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The trick is not minding
Kwaidan

Anthologies are difficult to pull off, and difficult to review. You have to rate each story and then measure them as a whole afterward. Sometimes you get a good one, such as Twilight Zone: the Movie, Or mediocre ones Such as Tales from the Darkside the movie, and Creepshow 1 and Creepshow 2. As such, I’m going to tackle these stories One at a time:
The Black Hair. Story of regret and revenge by the spirit of a wronged woman who was left by her husband for The daughter of a more prosperous famIly. The ending of this ones is filmed well, with the man aging before our eyes and the camera work giving the appearance of the man going mad as he attempts to flee. The hair looked a bit silly attacking him, but such was the limits of the special effects at the time. 2 1/2 *’s

The Lady of Snow
Now this looks amazing! The story of a peasant sworn to uphold a secret meeting with a spirit. If broken, she vows to kill him. Shortly afterwards, he meets a mysterious woman who never seems to age. The background of the painted sky with “eyes” ever watching. I knew this story beforehand, and it was even cribbed in Tales of the Datkside Only replace the spirit with a gargoyle. Still, there is a sadness to this, as it was inevitable the peasant would break his vow. But even then in a reprised by the ending. It doesn’t go for shock, but emotion. As both spirit and man are forever torn by grief. The way the lighting switches between the reveal in the scene is well done.
3 *’s
Loophole: I would have told the spirit “I have broken no vow. I have only told you, and since you are the spirit, you already knew, therefore I have told no one who isn’t already aware.”
Worth a try anyways.

Hoichi the earless
Again, I really like the start with the figure standing on a cliff overlooking the sea. Here we are told of a battle at sea between two rival clans. It’s elegantly staged, but not well choreographed. Rather, it is presented and told as if a stage production. The scene of the women throwing themselves off the boat into a Red Sea, covered in fog, is a great scene.
Their spirits are said to haunt the shores and prey upon the local fisherman.
Hoichi, A blind monk, is summoned every night to tell their tale to these very same spirits. He is sworn to secrecy. His nightly visits take a toll on him that, along with his absence, does not go unnoticed. An attempt to prevent the ghosts from claiming him further is made, with horrific results.
Here the rain, fog and sound are all used to great effect to set up the visuals. It helps set up the atmosphere.
3 *’s.

A Cup of Tea
We are warned about unfinished tales before this one begins.
Here we see a Samurai grabbing a drink. In each drink he sees the reflection of a mans face staring back at him. Eventually he drinks.
The same man visits him that night before vanishing. But before apparently being injured. His 3 retainers, also ghosts, appear to issue his veangence.
The Samurai fights with them, and the use of shadows and freeze frames are well done. It end abruptly, as it was an unfinished tale. The sudden ending brought to mind Fellini’s Satyricon, whose ending was similar.
2 1/2 *’s

Wonderful set pieces and engaging stories that actually kept my attention, waiting to see what would happen next. So much detail went into the scenes.
This is a really good movie, and I’m glad to have *finally* seen it after first hearing about many years ago.



Women will be your undoing, Pépé



E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

Elliott: [in hushed tone] Nobody go out there!
Michael: [the boys all spring up excitedly] Ha! Ha! Ha!
[they grab knives]
Mary: Stop, now! You guys stay right here!
Michael: You stay here, Mom, we'll check it out!
Mary: And put those knives back!

They say being a single mom is hard.
Trying to make ends meet, making sure your kids are healthy and safe.
Keeping the fridge fully stocked with Coors beer for the occasional extra-terrestrial with a penchant for a mid day beverage.

It's no easy thing.

God bless Mary for, as frantic as she does get, she's able to roll with it all as her kids take in an alien looking to phone home and, do just that -- go back home.
It's been several decades or more since I've watched this and it's been a lot of fun going back to revisit. It has a lot of heart and definitely gets you caught up in the kids as they do their best to help ET with a number of laugh out loud scenes and a number teary eyed ones as well.
While some of the effects are definitely dated, the magic still shines through and in the end, that's what matters.

Thank you gbg for nominating this.
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You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.
Kwaidan

The Black Hair. Story of regret and revenge by the spirit of a wronged woman who was left by her husband for The daughter of a more prosperous family. The ending of this ones is filmed well, with the man aging before our eyes and the camera work giving the appearance of the man going mad as he attempts to flee. The hair looked a bit silly attacking him, but such was the limits of the special effects at the time. 2 1/2 *’s
It's interesting that you saw the first story as the story of the wronged woman. I saw it as the story of the man who regretted his decision to leave the woman he loved for what he thought would have been a happier life with more money.


The Lady of Snow
Now this looks amazing! The story of a peasant sworn to uphold a secret meeting with a spirit. If broken, she vows to kill him. Shortly afterwards, he meets a mysterious woman who never seems to age. The background of the painted sky with “eyes” ever watching. I knew this story beforehand, and it was even cribbed in Tales of the Darkside Only replace the spirit with a gargoyle. Still, there is a sadness to this, as it was inevitable the peasant would break his vow. But even then in a reprised by the ending. It doesn’t go for shock, but emotion. As both spirit and man are forever torn by grief. The way the lighting switches between the reveal in the scene is well done.
3 *’s
Loophole: I would have told the spirit “I have broken no vow. I have only told you, and since you are the spirit, you already knew, therefore I have told no one who isn’t already aware.”
Worth a try anyways.
I noticed that loophole too. So basically he was punished for only telling one person, and it was the person who already knew his secret.
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You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.



E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

Elliott: [in hushed tone] Nobody go out there!
Michael: [the boys all spring up excitedly] Ha! Ha! Ha!
[they grab knives]
Mary: Stop, now! You guys stay right here!
Michael: You stay here, Mom, we'll check it out!
Mary: And put those knives back!

They say being a single mom is hard.
Trying to make ends meet, making sure your kids are healthy and safe.
Keeping the fridge fully stocked with Coors beer for the occasional extra-terrestrial with a penchant for a mid day beverage.

It's no easy thing.

God bless Mary for, as frantic as she does get, she's able to roll with it all as her kids take in an alien looking to phone home and, do just that -- go back home.
It's been several decades or more since I've watched this and it's been a lot of fun going back to revisit. It has a lot of heart and definitely gets you caught up in the kids as they do their best to help ET with a number of laugh out loud scenes and a number teary eyed ones as well.
While some of the effects are definitely dated, the magic still shines through and in the end, that's what matters.

Thank you gbg for nominating this.

I'm glad that were able to relive the magic of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.

Many of Spielberg's movies have family and/or parent issues, so it's not surprising that the mother in E.T. isn't a good mother. Having beer in the frig is just the tip of the iceberg when you realize that she left her youngest child, Gertie, home alone when she left to pick up Elliott from school. (But we needed that scene so E.T. could learn to talk.)



You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.
I had planned to rewatch E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial last night so I could finish this HoF and send in my list, but sadly the news about Tom Seaver through me for a loop.

I'll rewatch E.T. this weekend, and have my list done by Monday.



The trick is not minding
It's interesting that you saw the first story as the story of the wronged woman. I saw it as the story of the man who regretted his decision to leave the woman he loved for what he thought would have been a happier life with more money.

Good catch. I had mean to convey the regret from the man but didn't specify that in my review, but yes. He was filled with regret but nonetheless, his first wife was wronged in the manner he left her. Hence the veangence





@ahwell @Citizen Rules @edarsenal @gbgoodies @MovieGal
@pahaK @rauldc14 @Siddon @Wyldesyde19

Another week has come and gone, so I've summoned you here once again to review our progress. Just two weeks remain before our quest officially comes to an end. It has been a long journey, but hopefully you've all had some fun along the way.

ahwell - 10/10
Citizen Rules - 10/10
CosmicRunaway - 10/10
edarsenal - 8/10
gbgoodies - 9/10
MovieGal - 10/10
pahaK - 9/10
rauldc14 - 9/10
Siddon - 9/10
Wyldesyde19 - 7/10




The trick is not minding
TideLand
Warning. This isn’t going to be a nice review.
This was hard to get through. Not because of the subject matter, mind you, that didn’t bother me. It was how boring it was. Terrible acted, terribly scripted and badly directed. It just sort of.....meandered on. I wanted to stop watching at about 20 minutes.
I’m usually a fan of Gilliam, but I’m never going To confuse him With the greats.
The subject matter didn’t seem suited for a fantasy film where the girl, orphaned by the untimely deaths of her parents due to separate overdoses, retreats to her own imagination where she speaks to the severed heads of her dolls. It should have been taken more seriously by Gilliam.
Once Dickens is introduced as a potential love interest that was extremely cringe inducing, I had pretty much decided that there was no saving this film.
That’s......that’s really all I can say about it.



I was going to rewatch the Bakshi Lord of the Rings film before the end of this HoF. Since I just have one film left for the 23rd (that I already watched part of), I should definitely get around to it sometime later this week or early next week.

Haven't started to read the books yet though, and probably never will haha.



I finally rewatched Excalibur today. I'll try to have a review (possibly an updated version of my old review) up in a few days. I'll also send in my vote soonish (there are two pairs of films that are really hard to put in order). Screw it, I'll vote now (the other pair included a bonus films so it doesn't matter that much and I'm quite sure of the order anyway).
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Excalibur (1981)

Excalibur is a mythical movie, a pure fantasy that never aims for realism or historical accuracy. Its glossy and hazy visuals make it look like a dream. It's a fairytale for adults where knights wear their stylized plate armors 24/7, live the life of high adventure, and are heroes worthy of songs.


The scope of the film (starting from Arthur's father, Uther, and ending to his death and departure to Avalon) is massive, and even at 140 minutes, it moves at a fast pace. There's little room for character development, and many of the knights are nothing but a name. The legend of Excalibur is greater than the people, and even the greatest heroes are mere pawns to something larger. I often complain about shallow characters, but here it doesn't bother me.

I think Excalibur is a somewhat unique movie. It's a combination of Hollywood epic, a fantasy b-movie (like Italian barbarian films) and European artsy fantasy (the first example that comes to mind is a Finnish tv-production Rauta-aika aka The Iron Age from '82). It's weird, it's campy, and it's like no other movie I know.


I have only minor complaints. Some casting choices are a little off (Arthur for sure, I'm still torn about Merlin - I didn't mind Merlin being a bit odd this time). Some of the sets are totally bonkers, like the foil-covered castle walls. I get the knights wearing their armors 24/7, but Uther having sex wearing full plate maybe went too far.

Excalibur is one of the best fantasy movies ever made. It's a little rushed retelling of the Arthurian legend, but no other adaptation can match its style and weirdness.

P.S. Shamelessly recycled the pictures and half of the text from my original review.



You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982):
I first saw E.T. in the theater in 1982, and it almost immediately became one of my favorite movies. I've always believed that there must be life somewhere else in the universe, so I loved the idea that aliens came to Earth, and even better was the fact that they were friendly, not invaders trying to take over our planet.

I love the bond that E.T forms with Elliott. It feels like they need each other. E.T. needs Elliott to keep him safe until he can find his way home, and Elliott seems to be a loner who hangs out with his siblings, so he needs E.T.'s friendship.

I love how we don't see the faces of any adults, except Elliott's mother, until late in the movie. It makes it feel like they're dangerous, and the kids should avoid them.

I love some of the movie's comic moments, like E.T. blending into the stuffed animals in Elliott's closet, and Gertie dressing E.T. up in women's clothes.

I even love the heartbreak when it seems like we've lost E.T. before we can get him home, and then just when we get him back, we lose him again when we have to say goodbye to him. No matter how many times I watch this movie, I've never been able to make it through the final scene without crying.

And I love the little nods to other movies, like Star Wars and Star Trek.