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Mardock Scramble
(I reviewed the first Mardock Scramble film in Neo magazine, Uncooked Media, below. My reviews of the second and third films are linked underneath.) In a future New York where cars drive on air and technology resembles magic, a wretched … -
Big Fish and Begonia
(Sight & Sound, BFI) Towards the climax of the Chinese cartoon Big Fish and Begonia, there’s a watery apocalypse. Huge tubular waterfalls break through clouds and hammer down on the green fantasy realm where most of the film takes pl… -
Angel Beats
(SFX Magazine, Future Publishing – there are also further reflections on the series in an article I wrote for the MangaUK blog.) Oh, you’re awake. Lie there on the ground for a moment, and listen to me. Welcome to the Afterlife Battlefro…
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John Carter
(Judge Dredd Megazine, Rebellion) “John Carter of Earth? John Carter of Mars sounds much better.” So the titular hero of the planetary-romance screen blockbu… -
Paul
(Judge Dredd Megazine, Rebellion) Back in 2004, I spent a strange day at Ealing Studios in west London, watching Simon Pegg and Nick Frost playing whack-a-zo… -
The Hunger Games
(Judge Dredd Megazine, Rebellion) The Running Man, Stephen King’s 1982 novella about a gameshow which kills its contestants, ended with its hero grinning thr…
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Beowulf
(Sight & Sound, BFI) Denmark, AD 507. The ageing Norse King Hrothgar holds debauched revels in his drinking hall. These disturb a monstrous giant in the … -
A Town Called Panic
(Sight and Sound Magazine, BFI) The recent Toy Story 3 featured an opening fantasy sequence in which various oddly assorted toys starred in a madcap adventur… -
Early Man
(SFX Magazine, Future Publishing) A century ago, some of the first stop-motion cartoons were goofy caveman comedies by Willis O’Brien, who later animated Kin…
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My Neighbor Andrew Turned Out to Be the Real Totoro—A Trek Through the Sayama Woods
You have been doing a lot of research recently about Hayao Miyazaki’s film ‘My Neighbor Totoro.’ That’s right. Are you interested in where Director Miyazaki … -
I Boarded the Galaxy Express with a British Friend and Ended Up Debating the Soul of Leiji Matsumoto world.
We’ve been to the Leiji Matsumoto 50th anniversary exhibition in Roppongi, which Andrew wrote up as a report for Animation World Network, illustrated by Carl… -
From Heidi to Kaguya: Our Visit to the Takahata Exhibit
We recently went to the Isao Takahata Exhibition in Tokyo to report on it for Animation World Network (our report is here). As fans of Takahata’s work, we ha…