Movies

I’m gonna end the year with a post that might be better suited for Hot Takes: I just watched my first Miyazaki. It was Howl’s Moving Castle, and my reaction ran the gamut of “This is impenetrable” to “At least it looks great” to “This is childish, but not in the way that it’s capturing childlike wonder and more like it’s my three year old trying to make up a story on the fly.”

I know this thing is critically acclaimed, but apart from some of the visual creativity I was pretty much out on it.

I did really enjoy imagining Christian Bale standing in a room trying to deliver a performance grounded in…anything. Billy Crystal is in a completely different movie from everyone else.

Someone please tell me this is a weird entry point and one of the other Ghibli efforts would have impressed me more. Was my mistake in watching the dub first?
 
Indymisanthrope said:
I’m gonna end the year with a post that might be better suited for Hot Takes: I just watched my first Miyazaki. It was Howl’s Moving Castle, and my reaction ran the gamut of “This is impenetrable” to “At least it looks great” to “This is childish, but not in the way that it’s capturing childlike wonder and more like it’s my three year old trying to make up a story on the fly.”

I know this thing is critically acclaimed, but apart from some of the visual creativity I was pretty much out on it.

I did really enjoy imagining Christian Bale standing in a room trying to deliver a performance grounded in…anything. Billy Crystal is in a completely different movie from everyone else.

Someone please tell me this is a weird entry point and one of the other Ghibli efforts would have impressed me more. Was my mistake in watching the dub first?
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I absolutely love this movie but it is a real mess narratively. It’s all vibes.

I’d maybe do Castle in the Sky for a straightforward action adventure that still has all Miyazaki’s hallmarks.
 
Indymisanthrope said:
I’m gonna end the year with a post that might be better suited for Hot Takes: I just watched my first Miyazaki. It was Howl’s Moving Castle, and my reaction ran the gamut of “This is impenetrable” to “At least it looks great” to “This is childish, but not in the way that it’s capturing childlike wonder and more like it’s my three year old trying to make up a story on the fly.”

I know this thing is critically acclaimed, but apart from some of the visual creativity I was pretty much out on it.

I did really enjoy imagining Christian Bale standing in a room trying to deliver a performance grounded in…anything. Billy Crystal is in a completely different movie from everyone else.

Someone please tell me this is a weird entry point and one of the other Ghibli efforts would have impressed me more. Was my mistake in watching the dub first?
Click to expand...
This was my entry point, I watched it on tv when I was a kid and was completely enthralled. I still love it, but it's def a bit more scattered and flawed than his very best. Try Totoro and Spirited Away next. Otherwise he may just not be your thing.
 
Indymisanthrope said:
I’m gonna end the year with a post that might be better suited for Hot Takes: I just watched my first Miyazaki. It was Howl’s Moving Castle, and my reaction ran the gamut of “This is impenetrable” to “At least it looks great” to “This is childish, but not in the way that it’s capturing childlike wonder and more like it’s my three year old trying to make up a story on the fly.”

I know this thing is critically acclaimed, but apart from some of the visual creativity I was pretty much out on it.

I did really enjoy imagining Christian Bale standing in a room trying to deliver a performance grounded in…anything. Billy Crystal is in a completely different movie from everyone else.

Someone please tell me this is a weird entry point and one of the other Ghibli efforts would have impressed me more. Was my mistake in watching the dub first?
Click to expand...
I’m in the minority on this one, but it’s actually one of my least favorite Miyazaki films. I just didn’t gel with it much at all. I don’t find the story super compelling either. You should try Spirited Away (classic) or Princess Mononoke (more serious). I don’t get the love for Howl honestly.
 
Bennnnn said:
I’m in the minority on this one, but it’s actually one of my least favorite Miyazaki films. I just didn’t gel with it much at all. I don’t find the story super compelling either. You should try Spirited Away (classic) or Princess Mononoke (more serious). I don’t get the love for Howl honestly.
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When the scarecrow mystery finally resolves and dude’s ONLY line is a breathless “I’M THE PRINCE WHO WAS MISSING ALL ALONG AND SOMEHOW I GOT TURNED INTO A SCARECROW AND IF NOT FOR LOVE’S TRUE KISS I WOULD HAVE STAYED THIS WAY FOREVER WAIT OH SHE LOVES SOMEONE ELSE OKAY TTFN” it was almost like a send-up. I haven’t heard my wife cackle like that in a while.
 
Indymisanthrope said:
When the scarecrow mystery finally resolves and dude’s ONLY line is a breathless “I’M THE PRINCE WHO WAS MISSING ALL ALONG AND SOMEHOW I GOT TURNED INTO A SCARECROW AND IF NOT FOR LOVE’S TRUE KISS I WOULD HAVE STAYED THIS WAY FOREVER WAIT OH SHE LOVES SOMEONE ELSE OKAY TTFN” it was almost like a send-up. I haven’t heard my wife cackle like that in a while.
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Yeah, that gives you an idea of how much Miyazaki cared about the political machinations vs ‘young girl becomes elderly,’ and ‘himbo wizard is actually a vain manchild who traded his soul for power and put himself at the whims of a bellicose government.’

He also picked up this movie mid-production as it was abandoned by Mamoru Hosoda due to creative differences, so you can see the seams where he was trying to wrangle a project that wasn’t his and turn it into A Miyazaki Film with themes that personally interested him.

Nevertheless, I think it’s ravishingly beautiful, and the score is amazing, and I really groove with the Howl/Sophie dynamic and the way the movie addresses aging and the feeling of becoming invisible.
 
Indymisanthrope said:
I’m gonna end the year with a post that might be better suited for Hot Takes: I just watched my first Miyazaki. It was Howl’s Moving Castle, and my reaction ran the gamut of “This is impenetrable” to “At least it looks great” to “This is childish, but not in the way that it’s capturing childlike wonder and more like it’s my three year old trying to make up a story on the fly.”

I know this thing is critically acclaimed, but apart from some of the visual creativity I was pretty much out on it.

I did really enjoy imagining Christian Bale standing in a room trying to deliver a performance grounded in…anything. Billy Crystal is in a completely different movie from everyone else.

Someone please tell me this is a weird entry point and one of the other Ghibli efforts would have impressed me more. Was my mistake in watching the dub first?
Click to expand...
You honestly can't go wrong with wither dub or sub on most Ghibli movies, so I doubt the original voice cast would rectify your experience.

Howl's is often mentioned in people's top Ghibli movies, but it is a rather odd entry being an adaptation of a western novel. I much prefer Miyazaki's full originals Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind and Princess Mononoke.
 
EvanBenner said:
Howl's is often mentioned in people's top Ghibli movies, but it is a rather odd entry being an adaptation of a western novel. I much prefer Miyazaki's full originals Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind and Princess Mononoke.
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To be fair, it’s often also considered his worst, and its flaws are glaringly apparent. The only real debate is how much they matter.
 
kvetcha said:
also I love when Howl throws a temper tantrum and just slumps to the ground and covers everything in ooze. sometimes it do be like that.
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I almost said in my first post that my favorite scene was when he turns to goo and she’s like, “Ugh, what a whiny bitch.”

But actually I think my favorite scene was Sophie and the witch both struggling up the palace steps while dozens of men do nothing to help.
 
For those unfamiliar, Indiewire critic David Erhlich does a (fantastic) supercut for his favorite movies of the year, and for the last several, he's done a gofundme for various charities before he decides to make it. He's posted this year's if anybody is interested!

www.gofundme.com

Spende für Help support the Palestine Children's Relief Fund!, organisiert von David Ehrlich

Hi, my name is David, I'm a film critic, and every year I cut… David Ehrlich braucht deine Unterstützung für Help support the Palestine Children's Relief Fund!
www.gofundme.com
 
gaporter said:
I remember seeing a tweet a while back that suggested going through each month and picking the best movie that you watched for the first time that month. I thought it sounded like a fun idea so I used Letterboxd to look back through my first-time viewings this year and this is what I came up with:

January: Silence (2016)
February: Nightmare Alley (2021)
March: The Batman
April: The Northman
May: The Devils (1971)
June: Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe
July: Michael Clayton (2007)
August: The Night House (2020)
September: Mad God (2021)
October: The Invisible Man (1933)
November: The Curse of Frankenstein (1957)
December: Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio
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I decided to do this again for 2023; I think it's a fun experiment and a nice way to look back on what all I watched throughout the year, so maybe this will become a little tradition for me every January 1st. I feel obliged to note that some months I watched maybe two or three new movies at most, so I'm not saying that I think every movie listed here is necessarily a masterpiece, just that they were my favorite thing I watched for the first time that given month.

January: High and Low (1963)
February: The Virgin Suicides (1999)
March: John Wick: Chapter 4
April: Liar Liar (1997)
May: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
June: Galaxy Quest (1999)
July: Oppenheimer
August: Talk to Me
September: The Phantom of the Opera (1925)
October: Carnival of Souls (1962)
November: Blade (1998)
December: Jennifer's Body (2009)
 
This is an inexact science because I didn't start my Letterbox til the end of September and then went back and guessed when I had watched what--

January: Pearl
February: Return to Seoul
March: Aliens (yeah, I know)
April: Starship Troopers
May: Titane
June: Asteroid City
July: How to Blow Up a Pipeline
August: Oppenheimer
September: Bottoms
October: Killers of the Flower Moon
November: Kramer vs Kramer
December: Poor Things
 
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