Black Ships Festival
My daughter and I just got back from the Black Ships Festival in Newport, Rhode Island, commemorating the 150th anniversary of the opening of Japan by Commodore Perry’s “black ships.”… Read more »
Author Archives: Jonathan Tappan
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
I’m probably not representative of the target audience for this movie. I only read the first book in the Harry Potter series, though I have seen and enjoyed all of… Read more »
Azumanga Daioh — Anime Review
Some people are fanatically devoted to this series. A few strongly dislike it. I fall somewhere in between. It’s not the greatest anime ever made, but I think it is… Read more »
The Awful Truth About Figure 17
ANI-NOUTO has some comments on Figure 17. Some of them are fair but I am going to take issue with the following: if Hikaru is made out of liquid metal,… Read more »
Ratatouille
Given that Pixar’s latest movie was written and directed by Brad Bird (The Incredibles) and tells the tale of a rat who doesn’t want to eat garbage and dreams of… Read more »
Once
This is a quirky little Irish musical that is getting a limited distribution in the U.S. I enjoyed it; the music is great, but I suspect it will have limited… Read more »
Fantastic Children–Anime Review
For centuries there have been rumors about a mysterious group of white-haired children, sometimes called “The Children of Béfort.” At age 5 they leave their homes and find each other…. Read more »
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End
This movie is the third in a series that has been going steadily downhill. The first movie in the series (Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl)… Read more »
Waitress
This is a well-made and well-acted film, but ultimately one that I find unsatisfactory. Jenna (Keri Russell) is a strikingly beautiful waitress with a fantastic talent for making pies. She… Read more »
The Twelve Kingdoms–Anime Review
If you have watched much anime you probably have a pretty good idea of what will happen if some Japanese high school students are suddenly transported to a strange and… Read more »