Instead of watching stuff on Criterion Channel (I guess I'll catch up on Godard or Aguirre, The Wrath of God at some other time, haha), I have been watching ALL the Studio Ghibli flicks on HBO Max for the last few weeks, subs first obviously but also some selected dubs for fun comparison. Miyazaki is good for calming the brain worms in these uncertain times, I find.

Favourite Miyazaki unknown to me previously: Porco Rosso

Most joyous marriage of the music and the visual: Ponyo riding the waves to Joe Hisaich's take on the Ride of the Valkyrie

The one 14-year-old Vonnie would have liked the best had she seen it at that impressionable age: Castle in the Sky

Coolest morally ambiguous antagonist: Lady Eboshi from Princess Mononoke

Best all-around cast of dub performances: Howl's Moving Castle, mostly for Billy Crystal's Calcifer, but with a particular shout-out to Jean fucking Simmons, the screen icon of my heart, for being such rad Old Sophie

I haven't yet gotten around to seeing the 2 recent films that have been highly praised: The Wind Rises and The Tale of Princess Kaguya -- hope to catch them soon. And I'm saving the rewatch of my fave, Spirited Away, until I'm done with the rest of the collection.

Honestly, I'd probably keep paying monthly HBO subscription fee if even Ghibli films were the only ones I watch (and rewatch) on the service. What a treat.

Instead of watching stuff on Criterion Channel (I guess I'll catch up on Godard or Aguirre, The Wrath of God at some other time, haha)

My thoughts exactly. I started to watch Vivre sa vie and decided life was too short and watched The Big Country (speaking of Jean fucking Simmons) instead. What a glorious movie. Definitely going to be pretty high up on my eventual western rankings.

Probably will catch a few of the expiring Frances Marions later today.

Favourite Miyazaki unknown to me previously: Porco Rosso

Oh yeah, that's one of our favorites and most rewatched.

The one 14-year-old Vonnie would have liked the best had she seen it at that impressionable age: Castle in the Sky

Both of my kids really glommed onto this one on first exposure in their pre-teens.

I'll note that of the Miyazaki films I've gone back and gotten on Blu-Ray, Castle In the Sky is the most revelatory new print.

I started to watch Vivre sa vie and decided life was too short and watched The Big Country (speaking of Jean fucking Simmons) instead. What a glorious movie. Definitely going to be pretty high up on my eventual western rankings.

The Big Country is just splendid. All that amazing scenery and the unforgettable music, plus Gregory Peck being a self-possessed, principled dreamboat. *sigh* And one of the few genuinely great vehicles for Simmons -- I feel like Hollywood didn't know what to do with her outside period epics.

Probably will catch a few of the expiring Frances Marions later today.

I really liked Secrets if you haven't seen that yet -- it's got some period-specific gender issues that made me cringe, but the central performances by Mary Pickford and Leslie Howard are very fine.

Oh yeah, that's one of our favorites and most rewatched

I haven't even heard of Porco Rosso until this month and was gobsmacked by how much I loved it. I mean, it's about a flying pig pilot for cryin' out loud. It's such an interesting mix of old Hollywood swashbuckling type charm, some anime-specific wacky shenanigans, plus this melancholic streak a mile wide, which somehow all work together. That flashback to the line of dead pilots in their planes ascending to the sky -- gosh, that hit me hard. Kinda reminded me of the arrival-at-heaven's gate scene from A Matter of Life and Death, which I might have mentioned once or twice is like my favourite movie of all time.

Both of my kids really glommed onto this one on first exposure in their pre-teens.

I mean, that movie has *everything*. Magical amulets! Floating lost cities! Sad giant robots programmed for destruction but secretly want to just look after local flora and fauna! SKY PIRATES! What's not to love?

I was dubious about Porco Ross before I watched it, but yeah, won me over.

I am not rushing right out to subscribe to HBO Max so I can watch Ghibli and I would like a gold star for that. Although I seem to recall seeing a free three months offer somewhere that I may check out...

SKY PIRATES! What's not to love?

Insider tidbit: Miyazaki was once slated to do an anime of Pippi Longstockings and if you look at his character sketches you can see that Captain Dola, the granny leader of the Sky Pirates is basically his idea of what would have happened to Pippi when she got older.

Mark Hammill voiced the baddie in both Castle in the Sky and Naussica.

While I'm at it, Minnie Driver voiced both Jane in Disney's Tarzan, and Lady Eboshi. Gillian Anderson was the mother wolf.

Also, Porco Rosso sent me on a research journey about the WWI Mediterranean and the pilots--not something taught in history classes in the US. I want to live in Gina's garden.

I want to like Ponyo a whole lot more than I do--the fish-to-little-girl transformation somehow gives me the wig, though. I think it's her running on not-yet-feet that does it.

A very short (~40) Criterion expiring list this month.

German Expressionism: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, The Golem, Destiny, Nosferatu, Dr. Mabuse the Gambler, The Hands of Orlac, Varieté, Metropolis
Marriage Stories: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Kramer vs. Kramer, The Squid and the Whale, A Separation
Western Noir: Day of the Outlaw
Directed by Mike Leigh: All or Nothing, Vera Drake, Happy-Go-Lucky, Another Year
Directed by Kathleen Collins: Losing Ground, The Cruz Brothers and Miss Malloy
Masterclass: Kelly Reichardt: River of Grass, Wendy and Lucy, Meek's Cutoff
Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky: Nostalghia, The Sacrifice
Starring Catherine Deneuve: Vice and Virtue, The Girl on the Train, On My Way
Other films: Born Free, Husbands, Death in Venice, The Last House on the Left, The Skin, My Beautiful Laundrette, Into the West
Three Documentaries from the Sensory Ethnography Lab: Caniba, Leviathan, Sweetgrass
Other documentaries: Stop Making Sense, Of Time and the City, Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky

My personal August "Get Them Before They're Gone" list: Besides the German Expressionism collection (many of which are rewatches) and continuing through Western Noir (which I actually expected to be expiring as a whole this month), I'm prioritizing Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Kramer vs. Kramer, Stop Making Sense, My Beautiful Laundrette, Vera Drake, A Separation, On My Way. The first two are rewatches, the others are basically what seemed most interesting of those expiring. No real must-see films for me, except A Separation, which I haven't seen but feel I should consider for my Century+ Essential Films.

Now maybe I can get through some of the films I've been meaning to watch on Hulu and Netflix.

I'm prioritizing Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Kramer vs. Kramer, Stop Making Sense, My Beautiful Laundrette, Vera Drake, A Separation, On My Way. The first two are rewatches, the others are basically what seemed most interesting of those expiring.

I love My Beautiful Launderette. A movie which just about everybody in my generational cohort watched but seems culturally somewhat forgotten. That's even more true about the second collaboration by Stephen Frears, and Hanif Kureishi, Sammy and Rosie Get Laid (which is also a fantastic movie I'd like to revisit.)

I love My Beautiful Launderette. A movie which just about everybody in my generational cohort watched but seems culturally somewhat forgotten.

Yeah, it's weird I haven't seen it, or Stop Making Sense for that matter, but that's how it works out sometimes. I probably should consider both for my 1980s Century+ list, though it would be hard to dethrone anything currently on there.