Board 8 > B8 Movie Club Topic 2 - Into the Little Shop of Fargo Willy's Machete Wonderland

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Vote for any and all movies you would be interested in seeing for the next week (~Feb. 26th, NA). The movie with the most overall votes wins. You may rank your votes from most preferred to least (do not rank movies you would not vote for) so I don't have to @ you back in case of a tie. If you do not intend to vote and are fine with whatever wins, please reply with "No Vote" so there is as little of a waiting period as possible. If you list multiple movies in your vote but you are not ranking them, please include "Not Ranked" along with your vote (I will assume they are ranked otherwise). Please vote by Friday, Feb. 26th, 8:00 PM EST/5:00 PM PST

The Little Things (2021)
The Goonies (1985)
Before Sunrise (1995)
The Outpost (2019)
When Marnie Was There (2014)

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@tyder21
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@Xeybozn

Fun Fact: I've never seen the entirety of The Goonies.

Or I don't remember it at least.

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Marnie is the other movie I haven't seen.

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I think I'm a yes to all of these? They all look streamable to me! I have no order, and whatever everyone else wants is fine with me!

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When Marnie Was There
Before Sunrise

haven't seen any of them but these are the only ones i'm interested in at first glance

kateee posted...

like...you've never seen ANY Ghibli?

Nope. I saw the first 15 minutes or so of Kiki's Delivery Service back in the 90s on some Japanese channel we all of a sudden got in our house for a week, but there were no subs so I stopped watching. Even though they have nothing to do with each other I don't really want to watch them unless I start from the beginning, so I was going to use one of my nominations next week for Nausicaa. I imagine there's arguments out there for whether that even counts as a Ghibli movie hence the single quotation marks in the last post.

Same reason why I've never watched the Zatoichi movies, which is/was going to be another nomination of mine. There's so damn many of them the commitment to watching all of them puts me off from watching them altogether.

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Before Sunrise (1995)
The Outpost (2019)
When Marnie Was There (2014)
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No Vote

Honestly I might to have to back out of this in general for the moment, just lacking the time to devote to this right now.

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Camden posted...

Even though they have nothing to do with each other I don't really want to watch them unless I start from the beginning,

oh nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

i did that for some franchises/collections/groupings but at some point i realized i was just never going to watch/play anything from that so i just broke that. like at one point i wanted to watch all the Pixar stuff but then when i realized there were like a million things i'd rather do than watch Cars 2, i realized i'm not doing that shit anymore

kateee posted...

like at one point i wanted to watch all the Pixar stuff but then when i realized there were like a million things i'd rather do than watch Cars 2

In fairness, Ghibli hasn't made something like Cars 2. That probably helps a lot.

And by that, I mean I wish Earthsea had been as good as Cars 2. But it's bad in different ways that aren't as obvious before watching, so it "helps" in that most people are more willing to try it.
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kateee posted...

oh nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

i did that for some franchises/collections/groupings but at some point i realized i was just never going to watch/play anything from that so i just broke that. like at one point i wanted to watch all the Pixar stuff but then when i realized there were like a million things i'd rather do than watch Cars 2, i realized i'm not doing that shit anymore

There's no Cars 2 on the horizon that's causing me to delay watching it, it's just the time commitment in general. And looking at the list of titles in the Ghibli oeuvre, four of the five I'd prefer to watch the most are amongst the first five movies anyway, so even watching it in order of desire would mostly end up being a similar experience.

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Xeybozn posted...

In fairness, Ghibli hasn't made something like Cars 2. That probably helps a lot.

And by that, I mean I wish Earthsea had been as good as Cars 2. But it's bad in different ways that aren't as obvious before watching, so it "helps" in that most people are more willing to try it.

Is it bad in general, or a bad adaptation? I know it's the Ghibli black sheep but having read the novels and liking each one less than the one before it, which was a solid dropoff because I really enjoyed the first novel, I'm not sure if a bad adaptation might not be an improvement to me.

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Miyazaki, retired? I'll believe it when he's been dead for several years. He's retired more times than I can remember at this point and keeps coming back. At this point he's 80 and currently working on another movie, the man will not quit.

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The Goonies (1985)
When Marnie Was There (2014)

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When Marnie Was There
The Goonies
The Outpost

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Before Sunrise (1995)
The Outpost (2019)

Literally just watched The Little Things this week

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The Goonies

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Camden posted...

Is it bad in general, or a bad adaptation? I know it's the Ghibli black sheep but having read the novels and liking each one less than the one before it, which was a solid dropoff because I really enjoyed the first novel, I'm not sure if a bad adaptation might not be an improvement to me.

I haven't read the Earthsea novels, but considering Ghibli's track record with adaptations I assume it's not particularly faithful to the books. But that's not really the issue, it's just an incredibly boring and not well-made movie in general.
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Hello! I am Johnbobb's partner, I've watched all the movies with him - I'd love to be part of the rotation if possible. :)

sure!

did you want to give ratings for the past movies you've seen? i'll add you to the sheet

The Goonies

I haven't seen it in like 20 years, would be a fun rewatch!

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kateee posted...

sure!

did you want to give ratings for the past movies you've seen? i'll add you to the sheet

Sure!! That'd be fab.

Mother: 10
Sound of Metal: 9
In Bruges: 10
Thoroughbreds: 8
Lost in Translation: 10
45 Years: 4
Fargo: 10
The Hunt for the Wilderpeople: 9

My votes are for:
Before Sunrise (1995)
When Marnie Was There (2014)

Welcome to the club!

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The Goonies
Before Sunrise
When Marnie Was There

I also haven't seen any Ghibli yet but the Goonies nostalgia is too strong
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In order most to least:

When Marnie Was There
The Goonies
Before Sunrise

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Im super glad people are interested in Before Sunrise. If it doesnt win here I will keep nominating it til it does. You have been warned.

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next movie is When Marnie Was There (2014) directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi.

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@SwiftyDC
@tyder21
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@Xeybozn

oh awesome, I saw this when it came out and liked it a lot so will definitely rewatch

I also rewatched 45 Years and will have a write-up soon

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When Marnie Was There (2014)

Being more of an introvert myself, I immediately connected with Anna and have felt the same anxiousness when meeting new people or going out and being with an unfamiliar crowd. Or having that feeling of not fitting in, feeling neglected or unwanted. This film felt really grounded into how everyday life can be for those who feel they are outside of that invisible circle that she speaks about in the beginning of the film. The locations and art of this are beautiful. Classic Ghibli. It also has that trademark mysterious vibe that all Ghibli films bring. It kept me on my toes to the very end. Like was Marnie a ghost, an imaginary friend, or perhaps a forgotten childrens doll? The final twist brought it all together, and it made me shed some tears, not gonna lie. All I could think about afterwards is my own grandma, and how much I miss having conversations with her. If this truly is the last Ghibli film, that just adds another layer of sadness. The only thing I can say that I didnt like was that I couldnt watch this with Japanese voiceovers, but they did an OK job with the English dub (looked up the English cast and I knew that was John C. Reilly's voice!)

9/10

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Finally got around to Lost in Translation

5/10

This didn't work for me at all - I didn't hate it, but I certainly didn't like it. I couldn't bring myself to really care for either character & all the other side-characters didn't come across to me as believably human. Ended up feeling bored around the halfway point, but still wanted to see where their relationship ended up out of pure curiosity.

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Bump

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I'll have a score some time tonight. I made the mistake of trying to watch the movie late last night and sleep wasn't having it.

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When Marnie Was There

What I love about this movie is how well Anna's feelings of not fitting in anywhere are portrayed. Maybe it's because I'm an introvert, but I found her problems incredibly relatable. That said, I've never found the mystery of who/what Marnie is very interesting. In fairness, a big reason for that is because I was spoiled about the answer before the movie even came out in Japan, but even accounting for that I just don't find most of Marnie's story very interesting. She's obviously a ghost and her backstory is fairly generic, the only real question is why she wants to be friends with Anna. It all fits together well with the reveal at the end (which is great), but I feel like they could have done a better job getting there.

8/10
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When Marnie Was There

8/10

• I'm such a sucker for a well-animated film set in a rural environment. Nice and relaxing.
• Best moments for me were any of the boat-rides with that silent guy + the last 10 minutes in general.
• I was convinced starting about 30 minutes in that Marnie was Anna's dead/absent mother. Close enough.
• I get that Anna was feeling pressured and stressed, but her "fat pig" reaction didn't feel right to me.

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Marnie - 9/10

I'm not sure how foster care works in Japan, but I'm going to assume it's abnormal to receive a stipend there for it? Otherwise her foster mother telling her about it at the end as if it was some dirty, shameful secret seems a bit weird to me. I can understand Anna being upset by it, being a teenager and trying to decipher whether or not her foster parents actually care for her or not, but the mother 'coming clean' about it out of the blue seemed out of place other than to put a bow on an otherwise great story.

Also, is it my imagination or did Anna fall on her face at least half a dozen times whilst running?

Was the dub good? I was going to watch it because from my understanding Ghibli does really excellent dubs, but I like having subtitles on for just about everything I watch now. The subs weren't matching the english voices for me, so I chose the Japanese track with English subs over the English track with no subs at all.

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i never watch dubs for anything because i always want to hear original language so my take isn't based on exactly a lot of experience but they always sound off and weird to me. i checked out a couple spots here after finishing the movie and same thing

Camden posted...

I'm not sure how foster care works in Japan, but I'm going to assume it's abnormal to receive a stipend there for it?

i did a brief search and it actually seems like the norm. all the search results that came up for my area (California) mention monthly payments. but (and i thought this with Marnie too at the time) it's really not like they're "getting paid" to take the child, more that it's assistance because taking care of children is fucking expensive. whatever they receive, i can't imagine they cover ALL costs of food, clothes, other expenses, etc. and even if those monthly payments did, it's still taking up your TIME. like if you're talking about net finances, there's no way you would come out positive for taking on a foster child.

i was literally in the middle of watching this and then some stuff happened (in real life) that really pissed me off so i had to put it off for a while lol

Where did you guys watch it? I watched it on HBO.

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I watched it on HBO Max subbed.

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i got it from the cat

kateee posted...

i did a brief search and it actually seems like the norm. all the search results that came up for my area (California) mention monthly payments. but (and i thought this with Marnie too at the time) it's really not like they're "getting paid" to take the child, more that it's assistance because taking care of children is fucking expensive. whatever they receive, i can't imagine they cover ALL costs of food, clothes, other expenses, etc. and even if those monthly payments did, it's still taking up your TIME. like if you're talking about net finances, there's no way you would come out positive for taking on a foster child.

I thought Anna mentioned when she found those papers that other parents didn't get money for it, only hers. It's entirely possible that I read the subs wrong and it was other kids as in non-fostered ones, which in hindsight kind of makes more sense, but at the time I read it to be other foster parents not getting monetary assistance for their kids.

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SwiftyDC posted...

Where did you guys watch it? I watched it on HBO.

Torrent. Site I checked said it was only available to stream on HBO which I don't have. Netflix and Amazon for me.

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Camden posted...

I thought Anna mentioned when she found those papers that other parents didn't get money for it, only hers. It's entirely possible that I read the subs wrong and it was other kids as in non-fostered ones, which in hindsight kind of makes more sense, but at the time I read it to be other foster parents not getting monetary assistance for their kids.

yeah i remember that line. pretty sure she's talking about non-foster kids because how many foster children does she even know to directly compare situations? i kind of mentioned this earlier but it's completely understandable why she thinks that way because she's not factoring in all the additional costs of raising a child and if she's only thinking about the payments, it might seem plausible on some level that they took her in for profit. but yeah i also agree with your earlier point that it seems kind of out of the blue and it seems like one of those things that they just don't fully explain for the sake of the movie's characters.

Marnie

i literally just sighed out loud early on when within like 10 minutes our 12-year old main character just says "I hate myself." partly because i could just imagine the rest of the runtime being about whatever silly little problem children have that don't mean ANYTHING and partly because i've thought that for so long from around that age that i just did not want to revisit it in any capacity, even through a movie. but then she starts talking about the asthma and feeling like a burden and i was like 'oh fuck, this is me'. Well, not the asthma. And then the adoption stuff came up and it was like 'oh so it's not like me at all' because she has like, reasons. But the 'feeling like a burden' part I'm very familiar with and for an extended period of time, i just felt guilty for eating because in my mind, it was taking away food from somebody who was actually worth something. Even the part where she talks about finding out her guardians get 'paid' I could link to similar thoughts I had, but as I mentioned in earlier posts, while completely understandable why she thinks that way, she's missing the perspective that she'll have later in life. I'm not saying this is a character flaw or anything, but rather it actually makes her even more relatable and is a particularly important character moment.

As far as some other stuff...they REALLY laid it on thick with the possible romantic overtones? like that rowing scene or them just constantly telling each other they love one another. i was wondering about possible cultural differences like how platonic love was expressed and even Anna's androgynous character design plays into it. so i was like whatever but then the end happens and it's just funny because it really is love.

It's very pleasing visually but it's inevitable that I'll always compare new anime I see to the ones that just push the medium completely (even other Ghiblis!) especially since there WERE fantastic/supernatural elements here they could play with. Overall good.

6/10

@Camden turn to nom!

tyder21 posted...

I get that Anna was feeling pressured and stressed, but her "fat pig" reaction didn't feel right to me.

i don't recall a scene where the two characters met and i thought the other girl was some kind of teacher because there's the scene where the kids are picking up the trash and she's directing them so that scene felt extra 'WHOA' to me

and then the later scene where the mom comes over to complain. 'oh'

Whatever wins, my nomination is by far going to be the oldest.

Stalker (1979)
Badlands (1973)
The Poseidon Adventure (1972)
El Topo (1970)
North by Northwest (1959)

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