The problem with this movie is exactly what everyone was worried it would be:

Baz Luhrmann does his thing, the story does its thing, and they are a total mismatch.

I like Moulin Rouge and Strictly Ballroom. They are not among my favorite movies, but I like them. They work because Baz's style, which is campy and melodramatic, works with those stories, which are dramatically simple and emotionally-charged. The former is a broad melodrama, the latter a broad comedy. Baz's…

Goro Miyazaki is of course the son of the great Hayao Miyazaki -- I'd say this effort is about on par with one of the father's lower-tier films. It carries some elements of the old "Ghibli way" (animation style, detailed character expressions, hand-made feel), but also stakes out its own territory (greater focus on budding teen romance, specificity of setting in 1960s Japan, and a more modern, pop-centric soundtrack). It's also very specifically about the relationship between the past and…

A fantastic little story about teenage girls who try to learn a few rock songs in advance of a school festival. It doesn't sound like much on paper, but it is beautifully executed on screen: characters who are quirky and unique but have depth, an unobtrusive and bare-bones filmmaking style that nevertheless seems to always find director Yamashita picking the right shot, and fantastic music. Listen to the title track as performed by the film's actresses and as performed by…

Johnson's excellent formal control is once again on full display, as is his penchant for hard-boiled dialogue and old-fashioned production design. I love the way that "futuristic" details are just alluded to as part of the film's universe and not fussed over, just as it would be in a real futuristic society. As for the story, I think it's an original and effective take on the "time travel" yarn, one that smartly does not get bogged down in details over…