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Kwaidan, a review by Danae Cassandra

Kwaidan
Year of Release: 1965
Directed By: Masaki Kobayashi
Starring: Michiyo Aratama, Rentaro Mikuni, Tatsuya Nakadai, Keiko Kishi, Katsuo Nakamura
Genre: Horror

Overview:
Winner of the Special Jury Prize at Cannes, KwaidanKwaidan in a new ravishing color transfer.

My Thoughts:
This is a lyrical, poetic piece of horror, if you want to call it horror. It's horror only in the sense of it being stories of ghosts and spirits. The stories are actually tragedies, especially the first two which deal with the loss of love. It's a haunting film, but not a scary one.

It's a film of deep, rich color, in places almost more like a painting than a film. This is an artistic film, a film of elegiac beauty. Yet it is not just an art-house film, it's a film that would appeal to anyone who enjoyed old style horror. I think if you like Vincent Price's horror films you'd enjoy Kwaidan. The only thing I didn't like about the film was the framing story of "In a Cup of Tea."  I wish they had simply removed the section about the writer and gone forward with telling the story of the tea spirit.  Aside from that, excellent film. Highly recommended.

Bechdel Test: Fail

Overall: 4/5

(From Within My (Mom's) Lifetime Marathon on December 8th, 2015)

A Film With Me In It, a review by Tom

A Film With Me In It (2008/Ireland) IMDb | Wikipedia Capelight Pictures (Germany) Director: Ian FitzGibbon Writing: Mark Doherty (Writer) Length: 87 min. Video: Widescreen 1.85 Audio: English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Subtitles: Dutch

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Stars:
Mark Doherty as Mark
Neil Jordan as Director
Laura Way as Casting Assistant
Amy Huberman as Sally
Keith Allen as Jack

Plot:
Doherty plays an unsuccessful actor and clarinet player who ends up with a large number of dead bodies on his hands. Together with his friend Pierce (Dylan Moran), they attempt to escape their predicament by re-writing the day's events as if it were a film. As the body count mounts, they pitch ideas back and forth desperately searching for a way out.

Extras:

• BD-Live
• Bonus Trailers
• Scene Access
• Trailers
• Wendecover

In a guy's apartment three deadly accidents happen in a span of a few minutes. Fearing that the police would think that he murdered them (which it awfully looks like), he is trying to cover it up after a bad advice from his best friend. Nice black comedy with a lot of laugh-out moments. I first saw it at the FantasyFilmFest. I don't remember it starting this slow. Also I enjoyed more with a big crowd.

Rating:

(From Tom's Random Reviews on February 12th, 2011)

Tom's TV Finales marathon, a review by Tom

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Azumanga Daioh (2002/Japan) IMDb | Wikipedia ADV Films (United States) Length: 650 min. Video: Full Frame 1.33:1 Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1, Japanese: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Subtitles: English

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Plot:
In Miss Yukari's English class, every day is an adventure.

First off, there's the airhead teacher herself. She may have graduated from high school, but she sure hasn't left. And with the arrival of two transfer students - a ten-year-old prodigy and a space cadet - it's going to be an intersting class! Between handling enormous assignments, dodging murderous volleyballs, and eduring endless rivalries, summer vacation should serve as a welcome break for the weary student - unless your teachers come with you! Getting through three years alive with this motley crew is going to be an adventure!


Azumanga Daioh
Season 1.26 Graduation Ceremony 20.09.2002
Writer: Kiyohiko Azuma (Original Material By), Ichiro Okouchi (Screenwriter)
Director: Hiroshi Nishikiori, Toru Takahashi
Cast: Jessica Boone (Chiyo Mihama), Kira Vincent Davis (Ayumu Kasuga), Mandy Clark (Tomo Takino), Nancy Novotny (Koyomi Mizuhara), Christine Auten (Sakaki), Allison L. Sumrall (Kagura), Luci Christian (Yukari Tanizaki), Monica Rial (Minamo Kurosawa), Tiffany Grant (Kaorin), Hilary Haag (Chihiro), Andy McAvin (Kimura), John Swasey (Principal), Shelley Calene-Black (Announcer), Shelley Calene-Black (Additional Voice), Jessica Boone (Additional Voice), Luci Christian (Additional Voice), Mandy Clark (Additional Voice), Kira Vincent Davis (Additional Voice), donaldo (Additional Voice), Jason Douglas (Additional Voice), Hilary Haag (Additional Voice), Allison L. Sumrall (Additional Voice), John Swasey (Additional Voice), , Tomoko Kaneda (Chiyo Mihama), Yuki Matsuoka (Ayumu Kasuga), Chieko Higuchi (Tomo Takino), Rie Tanaka (Koyomi Mizuhara), Yuu Asakawa (Sakaki), Houko Kuwashima (Kagura), Akiko Hiramatsu (Yukari Tanizaki), Aya Hisakawa (Minamo Kurosawa), Sakura Nogawa (Kaorin), Akane Omae (Chihiro), Koji Ishii (Mr. Kimura), Mamoru Fujimoto (Principal), Naoki Yanagi (Male Student A), Hiroyuki Yoshino (Male Student B), Ryoko Nagata (Female Student A)

A great conclusion to the series. Throughout the 24 episodes we saw the girls going through their three years of Japanese high school. And in this episode they are graduating and it is fairly emotional. This episode suggests that the friendships they have built throughout this series will last even after everyone will go their separate ways.

And I really liked how true to the manga they stayed with this series, even though the manga was a four-panel comic strip and you wouldn't think it would be fitting for such a series.

Rating:

(From Tom's TV Finales marathon on January 26th, 2013)