FilmJerk Favorites

A group of unique directors and the essential works that you've got to see.

||| Hayao Miyazaki |||
Hayao Miyazaki

For bringing magic back to animation, and not just for kids.

Sweet story of two sisters out in the country, and their adventures with the forest spirits. The cat bus is so adorable, I still giggle thinking about it.

This one will really wow you, with its epic battle scenes and beautiful landscapes. There are conflicts on so many levels, as mankind seeks to wipe out the spirits of the forest.

By far my favorite animated film. Young Chihiro is "spirited away" to a different world, and becomes employed in the bathhouse of the gods in order to try and change her parents back from pigs.

Recommended by CassyHavens

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A.I.

By Zack

June 30th, 2001

First and foremost, not what I expected.

Okay, so I wasn't expecting much in the first place. I hadn't seen too many trailers (other than the teaser) and it wasn't one of my "must see" films of the year. There are so many stories going around about how Kubrick's version would have been much better and Spielberg turning it into a kid's movie. Horseshit. I could give a rat's ass who's creation it was as long as it was entertaining, which "AI" is far from.


The beginning wasn't so bad. In fact, it was probably the best part. Telling the story about AI robots and what they are about. AI robots don't feel love. So David is created. The first AI child who can love. A family who is losing their son to some disease becomes the first test parents for David. As luck would have it, their real son's disease magically goes away and he comes back home. David and the real son soon start a sibling rivalry. The mother then freaks out (for some unknown reason) cause she can't handle the AI robot. She takes him out to the woods and leaves him. Nice.

The next two hours of the movie is David searching for the Blue Fairy from the fairy tale Pinocchio. He believes the story is real and that the Blue Fairy can make him into a real boy so his adoptive parents will love him. It's fairly boring, with the exception for Jude Law's character; an robot male gigolo. Although I didn't like his character and thought it didn't fit well with the rest of the movie, he gave a good performance.

Near the end David finds out the secret behind his creation in that he was simply a test robot for a new product. They are mass producing other David's, as well as a female counterpart, for parents who are unable to have children of their own. David then freaks out and now is on an even stronger mission to find the Blue Fairy.

Something stupid ends up happening and we find out the entire thing was planned by aliens eons ago. Wait, did I miss something here? What the hell do aliens have to do with this movie? Spielberg really pissed me off with this one. Having to dig up the aliens once more. That's it. I'm done. Movies that have nothing to do with aliens that suddenly become movies that have to do with aliens piss me off.

My rating: D-