How dare you! 
Iām a 53 year-old spring chicken!!
All the very best to you.
Well, I guess that that is someoneās way of saying āDo what you really what to do, and stop faffing about, just talking about itā¦ā.
Moving on from my last thread.
I guess we all talk about ādoing thingsā. Itās having the courage to get up and ādo themāā¦thatās what makes the difference.
Anywaysā¦just so everyone on here doesnāt think that Iām an O.A.P, (quite yet ), I intend to watch the late, great Warren Mitchell tonight, in his role as āAlf Garnettā, in from āTill Death Us Do Partā.
I donāt know if this has helped my case about being āoldā, butā¦āBloominā Darling Haroldāā¦sheer magicā¦
Today: Ju-on 3: The Beginning of the End (Ochiai, 2014)
Ju-on 3: The Beginning of the End begins with a social worker, a teacher and a police officer letting themselves into the Yamaga household to investigate the prolonged absence of the Yamagaās child, Toshio, from school. They find the boy murdered and hidden in a closet.
From there, the movie branches out to tell two separate tales (cutting between each as the movie progresses), both centering around the house in which the murdered boy was found but occurring along entirely different time lines. In one, the house is up for sale and the teenage sister of the estate agent, hearing that the house might be haunted, takes her three friends there for sh*ts and giggles; needless to say, they get everything they bargained for and so much more besides. In the other - and echoing the opening scene - a newly-employed primary school teacher is concerned about the prolonged absence of Toshio Saeki, a pupil she hasnāt seen yet in her brief time at the school. Guess where Toshio lives.
I really liked this film. Yes, too many of the set-pieces have been done already many times over within this franchise, and that is something I wish they would address but, well, f*ck it: When theyāre done well, the Ju-on/Grudge movies scare me. The purposefully mundane and well-lit settings; the premise that escaping the house wonāt help, since the curse follows its victims out of the front door; the structure, which tells the numerous vignettes out of chronological sequence, keeping the audience off-balance; the way Toshio and his cat will appear in almost matter-of-fact fashion in the background; the double-jointed crab-like crawl of Kayako; that horrible croaking death-rattle; the franchiseās fondness for ripping the jaws off of schoolgirlsā¦ Ju-on 3: The Beginning of the End provides us with all of the tropes one expects from the franchise and, for the most part, it executes them well. Recommended.
Incidentally, the title - Ju-on 3 - is a little misleading, not least because itās not even a sequel; itās actually a reboot, shifting the origin of the curse to the murder of a young boy years before the doomed Saeki family even arrive at the house, and positioning Toshio instead of his mother Kayako as the chief antagonist. The 3 in the title probably alludes to the fact that itās only the third feature-length (ie approx. 90mins) entry in the franchise after Ju-on: The Grudge (Shimizu, 2002) and Ju-on: The Grudge 2 (Shimizu, 2003), but this is a distinction which ignores (slightly) shorter entries Ju-on: The Curse (Shimizu, 2000) and Ju-on: The Curse 2 (Shimizu, 2000) to which Ju-on: The Grudge is a true sequel. It also ignores the twin 2009 features Ju-on: Black Ghost (Asato) and Ju-on: White Ghost (Miyake) and, if weāre being pedantic, it also ignores the two genuine short-form films which began the franchise in the first place, Katasumi and 4444444444 (both Shimizu, 1998). So Ju-on 3 is in fact the ninth entry in the franchise.
THE GRUDGE (Takashi Shimizu, 2004)
Iām the real slacker on the Grudge front, but I finally watched this horror movie, not the original Ju on, but the remake (however by the same director and also set in Japan). Iām a fan of Japanese cinema, but I was not enthusiastic about this J horror rage of a decade ago. I thought the trendsetting Ringu (The Ring) was okay, but not great, a fair horror movie but nothing special (but in that case I watched the original, not the remake, and some say the remake is superior)
Anyway, anyway. The Grudge is well-made and atmospheric and delivers a few scares, so yes: it works. But while Ringu had at least a few original ideas, The Grudge is no more than a variation on the haunted house type of movie, with vengeful spirits occupying a house where once a violent drama took place. The film was criticized for its fragmented structure (several intersecting subplots are told in non-linear style), but the story is actually not too hard to follow. At the same time this diffuse narrative style makes it hard to relate to any of the characters.
Not really a great movie, but this boy Toshio was fascinating, and Iād like to know more about him, so yes, I think iāll check out one of the sequels, maybe the one discussed by last.caress
Today: Ju-on: The Final Curse (Ochiai, 2015)
Ju-on: The Final Curse takes up pretty much directly where Ju-on: The Beginning of the End left off. Following visions of her missing sister (the primary teacher from the previous entry), a hotel waitress and her boyfriend investigate the disappearance. This leads them to the levelled former site of the Saeki house (which seems to have been demolished pretty bloody quickly if you ask me but there we have it), which in turn leads to the house of Takeo Saekiās sister, who is now looking after the orphaned Toshio (whom we know is the rebirthed form of vengeful spirit Toshio Yamaga).
Once again, everything you might love (or conversely hate if youāre not a fan) about Ju-on is presented here: The gaggle of overly curious schoolgirls, the acres of black hair, the multiple storythreads running at once, cutting between each in vignettes named after the character each vignette features most strongly (theyāre presented chronologically this time, though). There doesnāt appear to be anything whatsoever āfinalā about The Final Curse, itās not quite as strong as The Beginning of the End and, although I havenāt seen it yet, I canāt imagine the next movie in the franchise - Sadako vs Kayako - following on directly from this picture at all since Kayako has very much been relegated to second string antagonist in this continuity in favour of Toshio, but itās a decent enough entry nonetheless, and Iām glad I checked out these new Ju-on pictures. IMO, theyāre way superior to the new Ring pics although, as I said, I always vastly preferred Ju-on anyway.
Dirty Harry
Stayed home from work due to a major snowstorm that hit us here in the East Coast,ā¦ so I made fresh coffee and breakfast and sat my ass down and watched all five āDirty Harryā films non- stop.
And this is how I rate them after this re-watch.
1.Dirty Harry (1971)
2.Sudden Impact (1983)
3.The Enforcer (1976)
4.The Dead Pool (1989)
5.Magnum Force (1973)
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A fantastic way to kill eight hours, I reckon.
I like Magnum Force best though, narrowly from Dirty Harry and The Enforcer. I like Sudden Impact and The Dead Pool for sure, but theyāre way behind the first three in my estimation.
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- Dirty Harry
- The Enforcer
- Magnum Force
4/5. The Dead Pool / Sudden Impact
Havenāt watched any of them in a while, so maybe the order would be different after rewatching them
It was, but I donāt think Iāll ever do that again, my back is killing me now:
ā¦ I know i did say non-stop, but i did pause twiceā¦ to go to the bathroom and to feed my cat āTeddyā. Now i need drugs and some sleeeeeeep!
This would be my order too. I need too rewatch last 3, but I remember that I felt quality was getting lower which each release and by the last one it got pretty low.
Magnum Force is particular favorite of mine. First movie was famously labeled āfascistā by some famous film critics, so I think with Magnum Force Eastwood, Cimino & Milius offered kind of apology, making the most intriguing Harry picture (and they managed to do it while still keeping Harry true to himself).
Siegel made only the first one, the others are the usual Clint stuff. And I donāt like any of the sequels, they are all more or less forgettable.
Youāre right, my bad. It should say Eastwood, Cimino & Milius 
Hereās Harryās quote from Magnum Force that responds directly to the image of him from the first movie:
āIām afraid youāve misjudged me [ā¦] I hate the goddamn system, but until someone comes along with some changes that make sense Iāll stick with itā
In Sudden Impact this is denied, so it seems. Harry clearly approves of the womanās plans to take the law into her own hands
Obaltan. Impressiveā¦ my first Berlinale outing this year.
Currently tolerating The Girl on the Train (Taylor, 2016). The wife and I have had a lovely romantic dinner, Iāve given her a free hand to pick a movie and now Iām watching this load of old bumhole squeezings. Still, could be worse I suppose; last Valentineās, she picked supposed rom-ācomā The Other Woman (Cassavetes, 2014), a movie so mindbendingly bad that, when it ended, we went immediately to bed in stony silence, our romantic Valentineās evening in tatters. Tonight isnāt quite that bad - yet - butā¦ well, Iām on here instead of enjoying my evening with my wife.
The second half of season seven kicks off tomorrow. Something needs to change though because, that outstanding first episode aside, the first half of season seven was terrible, the worst half-season the show has produced so far (and the previous season-and-a-half was already kind-of poor, and getting poorer). Itās lost over six million viewers in the last half-season, apparently. I donāt know if Negan is being portrayed as he is in the comic books (Iāve never read them) but heās a piss-poor antagonist, IMO. Heās a one-dimensional panto villain, like the bloody Hamburglar. The Governor was a far more rounded ābadā guy, I feel.
As disillusioned as I am with The Walking Dead though at present, I do hope they pull it back around ASAP. At its best, itās staggering television. Iām too deeply invested at this point not to give it at least the rest of this season (although, as with WWE wrestling, itāll probably be one of those shows Iāll end up walking away from four/five years later than I should have).
I wouldnāt call it bad, cause I still have enough fun with it, which means Iām still so much interested that when I start watching, I want immediately watch the next episode, which means I still like to follow some of the characters on their zombie-ridden journey to lose humanity.
Problem is there was always a certain amount of illogicality in the series, but now the actions of Negan and those of Rickās group are in parts extremely unbelievable. More than Iām able to ignore.
If they wanted Negan to be a highly fascinating character, one that tops the governor, than it seems they donāt have the artistic skills to do so. At the moment it is still interesting, but also puzzling.
But I will go on and walk with them, until they are dead (narratively or literally)
āITā (Stephen Kingā) (1990)
It had been many, many years, since Iād last seen this, and I was not disappointed.
Childhood friends reunite, as adults, by returning to the town that they grew up inā¦their intention being to confront the murderous child-killing Clown, āPennywiseā, who terrorised the town, in their youth, and left them all with emotional scars.
The Clown is excellently portrayed by Tim Curry, of āRocky Horror Picture Showā fame.
With a running time of three hours, the āmade for TVā adaption did not outstay its welcome.
Having just checked on āIMDBā, I see that an updated adaption of āITā is due to be released in September, 2017. It should be interesting to see how it compares to the original.
I read the book, more than 20 years ago (like most people I went through a King phase), never seen this movie
One of Kingās better novels, if I remember well. Itās a typical King premise: childhood friends re-uniting as adults to tackle a problem that was never solved.