My Neighbor Totoro, by Hayao Miyazaki  My Neighbor Totoro (1988) is a quiet, calm, beautiful film. There is no dialogue for very long stretches of story while characters explore, watch, and discover—akin to the opening sequence of WALL-e. There is no sass talk, there are no quick cuts, no pop-culture references, and no special effects.  [...]

Review of Howl’s Moving Castle, Directed by Hayao Miyazaki Rating: 8/10 Howl’s Moving Castle tells the story of a young woman named Sophie, who owns a hat store in a European-looking town. War is coming to the kingdom. It so happens that Sophie meets Howl, a wizard, and the Witch of the Waste is immediately [...]