My Neighbor Totoro (1988)

 I have seen My Neighbor Totoro before but got the chance to see it at the cinema. Having seen Spirited Away and liked it more after seeing it at the cinema, I thought/hoped that the same would happen to My Neighbor Totoro. It’s one of the weaker of Miyazaki’s films. The story sees two sisters move with their father to a new house in the country whilst their mother is recovering in hospital. Whilst exploring they come across a Totoro which is a spiritual being. As much as I want to love this film I simply don't and that is because the plot isn't the best. It never feels like its building up to something it just sort of ends which is disappointing. 

Something else that I didn't notice the first time I watched this film is just how annoying Mei is. I get that her mother is in hospital and she wants her home but the way that she throws a tantrum at Satsuki just ruins to nice vibe that the film had managed with these two throughout the film. If Satsuki had done something bad then I could understand the mood but as it stands, she just comes across as unreasonable. Now I know she is a young child but it just is a big negative for me as far as enjoying the film is concerned.

On the plus side, The animation, like all Studio Ghibli’s stuff this film is beautiful. It puts a lot of computer generated animation to shame and shows why Studio Ghibli is held in such high regard. I would love to live in this world because it seems like a nice place to work and live in. I also think that the soundtrack is lovely. Its another film when I have gone home and brought the soundtrack.  

This is one of my least favourite Miyazaki films but I still think its worth your time. The animation is worth the 90 minutes of your time and even with the weak plot, you’ll still finish the film in a better mood than when you started and thats what all films (apart from horror) should strive for.

The Conjuring: Last Rites (2025)

The Conjuring series is a mixed series. They have ranged from ok (the first one) to boring (the second one). I am sceptical that this is the last one but it will most likely be the last one to feature Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga. The plot is pretty much the same as the rest, the ‘true story’ sees. The ‘true story’ sees Lorraine and Ed travel to the house of some family that has a possession in it. I should probably have watched the previous films because I had forgotten/wasn't aware that the Warrens had a daughter and she forms the basis for the story and the fact she gets married to a guy who was once in Eastenders.

The true part of this story is absolute nonsense. Just because the Warren’s say it happened or some of it happened means that it almost certainly didn’t happen but that is something that could be said about anything happening in the Conjuring Universe. The Annabelle doll for example is just a Raggedy Anne doll and not in the slightest bit scary.

I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would. It’s not a great film by any means but compared to the usual conveyor belt of jump horror films that Blumhouse are famous for, this is one of the better ones. It doesn't quite have the same jump scares (that i can remember) which is one of the things that make it worth watching. There are some good shots that show some thought was put into making this film atmospheric. The way that the camera slowly zooms in on someone shows that the director was more interested in making a film that didn’t just rely on jump scares. The Nun, which was a Michael Chaves is one of the most boring films in the Conjuring series but this is miles better. The story is good, the scares are decent and the family is mildly interesting. Interesting enough to care about them getting through this situation. 

There did seem to be a couple of moments which were hilarious even though I don’t think they were meant to be. One moment occurred when the daughter started vomiting blood and the aimless stream made me chuckle.

I was worried that at 2 hours and 15 minutes, the film was going to struggle to keep the pace going and whilst it took a while to get to the Warrens at the family house, I thought the run time was just right. They got away with it. Horror films should be 90-100 minutes and if you go longer then you run the risk of being boring but to this films credit, they got away with it. If this is the final one then they ended on a high because they saved the best till last. It’s nowhere near as good as Bring Her Back or Sinners because it doesn’t have the quality in terms of story or acting but I think that it does what it needed to do and in that sense does it better than films like I know what you did Last Summer.

Caught Stealing (2025)

Matt Smith as a punk rocker. That is literally all it took for me to decide I wanted to see Darren Aronofsky’s latest film. One thing was for sure before I watched this film and that it was not going to be as downbeat and borderline depressing as ‘The Whale’. The set up of the film is Austin Butler plays Hank who after drink driving killed his friend and ended his potentially successful baseball career, he is asked to look after the cat belonging to Russ (Matt Smith) while he goes to the UK. People are after Russ and it turns out he has money that some groups were supposed to have split between them. 

I did find Matt Smith to be the funniest part of the film. There was something preposterous about the fact that he looks like he does. It might be the fact I am a Doctor Who but there was something about the fact he kept swearing which just came across as humorous. Whether that was what Aronofsky was intending was unclear. Also not to sound like a prude but the c-word was used several times still managed to only get a 15 certificate. It is quite impressive how we have developed where we can cope with the c-word.

Austin Butler is quite good as Hank. There is something likeable about him as he is trying to remember where the key that he needs to find for the crazy people. He does have to do a funny British impression which must have made Dick van Dyke want to call his lawyer for copyright infringement. Zoe Kravitz is not in the film very much. She was quite good as Yvonne and it does feel slightly out of left field when she is killed. It was abrupt and it lacked any real emotional impact. The chemistry between Kravitz and Butler was really good and it would have served the film better if she had made it to the end and run away with Hank but at least the cat survived although he probably lost at least three of his nine lives during the course of this film. I also liked how New York looked. I know films and TV shows set in New York are quite common but Matthew Libatique deserves a lot of credit for making the whole film look brilliant. 

I thought that Caught Stealing was good enough but I don't think that it's going to be a big hit unless there are a lot of people who want to see Matt Smith with a mohawk. I also think that the comedy doesn't quite work as well as it could have done and so as a result falls just a little short of being at the top of most people’s films of the year.