From Up on Poppy Hill + Blog Update

This blog is not entirely dead, despite appearances--even last year I was posting infrequently, and this is my first post of 2013. There are several reasons for this. First, I started this blog partly to keep in practice with my writing, and that is no longer necessary, since I'm writing stories for publication. Second, I have mainly been writing about movies I have seen, and I did not go to the theater for the past three months. Finally, I have simply gotten busy with other things.
So if you're one of the five or six people in the world that reads this, expect occasional posts over the next few months, since I'll be going to the movies more, but don't expect the posting to ever be frequent again. For now, I'll give a few words on From Up on Poppy Hill.
This film is from Studio Ghibli, but is directed by Hayao Miyazaki's son Goro, rather than his more famous father. Goro Miyazaki's first film, Tales from Earthsea, was not an excellent film, but this one is rather better. It is currently in limited release in the U.S.--I had to go to an art-house theater in Fairfax called the Angelika Film Center to find it.
The storyline of this film is reasonably good, though even one of the characters admits it's a little melodramatic. It takes place while Japan is preparing for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, and is set in a high school not far from Tokyo. The film focuses on a high school girl who balances schoolwork with helping her grandmother with their boarding house on Poppy Hill, and a high school boy who is trying to preserve an old, decrepit clubhouse that various boys' clubs make use of.
Where the film shines is the animation and characterization. Studio Ghibli always has beautiful animation, especially with their attention to detail in their backgrounds. This film adds some deliberately over-the-top character animation for comic effect (rivers of tears, and that sort of thing), which works well. The dialogue of the film combines with the animation to do an excellent job of delineating the characters, whether a ridiculous would-be philosopher, a sleepy and zoned-out artist, or the heroine of the film, a responsible but lonely student who still mourns her dead father.
The film has many funny moments, including some that are easy to miss if you're not listening closely to the background dialogue. Overall, it is quite enjoyable, even if lacking the (both literal and metaphorical) magic of Hayao Miyazaki's best work.

My Oscar Choices

Having now seen all the movies I am going to for 2012, I decided to have some fun and list my choices for some of the Oscar categories. This list is not complete, because it only includes categories I feel at least minimally qualified to judge, and that have at least one worthy candidate from the films I saw. It also, of course, ignores movies I did not see, like Zero Dark Thirty, Life of Pi, and various other frontrunners.
Best Picture: Lincoln 
This sort of film is usually not my favorite, but Lincoln is just that good.
Best Director: Steven Spielberg, Lincoln
He brought together the elements that made it work.
Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
Duh.
Best Supporting Actor: Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln
I promise, it's not all Lincoln, but Jones is clearly the best in this category.
Best Supporting Actress: Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables
Good film, great performance--and she can sing really well, unlike a certain other actor. (Incidentally, according to whoever decides such things, none of the female acting performances I really liked this year are leads, so I have no choice for Best Actress.)
Best Original Screenplay: Looper
This had some genius writing and a fantastic ending.
Best Adapted Screenplay: Lincoln
Great dialogue, good history, general quality.
Best Animated Feature: Wreck-It Ralph
A weaker year for animation if you're not a vampire/zombie fan, but this one was quite fun.
Best Original Score: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
This one is close, as I nearly chose Brave, but the integration of the song of the Lonely Mountain into the main theme, the other beautiful themes, and the scope of the score give The Hobbit the edge.
Best Original Song: "Learn Me Right," Brave
Because Mumford and Sons.
Best Makeup: Lincoln
This should win just for Daniel Day-Lewis's face.
Best Costume: The Dark Knight Rises
This award usually goes to period dramas and that sort of thing, but Bane's costume is awesome, so The Dark Knight Rises should win (this is one of those "minimally qualified" categories I mentioned above).
Best Visual Effects: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey 
This one was also close, with The Avengers impressing as well, but the number of well-executed CGI creatures, the Goblin-town fight/chase, and the unnoticed effects that make all the dwarves and hobbits look short, even though the actors are not, tip the scales.
Best Production Design: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Middle-Earth looks great. What more is there to say? 
Best Cinematography: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey/The Dark Knight Rises
I probably have no business saying anything about cinematography, but I wanted to give The Dark Knight Rises another award, and also vote in favor of controversial new technology. On the basic standard of "did the film look good?" both these films get high marks, with The Dark Knight Rises being more consistent, and The Hobbit, despite some odd-looking movement from the high frame rate, having stunningly crisp camera shots that zoom and spiral through the hills and halls and caves of Middle-Earth, finding beauty everywhere without missing a detail.
Best Film Editing: The Avengers
I don't think anyone else is choosing this, but I loved the portrayal and pacing of the action in The Avengers, so something must have gone right with the editing.
Okay, I'm done.

My Review of The Hobbit HFR 3D

As many people know, The Hobbit is the first theatrical film being released in 48 frames per second, rather than 24.  Apparently only about 10% of the theaters in America have been equipped to show it this way, and only 3D showings have this frame rate available. From my experience with my local theater, things are further confused by the availability of 3D showings both with and without high frame rate (HFR) at the same location. (This is not to mention Imax showings, which further complicate things, since they come in multiple formats, too.) In any case, the outcome of this is that many people will not see The Hobbit in the format in which it was filmed. So, this review will not spend overmuch time on the storyline, characters, etc., which can be read about elsewhere--I suggest here, as Steven D. Greydanus often matches my views. Instead, I will discuss my experience with the controversial new frame rate.
When the movie first started, I could see something was a little different, as the higher frame rate practically eliminates motion blur except from the fastest movements. Bilbo's movements around his home looked a little odd, like they were at the wrong speed. But the flashback to Erebor before the dragon displayed an extraordinarily crisp portrayal of miners and the riches they unearthed, even as the camera swept and spiraled through the depths. Rather than getting the general idea, I could see the details of the work. As the film went on, the action scenes were all crisp and clear. Now Peter Jackson's earlier Lord of the Rings movies had also had intelligible action scenes with few confusing bits, but he also made use of a good deal of slow motion in those films, which he seems to do little of here. This may be partly due to the greater ease of displaying action when using higher frame rates.
A bigger positive for me, though, was that I did not get a headache when the film was over. When watching longer 3D films, I have often gotten a headache afterwards, despite the fact that the new 3D technology is supposed to avoid that. I was unsure of the reason, but I suspect 3D motion blur was part of the problem, because The Hobbit was longer than Avatar, but I had no ill effects.
Since I have read some articles saying that the higher frame rate makes the actors and sets look stagy and unrealistic, I will note a couple of things on that subject as well. Azog, the pale Orc, looked kind of like Kratos from the God of War video games, and something seemed off about his looks. I do not know whether that is the fault of the frame rate or not, since the effect seemed the same whether or not he was moving. I had no complaints about the other prosthetic or CGI characters, though. As for the Maiar, Hobbit, Elf, and Dwarf characters, they did not merely look like people wearing costumes, but did indeed seem like characters, as you would expect from a high-quality movie.
So, my conclusions on HFR are largely positive, though I wonder whether it would be better to vary the frame rate depending on the speed of action--that might get past the odd movement speed apparent in some of the non-action scenes. I will also note that if anyone happens by here wondering about the "dream effect" that some theorize is responsible for much of the magic of movies, and that only exists at 24 frames per second, I have no answers, being unqualified on that subject.
So. Regarding the content of the movie, I share many of the views of the review I linked to above, though I would say I am a bit more positive overall--I liked the Goblin-Town sequence, for example, even if the stone giants that preceded it were stupid. Many of the good parts of the movie are taken directly from the book, and many of the less-good are alterations, but I will mention in the scriptwriters' favor that Gandalf's words about the difference between his and Saruman's views on power are original to them and exactly right. And there I shall leave things, for that and Bilbo's later speech about home are two of the best moments of the film.

Review: The Ward of Heaven and the Wyrm in the Sea

(This review is copied from the one I posted on Amazon.com. You can buy this book here.)
Colin Cutler's first novel (if novel is the right word) is impressive both in style and substance. The style recalls Beowulf or the Silmarillion, with the frame story creating a sense of the old North lands, and the tales told within it reaching back further and higher still.
As for the substance, this is a work of re-mythologizing, perhaps with some inspiration from The Dream of the Rood or the writings of C. S. Lewis. Anyone who has read Genesis will find much here that is familiar--but also much that is unfamiliar, for that is precisely the point. The defamiliarization works quite well, and I found the journey through this story fascinating.
The biggest criticism I find with this work is in its presentation and formatting. As is sometimes the case with independently published books, it is less-polished than one would expect from a major publisher; the same lack of polish occurs in the illustrations. Still, none of these issues prevent enjoyment of the book.

Review: Homeschooling Can Be Murder

Homeschooling Can Be Murder
By Susan Lyttek
Harbourlight Books, 2012, 179 pages
(Full disclosure: the author of this book is an acquaintance of mine.) This mystery novel, available electronically from Amazon, is intended to be the first in a series of mysteries centered on a homeschooling family. It is also intended to be enjoyed by the entire family, though its largest audience might end up being moms--it certainly has much they will identify with.
The story begins with the Talbott family's military-mandated transfer to a new town called Gentle Springs. Jeanine Talbott is not happy about the move, and finding that their new house is next to a graveyard does not improve matters. But things really get out of control when the family dog leads her and her two children to a freshly-dead body next to one of the tombstones. With her husband out of town on TDY (Temporary Duty), she is left to try to rein in her children's enthusiasm to solve the mystery, deal with an unfriendly sheriff, and do her best to make friends in this odd little town. Her children will not give up on the investigation, of course, since it fits right in with their idiosyncratic hobbies (having been homeschooled myself, I know about pursuing idiosyncratic hobbies). What follows involves Civil War history, the dredging up of old grudges, and lessons about not judging based on surfaces.
Homeschooling Can Be Murder is quite interesting, but unfortunately it starts rather slowly. It is only a few chapters in that I began to feel the urge to find out what would happen next. Once it gets going, however, it is well paced right up to the end, with character development well-balanced with action and plot revelations. Those who are familiar with mystery stories and their typical plot devices may be able to predict some of the plot's turns, but the turns are well-handled, so they remain enjoyable.
Another good things about the book is its realistic treatment of homeschooling. Its accuracy is not surprising, considering the author homeschools her children, but such accurate portrayals are still comparatively rare. Of course, one consequence of the realistic treatment is that everyone in the Talbott family has a name starting with "J". I have met far too many homeschooling families who do that. It's confusing, people--stop it! To get serious again, the members of the family are distinctly drawn, even if their names are not, and the townspeople are made memorable as well.
Having memorable characters, a good plot, and some worthwhile deeper themes running through it, Homeschooling Can Be Murder makes for good entertainment all around. It will not change the world, but it might help the reader live better in it.

Review: Trouble with the Curve

Clint Eastwood's final (?) film appearance finds him playing an aging and cranky Atlanta Braves scout named Gus who is slowly losing his eyesight. He has rejected the Sabermetric revolution--alienating him from some of his colleagues--and his contract is up in three months, so he knows his job is in danger. Meanwhile, his single daughter, Mickey (Amy Adams), is a successful lawyer trying to become a partner in her firm. The story that follows is not massively groundbreaking, featuring family tensions, the customary discussions about doing what you love, and a romantic comedy subplot between Mickey and a player-turned-scout named Johnny (Justin Timberlake), that goes about the way one would expect.
This is not to say that Trouble with the Curve is a bad film, however. The acting is solid throughout, with good chemistry developing between Amy Adams and Justin Timberlake, and Eastwood providing a simultaneously sad and delightful portrayal of an old man with many successes and many sorrows in his past. It is also interesting to see what is essentially the anti-Moneyball. Whereas that film showed old scouts as obstacles to the hero's statistical plan to make the team a success, here the old scout is the hero, and the worth of the human factor the emphasis. The Atlanta analyst who is so confident in his computer analysis that he never even watches people play is a caricature--someone like that would never get a high-level job in the front office--but a number of Internet Sabermetricians do tend to fit that image, so it works as a corrective.
Baseball still uses scouts, and this film helps explain why. Not being a scout myself, I cannot speak from experience regarding its accuracy, but the film's portrait of their experienced analysis of swings and windups combined with discovery of character and mental makeup is convincing. In its emphasis on the value of scouts, this particular story slants against the stats, just as Moneyball was slanted toward them. In actuality, of course, both are valuable, but it's understandable why the film emphasizes what it does.
The film has its problems (e.g. a somewhat contrived, though satisfying, ending), and a bit more cussing than I would like, but is worthwhile for fans of baseball, Clint Eastwood, or Amy Adams.

To Whom It May Concern

If you came upon this site while investigating my tutoring services, welcome. My blog is unrelated to my tutoring--I started it several years ago to provide a place for me to write about books and movies--but you can take a look at it to get an idea of what my writing is like. I currently only post here about once per month. I typically write each article in one sitting, so although I do edit and proofread them before posting, they are essentially edited first drafts. Enjoy!