Movie Review: Howl's Moving Castle

So I finally saw Howl's Moving Castle, I decided to skip it in theatres (the last movie that I was motivated enough to see in theatres was Serenity) and blind-bought it (I own all Miyazaki movies on DVD anyway, so why stop now?). I approached with trepidation as some reviews said the story was muddled and detracted from the film. Upon watching the film, I can definately understand their qualms, but still enjoyed the movie immensely. Despite the lacklustre response to the storytelling, all reviewers agreed on at least one thing, the look of the movie. In a word, gorgeous. In more words, quite possibly the most beautiful traditionally animated movie ever made. I'm a certified Miyazaki freak, so I loved this movie. For people new to Miyazaki however, I would still highly recommend this.

Most Overrated DVD Feature

Alternate Endings - they're so useless.....instead of saying "Hi," the guy says "Hello" and voila theres your alternate ending aka cash grabber. To me, when I see an alternate ending, that just tells me the filmmakers lacked the filmmaking ability to do a proper ending. And don't believe their bullshit "oh, we did it to give the fans a choice!". Alternate endings usually scream poor writing and poor filmmaking in general.

The Real Reason DVD Killed VHS

Clearly, the number one reason why DVD killed VHS is simple. It's not the better picture quality, it's not surround sound, it's not the extras, it's because you don't have to rewind them. Shows you how lazy people are, all you had to do was press a single button and wait a minute or two.

Rant: Natural Flavours

Here's something I always see on ingredient lists: Natural Flavours - what does that mean? This could mean anything! Urine is a natural flavor, dirt is a natural flavor, I don't get it, this one "ingredient" alone allows so much leeway and could mean almost anything. One could almost make a food item and put one ingredient on the package: "NATURAL FLAVOURS."

Seriously, there's gonna be stuff here soon...

So I started this little blog on July 20th, 2005 with the intentions to post reviews of movies, games, music, etc. along with my certain observations of everyday life, some humourous, some angry, some both, and everything in between. Well it's March 13, 2006 and I still haven't put anything up here yet. That being said, the plan now is to post a little something every so often somewhat regularly. Until then....