Fantasy

The Wheel of Time – To Race the Shadow

  • Title: The Wheel of Time – To Race the Shadow
  • wiki: link

The opening to the Third Season of The Wheel of Time gives us the chaos of the White Tower when Liandrin (Kate Fleetwood) is brought before her sisters and outed as Black Ajah leading to a battle within the the walls of the council as her co-conspirators are also revealed. Along with outing several characters as evil, and killing off a few as well, the sequences inform viewers that the struggle that’s been happening mostly in private is now moving towards open war. The extended open scenes also include the theft of several magical artifacts by the Black Ajah which will provide side quests for some the supporting characters not concerned the main storyline this season.

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Kiki’s Delivery Service

  • Title: Kiki’s Delivery Service
  • IMDb: link

Hayao Miyazaki‘s Studio Ghibli coming of age film offers the story of a young witch named Kiki (Minami Takayama | Kirsten Dunst) who sets off with her talking black cat Jiji (Rei Sakuma | Phil Hartman) to a new town for a year of learning to be a witch away from her family. Kiki settles on a large seaside community where she struggles to fit in until helping a baker (Keiko Toda | Tress MacNeille) and discovering how she can put her broom flying to use across the city. 

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Red Sonja vs. The Army of Darkness #1

Mashing up two franchises, as Dynamite Entertainment is want to do, we get Red Sonja vs. The Army of Darkness #1 which opens in the present with a despondent Ash Williams thinking back on his glory days (as seen in Army of Darkness). This leads to a little researching about the time period he left and an attack by a She-Devil with a Sword which he chooses to try and prevent by pulling out a very different book and traveling back to what he thinks will be the world he left.

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Princess Mononoke

  • Title: Princess Mononoke
  • IMDb: link

When I first saw Princess Mononoke more than 25 years ago I thought it was weird, but a very pretty and visually striking film. Rereleased into theaters in a remastered 4K version, the film still looks terrific. Credited with helping to elevate anime to a new level and discussion as a serious art form, Princess Mononoke remains a favorite of many, including influencing several modern-day filmmakers. Sadly, it’s still a little too weird for me with emotional beats that don’t always hit their mark.

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The Great Films – My Neighbor Totoro

  • Title: My Neighbor Totoro
  • IMDb: link

Universally regarded as one of the best animated films of all time, 1988’s My Neighbor Totoro follows 10 year-old Satsuki Kusakabe (Noriko Hidaka | Dakota Fanning) and 4 year-old Mei Kusakabe (Chika Sakamoto | Elle Fanning) on an amazing adventure after the move to the countryside with their father Tatsuo (Shigesato Itoi | Tim Daly). Shortly after arriving, the girls discover their new home is different finding dust spites in the house. Mei later follows two more unusual characters through the woods where she encounters the slumbering Totoro who more fascinates the young girl than scares her.

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