Animationathon

Watched a bunch of animated films over the last few days, 3 Miyazaki's and 3 stop motion animated films, including all the nominees for Best Animated feature at the Oscars, otherwise known as "Holy Shit we can't give some kids cartoon best film it will make us look like retards, lets create there own category award". Anyway I think they made the right decision going with W&G

Lots to cover so some of these will be short

Howl's Moving Castle

Not quite as great as Spirited Away but its still full of wonderful ideas and some crazy ones that make you question what the Japanese are smoking. Two Thumbs Up

Wallace and Gromit in the Curse of the Were-rabbit

Enjoyed it even more than the first time I saw it, its so full of sight gags that I spotted a whole bunch of jokes I missed the last time. Two Thumbs Up

Corpse Bride

Not quite up to the heights of TNBC, but good none the less, I really liked that the living were dark and gothic and the dead were colourful and lively. Thumbs Up

The Nightmare Before Christmas

Brilliant, Two thumbs Up

My Neighbor Totoro

Was slightly disapointed by this but that is usually the case with most films that get hyped up, all the bits with Totoro in them are brilliant but that makes up only about 30 minutes of the 90 minute running time, the rest is just a good family story. Thumbs Up

Nausicaa Of The Valley Of The Wind

Miyazaki's second feature, but his first original piece of work, his first feature was a Lupin the third pic. Establishes a lot of the themes that reappear in his other films, though his don't fuck with the environment message is a bit overbearing in this one. Great action adventures scenes as usual. Thumbs Up

Non-animated stuff

BoogeyMan

Surprised by this in that it wasn't completely shit, but in the long run it is a story about a grown man who is scared of cupboards. Thumbs Down

Brokeback Mountain

Beautifully shot and well acted but I came away felling a bit is that it?, if the cowboys hadn't have been gay I do not think this would have got half the praise it did. Thumbs in the middle

Into the Blue

My brain hurts just thinking about how dumb this is, if seeing Jessica Alba's hard nips in a bikini for an hour and a half is your thing then you might enjoy this. Despite that I thought it was crap, Thumbs Down

Dark Star

How do you review a film where one of the characters is an alien that is little more than a beach ball with feet. Its the only John Carpenter I hadn't seen and was also on my 100 to see before I die list. Some crazy shit going on in this but not enough Carpenter synthesiser for my liking. Thumbs in the middle

New DVD's

A Very Long Engagement - Been waiting for this to be cheap for a while to round out my Jean Pierre Jeunet collection, so £6 bargain

The Wedding Crashers - a lesson in not buying DVD's when they come out any more at £5 a couple of months after release, bargain