Hayao Miyazaki is one of the few directors working today that I would, without any doubt whatsoever, describe as a living legend. Over the last thirty years or so, Miyazaki has created some of the most enchanting and magical movies of all time, and even his weaker efforts, such as Howl’s Moving Castle and Porco Rosso, contain many moments of artistic brilliance.

Miyazaki’s latest film is entitled Ponyo On A Cliff, and it follows a young goldfish princess who wishes to be human, and a five-year-old boy who befriends her. Unlike the vast majority of animated films these days, Ponyo On A Cliff will eschew computer animation; the entire film will be animated by hand and in a style that evokes watercolors.

You can get a sense of that in this glimpse of the trailer (which, unfortunately, is marred by some incessant newscaster commentary):

And if that doesn’t quite satisfy you, there’s this slideshow of artwork from the film:

And what the heck… here’s an ultra-kawaii music video for the movie’s theme song:

Some folks are saying that film represents a return to the simpler storytelling of such films as My Neighbor Totoro, in constrast to the big epics that Miyazaki has become known for as of late (e.g., Princess Mononoke, Howl’s Moving Castle). Obviously, since the film hasn’t even opened in Japan yet, it’s too early to tell. But I’m do have a feeling that the animation style will probably be one of the most divisive elements of the film. But let’s face it, if anyone can pull off such a thing, it’s Hayao Miyazaki.

Every year, Lincoln’s Ross Theatre sponsors “Movies on the Green”, a series of free outdoor movie screenings in front of Kimball Recital Hall. Every year, the Ross puts together a rather eclectic program that spans high art and pop culture, and this year’s program is no different.

• Thursday, July 10 - A Man For All Seasons
• Thursday, July 17 - Taming Of The Shrew
• Thursday, July 24 - Jason And The Argonauts
• Thursday, July 31 - The Three Stooges In Orbit
• Thursday, August 7 - Harper
• Thursday, August 14 - Bye Bye Birdie

I don’t know how many screenings we’ll make it too—our moviegoing schedule is currently dictated by the littlest Opus—but I’m especially excited about A Man For All Seasons (read my review) and Jason And The Argonauts. The former because it’s just such a fantastic film, especially if you’re a fan of rich dialog, and the latter because who wouldn’t want to see Ray Harryhausen’s effects on the big screen?

In other Ross-related news, Mongol—the acclaimed Genghis Khan epic starring the always great Tadanobu Asano—will begin playing at the Ross on July 11.

Back in 2000, Thai director Wisit Sasanatieng released Tears Of The Black Tiger, an incredibly lavish and visually fascinating film that blended aspects of musicals, cult films, and spaghetti westerns. Who knew he’d be starting a trend of sorts.

Last year, cult filmmaker extraordinaire Takashi Miike released Sukiyaki Western Django, a remake of the classic Italian western Django with aspects of Yojimbo and A Fistful Of Dollars mixed in that found the entire Japanese cast doing their lines in English alongside co-star Quentin Tarantino (yes, that Quentin Tarantino). The film’s played at various festivals, including last year’s Toronto International Film Festival, and of course, the Twitch crew was there and reviewed it. And if you don’t believe my earlier description of the film, just see for yourself: watch the trailer.

And now, South Korea has joined the sepia-toned the fray. Kim Ji-Woon—who previously directed A Tale Of Two Sisters and A Bittersweet Life—has just released his latest film, The Good, The Bad, The Weird. The film—which happens to be South Korea’s biggest budget movie ever—stars Lee Byeong-heon, Jeong Woo-seong, and Song Kang-ho, and is set in 1930s Manchuria. Three bandits get a treasure map, but their attempts to find the treasure get derailed by Chinese, Russian and Korean bandits, the Japanese army, and Korean freedom fighters.

Twitch has posted the film’s trailer, and the film looks absolutely awesome. The film looks fantastic, and I am powerless to do anything other than totally dig Kim’s highly stylized genre mish-mash.

The Good, The Bad, The Weird played at Cannes, where it received a very positive impression. And now it’ll be playing at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival as a “Gala” presentation.

The second season of Burn Notice—one of my favorite TV series right now, as I mentioned earlier—kicks off on July 10. The USA Network has been replaying the first season over the last few weeks and months, in order to get folks up to speed on Michael Westen and his pals (and drum up buzz for the new season).

But just in case you missed any episodes—or just want to see them again—USA will be replaying the entire first season on July 3 and most of the first season on July 10.

Hellboy 2: The Golden Army comes out in about two weeks, and even though some pretty cool promo materials have come out, the press folks ain’t stopping there. A kick-ass new trailer, an animated comic that serves as a prologue to the film, and a behind-the-scenes featurette have just popped up over on Apple’s site.

Plus, ShockTillYouDrop points to three more clips that have recently appeared online, including a hilarious clip featuring Johann Krauss, a ghostly new addition to Hellboy’s team voiced by The Family Guy‘s Seth MacFarlane.

And finally, CHUD’s Devin Faraci gave the film 8.5 out of 10 in his review, describing it as nothing less than the successor to Pan’s Labyrinth... dressed in spandex. He also goes on to say:

...the movie’s heart isn’t the rousing action (of which there is plenty), but the people at the center. Del Toro breaks the rules by making us wonder if the monsters may be right, but he doesn’t stop there - he takes these characters and makes them real in ways most blockbusters wouldn’t imagine. When offered a choice between saving the world and saving the life of a loved one, the answer seems obvious… in a movie. But del Toro doesn’t look at these characters as being in a movie, he looks at them as people. And imagine yourself in that position, choosing whether to save the Earth or save the person you love most in the world.

So, are the monsters right? I think it’s easy to see that Guillermo’s sympathies lie with them. Prince Nuada complains about humans taking their territory - an ancient truce gave the elves and fairies and goblins and their ilk the forests, while man got the cities - and putting shopping malls and parking lots there; while I think Guillermo laments the loss of nature to these monstrosities, what he’s really talking about is another piece of real estate: our imaginations. As one of the fantastical folk says to Hellboy, ‘We die, and the world is a poorer place.’ Guillermo del Toro has thrown his allegiance down with the things that go bump in the night, and he’s doing everything in his power to keep them alive another day.

Hellboy 2: The Golden Army comes out July 11, 2008.

What happens when you combine Joss Whedon, Nathan Fillion, and Neil Patrick Harris? Why, you get Doctor Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, the story of a low-rent super-villain, the hero who keeps beating him up, and the cute girl from the laundromat he’s too shy to talk to.

More info on the web-based three-part musical series can be found here. This is the second new Whedon-related series that’s coming down the pipe (the other is Dollhouse), and that’s good news. The more Whedon we have, the better off we’ll be.

On a related note, some friends and I watched several episodes of Firefly last night, and the series holds up magnificently in every way—characters, story, humor, action, etc. Its untimely demise is, without a doubt, one of the saddest events in recent TV history (and no, I’m not being melodramatic).

Oh Labrador... you’ve already won my heart completely and utterly with your incredible pop music, what more can I ask for? And yet, you keep giving and giving. Case in point, your Summer Sampler 2008, a free MP3 compilation that boasting thirty tracks from many of the label’s luminaries, including The Mary Onettes, Club 8, Acid House Kings, and Suburban Kids With Biblical Names.

Tracklisting

1. [Ingenting] - “Här Kommer Solen”
2. The Sound of Arrows - “Danger!”
3. Sambassadeur - “Final Say”
4. Suburban Kids With Biblical Names - “Funeral Face”
5. Pelle Carlberg - “I Love You, You Imbecile”
6. Club 8 - “You And Me”
7. Johan Hedberg - “Grammisgalan”
8. The Radio Dept. - “Freddie and the Trojan Horse”
9. Sambassadeur - “Subtle Changes”
10. Tribeca - “Her Breast Were Still Small”
11. Chasing Dorotea - “Dark Angel”
12. The Mary Onettes - “Explosions”
13. The Legends - “Darling”
14. Leslies - “Take A Look”
15. Irene - “By your side”
16. Pelle Carlberg - “Go to Hell, Miss Rydell”
17. Club 8 - “Jesus, Walk with Me (The Sound of Arrows remix)”
18. Suburban Kids With Biblical Names - “Trumpets and Violins”
19. Acid House Kings - “Start Anew”
20. Irene - “Little Lovin”
21. The Radio Dept. - “Pet Grief”
22. Club 8 - “Whatever you Want”
23. Acid House Kings - “This Heart Is A Stone”
24. Loveninjas - “Little Black Friends”
25. [Ingenting] - “Släpp In Solen”
26. Caroline Soul - “Been Turning (Into Something Bad)”
27. Acid House Kings - “Sunday Morning”
28. Johan Hedberg - “Var Dig Själv”
29. The Legends - “Make It All Right”
30. The Sound of Arrows - “Danger! (Ice cream shout)”

Note: It looks like a lot of folks are taking advantage of Labrador’s generosity: if you download the sampler right now, you might have to wait awhile. Of course, this is Labrador, so it’ll be worth the wait, but you might want to brew up a batch of lemonade while you’re waiting. Then you’ll have something to go with your new summer mix.

I’ve been meaning to write about the “recent” design—it’s been two weeks, already—but you know how it goes. However, there is one thing that I do want to spotlight. It’s not a big thing, and I don’t really know how much value it actually adds to the site, but it was fun to do and there really was no reason not to do it.

I’m referring to member accounts. That’s right, you can now sign up for a (not so) exclusive Opus account. Registration is free (natch), and a few of the benefits include not ever having to enter your information when commenting and subscribing to articles to get updates on new comments, etc.

This was actually more of a learning experience for me, since all of this stuff is supported by ExpressionEngine “out of the box,” and I always look for ways to learn more about my favorite CMS. I’d worked with EE’s member capabilities before, on the latest Twitch redesign, but for Opus, I did a whole lot more customization in order to strip out things I didn’t want and accentuate those things that I did.

So, give it a spin—click here to register—and let me know what you think.