Each Thursday night for the entire month of January Turner Classic Movies is airing Miyazaki films. Last week they showed Spirited Away (very good) and Princess Mononoke (very strange). Last night they aired Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (good, but I’m biased since I read the graphic novels ages ago) and Castle in the Sky (also very good).

Perhaps the best part about this month long film festival is that they air each film twice: first dubbed in English, then later in its original Japanese with English subtitles. In some cases I think I actually prefer the subtitles. Some of the voices from the dubbed versions are entirely too recognizable and are distracting. Patrick Stewart and Mark Hamill seem to do a lot of animated voices, then there’s Anna Paquin’s hoity-toity voice which never ever fits any character; male or female (she’s done both)… and didn’t I just hear that Dawson guy?

Anyway, if you have no plans for the next two Thursday nights, or you have tivo, a dvr or a vcr I suggest you catch the rest of the Miyazaki love fest. Next week it will be My Neighbor Totoro, Porco Rosso, and Whisper of the Heart. And I think they’ll be ending the month with Only Yesterday and Pom Poko. Those last two films I know absolutely nothing about, except that there may be some magic raccoons in Pom Poko.