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Jack Reynor recommended Kwaidan (1964) in Movies (curated)

Kwaidan (1964)

1964 | Drama, Fantasy, Horror

9.0

(1 Ratings)

Movie Favorite

"Kwaidan is a film like no other. Adapted from Japanese legends and myths that were collected by Irish author Lafcadio Hearn, the film is an anthology of four ghost stories. The superstitiousness of Irish culture clearly influenced Hearn’s recording of these tales, and to see these stories adapted again by a Japanese artist is fascinating. I think Kobayashi poured his soul into this project. Kwaidan, in every way, bleeds Japanese culture and identity: not a loud and obnoxious nationalistic pride, but a thoughtful and considered love and respect for its heritage. Toru Takemitsu provides an austere and haunting score using traditional Japanese instruments and warped sound effects. The majority of the film is shot on a soundstage and features strikingly, often eerily painted backdrops. This was Kobayashi’s first color project, and cinematographer Yoshio Miyajima uses light, a 2:35:1 aspect ratio, and refined camera movement to astonishing effect."

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Greg Mottola recommended The Godfather: Part II (1974) in Movies (curated)

"I’m going Part Two only — I love Part One, but there’s something about the second film that takes the perfection of the first one and enriches it. Maybe it’s the novelistic detail, the flashback structure. I don’t know any other movie where the flashbacks are so long. I mean, the flashbacks aren’t just interspersed; they are entire long chapters of the movie. Somehow, with the contrast of the two stories unfolding — these two rich stories, the De Niro one and the Pacino one — all of the Shakespearean themes of the Godfather movies become so poignant. Also, it’s probably got the best cast of any American film, ever, down to every last character actor: Lee Strasberg is Hyman Roth; there’s this Fellini actor, Leopoldo Trieste — he’s in scenes with De Niro, and he was in Fellini’s first few films; and people like John Cazale, there’s no one better than him."

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Kristina (502 KP) rated Tight in Books

Dec 7, 2020

I love Alessandra Torre. I haven't read anything by her that I haven't immediately fallen in love with; Tight is another book of hers, albiet different, that I really enjoyed. She stresses in the begnning that it's very different than her other books and, honestly, it wasn't nearly as dark as I've seen some stories go, so nothing bothered me about it. I was intruiged about the "banned book" she based Tight from, though. I'm not scared of reading the same stories where the relationship between the kidnapped and kidnapper becomes romanticized - I've read several and, while I realize that isn't real life, I enjoy them. While Alessandra's book isn't that, I still loved it. There were so many questions and assumptions, twists and surprises. I was shocked by a lot of the revelations in this book and I love that. Alessandra Torre can do no wrong in my eyes!

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Bob Mann (459 KP) rated Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019) in Movies

Sep 8, 2019

Young cast - especially Zoe Margaret Colletti (1 more)

Spooky Stories that are gore-light in the main

Won't please horror fans looking for harder material (0 more)

Horror-lite yarn that might have benefitted from a 12A

Directed by “Troll Hunter” director André Øvredal, I really enjoyed this one. I’m not a massive fan of ‘slasher’ style horror films. I have no burning desire to be constantly reminded of what the inside of my body looks like. So this turned out to be much-more to my liking than the normal horror flick. It had enough spookiness to make me turn on the lights when I got back home, but not enough to pervade my dreams.

For the full review please check out One Manns Movies at https://bob-the-movie-man.com/2019/09/08/one-manns-movies-film-review-scary-stories-to-tell-in-the-dark-2019/.