It’s Studio Ghibli-related movie art so you know I have to post this… 🙂
I noticed an article about artist Jordan Bolton HERE at creators.vice.com because of my love of anything Studio Ghibli-related. You can see a couple more of his Ghibli object posters at my link to that article.
I then discovered that he’s done of bunch of these movie prop posters for a wide variety of films such as The Shawshank Redemption, Pulp Fiction, Her, and Breakfast At Tiffany’s. Very cool stuff! Bolton calls this series of movie prop posters Objects and you can see them (plus other great movie & music art) on his Tumblr and Etsy pages.
**I’ve managed to finally write my February Blind Spot review! See you tomorrow with my review of my February Blind Spot choice: Watership Down.
The Sketchpad Gallery in San Francisco recently had an art show called Miyazaki Spirit, celebrating Hayao Miyazaki’s Studio Ghibli films. Oh MAN I’d love to own some of this art! 🙂
You can check out more of the fabulous pieces from the show at The Verge.
I’ve been lazy with these Top Ten Lists lately so it’s time to make a bit of an effort again. Here are My Top Ten Hats In Movies.
This is a pretty simple list & not exactly as creative as My Top Ten Carpets & Rugs In Movies but, thanks to discussing this one with my husband, he came up with the most creative answer (in the below Honorable Mentions). Other than that, I don’t think there are many big surprises – I’ve gone with some very well-known & iconic hats. I’ve also included one helmet but have drawn the line at full face masks, etc (so I’m not including things like Darth Vader’s helmet – that would open a huge can of worms).
As ALWAYS, these are my own personal favorites as opposed to what I think are “the best”. I like what I like. 🙂 But it means that some big ones will of course be left out. Feel free to add any more you can think of in the comments!
Willy Wonka in Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory
Alex DeLarge in A Clockwork Orange
Mary Poppins in Mary Poppins
Bonnie Parker in Bonnie & Clyde
And, finally…
Bonnie Rayburn’s ass in City Slickers
(Okay – I better include the quote for those who haven’t seen City Slickers. Which everyone should see, by the way!! Love it.) 😉
Bonnie Rayburn: [walking by] Good night! I’m going to bed.
Mitch Robbins: [smiling widely at her] Good night! Sleep tight.
[Bonnie smiles and waves]
Ed Furillo: [to Mitch] That was flirting.
Mitch Robbins: No, that was… politeness. That was “have a pleasant and restful evening.”
Ed Furillo: No, that was “I like your ass. Can I wear it as a hat?”
And, yes, I’ve left A LOT of hats out of my Top Ten. For the record, I did think of these…
Lawrence Of Arabia, Curious George’s man in the yellow hat, Dumbledore, V for Vendetta, Fargo, The Blues Brothers, Gandalf, The Mask, The Joker, Maleficent, Magneto, Audrey Hepburn’s various stylish hats, Elf, The Three Amigos, Dread Pirate Roberts, The Scarecrow & The Tin Man in The Wizard Of Oz, The Smurfs, Clint Eastwood in various Westerns, Fred Astaire in Top Hat, The Cat In The Hat, Oddjob’s bowler hat in James Bond, Sherlock Holmes, Santa Claus in various films, Singin’ In The Rain, The Wild Ones, Jack Sparrow, Abraham Lincoln in various films, Robin Hood, Crocodile Dundee, The Seven Dwarfs, Rambo, John Wayne in various Westerns, The Pink Panther, Princess Mononoke, One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, Logray’s pig hat & Wicket’s balaclava
Now there’s really no other way to end this post than with the Tom Jones You Can Leave Your Hat On clip from The Full Monty: 🙂
Aw! SO DAMN CUTE! This piece, entitled “A Galaxy Of Cute” is from artist Jerrod Maruyama. You can check out more of his adorable art (Star Wars as well as plenty of other things) at his website HERE.
I of course also love the below piece of art from him, called “Totoro Garden”. Plus he’s done loads of Disney & Pixar stuff! And lots of anthropomorphic food!!!! It’s like he’s making this stuff specifically for ME! 😉
(English Dub Voice Cast: Dakota Fanning, Elle Fanning, Tim Daly)
Running time: 86 minutes
Plot Synopsis: (via IMDB) When two girls move to the country to be near their ailing mother, they have adventures with the wonderous forest spirits who live nearby.
My Opinion:
Version Watched: Japanese with English subtitles & English dubbed version
It seems that My Neighbor Totoro is possibly the most loved of all the Studio Ghibli films. I know I certainly love it, which is why I’ve tagged this one as a CPD Classic. It’s certainly the one I hear mentioned the most and seems to be the one that has been seen by the most people (well, either Totoro or Spirited Away). Like the other Ghibli stuff I’ve reviewed so far in the IMDB Top 250, this keeps going up & has moved 34 places from 165 to 131 since I started the IMDB Project. For me (and I’m guessing most), that’s down to the actual character of Totoro. That big, cuddly, weird, um… thing! I know I have several Totoro items (a bag, a pillow, a keychain). What I wouldn’t give for a stuffed Totoro like Bonnie has in Toy Story 3!
This is one of the “kid friendly” Studio Ghibli movies. You’re perfectly safe watching this (or Kiki’s Delivery Service or Ponyo) with your kid(s). I admit that I tend to like a movie even more when I get to see it through a child’s eyes and I’ve been able to see how much Totoro makes a 5-year-old smile & giggle. I know Nausicaä Of The Valley Of The Wind is more “me” but nothing can really beat seeing something make a kid happy.
I feel like I’ve said every Ghibli movie is “odd” in all my reviews so far but I know that puts some people off while it makes others possibly want to watch them even more. I suppose I’d say that Totoro is somewhere in the middle in terms of weirdness. I mean, there’s a catbus. Which is awesome! But, you know… Weird. There’s also the black soot “dust bunnies” (called Susuwatari – yeah, I had to look that up). Oh, and adorable mini Totoros!
I love the innocence & wonder of My Neighbor Totoro. The two sisters and their relationships with each other and with the “forest spirits” are so sweet. But it doesn’t ever go overboard & get all saccharine like some Disney movies do (as much as I like those). Of course, there’s that crazy theory that Totoro is actually the God Of Death but I think that’s totally ridiculous. I prefer to believe (as Studio Ghibli insists) that these two adorable sisters who are so full of life are truly alive & well. I blame M Night Shyamalan for this stupid theory cropping up about all kinds of different movies!
Oh, and I also really like the film’s score and cute end credits. Oh! And… if anyone has read any of my other Ghibli reviews so far, I often moan about the English dubbed versions. I’ll ALWAYS prefer the subtitled versions but I’m happy to say that the dubbed version isn’t at all bad on My Neighbor Totoro. I’m talking about the Disney dub – I’ve not seen its first dubbed version which was apparently distributed by, er… Troma Films?! lol. My Avenger Totoro – Toxic God Of Death?
Summary:
Obviously, like a lot of people, I love My Neighbor Totoro. The story is quite straightforward & simple compared to a lot of the other Studio Ghibli films which can be quite complex and confusing. It still has that magical Ghibli feel, however, with all the weird & wonderful creatures (seriously… a catbus!). I’ll also always love that so many Ghibli films star girls as the central characters & it’s refreshing that they’re not all dopey princesses or wannabe princesses as is often the case when we get female leading roles in animated Western movies. But, most of all, I love the character of Tororo and that’s what has made this film such a huge success.
My Rating: 10/10
Here’s my Totoro bag I tweeted a photo of while waiting at the bus stop one day. 😉
First of all, Happy Birthday to Hayao Miyazaki! Co-founder of Studio Ghibli along with Isao Takahata, Miyazaki has directed the majority of the most well known & highly regarded Ghibli films.
As I said, I’ll be reviewing some Studio Ghibli films throughout January. I don’t have a definite schedule in mind plus I’ll probably post some non-Ghibli reviews as usual as well. So far, I’ve watched 10 of the 20 Ghibli movies I could possibly watch (2 aren’t yet available on DVD). I’ve mostly watched the ones directed by Miyazaki so I’ll first focus on reviewing these ten I’ve seen so far plus the two Miyazaki ones I have left to watch. I may then continue Studio Ghibli Month after January & do the remaining films as well. I’m halfway through writing my review for Nausicaä Of The Valley Of The Wind so that will probably be the review you’ll see here tomorrow.
So, these are My Top Ten Favorite Studio Ghibli Movies (So Far) counting down from ten to one. I’ll update it once I’ve seen the rest of the Ghibli films but I’ll be surprised if the list changes much. 🙂
**List updated 5/1/17. You can see my ranking for all the Ghibli films I’ve now seen HERE**
Love these! My favorites are definitely these two for My Neighbor Totoro and The Shining. See these & a lot more (including a cool Doctor Who one I think Cara & Eric will like) here: MoviePilot.
Cinema Parrot Disco 
