Last movie you've watched

metaphor? seemed pretty literal to me

Spirited Away is quite wonderful. I would recommend it to anyone who likes anything magical at all.

Having a kid means weā€™ve watched all of the Miyazaki movies a lot, because they are basically much better than all of the Disney movies.

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I agree it is better and very different from Disney animated films.

Spirited Away is also quite popular with my youngest daughterā€™s friends who are thirty somethings.

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The Castle in the Sky is my favorite

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They are different weā€™ve seen most of the Disney films and most of the Miyazaki films.

At their best the Disney films are as good as many of the Miyazaki but unlike Disney that has its share of clunkers I canā€™t recall any really weak Miyazaki films, maybe Whisper of the Heart?

Well Grave of Fireflies was really good but not a kids movie at all and not one I wanted to watch a second time.

You say that but those of my generation who grew up with Miyazaki all watched it as a kid (and probably grew up to say thatā€™s not for kids, which is hypocritical imo).

Thereā€™s not much thatā€™s not for kids these days. Itā€™s more that adults donā€™t want kids to watch them. But kids can handle almost anything.

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Ok, itā€™s a kids movie then. I think some American audiences may not really agree with you but thatā€™s fine.

But those audiences are probably all adults.
I have trouble with adults saying things arenā€™t for kids when they all grew up doing the same things and hating our parents to saying things arenā€™t for kids.
I thought we all wanted to not be like our parents. This is our chance. Letā€™s not repeat our parentsā€™ mistakes.

The Fabelmans (Netflix Disc) A very good, and enjoyable film, seemingly more true than the other ā€œbiopicsā€ this year. Well acted and the story was interesting. For the Oscars will be interesting if they go more traditional (or Everything, Everywhere originality). Blanchett will get the Actress Oscar. Hirschā€™s role, while pivotal and strong was just one scene.

Halloween Ends (Prime) My anal retentive nature made be watch the whole series. The first of the last trilogy was not bad at all, the last two were cringe worthy. Any new ones w/o JLC I will skip.

Barbarian (HBO Max) Very enjoyable horror. It started in one direction with the two people, ten when I was buckling in for an hour of torture it basically did a restart.

Itā€™s the first time in years that both the Best Actor (Fraser, Butler) and Best Actress (Blanchett, Yeoh) have been close. Blanchett is the narrow favorite but sheā€™s already won two Oscars and Michelle Yeoh would be a feel-good story for first Asian best actress winner.

Sentiment doesnā€™t always win out though - Chadwick Boseman was meant to be a sentimental shoe-in but Anthony Hopkins ended up winning a couple of years ago. Yeoh is timing it well though - she just won the SAG best actress award.

Grave of the Fireflies was not directed by Miyazaki, and yes JSM is right it was a ā€œkidsā€ movie ā€“ it was literally released as a double-feature with Totoro.

My kid has no seen it. I suspect my kid would enjoy it. My wife would not.

Yeah, itā€™s a bit unfair because there are hundreds of Disneys and of course my kid likes all of them, rather than theā€¦ I donā€™t knowā€¦ 4 good ones.

And yeah, I donā€™t know, Whisper of the Heart was boring, but Iā€™d also give it credit for being quite unique. Thereā€™s not a lot of shows that can talk to teenagers finding their place in the world, without that ā€œplaceā€ being some ridiculous adventure.

ā€œCarole King: Home Again - Live in Central Parkā€

Had not been to a movie theatre since the onset of COVID but could not resist going to one last night with my wife to see the documentary of Carole Kingā€™s 1973 Central Park concert. It was excellent but can not compare to a live concert, of course. Most folks on this forum are too young to be fans of this incredible woman but anyone who is should love the movie.

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Havenā€™t seen The Whale yet. Butler, while really good, wouldnā€™t be considered if we werenā€™t judging the Elvis impersonation, as opposed to the quality of the acting. Frazier would be a sentimental pick as physical issues seemed to derail a top film career

I would lean to Yeoh, but Blanchett was the movie and had a crying close-up

Even Hopkins didnā€™t think he was going to win.

Only because she is a local icon, I watched ā€œPamela, A Love Storyā€ on Netflix. It was better than I expected.

I was not aware of her personal history and there are many sad parallels to Marilyn Monroeā€™s life. At least Pamela Anderson was not as tragic a figure as Marilyn. Pamela at least seems to have found herself by returning to her roots on Vancouver Island.

Fair point. I loved Wizard of Oz as a 5yo kid, but so many say they were terrified by the flying monkeys.

Monsters Inc was terrifying to my 6yo who was hardly ever scared of anything. But then she loved a lot of other movies that I thought were creepy.

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I watched Poltergeist when I was like 6-7.

Now that definitely haunted me. But itā€™s not like I was damaged or anything. It achieved its goal, and that was to scare. And I was indeed scared.

But when I grew up I actually found it nostalgic to watch.

Parents shouldnā€™t strip kids of different emotions. Fright, sadness, etc.

I miss being scared of things.

first movie i took Mrs PZ too

I thought Barbarian was pretty good