Anno voicing the main character in Miyazaki's upcoming film

[Electric Sachiel]

So I'm back from the first of three screenings at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Absolutely fantastic film. If this is really Miyazaki's last feature film he's leaving on a high note.

Best way to sum it up is with this gif:

SPOILER: Show

Awesome man! I'm so glad you enjoyed the film! I knew that you would probably have attended the screening yesterday. Did you manage to get good seats? Honestly I was sitting upstairs in the Mezzenne 7 rows back and while I had a good view I would have preferred to sit in the middle section downstairs relatively closer to the screen. Those darn Visa premium card holders and reserved seat VIPs took 50% of the seats in the theatre by the time I got in. Darn.

This never happened to me before! I waited in-line (for non-Visa credit card holders) for 1.5 hours before the screening and all of that was almost for naught, because at the end of the day, 400-500 people got to go into the theatre before we did. Darn...

[TMBounty_Hunter]

Yeah the Visa stuff was annoying, but what are you gonna do when the plaster their name over half the festival.

Still, my seats weren't too bad. Took this pic but forgot to post it, shows just how classy the 100-year old Elgin is:
http://i.minus.com/itGWhV8t6wwG1.JPG


Xard: I think it'll be less of a mess to just have one thread.

As far as the dub goes...honestly George Lucas seems like the perfect western parallel. He's a long time film maker, has a slightly unique voice...it would be quite interesting.

[Electric Sachiel]

Yeah the Visa stuff was annoying, but what are you gonna do when the plaster their name over half the festival.

Still, my seats weren't too bad. Took this pic but forgot to post it, shows just how classy the 100-year old Elgin is:
http://i.minus.com/itGWhV8t6wwG1.JPG

LOL. I probably walked right past you as I was trying to look for seats in the same area. In the end I sat upstairs 5-6 rows behind you. Not bad of a view either but I would preferred being downstairs. I'm guessing your area and its seats were the last to be taken during that mad rush!

EDIT:

OH MY GOD!!! I spoke too soon! I was walking right past your seating area. HELL I'm in the picture you took of your seating area!!!

[Dream]

Oh my, everything i've heard from Kaze Tachinu until now seemed very promising, but i really didn't expect such an strong reaction. Needless to say, i'm really looking forward to the day i'll watch it.

[Sailor Star Dust]

Can't wait to see this one day, sounds great. :)

[Guy Nacks]

Does this mean that the release in February will be dubbed? Not that I actively want to see the dub, I'm just curious who's gonna be cast in Anno's role.

[TMBounty_Hunter]

Geoffrey Wexler said the February release will be mostly dubbed but subs are not out of the question because these days with the magic of digital projection they can pack in all the audio and sub streams onto the same HDD as the film. I see no reason why a major city won't have both.

Electric Sachiel, well that's quite an interesting sighting

[Xard]

Here''s pretty much every review I could find few weeks ago (reinforced with couple of recently googled TIFF reviews) though I'm sure there're new ones out there by now. Note: some of these reviews feature spoilers though they tend to say as much.

Positive:

http://www.ioncinema.com/reviews/the-wind-rises-review
http://scenecreek.com/tiff/tiff-2013-re ... ind-rises/
http://blacksheepreviews.com/the-wind-rises-review/
http://www.flickeringmyth.com/2013/09/t ... -2013.html
http://twitchfilm.com/2013/07/review-mi ... -work.html
http://variety.com/2013/film/reviews/th ... 200592219/
http://www.hitfix.com/in-contention/rev ... nd-rises/2
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review ... ice-619634
http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/ ... s-20130901
http://japancinema.net/2013/08/14/the-w ... es-review/
http://www.littlewhitelies.co.uk/featur ... view-24642
http://www.cine-vue.com/2013/09/venice- ... eview.html
http://www.economist.com/blogs/banyan/2 ... pastmaster
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film ... eview.html
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/201 ... jqjXT-T5vD
http://www.japanfocus.org/-Matthew-Penney/3976
http://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-news/2 ... ime-review
http://kinkairu.wordpress.com/2013/08/2 ... ind-rises/
http://www.contactmusic.com/article/hay ... nt_3852273 (short review at very end of reportage)

Mixed:

http://kotaku.com/ghiblis-new-movie-is- ... -876413696
http://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/se ... wind-rises

Negative:

http://www.sbs.com.au/films/movie/15811/the-wind-rises
http://collider.com/the-wind-rises-review/

**********

As a bonus here's Time article on the film and what it has to say about Japan's turbulent 20th Century history.


Bottom line for too long didn't readers who don't appreciate art of sampling either: Very positive reception overall. Main criticisms that crop up more than once are allegations of being tad too long and slow pacing. Some other common criticisms include unsatisfactory handling of romance (then again other reviews praise this very much) and too much planes & mechanics obsession for non-enthusiasts. The genuinely negative ones chiefly emphatize claim Miyazaki has lost his irresistible spirit with move to real world from fantasy and predictable whining about how Miyazaki dares not to focus on ZERO BEING USED IN WORLD WAR II FOR EVIL.

The reviews can also be seemingly split into four categories:

- This is one of Miyazaki's best films (Positive bracket)
- Sasuga Miyazaki greatness but not on par with his masterpieces like Spirited Away (Positive bracket)
- Beautiful film with countless fantastic moments but overall story fails because real world or biopic cliches or MUH PEARL HARBOR (Mixed bracket)
- Technically astonishing but soulless achievement, Miyazaki should've stayed away from realism (Negative bracket)

So yeah, consensus seems to be it is great swan song with minor flaws with couple of negative reviewers breaking from the pack which is of course expectable with just about any feature.

[Gendo'sPapa]

Does anyone know what theaters this will be playing at in NYC for the one week Oscar run in November? I actually have a few personal connections to some of the more "art house" theaters in the city & was intending to head up there to catch a show when it played.

I mean it's Miyazaki's last feature so I have to make a trip of it but I also just HAVE to see it the first time with Hideaki Anno in the lead role. My first time can't be tarnished with one of the kids from One Direction as Jiro.

[Xard]

LA Times: Five things to know about The Wind Rises


My hype is certainly rising, such a tragic miss for HIFF this year...

[Xard]

This piece about Miyazaki's retirement also contains interesting tidbits about production of Wind Rises

Also Hosoda apparently loves it:

In fact, Hosoda was supposed to direct "Howl's Moving Castle" at Ghibli. But production was suspended. Later the project was restarted, but this time with Miyazaki at the helm. Hosoda was so shocked at the time he thought "my directing career is finished." But he has shown no ill will toward Ghibli with the release of "Kaze Tachinu," which he acclaims as "a film that is so good that there's never been anything as good before it and there will be none after it."

[TMBounty_Hunter]

As of Sept. 5, 7.47 million people have seen "Kaze Tachinu," and the movie has brought in 9.23 billion yen ($93.03 million) at the box office. But according to a source at Ghibli, the film cost so much to make that it hasn't turned a profit yet, while "Kaguyahime" cost even more to produce.

Holy shit.

They each cost more than ~$100 mil to make?

This is mildly disturbing.

[cyharding]

It probably means that they are counting on domestic and international sales to help them break even.

[Electric Sachiel]

Holy shit.

They each cost more than ~$100 mil to make?

This is mildly disturbing.

Now that I'm looking at this a bit more objectively I highly doubt that The Wind Rises took $100 million to make. Academy Awarding Winner Spirited Away as lovely and detailed as that film was only took $15 million to make. I don't see how The Wind Rises could have cost over 6 times the budget of Spirited Away to conceptualize and animate. There is no way in hell it cost that much to make. I think the source about The Wind Rises not making back its budget was probably dated much earlier just a few weeks after theatrical release. Surely by now they would have made back the money it cost to make it.

[Dream]

Well the article cited an "inside source at Ghibli" so it would seem rather reliable. But yeah it sounds a bit too much for a film.

[Nuclear Lunchbox]

I WOULD be seeing the film, but I have mock trial down at the courthouse on both days when it's screening in my area. Major pissed-offness ahoy.

[TMBounty_Hunter]

Just a reminder that the subbed, Anno-filled, Oscar qualifying run starts in New York City and Los Angeles this Friday. It will run from the 8th-14th.

No idea about actual locations because I'm north of the border.

[Gendo'sPapa]

In NYC it's playing at the Landmark Sunshine Cinema. Might have to make a pilgrimage to NYC this weekend...

[Nuclear Lunchbox]

I may or may not be going tomorrow, actually. It all depends on whether or not I'm savvy enough to snag tickets before everybody else.

[Gendo'sPapa]

Scheduled a day off work & bought train tickets to NYC for Thursday. It's gonna be one long hell of a day trip but I'm thinking it'll be worth it.

EDIT: My day trip to NYC for "The Wind Rises" complete.... WOW! Just incredible!

They just announced the English cast for the dub coming out this February.

For the most part it's an okay cast with Joseph Gordon-Levitt playing Jiro. But then you get down to one name in particular & the dub is suddenly made a must-see.

WERNER HERZOG as Castorp. The mysterious German who warns Jiro about what's to come. PERFECT!

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2013-12-16/joseph-gordon-levitt-emily-blunt-star-in-miyazaki-the-wind-rises-dub