Fireworks (English dubbed) - I really enjoyed this and it felt more sophisticated than the norm (I am guessing due to Shunji Iwai's involvement), was a cute, enjoyable romance with beautiful visuals, nice music, plus I love a good time travel or similar sort of yarn, so yeah I'm really glad I bought this on DOTW
Sword of the Stranger (English subbed, rewatch) - Not my favourite genre of film, and it really is rather violent so I have to be in the mood to watch it, but I did enjoy seeing it again, if you like Asia-set historical action movies with lots of swordfighting (I believe chanbara is the term?) you'll probably really enjoy this, and the animation is spectacular, the central bond that defines the movie's emotional core is pretty well done as well
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs (rewatch) - As I have this on Blu-ray now I have rewatched it, visually creative, some very funny bits, cute, romance works well, and the father-son stuff does too, I suppose if you despise CGI animated films you might not be won over but I would put it up there with the best Pixar/Disney/Dreamworks efforts or at least certainly close to that level, and the sequel was a lot of fun too from what I remember though I haven't gotten around to rewatching that yet. The food-weather premise is novel and well-handled, and it's pleasingly silly in just the right measure
The Illusionist (rewatch) - (This is the Sylvain Chomet-directed French animated film, rather than the live-action film with Christian Bale) I thoroughly enjoyed rewatching this even though i didn't closely pay attention to every single second this time around, because the score is one of the most beautiful I have ever heard, and the film itself is a touching and sincere (I would say successful) attempt to adapt Jacques Tati's script which went unfilmed and/or unfinished at the time of his death, which he wrote to express his regrets about never really knowing his daughter - in the film, an ageing stage magician who's craft is gradually being eclipsed by modern pop and rock music, television and film, comes across a young woman who is working as a maid while traveling in the UK (I believe mostly in Scotland) looking for work, for a time he looks after her in a fatherly sort of way (buying her some nicer clothes and shoes than the old half tattered ones she has when they meet, taking her out to eat), and the two spend time together forming a bond of sorts - I don't wanna spoil everything (and I can't remember if in the film it's clear that this girl is his daughter or not) but regardless it was lovely and I recommend everyone watch it, I loved the director's previous feature Belleville Rendezvous, but think it is sad that this film has perhaps not been as lauded (there was never a UK Blu-ray release that I know of, thought tbf it took Belleville quite a while to get one too). This is one very rambling assessment sorry everyone but it's just a absolutely lovely film anyway I might even rewatch it again today lol
