If you are in Baltimore MD check out Geppi’s Entertainment Museum
Got tipped off to this place today. I am for sure gonna check this place out. Baltimore is known for its strange “collections”. Great Blacks in Wax and the Lightbulb museum are two I went to a long time ago.
Just saw this upcoming toy. Killer paint!
http://www.garypanter.com/news.html
Special movie review #1 by SF cinema man, Mark H. Miyake!
Gedo Senki (otherwise known as Tales From Earthsea) may be the most recent Studio Ghibli film released, but it probably won’t be the next released domestically in the States. When the Sci-Fi Channel acquired the rights to produce their terrible mini-series based on Ursula Le Guin’s Earthsea novels, they also picked up all film and TV rights in the US till 2009. Yes, if you’re in the US, you will not see an official release of Gedo Senki in theaters or on DVD until 2009. But read on, as this might not be so bad; you may be better off not seeing it at all.
I’ve read the first three books, or as some refer to as the original Earthsea trilogy, but it was years ago. This was back in grade school, and I have little to no recollection of it, but I knew that the story presented in MIYAZAKI Goro’s (son of Academy Award winning director MIYAZAKI Hayao) version is not Earthsea at all. From researching synopses of the Earthsea novels, the film is focused mostly with events in the third book, The Farthest Shore, with character traits and backstories switched around quite a bit (I’ll have a better perspective once I complete my reread of the trilogy, which I plan to do in the near future.). It’s nice to see that the original source materials’ author agrees with the assessment that the film is not representative of her work: http://www.ursulakleguin.com/GedoSenkiResponse.html It’s interesting to note the underhanded bait and switch employed be Studio Ghibli from her response. Basically the only reason why she agreed to allow Studio Ghibli to make the film was the understanding that MIYAZAKI Hayao would be directing, while instead she got an animation amateur known more for designing and running the Ghibli Museum.
Sadly Goro’s Earthsea is only the barest sketch of a world, where depth is implied but never shown. Everything is contracted, when it should be epic, instead it is small, pathetic and not compelling. Nothing is truly explained, and not for an intentional sense of ambiguity, but more out of laziness or a lack of skill. The visuals may have the typical quality of Ghibli but drained of its soul, its story it doesn’t matter.
Even Goro himself, doesn’t seem too proud of his first effort. In regards to negative fan response to the film he tries to shift responsibility to Studio Ghibli producer SUZUKI Toshio. Here’s a snippet from a NY Times interview ( http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/15/movies/15solo.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin): “‘I had never thought about becoming an animation director,’ he said. ‘I was deceived by Mr. Suzuki, who was very clever about making me feel I could do it.’”
If this review doesn’t dissuade you from watching Gedo Senki, I hope it at least lowers your expectations significantly enough that you might actually enjoy it. To watch it now you’ll have to get a bootleg or download, or an all-region DVD player. And as with all Japanese Studio Ghibli DVD releases it has fairly decent English subtitles, and it includes an English dub.
Finally, it’s sad to think that only watching the first 15 minutes of the anime adaptation of MATSUMOTO Taiyo’s Tekkon Kinkreet can put an entire Studio Ghibli film to shame, but it has and with ease. I’ll be reviewing this one shortly.
