Karama Has No Walls (2013)
This film, chronicling the 2011 Yemeni Revolution, is an interesting, insider account of the uprising, but too short for viewers to invest in the story it tells.
Castle in the Sky (1986)
Princess Sheeta is the surviving member of a royal line from an ancient civilization and unknowingly possesses the key to accessing Laputa, a floating castle in the sky. She’s pursued by Colonel Muska, a descendant of another royal line, who wants the power of Laputa. While evading him, she befriends Pazu and his seemingly addled grandmother Captain Dola, the leader of a band of pirates.
Eventually, they discover Laputa was abandoned years ago when its citizens realized a civilization relying exclusively on science and rationality was devoid of the things which make life worth living.
Directed by Hayao Miyazaki, this was the first film from Studio Ghibli, Japan’s most successful and important animation studio.
In recent years, it’s become a badge of hipness to voice a role in an English dub of a Studio Ghibli film and the Disney produced English language version of this film features an all-star cast of Anna Paquin, James Van Der Beek, Chloris Leachman, Mark Hamill, Many Patinkin, and Andy Dick.
For some reason, the style and tone made me think my old friend Teddy Ruxpin was just around the corner.
It’s worth watching, especially if you like anime. There are hints of the studio’s future genius, but it’s not as polished as Graves of the Fireflies (1988), My Neighbor Totoro (1988), or the phenomenal Spirited Away (2001). The later films brilliantly combine a child’s adventure story with adult themes of death, purpose, and spirituality. This film wants to meld them but doesn’t know how.
The Book Thief (2013)
The Grim Reaper narrates the story of Liesel Meminger, one of the few humans who made him consider the possibilities of life.
Liesel was abandoned by her communist mother at the beginning of World War II to live with Hans (Geoffrey Rush) and Rosa Hubermann (Emily Watson).
While Liesel is shepherded to literacy by Hans and Ilsa Hermann, the wife of the town’s mayor, she befriends Rudy Steiner and Max Vandenburg, a Jewish refugee hiding in the Hubermann’s basement.
The movie, based on the Australian novel by Markus Zusak almost says something new about the war and the Holocaust, but falls short of its lofty goals. The tragic ending is predictable and the bookended narration deflates its impact.
The movie is well made, but forgettable.