Do you ever stumble upon a movie at exactly the right point in your life, like you were fated to fall in love with this heretofore unforeseen discovery on this particular day? I had that exact experience with Song of the Sea, the kind of Serendipity that doesn’t star Kate Beckinsale. Going into the screening, I had never seen the Oscar nominated The Secret of Kells, Tomm Moore’s first animated Irish fable of 2009. I amended that oversight less than twenty four hours after watching Song of the Sea, an enchanting film experience that rivals any other I’ve had this year.

Even without gorgeous animation to bring it to dizzying new life, Ireland is a magical place, a country brimming with folklore, beer and mind-opening beauty. Director Tomm Moore is Hiyao Miyazaki’s Irish cousin. Miyazaki celebrated Japan in a vibrant and lush 2-D environment, and now Moore has taken up the mantle for his European home. He’s a steward of Irish culture that treasures the stories of the past, imbuing them with even greater heart and significance. Along with art director Adrian Merigeau, he’s created a living, breathing picture book in Song of the Sea, an invigorating bed-time story with depth and visual mastery, proof that 2-D animation will never die.

Song of the Sea revolves around the ancient legend of the Selkies, mythological creatures who are barking, adorable seals in the sea, but become dumb ole humans on land, a dying breed commensurate with the world’s fading magicks. A family fractured by grief (this is a mature story very much about coping with pain and loss) is tasked with saving magic (and themselves), and in so doing, retain the soul of Ireland found within the countryside, mountaintops, its shores and the sea, and keep it from being further polluted by the city (a grimy Dublin where faeries must hide in the tangled thrush of roundabouts).

Ben (David Rawle) is a brat; an older brother who bosses his mute younger sister Saoirse (Lucy O’Connell) around like it’s his birthright, just as likely to leash her as his dog best friend Cu. Ben clearly blames her for the death of their mother Bronagh (Lisa Hannigan), refusing to share anything of his mother’s with poor Saoirse, not to mention the attention of Cu, the world’s greatest swimming dog. He gets away with it precisely because their father Conor (the Brendan Gleeson) is still wracked with sorrow, six years later, sleepwalking through parenting and his lonely existence. The family lives alone in a lighthouse on top of an island crag, off the western shores of Ireland, a rickety ferry ride away from society. It’s exactly where you’d want to raise a family (or grow old), except their family is broken, and terrified that he’ll lose Saoirse like he did her mother, Conor ships his children off with Granny (Fionnula Flanagan), the scowling representative of the city.

As Frozen did with sisters, Song of Sea accomplishes with a brother and a sister, one that hits even more at home for me. Before their mother died, Ben promised to be the best big brother ever…and instead, became a tyrant. He’s given a chance at redemption, an opportunity not every sibling gets. As Ben fights to save Saoirse and the very notion of magic, he stumbles through several imaginative worlds, all rich and vibrant enough for their own movie, including a chance meeting with the Dreat Seanachai (Jon Kenny), a kooky Irish hybrid of Merlin and Rapunzel, blessed/cursed with a different story in each strand of hair. There’s even a horrifying owl witch named Macha (also voiced by Fionnula Flanagan, not-coincidentally pulling double duty), similarly haunted by grief, earning her place in the pantheon of fictional owls. In just a few scenes, Macha is given more depth than every Marvel villain not named Loki.

Like Irish culture itself, music plays a massive role in Song of the Sea, with composer Bruno Coulais and Irish band Kila rekindling their collaboration from The Secret of Kells with similarly stimulating results. Song of the Sea is a cascading wave of wit, charm and heart; it made me feel like a kid watching Lion King for the first time. If you’re a parent and don’t take your child to this movie, you’re committing a great injustice. You’ll enjoy the movie just as much as your kids; it’ll be anything but a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day at the movies.

Song of the Sea makes its U.S. premiere at LA’s AFI Fest on November 9^th at 12 PM at the Egyptian Theatre. It also plays at the Chinese Theatre on November 12^th at 6:45 PM. Reserve your free tickets now! It’s coming to NY December 19^th, and will expand from there.

The fourth annual LA Eigafest came to the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood this past weekend, and brought with it a slew of recent Japanese releases, many carefully selected to appeal to the American masses. Of course, most of those in attendance throughout the weekend were either critics or die-hard eiga fans to begin with (eiga translates to film), but either way, there was a lot to chew on over the three days.

The festival kicked off with the buzziest project of all: the international premiere of Lupin the Third, the first live action theatrical adaptation of perhaps Japan’s most beloved manga character since 1974. That would be Lupin, or Arsene Lupin III, who’s been around since 1967, created by fan favorite artist Monkey Punch.

It’s clear that Lupin’s long-awaited arrival in the form of a Japanese blockbuster is a big deal, so it was a coup for us to see it one day before the rest of Japan, with director Ryuhei Kitamura, producer Mataichiro Yamamoto and star Meisa Kuroki in attendance. In fact, I felt guilty being among the crowd and the red carpet, invited to a party that I couldn’t hope to completely understand. My only experience with Lupin came in the form of Hiyao Miyazaki’s first film, The Castle of Cagliostro (a singular cinematic experience). It was like when you were invited to a Halo-themed birthday party in high school, and you had never played Halo. Or at least, that was me in high school.

Lupin was “mission: impossible” to make into a live action film, but when Yamamoto called Kitamura, the Versus and Godzilla: Final Wars director who now makes his home in Los Angeles, and told him to come home and direct Lupin, his reaction was, erm, visceral: “What the fuck!”

He was shocked, enthused, thought it would never happen, but it’s clear that Ryuhei would follow producer Yamamoto into a fire if he asked him to (and was paid enough for it). As the screen crackled to life, Kitamura gave the sold-out crowd a warning: “Be prepared. It’s gonna be crazy.”

That’s certainly the right adjective to describe what amounts to a Oceans Eleven/Italian Job back and forth of heists, sketchy allegiances and slapstick comedy (there’s even some Fast & The Furious in there). Lupin is the kind of action caper that includes a slo-mo fight scene with a woman in black leather in a parking lot, the sprinklers undoubtedly activated because deeply enmeshed into the sprinklers DNA/code of honor is a deep-seated desire to get hot chicks wet (so they can do the hair flip thing), because sprinklers are always sprinkling on hot women in leather in brawls. That’s what they do. That’s all they do.

After Fujiko Mine (Meisa Kuroki) and her comrades do the heavy lifting to steal some gold coin of Agrabah or whatever, Lupin rides a motorcycle in the parking lot underneath it, blows the ceiling to smithereens, and blazes off with the coin, wasting all of Fujiko’s impressive acrobatics. Oh, Lupin. Lupin’s a part of the team (The Works, a top-secret organization of thieves, led by aged father figure Dawson), but is a lone wolf who plays by his own rules™. It seems to be working for him, until Michael Lee (Jerry Yan) preys on his one weakness: Fujiko, and steals the coin back by threatening Fujiko’s life. Lupin, Fujiko, Michael and the rest of The Works team meet at Dawson’s palatial estate to eat, drink and be snobby thieves with other snobby thieves. During the party, Dawson steps down and introduces us all to the film’s maguffin, after a heavy dose of Exposition: the necklace of Cleopatra. It’s missing a ruby, of course, which when placed in the necklace, will likely lead to a portentous “let our powers combine” Captain Planet-y montage of epic proportions.

Michael, the trickster/one of confusing loyalties, steals the necklace, and catches the attention of Interpol and the maybe not-so-hapless Inspector Zenigata (Thor‘s Tadanobu Asano), who has been on The Works’ trail for months/years/forever (he wouldn’t exist without Lupin). If Team Rocket was followed incessantly by a cop who slurped noodles as if he’s impervious to MSG, that would be Inspector Zenigata, who’s one of the most joyous parts of the ensemble, mostly to see him yell, be frustrated and stomp around. Like the Terminator and the sprinkler, that’s all he does. But it works, and so does Lupin, in spite of Lupin and company eventually having to break into the world’s toughest building to crack™ (the Ark, which reminds me of a Rubiks Cube tinged Sinking Ship Parking Garage in Seattle), with a team of specialized experts™, to take down Pramuk (Nirut Sirichanya), an underworld kingpin™. While Lupin is a part of The Works, this film’s synopsis reads like The Works option at Restaurant Cliche (dibs on that business venture).

And it works because it’s fun, and that’s mostly because they’ve cast the project so well. Lupin’s band and their dynamic leap off the page of the manga and really capture the spirits of these characters.

Fujiko is the sexy femme fatale who manipulates Lupin for her own goals, forever promising a kiss, and never relinquishing one, Lupin as weak to her wiles the 400th time as the first, and it’s hard to blame him thanks to the bewitching Miesa Kuroki.

Shun Oguri IS Lupin, born to grin, run around, flub with Fujiko and wear yellow ties. He’s the “world’s greatest thief” even when it appears that he’s the fourth most valuable member of his own team; that’s the joke. But it’s Goemon (Go Ayano), the overly stoic sword master, who steals the show the moment the dumpling loving fiend appears, with every deadpan line, or tic, or badass stunt. He’s Drax the Destroyer with a sword, whereas Lupin’s best friend Jigen (Tetsuji Tamayama) is his foil, a gun-toting superhero, and the two clash over their dueling weapons of choice and their anachronistic styles and personalities, the yin and yang of Lupin’s sidekicks.

After the film, there was a Q&A, in which producer Yamamota was asked: Why now, after all these years? The answer amounted to technology catching up with the concept. It almost took too long, as the movie mostly feels like a rehash of the heist genre, with altogether too many bullets (gunfire in Japanese movies sound like American bullets on steroids), but its heart is in the right place, with some fantastic nods to the original series (like say, a yellow car full of money) and some genuine belly laughs. In the reception afterward, it was clear that fans of the popular hero were elated and sated. It certainly helped that the evening was topped off by Sapporo and Shochu (a Japanese spirit made from sweet potatoes) at an open bar, accompanied with sushi, katsu, teriyaki, fried chicken and new friends.

Hopefully Lupin the Third will make some friends of its own when the movie comes state side next year. Either way, we can expect a Part 2 and possibly a Part 3: after Kitamura finishes his Constantine/Blade-like project in the U.S., there are already talks for the director to take back up the reins of the burgeoning Lupin franchise (he also admitted that there will be a Versus 2). It seems that while it took Lupin more than forty years to make it onto the big screen, he sure as hell won’t relinquish the spotlight anytime soon. That certainly sounds like Lupin.

Thanks to a few Hollywood screeners, a lot of gift cards and unemploymentmy independent nature, I’ve never watched more Oscar nominated films than this year (and I’ll pretend that matters). In this age of scrutiny, controversy and Twitter, every movie has been hated on, drug through the mud or found wanting (some more deservedly than others). In fact, each movie’s director, producers, stars, and DP’s all likely feel (DP’d) a lot like Rufus Sewell’s character at the end of (best movie of all-time contender) A KNIGHT’S TALE right now:

But for a few minutes, can we check our attitudes at the door, pump the brakes on our eternal desire to make callous judgments without knowing what the fuck we’re talking about, and just talk about the movies themselves? Can we be a mindless drone in THE LEGO MOVIE (here’s one prediction: Best Animated Film winner, 2015) and accept that everything is indeed, awesome, and relish in the fact that this was one of the best years for films in recent memory (says someone every year), and dig that people get so heated up about movies? Sit back, pop open the Andre, and I promise, I won’t say awesome again for the entirety of this post.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:

5. Julia Roberts, AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY: I almost feel bad for Julia (and her painfully obvious crowns in that awesome photo), and every other incredible actor (Meryl Streep, Chris Cooper, Ewan MacGregor, Benedict Cumberbatch, Sam Shepard, Margo Martindale, Abigail Breslin and whatever Juliette Lewis is) that somehow got roped into the hate-filled, manipulative, WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? wannabe that is AUGUST: somewhere in Oklahoma. But then I remember how unfortunate a movie-going experience the film was, and I can’t help but be mad at them. Julia Roberts was probably the best of the bunch in a role that potentially foreshadows the next act of her career in movies (should she choose to accept it) as a real, approachable, tortured (but no less pretty) woman, finding herself back where she started (after the OCEANS movies, preggers and EAT PRAY YUCK), as the every-woman.

4. Sally Hawkins, BLUE JASMINE: The next four are fairly interchangeable (because they’re all terrific), but I’ll snub Sally Hawkins just like Cate Blanchett’s Jasmine continually snubs Hawkins’ Ginger. BLUE JASMINE is an unholy cocktail of a bunch of awful people (kinda like AUGUST and nigh every other movie that came out this year), and while Ginger screws up just as often as any of them, and you’re constantly wondering why she puts up with the mess that is Jasmine, overbearing bf Chili (Bobby Canavale, future Oscar winner in 2018) and how she keeps kids, boyfriends and a working class job together, but you never doubt how real this character is. It could’ve been a caricature, but instead, she’s heartbreaking. When Louis C.K. even treats you like shit, it’s time for a good cry.

3. June Squibb, NEBRASKA: I love June Squibb to death in Alexander Payne’s underrated NEBRASKA. Squibb is hilarious as the cranky, tough-as-hell firecracker of an 80 year old housewife, and the idea that the scene where she flashes her knickers at former would-be flames at the cemetery could be HER Oscar clip is proof that the world rules in some respect. But, the thing is, any 84 year old woman supplied with her lines would get buzz because of how startling and refreshing an image it is to see on screen. But June’s charisma and scene stealing presence is all her own.

2. Lupita Nyong’o, 12 YEARS A SLAVE: And now I regret doing rankings entirely, because things like this will happen, where I automatically become an asshole. Probably one of the cooler stories that is impossible to get tired of is Lupita Nyong’o’s casting and how she got discovered for Patsey. She was absolutely fearless and mined new depths of sorrow, and like the movie as a whole, makes you want to kill yourself. For art.

1. Jennifer Lawrence, AMERICAN HUSTLE: You either loved or hated or didn’t get AMERICAN HUSTLE, but anyone who saw it HAD to be in awe of whatever the fuck J-Law was doing on screen. In my textual fellatio/review for PopInsomniacs, this is what I said about her performance as the lunatic Rosalyn:

“Jennifer Lawrence breaks acting. She summons new depths of sheer insanity…she’s manipulative, sexy, unpredictable, dangerously naive and stupid. I found myself giggling with glee at each of her scenes, or the opposite: just speechless and giddy with her surely Oscar nominated performance. The only thing scarier than her character is how talented this woman is, and she’s still just 23 years old. Watch her song-and-dance routine to Paul McCartney’s “Live and Let Die” and try to keep your head from exploding.”

Without question, watching her performance was the most fun I had a movie theater in 2013, and sometimes, I like enjoying myself at the movies.

NEXT: Best Supporting Actor, ranked in order of attractiveness.