“Everywhere is the wind of heaven; round and above all are boundless sea and sky, infinite space and a great silence” — Katherine Routledge The familiar saying attributed to Charles Dudley Warner that “Everybody complains about the weather, but nobody does anything about it” is turned upside down by Japanese director Makoto Shinkai (“Your Name”)…
Mary and the Witch’s Flower, based on the English book “The Little Broomstick” by Mary Stewart, is the first female-led action action fantasy film exploding into theaters in 2018. Originally released in Japan in 2017 this new movie, engineered by some of the directors and animators behind classic cartoon adventures such as “Spirited Away,” “Howl’s…
From the opening frame to its final musical note, When Marnie Was There evokes bittersweet recall of childhood memories; a love-letter to breezy seaside holidays, passionate yet fleeting friendships, and the anxiety of growing into an adult world. Animation studio Studio Ghibli almost seems to have selected these themes to reflect their own farewell. In…
In an era where digital imaging allows anything from polymorphic robots to elongated super-limbs to be seamlessly integrated into live footage, animation could seem redundant. The old adage that “anything is possible in a cartoon” is no longer restricted to animation as anything is possible in any film. Yet we appear to be experiencing a…
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya is famed film director Isao Takahata’s first movie in 15 years. A labor of love that’s been eight years in the making, it draws inspiration from the 10th century tale “The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter,” one of Japan’s oldest surviving narratives about a girl who magically comes to…
Wolfy: The Incredible Secret is a family film that tries to straddle the divide between entertaining younger viewers and not boring parents to tears. The best family films are those that succeed in this straddling act while those that fall into the gap can fail to impress anyone. Wolfy: The Incredible Secret mostly succeeds in…
