スタジオジブリ新作短編アニメーション『魔女の谷の夜』を7月8日からジブリの大倉庫で上映します。初日は

...exclusively at Ghibli Park

ghibli-park.jp/info/info202...

Oh hey there's a new Studio Ghibli movie coming out in July...

Nine Inch Noize reminding me of the time that a friend supplied their own playlist of NIN remixes to soundtrack a laser quest session.

(aka one of the best days of my dorky teenage life.)

UPA X Earthbound (Mother 2)! 🌎 💫

Loved this piece, Duncan! Tracking down a copy of the book asap.

For the FT this weekend, I wrote about the 70-year history of one of my favourite weird books — Naomi Mitchison's fantasy (?) novel for children (??) Travel Light, which @amalelmohtar.com calls "like sunlight... beautiful, warm and strange"

www.ft.com/content/412a...

Is Akira "the greatest anime of all time"?

Also worth discussing how the most enduring part of Charlie Brooker's Wipe series wasn't the cultural criticism/commentary, but this one comedy character.

Sad to learn that the artist behind this book, Amaia Arrazola, died last year: en.ara.cat/culture/illu...

Found in Spain: this gorgeous guide to the life and films of Hayao Miyazaki, fully illustrated and handwritten by artist-designer Amaia Arrazola.

iirc the film has variable aspect ratio depending on the scene but it definitely went full 1.43:1 for the spectacular space shots. Didn't look as impressive as those pics from the BFI IMAX booth though.

I know I'm pulling from two handy anecdotal examples here but it hammered home to me how important independent cinemas are. Many of my most cherished cinema memories were at that Printworks multiplex, but there's no denying that the personal, curated, leftfield community approach is the real deal.

Project Hail Mary at the Vue, in comparison, felt impersonal and transactional.

Around 350 seats and a huge screen, but no atmosphere. I only noticed other punters when, eg, they turned in droves after the film had started or, as the guys next to me did, fell asleep/played games on their phones.

#RIPVine felt innovative and had the human touch. Greg, who curated the selection, introduced the screening.

Cultplex has a capacity of around 100 but the audience were going for it: cackling, quoting and singing along to the 300+ Vines in the mix. Delirious fun.

Had the rare pleasure the other day of attending two fully-booked cinema screenings, back to back:

#RIPVine (a feature length compilation of Vines) at Cultplex, followed by Project Hail Mary at the IMAX at Manchester Printworks.

Opposite ends of the theatrical spectrum but so revealing.

ROY FROM SPACE Kickstarter is LIVE! Come check out our latest campaign to bring Héctor López Carmona

ROY FROM SPACE Kickstarter is LIVE! Come check out our latest campaign to bring Héctor López Carmona

ROY FROM SPACE Kickstarter is LIVE! Come check out our latest campaign to bring Héctor López Carmona

ROY FROM SPACE Kickstarter is LIVE! Come check out our latest campaign to bring Héctor López Carmona's animated feature back from the land of lost films. Rewards include a Kickstarter-exclusive slipcover by artist Haleigh Buck and more! Check the campaign at the link in comments!

Watch Amélie: A hymn to a way of being - BFI Player Author and journalist Christian Donlan marks the 25th anniversary of Jean-Pierre Jeunet's magical Parisian romance.

Intrigued to see Christian Donlan narrating a video essay about Amélie for the BFI: player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/wa...

The artwork for the Royal Albert Hall's new Let Them Cook strand, which includes phrases that appeal to young people, such as, "That's actually quite problematic."

Some exciting news: www.royalalberthall.com/about-the-ha...

Critics + reviewers aren't industry experts. Most don't know anything about how the business works, so there's not much value including those topics in reviews (most of which are written before release anyway). I look to The Town for that. But I think our current online moment has jumbled it all up.

I get you, but also I think we have a tendency today to mix up cultural criticism and industry analysis. This was my review of the film as a cultural object (and an adaptation of a video game). That's different from a piece about the film's potential impact on the box office and cinemagoing trends.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie Nintendo and Illumination team up to give everyone's favourite fictional plumber an animated makeover, with soulless results.

I haven't seen the new SUPER MARIO BROS. MOVIE, but I thought I'd share my review of the first one from 2023.

Weaponised, monetised nostalgia and a cynical IP-ification of what is one of global culture's purest forms of fun.

lwlies.com/reviews/the-...

And in Manchester Central Library!

Programming Japanese Cinema: Kano Matilda In the first of a series of curator interviews, the mind behind Riverside Studios’ ‘21st Century Japan’ strand

Japanese independent cinema is proliferating in London's repertory cinemas. Who's programming it, and why?

In the first of a series of curator chats, I spoke with Kano Matilda, whose '21st Century Japan' strand at
@riversidelondon.bsky.social brings us Super Happy Forever and more

I'll be at Lewes Speakers Festival, East Sussex, talking about 'These Isles: A People's History of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales' on Sunday 10th May, 9.50-11am. Book here: www.speakersfestivals.com/lewes-speake...

One Instagram account blocked me and deleted the comment thread, just because I dared to suggest their statement that "On Your Mark is Studio Ghibli's only music video" was misleading. Guys, it's fine, you won. You got your 30k likes, now why not learn something?

Me too! And so often it's just because we didn't have the full picture, or we were still learning, or... we're human and make mistakes. It's why it's a team effort, across generations, contributing to overall knowledge and awareness.

So cool! Congratulations all round!

I only care because I believe in sharing information and educating our communities. These accounts/creators have already got their thousands of likes and views, why not learn a bit?

Two slightly different examples. One is a YouTuber who seems to be convinced that Miyazaki was at Berlin to present Spirited Away (against all evidence to the contrary). The other is a "film festival" which is claiming that On Your Mark is the only music video made by Ghibli (ignoring the others).

In the last week I thought I'd try and offer up some fact checking in the comments of posts by engagement-farming Ghibli accounts and I'm struck by how there's just no desire to learn, grow, or simply admit error.