Though I may not have been as enthusiastic as I could have been about my first viewing of "Star Trek: Into Darkness" back in May (see my original review), my love for that film has only grown with each repeated viewing.

However, yesterday's 3:30 PM screening at my local multiplex seems to have been the last showing of ST XII in the Nashville area for the foreseeable future, unless it comes back to the second-run discount theater later on. So, I'm glad I was able to see it on the big screen, one last time, with a pretty good-sized audience of fellow Trek fans.

I only wish I'd had MORE opportunities to see this latest Trek film in the theaters, since I would happily have PAID to see this film at least as many times as I did last summer's "The Avengers", if only it had stuck around as long. As it is, I guess six times will have to suffice me, until it comes out on DVD.

In other film news, I also took in the following films over the past several weeks (brief review notes included -- no spoilers!):

( Despicable Me 2 )

( The Heat )

( Epic )

( Fast & Furious 6 )

I couldn't afford the time or money to get tickets for the whole slate of Studio Ghibli films that the local art-house theater is starting today, but I did buy the packet of 5 movie tickets, which should allow me to see some of my favorite older Miyazaki films on the big screen for the first time, and perhaps take in one of the films I haven't seen before.

At this point, I'm planning to see Nausicaa, Castle in the Sky, My Neighbor Totoro, Porco Rosso, and then perhaps Whisper of the Heart. I feel kind of guilty for ditching Kiki's Delivery Service from my viewing plan, but somehow I don't feel as strongly the need to see that one on the big screen (and I've got it on VHS in the subtitled version and on DVD in the dubbed version).

This is my new favorite word, 'cause the high point of tonight's Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode was definitely Green Arrow's indignant denunciation of Batman and a certain female criminal as "Flirterers!"

Just a quick review to say that I saw the latest English dub of a Hayao Miyazaki animated film yesterday, "Ponyo" (or Gake no Ue no Ponyo in its original form), and it was delightful entertainment which also invited the viewer to actually think at times. In case I'm making it sound like it's too cerebral for young children to like, let me say that there were lots of little kids in the screening I attended, and they seemed to enjoy it just fine, without necessarily worrying about any of the larger themes or ideas that would attract adult interest.

"Ponyo" won't replace "My Neighbor Totoro" or "Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind" in my affections anytime soon, but I did find it more enjoyable than two of Miyazaki's more recent works ("Spirited Away" and "Howl's Moving Castle"), both of which were quite good but seemed intentionally aimed at a somewhat older age group than this re-telling of "The Little Mermaid" story with Kindergarteners in the lead roles . . . though still with the underlying melding of theology and ecology that I've come to expect and value from Miyazaki.

( slight risk of spoilers )

But upon further reflection, I don't think there were scenes cut out for English-language consumption (yes, I was a bit burned by having my first exposure to Miyazaki be "Warriors of the Wind", which deleted huge chunks of the original "Nausicaa", and that experience has probably made me a teeny bit paranoid). Rather, I think the darker elements and possibilities were hinted at (as with the mother's illness and the children's fear that she might die in "Totoro") but presented in a form that younger children would be able to tolerate (going close to the edge of horrible possibilities, including the loss of a parent, but then pulling back before the strain on younger viewers becomes too much).

( definite spoiler alert: mother imagery in 'Ponyo' )

Furthermore, this is the first Miyazaki movie that I can remember in which mothers play a prominent, active (and mostly positive) role throughout the movie, rather than being deceased or ill and/or absent, or even self-absorbed and flighty like the heroine's mother in "Howl's Moving Castle". As a student of psychology, theology, and popular culture, I find the active, powerful, and mainly positive engagement of the mother figures in "Ponyo" to be a REALLY encouraging development.