Hayao Miyazaki Retrospective Wrap-Up

Welcome to Cinema Geeks as we complete our Hayao

Miyazaki retrospective. Joining me today as always

is Hard Candy Mandy. Hayao! Final Miyazaki. Optimus

Sola. Hayao! I gotta do it too. It took 12 records.

Right. And last but not least, Matt for Lucent.

Oh man, I'm literally and figuratively phoning

it in today guys Matt is super dedicated. He's

on vacation, but he is he is as he says he's

on the phone So I think the audio should come

out pretty well, but we'll see we'll see We do

want to thank everyone for joining us today.

And if you're joining us for the first time you

have a lot of podcasts to catch up on because

we Went and reviewed every single Hayao Miyazaki

film from his very first film in order to his

Currently his last movie and what we're gonna

be doing today is kind of doing a wrap -up ranking

his films We have some favorite scenes and characters

to kind of point out, but just to give you a

lowdown of where we're coming from, where we're

coming from before we started, give you an idea

of where we started and when we can give you

an idea of where we ended at the final minutes

of today's record. So Amanda, can you just refresh

everyone's mind? What was your experience with

Hayao Miyazaki as a director and his films prior

to doing this retrospective? I had only seen

Kiki's Delivery Service, which I liked, I enjoyed,

but everything else I had a total blind spot

for. Nice, nice. And Kevin, I don't think you

watched one of his movies, if I'm not mistaken.

No, every episode we did in this retrospective

was a first time watch for me, which is one of

the reasons why I had suggested Hayao Miyazaki

as one of the options because it was going to

give me an excuse to watch a whole bunch of films

for the first time and finally catch up, I guess,

with the rest of the world. So yeah, I was the

newbie on the block. And man, I think you were

probably the most experienced book because there's

only a few of his films that you were watching

for the first time. Yeah, just a couple at the

beginning and then one or two at the end. Otherwise,

I'd seen them all a couple of times. And I'm

someplace in the middle. I saw Princess Mananoke

in Spirited Away. I think I saw the majority

of his movies like Matt. I didn't see his first

couple of films. I only saw the majority of them

one time way back when we geared up for the top

108 animated movies countdown. So it was kind

of fun to revisit some of those for a second

time and go back for the first time. So what

we're going to be doing is we're going to be

actually ranking All the films we watched in

order but instead of doing one long continuous

list We're going to be doing it in chunks and

we're not going to go in great detail You know

why because we reviewed every movie already so

you can go back and hear our more complete thoughts

on that specific episode Which i'll make sure

to link to on the episode post at geekhousereator

.com So Amanda, we'll start with you and we're

starting obviously at the bottom and we'll work

our way to the top So how do you rank the bottom

third of Miyazaki's films? I I went off what

rankings what grade I gave it in the episode

and I still feel the same I think about those

rankings I feel pretty good with the number I

gave them so I grouped my list here these chunks

based on those numbers and also how I felt about

it so maybe two movies had the same Number ranking

but I felt a little bit strongly more strong

on one end for one film versus another so I have

like a little bit of a split but the bottom here

is Surprisingly, my bottom chunk is the biggest

chunk of all my chunks What is it what is it

I don't think we're ever going to be ready for

it, but go right ahead. Ready for these chunkies?

This jelly? I don't know what you're talking

about. We're just talking about movies. All right.

I'm going to walk away from that. Yeah, me too.

That was gross. So my bottom third, the very

bottom, I'm going to go from my worst up here

throughout. So Ponyo is my least favorite Miyazaki

film. I gave it a six. And there are movies I

ranked lower than that, but my feelings for this

movie surpassed those ranks. If that makes sense,

I don't even think that makes sense to me. But

film -wise, I think this film wasn't as bad of

a film as some of these others, but I didn't

like it. So I did not like Ponyo. Next up from

the bottom, Nausicaä, Valley of the Wind, I gave

that a 5. Then Castle of Cagliostro, That got

a 4 .5. Castle in the Sky comes next with a 5.

And then Porco Rosso also got a 5. Interesting.

I was not expecting a couple of those. Did you

not hear me shit all over Vanyo? I must have

missed the shitting part. She thought it was

an inferior version of The Little Mermaid. Oh

that's true, okay I remember now. But it's just

different than the Disney one is really the problem.

I didn't like it. Kevin what about you? I got

four in my bottom grouping I guess as just the

ones that maybe just didn't quite work with me

on a whole I liked aspects of them, but I think

if I'm just taking like the whole Picture some

of these other movies have worked a little bit

better at least for me personally So I'm going

from again from the worst to the best I guess

through this whole thing So I have pork or rosa

actually as my bottom of the barrel the the 11th

ranked film that we covered and then I went up

to Castle of Caliostro on the first one obviously

like we talked about just feels a little bit

different than than the rest of the films but

I still think that the characters in that film

is what kind of brings it a little bit ahead

of pork or rosa for me I think there was more

characters. I could kind of appreciate in Castle

of Caliostro Then I went to The Wind Rises. I

guess if there was one that had the most potential

to rise over time, no pun intended, it would

be The Wind Rises because I do think it has a

lot going for it, but I just found it, I don't

know, the disconnect from the first half to the

second half bothered me a little bit even though

I know it kind of pays off, but that was my number

nine ranking and then the last one for this chunk

It just didn't work for me on the emotional level

at any point. I talked about it during the episode.

Amanda's not going to like this, but Kiki's delivery

service would be my number eight ranking. It

just was missing something about it. I couldn't

pinpoint it during the episode record, but there

was just something missing for me for Kiki. So

that's my last one for this chunk. Interesting.

Matt, how about you? All right. So I think I

gave two of them sevens and everything was above

that. saying, oh, man, this is the worst Miyazaki

movie is like, you know, it's like, oh, this

is the least sweet chocolate guys. Like, it's

not like there's not a bad movie in this bunch.

But I think at the bottom of my list are going

to be the less magical ones. Like, I really love

his magical realism. So like, I've got to put

Castle Cagliostro and Wind Rises at the bottom.

And I think I'd still flip -flopping on whether

I'm bothered or happy that Wind Rises starts

off as a biography and then makes a hard left

into fantasy world. But I don't know how I feel

about that. Then after that, probably Kiki's

Delivery Service and Castle in the Sky would

be bottom or tier. I'm real sad. I'm real sad.

Like again, I think I gave kiki's an eight like

it's top tier movies. It's better than 90 90

percent of the movies coming out this year But

I don't like it nearly as much as you know, the

other movies on this list Yeah, and i'll also

get mad so like I would I think the lowest I

gave was a six and I would think probably even

I would erase that going going through and I

would recommend every Film to me is aki's done.

I don't think there's a bad movie in the bunch

similar to when we did tarantino and I think

I like all of his films, but I mine's I think

kind of so much everyone's with my bottom four.

Mike, like Kevin, I have Poker Rosso as my last,

then Ponyo, sorry, Amanda, then Kiki's, the literary

service, and then Lupin, Castle Kelly Ostro.

And those are very similar to one another for

me. I will say I like Kiki's interview service

this is the second time I watched it much more

in the second time than I did the first time

I think I was especially after going through

his career I was able to kind of appreciate it

more and I think I mean some Lupin's actually

in the Castle of Cassiola sure has actually grown

on me since we first watched it for some reason

But um, that's like that would be my bottom four

I feel the same way that you do about castle.

Caliostro Like I was probably harder on it during

the record than I would have been at any point

after that Because I it has stuck with me and

kind of grown more and more Very cool. All right,

so we're gonna shift focus and go from overall

films to kind of you know We talked about some

of his movies. We're gonna specify some of our

favorite characters some remain favorite man

characters minor supporting characters and Obviously

with Miyazaki of a lot of crazy creatures from

side characters to animals things of that nature

So Amanda, I guess we can start with you if you

want to just give a listing or talk about some

of your favorite characters from these categories

And his sass. I love him. He's like my kitty.

And then my second choice for favorite character.

I wanted to pick something that you didn't know

if you guys would pick. And it's the cat bus

from my neighbor Totoro. Oh, man. Nice. So two

kitty choices here. But I'm OK with that. I'll

be the crazy cat lady. I like those characters.

Can't go wrong with cat characters. Which is

not like a cat in the form of a bus. Kevin, how

about you? What are some of your favorite characters?

I guess for creature wise, the one maybe I was

most entertained by was the soot sprites from

Spirited Away. I just thought that they did a

lot of cool things with them and they were just

fun to watch, so I thought that wasn't entertaining.

I think there's so many good voiceless or nameless

characters, creatures, etc. that really... Give

Miyazaki a little added flair in some of these

films But those were one that came to mind right

away if I'm going for I guess you can call this

a supporting character But he's really kind of

also a main character because his name is in

the title, but I mean Totoro How do you not like

Totoro? I just think he's one of the easily obviously

he's part of the you know the logo or you know

kind of the iconic symbol of Miyazaki for a reason

but if I was going like with an actual main character

the one that I kind of was the most impressed

by? I think I would say Ashitaka from Princess

Mononoke. I just think there's so much to that

character and and everything he goes through

and he's just someone that you could like like

if you're if you have kids or younger audiences

watching these films like that's someone that

you kind of look up to I would think you know

and and see all the different stuff that he stands

for and and I don't know I just think there's

a lot to Ashitaka so I would put him as like

my favorite overall character. I could really

agree with that. Like, Prince Ashitaka, he feels

like a real person. He's got this depth, he's

got this story, but at the same time, he's very

much a hero. He always makes the good choice.

Well, maybe it's not a good choice, but it's

the right choice. He's always putting people

forward, even willing to sacrifice his life for

someone else. He's got great ideals, but he also

feels like a real, relatable person. There's

there's quite a few characters that we discovered

or or met along this journey though that I would

Definitely if we were going back and doing that

top 100 animated characters list I would I would

have a lot more of these in that listing than

I had Since I hadn't seen any of these films

But I can definitely see why some of the ones

that we mentioned during that countdown were

in that countdown Definitely I yeah, I agree

with you even like I said, even though I saw

some of these films begin with seeing it again

Definitely strengthens a lot of that man. I know

you had a lot of favorite characters going into

this any any Ones maybe stand out even more going

through this a second time or watching these

movies again. Oh Man, well, I would say like

no one from the movies that I hadn't seen are

really like Perked me up actually come to think

of it like I think the characters that I relate

with most are probably like Porco Rosso and Lupin

but they're not the characters I want to see

the stories about, right? I want to see stories

like the kids growing up, like Kiki and the kids

from Totoro. So I think those are the stories

that I enjoy more, even though I don't necessarily

relate to them as much. But like really, I think

the spotlight's on the creatures, right? Like

the forest spirits from Mononoke, Cat Bus is

hilarious. He's in like 10 minutes of that movie,

but he steals the show from the second he shows

up. All of the creatures in his world are so

amazing even the little even the little like

goldfish and ponies that are like Human -faced

goldfish, but no one sees them as human fate

like the the way he weaves creatures into a story

is amazing Or just even to with some of them

that you know Are they creatures are they more

humanoid or different things like you know? Like

you had turnip head and no face and a couple

things like that like they're just Intriguing

a lot of these characters that he that he puts

out there that are not necessarily you know front

and center Any other characters you wanted to

bring up before I give mine? Oh, that's that's

enough. Okay So for me like probably my looking

at like specifically kind of creature area and

I to be fair when I was looking at these I try

to spread the love or across all the films and

I try to give some Different answers, but I pretty

much agree with everything that's been said.

Well, one of my favorite Creature characters

is Moro from Princess Mananoke from this design

of the character Just you know this gigantic

wolf and I just the way that they speak in how

like the mouth doesn't necessarily you know,

it's not Completely, you know morphized but it's

just has a haunting feel to it. But there's also

some sort of like beauty to the character as

well as like viciousness as well. Princess Manon,

you know, okay, it was the first Mizaki film

I watched and it was those giant wolf characters

that really made it work. You know, they were,

they had giant wolves long before that of Game

of Thrones. So it, maybe, actually, I don't know

when the book came out. So I could, I could be,

I could be wrong there, but I really enjoyed

that character. One of my favorite characters

was actually Sophie from Howl's Moving Castle.

This is a strong -willed woman character who

gets dealt a really kind of crappy hand of being

kind of forced to become this old woman. Yet,

you know, she still kind of forces her through.

There's sort of like a kindness to her, obviously.

We made many comparisons to Wizard of Oz when

we did the film and certainly see that there's...

just the respect she has for others and her ability

to really kind of see the good in all people.

It really makes that movie work very, very, very

strongly. And if I, you know, if I was going

to pick a side character or maybe if you want

to even say like villainy, even though it's hard

to say if Madagascar's films have true villains,

one of the closest would probably be Lady Bashi

from Princess Maninoke, but still she has some

qualities that make her interesting Like how

she does help some of the sick and ill and she's

yeah, she's not completely evil. There's some

Legitimate reasons for what she's doing, but

I also find her very interesting character and

a part of why I really like that movie Yeah,

that's good point. All right, so we'll move on

over to the our middle chunk of films in the

world of Miyazaki. Amanda, we'll again throw

back to you and start. So we had your bottom

five. What makes up your middle section? I've

got three films here for my middle section and

start out with The Wind Rises. I gave that a

seven. Super sad and a little traumatizing. But

I think that it had its own Tone it you could

tell it was a Miyazaki movie by some of the subject

matter like the planes and You know some of the

animation and all that good stuff But it didn't

feel like the other films even the other serious

films, so I really didn't know How exactly I

felt about it, so I just put it in the middle,

so That's my first middle choice middle chunk

choice, and then I've got how's moving castle

up next I gave Howl's Moving Castle 7 .5. I thought

that this was a good middle of the road pig.

I liked it, but I wasn't blown away by it. Also,

Totoro... I can't say... Totoro? Totoro? There

we go. The CatBus movie? My neighbor Totoro?

Yeah, my neighbor Totoro with the CatBus. That's

my next and final middle chunk choice. Liked

that movie but is also super friggin sad and

it had some scary little dudes in it. So middle

middle middle ground there for me Nice Kevin

the float over to you a lot of people put this

one in their bottom section It just missed out

on being in my bottom sections the first one

here in the middle of my number seven ranked

film would be Ponyo I like aspects of it and

other aspects maybe didn't work quite as much

but it was one of those that did have me intrigued

big time the entire time like I was always interested

to see where it was gonna go next so I think

that's why I put it a little bit higher than

some of the films I already mentioned. For my

number six film I'm going to go with Nausicaa

of the Valley of the Wind and I think the only

reason that's down at number six right now because

I think this is an impossible film to rank on

one viewing. I think there's so much there there

this film is complex it's layered and I think

it's just requires more than one viewing to fully

appreciate and I've only seen it once so right

now it's sitting at number six. For my number

five film I put Castle in the Sky apparently

a little higher than that one than a few of you

but I think there's a lot of fun characters in

there too with Dola and Pazu and Shida and I

don't know I like the concept of it and he definitely

gets to explore some of the visual you know the

aerial aspects of it so that was my number five.

And number four, I was surprised, but this one

just kept going up the ranks for me, is Howl's

Moving Castle. And I think, honestly, with Tyham

Howl as a character, could be one of the best

characters in the library as well. I think there's

a lot to him. You get the fun part of Calcifer,

Turnip Head. There's just a lot interesting about

Howl's Moving Castle. I kind of like the way

they use the castle to make the story go in different

directions and whatnot. So that's my last one

for this middle chunk, would be Howl's Moving

Castle. Matt, over to you. Alright, I think I

can agree with Kevin putting Ponyo right at the

bottom of the middle. I mean, it's weird, but

it's a good story. Then after that, I think Porco

Rosso, I really like that one, but it was kind

of spoiled the way I first viewed it because

I owned it on two different DVDs and neither

one quite worked and we bounced back and forth.

And so like it was really rough the first viewing

and it was really nice to see it You know crystal

clear for this retrospective But I think that

one might might could go higher then above that

would be princess modern. Okay? And then spirited

away like that like towards the top you like

the more magical the more fantastical like that's

right where I want it Some some more some differences

here for me. I'm starting my middle at number

seven for you would be castle in the sky Similar

to Kevin I one thing I loved about it was when

they actually get to the castle and just the

layout of that castle and the robots and the

space pie I mean sky pirates what what there's

what isn't there to love for six is for me is

my name or Totoro Which I think maybe one lacks

for plot and story just makes up with characters

and emotional impact That probably would be,

you know, someone saying, what's the first Miyazaki

film to watch? That may be the one I would recommend

first, especially if you're watching with kids.

I think it's one that really would work at all

ages. Number five, I think, is one I am probably

the highest on from everyone, which is the one

Ridden Rises. I just kind of love the idea that

were a lot of the ideas are brought up in that

as we talked about in the actual retrospective

of the film, especially the idea of like innovation

and how it can be used for greatness and as well

as kind of ultimate destruction and how you balance

that. in Lush for me, which was interesting because

if I did this list before we did this retrospective,

it probably would be in the bottom of the list,

but it rose a lot more as we watched it again

for me, and that's Hal's movie Castle at number

four. As Kevin mentioned, just that it's so stacked

with great characters, as I talked about Sophie

already, and as, you know, Hal himself is a great

character and it just continues from there, so.

Alright, so we'll chip focus again. We talked

about some of our favorite films. We talked about

some of our favorite characters We're gonna now

look at the scenes. You know, we what are some

of those specific moments that mean these movies

stand out? There's a lot of great action moments

or some more dramatic moments Amanda for you.

What were some of the specific scenes that really

stood out throughout this retrospective? One

of my favorite scenes and I think this was probably

the hardest section trying to figure out favorite

scenes because there's So much to choose from

with all these movies. There's so much stuff

going on That I would like to pick from I like

the stuff that Matt was talking about like the

more magical and fantastical the better here

but I wanted to pick some smaller scenes and

One of the scenes that I liked the most was the

little dust mite sprite things when they were

shuffling the coal around and the one got smashed

and so she was helping it and then the other

one acted like he couldn't pick it up so she

would help him too. I think those things were

really cute so I like that scene and the bath

house there and I also like Kiki's Flight like

her first flight to the new town. I thought that

was a cool moment and I think the little montage

the little music montage to get there is it really

sets up like like a hope feeling like a new beginnings

kind of feeling and I liked that and then I Think

one of my favorite scenes has to be no faces

freak out in the bathhouse There's a lot. Yeah

a lot of great moments. I would I would have

to agree with you there Kevin, how about you?

What are some of your favorite scenes that stood

out for you? I was real close to picking No Face's

Freakout 2 just because that was something to

behold for sure. But I guess I went with, you

know, she talked about maybe some of the more

magical moments and things like that. I think

another thing that Miyazaki does really well

that maybe I wasn't expecting as much because

I had heard about, you know, the aerial things

and the female, you know, protagonist and the

fantasy magical realism. Aspects, but I wasn't

as prepared for some of the emotional beats that

he really hits in a lot of these films And I'm

sure that's something that he's known for as

well I just wasn't exposed to it so I most mine

kind of revolved around more of the emotion Just

so I'm not completely hating on Kiki's delivery

service even though I ranked it in my bottom

chunk I will put a moment from there as well,

but a different moment than what Amanda was talking

about I think when when Gigi goes silent when

She no longer is talking Instead just resort

Reno like they don't have that connection anymore

where they're where they're able to talk and

communicate with each other And she kind of turns

back into a cat that's just meowing or he excuse

me I keep saying she but I just thought that

was just a very touching and very simple thing

but Like a genius decision to to do that and

kind of the impact that that has in that moment

I think is really cool I think things can be

cool that are emotional. Ironic coming from a

guy who like shows one emotion. Like that's it.

That's what you get from Kevin. Yeah. And just

again, I guess it's weird that I'm picking some

moments from these films that I had towards the

bottom chunk. But I'm going to go with a moment

from Wind Rises as well. I think when... when

the main character, their hero, has that moment

where he's finally successful with what he was

trying to do and it coincides with most likely

also the moment where he loses his wife. I think

that's just a crazy circumstance and a crazy

set of emotions to try to reconcile, especially

if you kind of know that they're happening simultaneously.

I think that was a really interesting decision

from Miyazaki and I think it makes you think

about a lot of things. So I enjoyed what that

moment kind of triggered as far as thought process

and emotions. And then I guess for... I'm really

tired. I'm gonna have to squeeze two in here.

One, when Sophie visits Howl as a child in Howl's

Moving Castle. and finally kind of realizes why

everything is the way it is. I think that's an

emotional moment. But I don't know, one of my

favorite moments, I guess, is the iconic bus

stop moment from My Neighbor Totoro. I think

that just, I don't know if there's another scene

in all of Miyazaki's films that does more by

doing less. I mean, there's nothing going on

and it still has such an impact from a lot of

different aspects. So I think that's probably

one of my favorite moments. Matt, how about you?

What are some of your favorite scenes of Miyazaki

films? Man, this is so hard, because I feel like

it's not about the scenes. It's about all of

them. I love Howl's Moving Castle, the way it's

this building adventure, and characters come

and go, and it builds up a party. But it's like,

what's the best scene? Is it when she has the

flip turnip head over? I don't know. It's hard

to just pick scenes from these masterpieces.

And a lot of them are so just emotionally draining.

But I really love Totoro, the dream sequence

where they're dancing and growing the tree. That

one always puts a smile on your face. And I think

I really like the moment where Ashitaka is leaving

the village. and then he gets shot and he's like

opening the door, but he still just keeps pressing

on and everyone's just like, like, you're gonna

kill yourself, what are you doing? But then he

like gets out and gives the princess back to

the wolves. Like I think that scene is like real

good. But I also like some of the, I don't know,

like the smaller scenes, like a Nausicaa, like

at the beginning when she's under the dome and

like the poison's falling and she's just watching

like it's a rainfall, but it's like this deadly

poison. Think that's I'm gonna I'm gonna start

getting into the mundane now and be like also

when Kiki bakes that like bread with the old

lady I mean, I love these movies. Yeah so I'll

start with some of them, you know the bigger

bigger moments and Going back to a movie that

was on my bottom half with this first film and

that's the car chase in the pond opening moments

in all of his movies and I think it kind of just

gave you insight into like what he was going

to become as a tractor and it's what a car chase

that many notable directors and actors have actually

gone to is like a really well executed car chase

and not necessarily car chases something that's

associated with animated movies by any means.

You know Princess Manonoke has a lot of great

moments for me and I think its opening also really

works Well, it's just it's frightening. And it's

everything that the film has, I think, wrapped

up into like a really quick moment where you

have this board just covered in disgusting creatures,

and you're not sure what's going on. And it's

just, it's insane. And it's really action packed.

And you're but there's some beauty to it at the

end as well. And you have the voice of Keith

David, I believe. So that's always a great moment.

And I'll echo the one of the moments that Kevin

brought up with The One Rises and when he discovers

that his wife has this disease and it pans to

her basically coughing up blood and it was just

like a silent moment of just huge emotional impact

because it kind of comes out of nowhere and it

just flips everything all at once in a really

powerful way. And lastly just a really fun enjoyable

scene and as Matt talked about the magical realism

and was spirited away And it's just the bathhouse

scene with the mud monster or whatever you want

to call it. It's just it's humorous It's fun.

It's just the crazy imagination of Miyazaki,

but also I think symbolizes a lot with him and

kind of what he was getting at and I think there's

that's the kind of what I think makes spirited

away the movie it is or kind of scenes like that

Good picks. All righty Getting down to the nitty

-gritty. So we'll talk about what Films made

it to our top of Miyazaki films. What were the

best of the best Amanda? I think you have three

laughs. So what your top three of the Miyazaki

films? My number three is Spirited Away. I think

this movie was one of the most fun for me. There

was so much going on, so much detail, so much

color. It was a great ride. I loved it. I was

kind of blown away. I wasn't expecting anything

really, but this surpassed any expectations that

I could have had. Number two, I've got Kiki's

delivery service. Not number one, huh? Not number

one. I decided that Princess Mononoke would be

my number one. I think there was so much going

on in this movie, and I remember just how gangster

it was, and it was scary and exciting, but also

had this, you know, message that was played out

in this crazy way, so it was... probably one

of the most unique things that we've seen. So

I liked it. Very nice. Kevin, how about you?

I'm going to be boring because I'm going to have

some repeats from what she just had in her top

three as well. I guess for this. I have two that

are probably more objective, I think, two of

the best films that he did. And then I have one

that's a little bit more of a personal choice.

But my number three is the exact same as Amanda's,

that'd be Spirited Away. I just think there's

so much there between the main characters, between

all the different creatures. We talked about

the soot sprites and No -Face and Yubaba we didn't

talk about. But there's just a lot there. And

I think it's fun. There's a little bit of some

mystery. There's... obviously the magical realism

and the fantasy elements there's a lot to just

enjoy maybe doesn't quite have some of the emotional

pulls that some of the films do but it still

has them and it just maybe not those like striking

moments besides maybe some of the things as far

as, you know, forgetting or remembering your

name and that type of stuff, but a lot to enjoy

a spirited away. My number two is Amanda's number

one, that would be Princess Mononoke. I think

objectively this is probably the best film he's

ever done. I think just the scale, the epic grand

nature of everything that's going on, I think

it does encapsulate a lot of the themes that

he's been tackling here and there with a lot

of the different films up until that point, so

I think it's... It's a masterpiece for sure.

But my number one, I have to go with the personal

choice and it's not going to be a surprise to

anybody. My number one would be My Neighbor Totoro.

Something about that film, I cannot deny how

fun it was to watch, but then also how moving

it was for me personally. It just had that magical

element that maybe I thought a few of the films

didn't quite hit as well. So My Neighbor Totoro

is my number one. Very nice. Matt, how about

you? All right. So my number three is going to

be Nausicaä, which is the highest ranking of

anything that I hadn't seen before we started

this. I just really love that movie. I love the

world. I love the technology and the factions

and all of that. I just love it. And then my

top two, I think I said were my top two when

we started this, and it's always hard to rank

those two. But that's Howl, which is just an

amazing fantasy adventure, the exact thing I

want when I'm sitting down to a movie. And then

the other ones, the only one I gave a 10 to,

My Neighbor Totoro, one of my favorite movies

of all time. You haven't heard it in my countdown

yet, but you're gonna. I love that movie. It

is the most touching movie I think I've ever

seen. Impressive impressive. I like your picks

Matt My top three of all obviously all been spoken

because we talked about all the movies already

but similar with Matt and not sorry similar with

Kevin and Amanda a spirited away is also my number

three again, I like I said is it's just a great

blend of humor and imagination, it's Kind of

like we talked about a lot of Miyazaki films

which tend to be either just packed with plot

or limited to where I think Spirited Away was

able to kind of blend the paths of both of those

worlds. Number two, similar to Matt, it's Nausicaa

Valley of the Wind. This was the first I watched

for me and I just, it kind of set the... The

recipe to how to make a great Miyazaki film that

kind of just kind of got remixed as the years

went on And I was just mashed impressed by it

the man animation that still holds up It would

came out the year my birth and it still looks

like it came out just a few years ago So I was

majorly impressed with it And last but of course

not least as it was my favorite film coming in

and it remains my favorite Miyazaki film and

that's been Princess Manonoke I just I love the

world the creatures To me, there's something

about it that always sticks with me, and I just

think it's his most complete and greatest film,

which is saying a lot for Miyazaki, because he

is, every film he has is packed with imagination.

So, we talked about our favorite films, our favorite

scenes, our favorite characters, all that great

stuff, and I guess we talked about where we came

from. Coming into this question them rain remains

like how is Miyazaki? What are your over feeling

overall feelings of him as a director? Does he

belong as one of the best of this current generation

of all time? You know is this you know is he

maybe overrated? I don't I don't think we'll

get that compared about based upon a lot of our

responses, but Amanda overall thoughts after

finishing this retrospective of the career and

directing style of Miyazaki I think that he definitely

is an innovator and at the forefront of grades

when it comes to generation. I do appreciate

a lot of what he's done, but it also made me

expect more from him. So should I give my grade

or are we holding off grades? You can go ahead

and give a grade as well. I give him a B only

because feel like I would want a little bit more

of a variety in I want to say genre I mean I

understand like you know animation is this thing

I'm not asking him to do like live -action but

maybe something just a little bit different like

you know we we watched all these films and you

can tell for sure that it was a Miyazaki film

because there was all these elements that show

up in all of his movies so it would be cool to

see something even You know completely different

and I know that the wind rises was kind of that

but I Still don't even know how I feel about

that. So maybe just a little bit more variety

in what was going on and I know he has the ability

to do that because he puts out great stuff. There's

a good point. I don't want us I Don't want to

start an argument, but I think almost the fact

that his movies are recognizable as him is of

more of a plus than a detriment like Like if

you think about like like great musicians, you

know, like you can always tell an acdc or a van

halen or a metallica Like these huge mega bands

they have a sound And like the ones that reinvent

themselves like if you check green day right

from dookie to american idiot Like their sound

changes and I think that's to their detriment

as a band and I think that applies here Where

miyazaki can do an like an almost biographical

movie as well as a movie about two kids that

are growing a tree, as well as a movie about

a hat shop owner that goes on a sprawling time

traveling magical adventure on a castle that

runs on chicken legs, but they all feel like

they're made by the same one guy and they're

all amazing, I think is more a plus than a minus.

Like he has a feel. I'm not going to give him

an A plus. I'm not going to do that because if

I'm wanting more, then I'm not going to give

him an A. And I know that he you know has these

elements that we see I don't mean to take away

his elements that you can see like hey this is

a Miyazaki film but why does it all have to revolve

around playing stuff why does it all have to

have I don't know just I Like some of the stuff

like the his escapes and hit the artwork that's

put into it and and some of his brushstrokes

I love yeah, but I don't want every single film

revolving around some airplanes or super heavy

-handed about the You know environment or the

economy or whatever. I don't know. I just wanted

a little bit more Kevin overall grade and thoughts

about me as a director Well first, I think it's

hard to talk about Miyazaki when it comes to

a director of animation because there's no other

director that can put a resume against him. Like,

who do we compare Miyazaki to in the world of

animation? Disney is a company and he wasn't

a director, you know what I mean? so it's not

like you can put their entire library against

Miyazaki or something like that and There's so

many other directors that have maybe had one

or two good films or maybe maybe I don't know

Maybe there's some that have had three or four

how many have had eleven that would be all ranked

pretty high So I mean it's hard to like he's

in an he's on the island by himself So I think

for that like he is definitely one of the greatest

directors we've ever seen I think just not just

in our generation but of all time and I think

that it is a plus as far as the different elements

that make a Miyazaki film and kind of give you

that feel regardless of if we're doing more of

a coming -of -age, if we're doing more of an

adventure, if we're doing more of all the different

stuff that we've talked about. It's like someone

saying all the Marvel films are the same genre,

they're not, and all the Miyazaki films are not

the same genre. But yeah, there are all those

key elements, the female protagonist, or the

aerial aspects, or the magical realism, or the

human versus nature, or technology versus nature.

Those things do obviously find their way into

a lot of his films. Think there's enough different

like going through this retrospective. There

was enough of a variety I think in the tone like

there was some that were Much more emotional

much more sad and then you had some of the more

lighter ones and you had ones that were more

adventurous Versus ones that were more like,

you know thematically driven So I think throughout

the thing I never felt bogged down or felt like

I was just getting the same thing over and over

again Would it be interesting to see him go completely,

you know? Do something completely different that

has nothing to do with some of those elements,

but then still be a Miyazaki film Yeah, that

might be interesting, but I don't know if I'm

gonna hold it against me He he does what he does

very well, so I think it's a it's like Tantino

You know if you've done something that the worst

film in your filmography is still universally

accepted as a good film That's something that

most directors cannot say so I think for that.

I have to give him an A All righty Matt how about

yourself Well, I think I mean and I'm the ringer

right like I got brought in because I'm such

a me as I can fan like His movies are the movies

I want to see like if you're like, hey, what

movie do you want? I'd be like I want a fantastical

adventure about a teenage girl coming of age

on the road But she's meeting a bunch of different

like weird characters like a bouncing scarecrow

and a talking fire demon and a frickin' chicken

castle. Like, the movies he makes are the ones

that I could only dream of. And he does it over

and over and over again. And even when he does,

like, an almost biographical movie, it still

has, like, fun magical elements to it that I

can really get down with, and the animation's

great, and, like, it's hilarious, and I love

it. Like, and that's the thing, is I usually,

I like, I go for fantasy, and I go for comedy.

and sci -fi, but that's really kind of fantasy

for a lot of these movie guys. So the fact that

his movies aren't laden with Joss Whedon quips

and stuff, but they still manage to really get

me, just shows to me how good these movies are.

There aren't very many levity moments in My Neighbor

Totoro, right? There's just heart -wrenching...

Is the mother gonna die? Did the daughter drown?

And then the levity moments aren't comedy so

much as they're like, oh, they had a nice night

before going to bed. They planted a tree, that

was cute. But they take you for a ride. Just

like a roller coaster, I get off and I go right

back to the beginning. I need to take that ride

again. And it's just every time. I'm always enjoying

myself and I'm always loving these movies and

if I had to name the top five directors of all

time like Miyazaki's in there probably top three

like he's he's one of my favorites and all of

his movies are great and I like like a a -plus

I don't know like he's the best I definitely

I can see what you're saying because like clearly

there are a lot of Factors that are repeated

in his films either through thematically or just

elements of his level of planes and aviation

And things of that nature so I could see why?

Wanting more variety would be beneficial But

I think sometimes is it depends on what you want

from a director perhaps I think there are directors

that you have careers which are so widely versed

that people almost Forget we'll get to it as

we talk about who are we doing next? But in a

way I wonder if a certain choice that I may have

come up with Did very poorly and I wonder it's

because a lot of people his movies are so different

from one another that in a way Do people even

know what he's directed because it's there's

there's no connecting tissue. It's so it's challenging

I think for a director, but ultimately if I just

look at the quality of the films by themselves

He's made some of the best animated films of

all time, unquestionably. done so on a consistent

basis and you know, he you go outside of just

his movies what he's done for the animation world

the studio Ghibli and I'm sure he's had his hands

in a lot of the films that don't necessarily

has his name as a director and the standards

that he puts on himself in the films that he

put up puts out I think that says a lot to you

know, like he was able to kind of go go to war

with Disney and When in the sense of like making

sure that the cuts that were made were the ones

that he wanted Which doesn't happen very often

to me. It's Unquestionably in a like I said,

I don't I don't think all of his movies are perfect

I think there's some issues here and there but

I feel like you there's such even though some

of the elements are the same there are a huge

variety there that in the sense of from a princess

Mennonoke to Anasaka to more of my neighbor torturo

or like our porquerosa there's There's some uniqueness

within each film. So I was really, I enjoyed

the retrospective as a whole, just seeing his

career progress and getting to see some of these

films for the first time again, learning about

Lou Pollen, because I had no idea that was a

thing before starting this whole podcast. And

that was a fun adventure as well. So, but yeah,

if you want to hear more of our thoughts about

each film, like I said, you can go to the...

Actual retrospective, but I think it's time to

get to the moment of truth and maybe what everyone's

been waiting for as we looking to see who will

be doing our next retrospective and this has

been interesting because I've been monitoring

this throughout the day and We, this whole thing

has been going up and down. Like at one point

there was two choices that were completely tied

at the top and then the choice that was in third

at the time came all the way up to be almost

in the lead and it's gone back and forth and

every time I've reloaded it during this record

there's been more votes that have been cast.

So we started this record with I believe 70 votes.

And right around 70 was what we had when we started

this record and currently there's 77. So we've

even gotten seven more votes just during this

record. Dan, before you reveal what the winners

are for this one. Interesting to think last time

we did this there was also four choices, and

we only had about 50 some votes 50 55 somewhere

around there, so we far surpassed that about

20 25 more votes this time And I forgot who all

we had put up last time, but last time the four

choices were Heyo Miyazaki Guillermo del Toro

Robert Zemeckis and Denis Villeneuve So we've

actually thrown two of those from last time back

in it this time with del Toro and Zemeckis So

I'd be interested to see because last time Miyazaki

won with 40 % of the vote Zemeckis was second

with 29 % Del Toro was third with 22 and Denis

Villeneuve only had 9 % So that was a long time

ago But we'll have to see what kind of things

changed with a few new choices thrown into the

mix, but I'll swing it back to you, Dan Interesting,

I guess I need to be more creative because I

repeated Zemeckis. I forgot that I brought him

up last time And he was my choice and he rocked

the bottom of it this time with only 14 % of

the vote and like I think I was just reading

some of the comments I think people mentioned

how you know, he started everything from back

to the future the castaway to Forrest Gump and

I guess if you watch those, maybe you don't even

realize that we're all done by the same person,

I'm not sure. But coming in second place, which

I thought was winning when I checked, but not

anymore, as Kevin mentioned, it's been going

back and forth, was Kevin's choice with Alfred

Hitchcock. And Alfred Hitchcock had 25 % of the

vote. In these last, these top two were really

battling it out, and it came very close. Amanda's

choice of Guillermo del Toro, came in second

with 29 percent of the vote and winning it was

uh you know the the mayor spawn cast himself

kevin smith with a grand total 32 percent of

the vote and the person will be doing next for

her retrospective so uh very different from i

think uh what we what we were doing with miyazaki

i think uh but i think it should be fun uh i

i guess amanda i'll start with you how much experience

you have with kevin smith for our next retrospective.

I would say I have a pretty good smattering of

films of his that I've seen. I think there's

only, let's see, one, two, three, four, five,

six, seven of his films I haven't seen. So I've

seen quite a bit, but there's definitely some

blind spots there So looking forward to rewatching

some of these and then catching up on the others

You've seen about half of them interesting, too

There's three votes that separated like every

selection almost so very close vote for sure.

I'm with This is weird because I didn't think

this was a thing I'm gonna be just like I was

with Hayao Miyazaki. I don't think there's a

single Kevin Smith film I've seen from beginning

to end Yeah, I've seen most of clerks I've seen

most of mall rats I've seen a very small part

of Dogma and I've seen most of Jay and Silent

Bob strike back, but I would not bet anything

that I've seen the entirety of any of those films

because I think I've always been, they've been

broken up or I didn't finish them or I didn't

see them all the way through. And I know for

sure I've never seen Chase and Amy, I've never

seen Dogma, I've never seen Jersey Girl, I've

never seen Cop Out, Red State, Tusk, Yoga Hosiers.

Maybe I saw a scene from Zach and Mary maker

porno, but I don't even remember Wait, wait,

you didn't see cop out? I don't think so. I would

put money on the table that I watched it at your

house, but you might not have been there I've

seen it Okay, man i'm gonna be the newbie again

somehow Matt well, he was your choice. Uh, how

much of his films have you seen? I think most

of them. I haven't seen his most recent horror

thriller stuff. I haven't seen Red State Yoga

Hosers or Tusk. And honestly, really Tusk has

got me worried because that's a gross -looking

film. I love the concept behind it, but I've

heard it's not very... I've heard it fails on

the horror marks and stuff, but I'm sure it's

horror and disgusting enough that it's going

to bother me since I'm not a fan of that genre.

Yoga host I heard is more silly than scary and

like fingers crossed that that's true I also

haven't seen Jersey girl because it's really

hard to get a hold of two two years ago. I took

a week off work and I watched Seven of his films

over that week like I made sure a minimum of

one movie a day Particularly ones I hadn't seen

like that was when I first watched Chasing Amy

which like strike a chord with me so much It's

one of my favorite films of all time and I first

saw mall rats like Because I hadn't seen his

earlier stuff nearly as much, but I've seen most

of his films, but not all of them. Yeah, I'm

the same. I haven't seen Jersey Girl. I have

seen Tusk, but I haven't. I've only watched the

first 20 minutes of Yoko Hosers and I'm like,

I don't need to watch this, so I won't. But now

I do. So there you go. And I've not seen Clerks

2. I think the rest I have seen. I watched a

lot of his movies in the 90s. I thought like

I was I was a big fan of him and I remember first

watching clerks, which we can talk about later,

but I'm interested in going back because I've

not watched a lot of his movies in quite some

time. So I'm curious how well a lot of them hold

up. So that should be a lot of fun as we get

into the career of Kevin Smith. So I think it'll

be a lot different retrospective than Miyazaki

for sure. That's for sure matt. I want to know

did you did you actually get votes from uh from

kevin smith on this or or from tweaking? Sadly,

he did not uh, he did not retweet or even fave

or like That I think if I if I was thinking a

little better because I think I posted it kind

of late like right after a record or something

Like it would have been better if I had done

it, you know, like at noon on a monday or tuesday

Or I should I should have pushed it a little

bit more. I do know that at least one person

voted um because of my twitter uh campaign and

voted specifically for kevin smith so i i did

bring in the boat i'm still blaming hitchcock's

lack of twitter presence on my law here yeah

i don't know what he's doing let's go step up

that game Alrighty, so if you want to get in

contact with us, let us know what you think of

the upcoming Kevin Smith retrospective We also

have the video game retrospective going on or

remember if you want to be entered in the Chance

to win a bunch of video game movies do so by

going to keep cast radio or sorry go to an iTunes

leaving review And you can be entered into that

no matter what the review says so feel free You

can also email us a few back at GeekCatsRadio

or also on Twitter at CinemaGeekCats and everyone

else is also on Twitter because that's the world

we live in. Amanda, what is your Twitter name?

At HardCandyMandyEyesNoWise. Kevin? Mine would

be at OptimusSolo, but I'm thinking about creating

an account for Alfred Hitchcock too. So I'm sure

one exists somewhere. Matt, how about you? I'm

at FridleySutt. And I'm at MoodRevolve. And thanks

for listening and join us next time as we begin

the Kevin Smith Practice Packer. Thanks for listening.