I am wishing I lived in Toronto, and considering spending the Xmas/New Years holidays there, just so I can attend Spirited Away: The Films of Studio Ghibli. They will be playing pretty much every Ghibli film ever made, starting on December 24th with Castle in the Sky, Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro, and Kiki’s Delivery Service, all masterpieces by Hayao Miyazaki. I have only seen a small handful on the big screen, it would be amazing to see the entire collection presented that way. That is starting exactly one month from today, if you happen to make this event be sure to tell me all about it!
I have been looking forward to Moana, and it finally kicks off today! How about a few of the songs just to get you ready? The first is We Know The Way, written and performed by Opetaia Foa‘i and Lin-Manuel Miranda, the second is How Far I’ll Go sung by Alessia Cara, and they are both addictive little tunes you will not be able to get out of your heads very quickly.
Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine has been one of my favorite X-Men characters from the beginning, so when we hit March 3rd I will be in the theaters to see Logan, the third film in the set. Pretty much the only thing I didn’t like about any of the movies was the poorly thought out decision to sew Deadpool’s lips shut in the second one. I suppose the had to do that though or risk the characters outrageous dialog pulling attention away from the protagonist and the story they were trying to tell.
The stylish thriller Evolution will be in theaters this week, but it seems fairly close to horror based on the trailer I saw. Because of that I will not be one of the folks watching it. I also find it a tiny bit confusing that the only web site I could find for this French movie is in Japan, but that could be my search engine stats being out of whack from all the Anime and J-Rock I google.
The wonderful animation Kubo and the Two Strings comes out this week, if you missed it in the theaters you definitely want to catch it now. It is also one of the best instances of stop motion filming I have seen, possibly surpassing Box Trolls. Kevin Smith’s Yoga Hosers is also out this week, a sort of horror-comedy from Canada. Even though it isn’t genre I do have to mention Mechanic: Resurrection, if you are in the mood for action it is the film to watch this week.
In Anime Aquarion Logos: Part 1 is the first 6 episodes of Season 3 of the Aquarion series. The battle is between text and voice to determine which parts of the world are erased and which are saved. Likewise Gatchaman Crowds Insight is season 2 of the Gatchaman Crowds series, in which select Humans and Aliens wear suits which help them manifest their special powers and protect the Earth. Asterisk War Part 2 is the second half of the first season, and since there is a second season I expect waiting until they put the entire thing out in a single box set for a more reasonable price is the way to go.
The band MetaFive gets better with every new song they release, and they were excellent to start off with. The first track is the Studio Live version of Chemical posted on November 2nd, the second is Musical Chairs posted 5 days later on the 7th. Both songs are from their latest release: METAHALF, a five track MiniAlbum.