My Neighbor Totoro (1988) - Directed by Hayao Miyazaki

Satsuki, Mei and their father drive to their new home on the country and on the drive they see a very strange and shy little boy.

When they arrive at their new home Satsuki and Mei are very excited too see the house, but dad says they must take their shoes off.

Instead of taking them off they walk on their knees and finds acorns everywhere, later they go in the bathhouse which is full of these little black puffballs who scatter in the room.

They are very scared of them so they tell dad about them.

Dad tells them to go to the old attic there they find more of these little creasures and Mei catch one of them but when she shows Satsuki her hands it´s all black and filthy.

Granny who helps them out in the house explains why those creatures are in their house.

The boy who was very shy before arrive at their home with a basket.

On the night the family takes a warm bath together, meanwhile a storm breaks out who makes the house shake and they are very scared but dad calm them down saying that they must laugh to make things that scares you dissapear!

The next day they all go to visit mom, she is sick but is soon coming home and the following day is school day for Satsuki but Mei is too young to go to school so she is exploring the area around the house.

When Mei is exploring the area she finds many acorns and take them but she also see two little creatures walking in the area. 

She tries to catch them and follow them into a forest which leeds her to a huge rabbit hole where she finds a big monster!

This movie is so delightful, joyful, in the end i had that pleasure of happiness that i almost cried and that doesn´t happen a lot to me.

I think this is Miyazaki´s most accessible movies for example Howls Moving Castle and Spirited Away is way more strange and weird than this one.

This is a fairly simple story of the personification of the wonder, imigination of childhood and how childhood imigination mixes in with nature.

Totoro is our neighbour so we have to be good to our neighbour, everything he represents and he be a good neighbour to us!

Miyazaki has ways of capturing little moments to make them more natural like when the father looks out of the window while driving and his hat almost fall off and thats a very natural moment and when Mei put on her sandals you see the little strap like it doesn´t go around her heel it goes under it.

What is so great about this movie is that there is no main conflict, no moral lessons, no standard blue print story or villian and it reminds you of being a young kid.

The only nick picks was that i felt that the dad seems most of the time not to care much and the mum doesn´t look that sick.

Miyazaki did a masterpiece again, the music, story, animation, voice work was amazing,, the characters of Satsuki, Mei and Totoro i loved!

Rating 10/10

Arrival (2016) - Directed by Denis Villeneuve

When mysterious spacecraft appear around the world, linguistics professor Louise Banks (Amy Adams) is tasked with interpreting the language of the alien visitors.
Villeneuve does a really good job of setting up tension in the first act, you learn about her tortured past, when these spacecraft land on earth you see these news reports and there is that sense of panic.
You wonder are they peaceful?

The First act doesnt only sets up a good tension it also sets up a great character in Louise played by Amy Adams, i have always thought she was a good actress but this is propably the best performance i have seen from her.
The entire film rests on her shoulder and her character progression.
It has a very different way of telling a story once you understand certain things going into the background and if you keep your eyes open from scene one things are gonna make sense to you.

Arrival have great visuals, direction, cinematography, intriguing aliens, a third act that have a very cool twist that really made me think differently about the whole film, a great performance by Amy Adams and i loved her interaction with these visitors.
The movie has a very clever way too communating with aliens and using languages to solve problems instead of causing problems.
It is also a story of international corporation and how sometimes everyone has to work at one goal.
But this is not a Independence Day or War of the Worlds it is more of a suspenseful drama than a Sci-fi Action movie.
You will not see Aliens vs Humans with a big fight, it is more centered around characters.
It is slow paced deliberately and to some viewers that can be a problem but i liked the slow paced way.

I found Jeremy Renners character very useless, he even acknowledging it, his performance is okay but it is his character that was very bland.
Some things in the third act feels a little bit rushed and there is some characters that makes a dumb choice after have watch too much tv.
It felt like they wanted to build a little bit more suspense but didnt really build to anything.

Once you learn why they are here it isn´t explored that much and can dissapoint but it is more about Adams character rather than about why they are here.

Rating: 9/10
I was gonna review it on sunday but i felt i had to thinking about it more so i could give a proper review.

It is great too see a hollywood movie with a female lead that is great!

Jumanji (1995) - directed by Joe Johnston

The plot of the story involves a young boy named Alan Parrish who in the 60s finds a supernatural board game that was buried underground in the 1800´s. Alan is instantly drawn into playing and a girl named Sarah who he is friends with also joins the game. After the powers of the game transport young Alan into the jungles of the board game, no one believes sarah´s story of what happened and everyone suspects foul play.                                                                             

                                                                     
Now in 1995, a girl named Judy (Kirsten Dunst) and her younger brother Peter lives with their aunt in the Parrish house. Judy and Peter gets drawn into the game after finding it in the attic. When the play however, Alan (Robin Williams) is released from the jungle accidentally when one of the kids rolls a certain number on the dice. Now, with the powers and creatures of Jumanji released, they must finish the game. But to do so, they must find Sarah (Bonnie Hunt), because now it is her turn to roll the dice. After finding her, they must hurry before the town they live in is destroyed and before they all die!

Jumanji is a great family film, packed with - at the time - great graphics (most of the time it´s great). I think any child over 5 years old can enjoy this movie, it has no gore or attacks really. Sure, there are some mildly scary scenes, I liked the look of the creatures but I wont reveal any of them. But I consider Harry Potter to be scarier especially Chamber of Secrets, if you have seen that movie I think you know which scene I mean. Another great thing about Jumanji is that adults can enjoy it as much as kids.
The acting was great, Robin Williams is perfect for the role of Alan Parrish, Bonnie Hunt and him have pretty good chemistry, Kirsten Dunst was also great and the one who played Peter was just okay but fitted for the role.

Now to the negatives because jumanji is not a perfect film although I love it. Only kids can hear the drums of the game because it has drums it may sound silly that it has drums but in the movie it doesnt feel silly but that only the kids can hear it is a little silly. The actress who played Judys and Peters aunt was really bad, but her character was also written that way. Some graphics have aged and one scene involving a creature really showed that. The kids only read half of the games rules and near the end of the movie there is a scene which is too happy-ending, but the very last scene is fantastic.

I Love this movie, I grew up with watching the VHS of it and I havent seen it for years until I saw it recently and was pleasantly surprised. If you want some good, family fun seeing a movie, Jumanji won´t do anything wrong but remember it has some mildly scary scenes.

Rating: 8/10

Your Name (2016) - directed by Makoto Shinkai

Mitsuha is the daughter of the mayor of a small mountain town. She's a straightforward high school girl who lives with her sister and her grandmother and has no qualms about letting it be known that she's uninterested in Shinto rituals or helping her father's electoral campaign. Instead she dreams of leaving the boring town and trying her luck in Tokyo.                                          
Taki is a high school boy in Tokyo who works part-time in an Italian restaurant and aspires to become an architect or an artist. Every night he has a strange dream where he becomes...a high school girl in a small mountain town.

Your Name has amazing characters, scenery, city life and town life, story. Everything is just wow. So fine! The suspension, the empathy, the scenes. The thoughts. It's playful and pleasant, but serious and funny at the same time. It makes you want to feel it and live it, while you just keep cheering for everything.

Every minute is a time well-spent. I was afraid when it was going to end. I literally just realized that this would be the end of an anime. Than this would be the end of an hour long movie.

I was so afraid when it was going to end. It brought such a beautiful and marvelous utopia before my eyes, with all it's mistakes, conflicts. That I actually wanted to live there.

However it is very close to reality. Every time something out of order happens, you remember. This is a certain reality. People can die, be ashamed, punished. Everything can end in a tragedy. But when something wrong happens, nobody really cares.. and I was like: "Why? Why aren't you moving? Are you not afraid of your lives?" Then I remembered.. this is a certain utopia. Even for the people who live in it. Nothing bad happen to them, nothing really could. They are peaceful, good people, in a modern world. Nothing bad happened in the last 3 generations, why would anything happen now?

This movie gave me a new set of feelings, viewpoints, happiness, thoughts and desires that i might have lacked or just not realized before. I'm really glad I watched it. It was a piece from my dreams.

But my highest praise is that this movie has hand-drawn cell tradional animations and that is very rare nowadays!
I have barely any flaws with it.

Rating: 9/10

So far my favorite of 2016! And the best animated movie of 2016, I Loved Kubo but this was slightly better!

Highly recommend it even to people who don´t like animation/anime!
And for anyone who wonder I watch the original not the dub versions of animes.