of the ancient Rurikovich family - and among them the beautiful Ekaterina, the daughter of the huntsman Alexei.
Christian Slater is a stranger who comes to a small town. The local citizens think he's up to no good. After bothering him for a while, he blurts out in frustration, that he is there to kill himself.
The powerful evil wizard Tarabas gets knowledge about a prophecy that a king's child will defeat him. So he sends out his army of dead soldiers to kidnap all royal children. When the soldiers attack Fantaghiro's castle to steal the babies of her sisters, the battle seems to be lost until she discovers the secret to defeat the solders but by doing that she loses Romualdo. Now Fantaghiro must find the evil wizard Tarabas and convince him to break the spell and bring back Romualdo.
When twin girls are found dead in their family’s barn, reality star turned TV-reporter Meredith Phillips and her de-facto camera crew are dispatched to rural Wisconsin to investigate the gruesome deaths. In their relentless drive to break the story, the reporters become entangled in a deadly mystery and uncover the small town’s shocking secret. Edited together from the crew’s multiple cameras, the film documents their struggle to survive the most terrifying night of their lives and becomes the only evidence of a crime too horrific to imagine.
Not many people know that every house is secretly inhabited by little monsters! These furry creatures take care of a family’s house but cannot be seen. Finnick is a little monster, who doesn’t seem to care about his responsibility of making a home out of the house. But everything changes after a new family comes to his house. When Finn meets 13-year-old Christine, inexplicable events begin to happen in the city and life will never be the same again!
A large number of drugs enter Kazakhstan from Afghanistan. To stop this, a special group must be created. The Ministry decides to send intelligence officer Oraz and two of his friends there, who participated in the war in Afghanistan and know the country well. The three veterans are joined by a young scout who despises the "old men". They will have to solve the drug problem, despite the conflict between two generations.
A few years ago, a mysterious serial-killer caused panic on Crippen High School. The killer was never caught. A movie company, Cosmic Pictures, has decided to make a feature movie about these events - on location, at the now abandoned school. Since members of cast and crew disappear without a trace, it seems as if history is repeating itself...
In the third film of the Lone Wolf and Cub series, Ogami Itto volunteers to be tortured by Yakuza to save a prostitute and is hired by their leader to kill an evil chamberlain.
A Romance of the Three Kingdoms retelling using SD Gundams. (Source: Myanimelist.net)
After being away for awhile, Andy Taylor returns home to Mayberry to visit Opie, now an expectant father. While there he ends up helping Barney Fife mount a campaign for sheriff.
Carlo descends on his former lover's unsuspecting family and the scheming Rocco tries to break up his old rival Marcello's wedding.
Explore the myths and legends that inhabit the real world of Harry Potter. Follow award-winning documentary filmmakers as they offer insights to witches, wizards, Greek gods, ancient Celts, ghosts, magical creatures, alchemy, and ancient spells. Narrated by British actor Hugh Laurie, this fascinating documentary brings new dimensions to the historical and scientific world behind the Harry Potter series.
A documentary about the Ghibli Museum. It features Goro Miyazaki speaking with Isao Takahata about the "charm" of the museum and its various influences. Goro tours the viewer around the museum, explaining the intricate details that his father, Hayao Miyazaki made during its construction. The documentary highlights the strong European influences in the museum's architecture, featuring footage of the medieval mountainous city of Calcata in Italy and the historic port city of Genoa, which Miyazaki had visited in the past. These trips would go on to influencing the imagery seen in Castle in the Sky, Kiki's Delivery Service, Porco Rosso, and Spirited Away.
Stepping closer and closer to his retirement, Hayao Miyazaki has no other means, but to choose up a new director. Ghibli's given some creative freedoms in the past, but they hardly lasted. Maro, an animator of 37 years. has done a good deed of works in his prior days. Thus, Miyazaki-san decides to appoint him as a new director for the upcoming feature of 'Arrietty the Borrower'.
A contemporary look at the creation and evolution of Studio Ghibli, from ‘The Great Adventure of Horus, Prince of the Sun’ (1968) to ‘Princess Mononoke’ (1997).
Follows the behind-the-scenes work of Studio Ghibli, focusing on the notable figures Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata, and Toshio Suzuki.
In Italy in the 1930s, sky pirates in biplanes terrorize wealthy cruise ships as they sail the Adriatic Sea. The only pilot brave enough to stop the scourge is the mysterious Porco Rosso, a former World War I flying ace who was somehow turned into a pig during the war. As he prepares to battle the pirate crew's American ace, Porco Rosso enlists the help of spunky girl mechanic Fio Piccolo and his longtime friend Madame Gina.
The Yamadas are a typical middle class Japanese family in urban Tokyo and this film shows us a variety of episodes of their lives. With tales that range from the humorous to the heartbreaking, we see this family cope with life's little conflicts, problems, and joys in their own way.
The Raccoons of the Tama Hills are being forced from their homes by the rapid development of houses and shopping malls. As it becomes harder to find food and shelter, they decide to band together and fight back. The Raccoons practice and perfect the ancient art of transformation until they are even able to appear as humans in hilarious circumstances.
At Kichijōji Station, Tokyo, Taku Morisaki glimpses a familiar woman on the platform opposite boarding a train. Later, her photo falls from a shelf as he exits his apartment before flying to Kōchi Prefecture. Picking it up, he looks at it briefly before leaving. As the aeroplane takes off, he narrates the events that brought her into his life...
Something bizarre has come over the land. The kingdom is deteriorating. People are beginning to act strange... What's even more strange is that people are beginning to see dragons, which shouldn't enter the world of humans. Due to all these bizarre events, Ged, a wandering wizard, is investigating the cause. During his journey, he meets Prince Arren, a young distraught teenage boy. While Arren may look like a shy young teen, he has a severe dark side, which grants him strength, hatred, ruthlessness and has no mercy, especially when it comes to protecting Teru. For the witch Kumo this is a perfect opportunity. She can use the boy's "fears" against the very one who would help him, Ged.
The dialogue-less film follows the major life stages of a castaway on a deserted tropical island populated by turtles, crabs and birds.
Ex flower child goes looking for revolutionary hero and finds a brilliant no-quitter with a good appetite.
On Valentine's Day, 1993, Caveh Zahedi decided to ingest 5 grams (a very large dose) of hallucinogenic mushrooms. For the first time in his mushroom-taking history, he had an experience of "divine possession," in which he felt that a divine being took possession of his body and spoke through him, in a voice that was not his, and with knowledge that he himself did not possess. He later tried several times to repeat the experience. I WAS POSSESSED BY GOD is the documentary record of one such attempt.
Jerry Wald has to write about radio, visiting Sid Gary gives him the tip it might be more easy for him to write this article at the radio station than at his newspaper office. At the studio they listen to the Boswell Sister's rehearsal, which is interupted by some not so friendly remarks by orchestra leader Abe Lyman, they listen at the door, where a Colonel Stoopnagel broadcast is prepared, as well as to the rehearsal of a new song for an broadcast by Kate Smith.
Filmed in 1938, less than a decade before Indian independence, Delhi has a curious tale to tell. ‘Delhi’, the viewer is informed, ‘is the cockpit of the Indian Empire’, it provides the ‘gateway to the riches of the south’. The opening sections of the film focus upon those who have tried and failed to establish a lasting power in the capital. ‘At Delhi’, the commentator states, ‘successive cities have been built by conquering invaders – each has fallen into disuse and decay’. The camerawork focuses on the ‘impressive ruins’ of these earlier invaders. Although the film also depicts the enduring architecture of Muslim rulers, such as Akbar and Shahjahan, it is stressed that their power has been superseded. Legend has it that it will be the ninth city of Delhi that ‘will endure and will rule forever’. Shahjahan had built the eighth.
No other country in the world has the same kind of affection and admiration toward Walt Disney and his art and characters as Italy. His movies are legendary and his stories belong to the collective imagination of generations of Italians who grew up with his world of dreams and hopes. This documentary explores this love story.
The DVD MY DEAR FRIEND opens the retrospective series of work of Chico Buarque, highlighting some of his passions: the city of Rio de Janeiro and its partners and friends. "I kept an almost alien look on Rio I still have a relationship with the city of wonder. " Friends, partners and songs will be happening in the first episode of the series, in a relaxed and intimate way.
This pioneering documentary film depicts the lives of the indigenous Inuit people of Canada's northern Quebec region. Although the production contains some fictional elements, it vividly shows how its resourceful subjects survive in such a harsh climate, revealing how they construct their igloo homes and find food by hunting and fishing. The film also captures the beautiful, if unforgiving, frozen landscape of the Great White North, far removed from conventional civilization.
Commissioned to make a propaganda film about the 1936 Olympic Games in Germany, director Leni Riefenstahl created a celebration of the human form. This first half of her two-part film opens with a renowned introduction that compares modern Olympians to classical Greek heroes, then goes on to provide thrilling in-the-moment coverage of some of the games' most celebrated moments, including African-American athlete Jesse Owens winning a then-unprecedented four gold medals.
Commissioned to make a propaganda film about the 1936 Olympic Games in Germany, director Leni Riefenstahl created a celebration of the human form. Where the two-part epic's first half, Festival of the Nations, focused on the international aspects of the 1936 Olympic Games held in Berlin, part two, The Festival of Beauty, concentrates on individual athletes such as equestrians, gymnasts, and swimmers, climaxing with American Glenn Morris' performance in the decathalon and the games' majestic closing ceremonies.