I couldn't believe it when I read this:

 

http://www.turnerclassicmovies.com/thismon...cle/?cid=114160

 

All month long they'll be airing Miyazaki's films, specifically:

 

Spirited Away

Princess Mononoke

Nausicaa of the Valley

Castle in the Sky

My Neighbor Totoro

Porco Rosso

Whisper of the Heart

Only Yesterday

Pom Poko

 

Watch 'em!

Good lookin' out, Kawada~! Thanks for the heads up!

I remember a time when AMC was almost on the same level as TCM. Now it's just another crappy station that shows modern, chopped movies that aren't very good in the first place, with commercials. Meanwhile, TCM has become one of the best, if not the best, movie channel out there. Their respect for the history of film is incredible and watching a the channel for a few hours on any given day is like a film class.

i have lots of great memories of the old amc. i remember when i was 14 or so they were doing an all-day hitchcock marathon, and i spent half a day in front of the tv. it was lots of hitchcock i'd never heard of, too: 'lifeboat', 'spellbound', 'the paradine case', stuff nobody remembers.

 

they also used to play 'the lady from shanghai' like every weekend, which very quickly became one of my favorite movies and is still something i pop in when i want to feel like a teenager again.

 

i remember a couple years ago amc showing 'chinatown', interspersing it with a large black housewifey-type woman talking about how much she loved it. it was bizarre.

 

tcm is great, but i HATE that program peter bogdanovich hosts. i fucking hate that brown-nosing little shit. he gets by basically because he kissed ass and made friends with a lot of people who were far greater than he (like orson welles), hoping to achieve some kind of greatness by association. i'd be okay if it ended with that, but he also thinks he's a director. i could just stop paying attention to him if he hadn't made that one great movie in his career, 'the last picture show'.

That's The Essentials you're talking about, I believe. The only plus about that is that a lot of great flicks get featured both on the channel and website.

that sounds right. i appreciate them showing 'north by northwest' and all, but i do not appreciate bogdanovich doing impressions of hitchcock or cary grant.

TCM Miyazaki Film Schedule

 

Thursday, January 5th

 

8 pm Spirited Away (2002 - English-language version)

10:15 pm Princess Mononoke (1997 - English-language version)

1 am Spirited Away (2002 - Japanese-language version)

3:15 am Princess Mononoke (1997 - Japanese-language version)

 

Thursday, January 12th

 

8 pm Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (1984 - English-language version)

10 pm Castle in the Sky (1986 - English-language version)

12:15 am Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (1984 - Japanese-language version)

2:15 am Castle in the Sky (1986 - Japanese-language version)

 

Thursday, January 19th

 

8 pm My Neighbor Totoro (1988 - English-language version)

9:30 pm Porco Rosso (1992 - English-language version)

11:15 pm Whisper of the Heart (1995 - English-language version)

1:15 am My Neighbor Totoro (1988 - Japanese-language version)

2:45 am Porco Rosso (1992 - Japanese-language version)

4:30 am Whisper of the Heart (1995 - Japanese-language version)

 

Thursday, January 26th

 

8 pm Only Yesterday (1991 - Japanese-language version only)

10:15 pm Pom Poko (1994 - English-language version)

12:30 am Only Yesterday (1991 - Japanese-language version)

2:45 am Pom Poko (1994 - Japanese-language version)

Forgive my ignorance but what is so special about these films?

Forgive my ignorance but what is so special about these films?

Put simply Miyazaki is the Chris Benoit of movies. He rules.

 

 

They're some of the best films you'll ever see in your life. There might be 1 or 2 films that aren't Miyazaki here but I'm not sure.

 

I'm fussy when it comes to movies yet there hasn't been 1 Miyazaki flick I haven't loved. There's not even 1 movie down in the like category. Well, maybe Kiki's Delivery Service but that's just my own preference. There's no denying it's a terrific movie.

 

Which reminds me Howl's Moving Castle was superb. Yet another winner for Miyazaki. Full of life.

Forgive my ignorance but what is so special about these films?

Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke were top box office draws in Japan and were nominated by the Academy for some awards. Miyazaki-san as the TCM guy called him is one of the greatest directors to ever come out of Japan....he is up there with Kurasawa talent wise.