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It was kind of okay.*
*I was going for ludicrous, stupid understatement here.
A Bittersweet Life (2005)
Dead Man Down (2013)
Seven Pounds (2008)
Life of Brian (1979)
Tropic Thunder (2008)
Matchstick Men (2003)
No-one could have predicted after Seed Of Chucky that Don Mancini and David Kirschner would not opt for a remake / prequel / reboot kind of project. After all, didn't almost every other slasher series do precisely that? Instead, the producers of the Chucky films went for a straight sequel; 'straight' being the proper term as this one went straight-to-DVD. And by 2013 some pretty decent material could be tracked down in the straight-to-DVD circuit...
Curse Of Chucky is decent material! Writer / director Don Mancini gets the whole thing right, much like he had gotten it right with Bride Of Chucky 15 years before. Firstly, the setting. Big dark house. What better place to film on the cheap and make it look good! Secondly, the cast. Brad Dourif is back to voice Chucky and this time he brings his daughter to the party. Fiona Dourif is not just a beautiful woman, she's also a very talented actress. Playing a paraplegic is tougher than it seems, but she gets it right. Bound to a wheelchair, she needs to fight off an arrogant sister and a killer doll. And she does so with excellence.
But what about all the things they established in the previous films and that are seemingly ignored in Curse Of Chucky (at least in most of the film)? Well, good things come to those who wait. Very good things will come, but I won't spoil it...
Curse Of Chucky took me by surprise. I had expected a clumsy sequel, half a decade too late, thriving on the fumes of the first couple of films. Instead, I get an extremely atmospheric, surprisingly clever and professionally made blend of dark comedy and genuine slasher horror. Less is more, and so the toned-down jokes and the smaller scope of the film actually serve it quite well. With interesting character moments, smart screenwriting and some cool horror scenes, Curse Of Chucky is perhaps the most modest and at the same time best Chucky film of the bunch, on the level of Bride Of Chucky. Earning itself much praise and some money, Universal may in retrospect have questioned their choice not to release the film theatrically. But who knows, Chucky may yet return to cinemas. Mancini recently stated that he was working on another Chucky film. I salute the man's refusal to give in to the modern trend of reboot - remake - prequel everything and to stick with the original films. And if he can keep the quality of Curse Of Chucky up, I'll be there when the next film opens.
But for now, the series is over and luckily it ends on a high note. What may have been the least ambitious film in the series, at least in the sense that it got cursed away in the straight-to-DVD pool, turns out to be a deliciously entertaining dark-house slasher. Well done!
Curse Of Chucky (2013): 4.5/5
Bride Of Chucky (1998): 4.5/5
Seed Of Chucky (2004): 4/5
Child's Play (1988): 4/5
Child's Play 2 (1990): 4/5
Child's Play 3 (1991): 3/5
Unlike with the Children Of The Corn series, I'm not glad this is over. I want more Chucky! Especially after Curse Of Chucky, I'm left hungry for more. Luckily I got my hands on some Chucky comics that are fairly good. You see, I'm a fan of America's favourite killer doll. The results above do speak for themselves, don't they? The Chuck rocks!
I felt the same way.
Awesome in every way; what a great film!
And do you agree that the Russo brothers should be handed Bond in the future?
I think that would be great if they direct a James Bond movie.
Directed by Hideo Nakata
Ringu did more than just adapt Koji Suzuki's novel for the big screen. It revitalised the international appeal of Japanese cinema and gave horror buffs everywhere something new and something fresh. While second rate slasher sequels and Scream copycats dominated the horror output in the West, Japan introduced us to a brand new type of spooky ghost terror. Granted, it would get old pretty quick; more of the so-called J-horror with angry dead girls in white dresses and long black hair would soon be produced, and the more successful of those got remade for Western audiences because we, of course, are too dumb to read subtitles. But such films as Ringu and Ju-On are undeniably classics in their genre.
Ringu is interesting for several reasons. As the Japanese are known to do, they steal from Western culture and blend the stolen goods into their own, often surprisingly creative mix. Sadako, for example, stands somewhere between Regan from The Exorcist and old-fashioned stalking ghosts that appear in mirrors and windows. The video tape curse is also typically Japanese while being perfectly Western at the same time. Obsessed with "modern" technology, J-horror defies the idea than only age old relics can transmit curses to the unfortunate owner; instead we have cell phones (One Missed Call), cameras (Shutter) and indeed video tapes (Ringu) capturing the evil souls and their anger. A little Cronenberg and some Stephen King goes a long way, and indeed, that's more or less where the tape comes from I think.
As with most J-horror, Ringu ultimately asks us not to pass judgement on the dark spirit of Sadako but on those who wronged her and allowed the deadly curse to ripen and then to strike hard. Since the Japanese have a different attitude towards their dead than most of us have here in the West, the restless spirit is hence not to be mistaken as another vengeful Freddy Krueger or Pinhead. In the end, one could argue that Ringu is more dramatic than frightening. Those who have seen Verbinski's American remake, may expect a good deal of explicit scares but this film is much more toned down in that respect. Instead, it works towards an eerie atmosphere and only shows the goods on two or three occasions. It primarily goes for the psychological horror.
Director Hideo Nakata does a great job with this genre classic. Among the cast, Hiroyuki Sanada (The Wolverine, Sunshine, 47 Ronin, Speed Racer, The Last Samurai) may be the most famous actor for us, Westerners. Kenji Kawai, a big name in the Japanese film music world, adds more weight to the powerful emotions this film elicits. Overall, Ringu is one of my favourite J-horror movies. It has a good and balanced story, it knows when to frighten and when to make us contemplate the nature of our fear, it is very well shot and its climax, though by now spoiled big time like the shower scene in Psycho, is one of the most uncomfortable moments I have ever sat through when watching a horror flick. I can most definitely recommend this movie to fans of horror and to film lovers in general.
Ringu (1998): 4.5/5
Directed by Hideo Nakata
After Ringu's domestic success, a sequel called 'Rasen' was rapidly produced. (I may come back to that in a few days.) Due to its rather poor BO performance, another 'true' sequel was quickly made. Ringu 2 therefore has nothing to do with Rasen but continues along the path that Ringu had started.
What I find pretty remarkable is that the story of this film is so difficult to summarize. It's not a mess, just a collection of events that mysteriously work towards something elusive. Having (recently) seen the first film is absolutely mandatory! Characters that were mostly peripheral in Ringu now take centre stage and elements from that film are heavily relied on.
In my opinion, they toned down the horror and made the psychological angle even more prevalent than last time. That said, those two or three pretty creepy scenes we get, are enough to keep the overall atmosphere eerie. I have one complaint though. It's not like everything has to make perfect sense in a ghost movie but at some of its most critical moments, they just expect us to go with some magic that was never set up well before.
Ringu 2 isn't as satisfying a movie as Ringu is, but for fans of the first film it's still worth seeing.
Ringu (1998): 4.5/5
Ringu 2 (1999): 3.5/5
The Green Hornet Terrible film, though despite that found it strangely watchable. Kato and the effects were pretty cool.
Captain America Winter Soldier Watched this several times now, its simply a great movie.
10/10
Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (2013) Quite funny but nowhere near as good as the 1st one. But my god, what was that last scene? Will Smith, Jim Carrey, Marion Cotillard, Liam Neeson, Harrison Ford? I was rolling on the floor laughing!
Also did the original Karate Kid trilogy (1984-1986-1989). Brilliant films all of them, although the 1st one stands out against the 2 sequels.
Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit was incredible, and not in a good way. I didn't think it was possible to make a worst film than Sum of all Fears, but they did. And Branaugh directed this? The guy who made the gorgeous looking Thor made this boring looking film?
Did a double feature comedy films, with Horrible Bosses (2011) and The Inbetweeners (2011), both brilliant and hilarious movies.
Superbad (2007) and The 40 Years Old Virgin was another double feature, liked both. Steve Carrell is a genius! Also Superbad had the best acting I saw from Seth Rogan.
The Man From Earth (2007) Brilliant, brilliant film. Was captivated the entire duration of the movie.
Harold And Kumar Go to White Castle (2004) and Harold and Kumar Escape Guantanamo Bay (2008) both brilliant, although I prefered the 2nd one.
I have to ask my friend @DarthDimi about Gamer (2009). I liked it, the battle scenes were epic, lots of action, sexy women and everything. The soundtrack was quite brilliant too. Shame we didn't see more of the villain, he was insane.
War Inc. (2008) Not sure what to think of it. John Cusack played well, but the plot was all over the place.
Good Morning Vietnam (1987) Brilliant movie, loved it. Williams was on fire in this film.
Grudge Match (2013) Cool film. Stallone and De Niro were hilarious. Not the movie of the year, but a very fun way to pass 2 hours.
And finally, the worse... xXx (2002) and xXx 2 : State of the Union. Only good thing about the 1st one is that Vin Diesel seemed to enjoy himself. But the 2nd one is just awful on all level.
I liked War Inc, it one of my favourite Cusack films. It's like the cynical cousin to the slickness of Grosse Point Blank. The fight sequence, as short as it is, looks genuinely painfull.
Agreed.
They also re-used many of the sets. ;-)
A lot of films claim to have everyman heroes but don't really. The main guy in this is an everyman hero. Well he's not a hero really. He's not a badass, he's not an action hero, he's a kid who only recently signed up trapped and outnumbered in a city he doesn't know and that makes the film even better.
Everyone in it gives great performances. Stand out is the lead, Jack O Connell. Seriously I'd never heard of him a year ago but he's becoming one of my favourite actors. He was brilliant in Starred Up and in Skins (Cook was the best part of that show) and now this. He's going to be huge in the future. I think he'd make a good James Bond actually, when he's a bit older.
The film doesn't really pick a side, it's not really political and I think it's all the better for it. Instead it just focuses on the thriller side of things (although it doesn't shy away from showing what the troubles were like). The action was great, the story was great, the acting was great, cinematography was great, everything was great.
Obviously it's not going to get any attention from the Oscars or anything but I hope it gets some Bafta attention. Again probably won't win any big awards (although it deserves to) but could easily win say, best British film.
Overall I think 2014 has already been a much better year for films than 2013 was. 12 Years A Slave, 22 Jump Street, A Million Ways To Die In The West (not sure why that got panned, I thought it was funny), The Raid 2 and now this. It's been a great year for films.
Yeah 2014 has been way better than 2013, film wise, and the year isn't even over yet.
Directed by Gore Verbinski
The Japanese Ringu was quickly picked up by horror fans worldwide. However, since many of us Westerners reject movies that require subtitles (or sufficient knowledge of a foreign language like Japanese), Ringu failed to appeal to all. By 2002, an American remake, directed by Gore Verbinski, was delivered to theatres and instantly became a huge hit.
Keeping the original story pretty much intact, The Ring also delivers more sudden scares than Ringu. The psychological element remains but is often suppressed by the explicit thrills. That needn't be a bad thing though because fans of creepy horror films really want that stuff. To be honest, when I watched The Ring in theatres back in the day, I felt reluctant to drive back home - alone! - at night. There were in fact times when the film choked me so intensely, I was literally out of breath for a while. Some say that's what actually makes this version the weaker one, but I disagree. The Ring delivers the right atmosphere; it can be disturbing without being gory.
Naomi Watts is a great actress. I saw her in The Ring before I ever saw her in Mulholland Drive or - ahum - Children of the Corn IV: The Gathering. Her performance in this film made me a fan. Hans Zimmer, whom I'm usually very critical about, composed an eerie and quite effective score. The effects work commands my respect too: CGI was never this scary!
You like it or you don't: appreciation for The Ring is mostly black and white. Even if you like the Japanese original, there's a chance you find reasons for disliking the remake. I can't dislike it though; in fact I love The Ring. It may have something to do with the fact that I watched the Verbinski version before the Nakata one; it may also have something to do with my hunger for this type of horror. This is one of my favourite horror films of the first decade of the 21st Century. The Ring introduced me to J-horror and got me to see, among other films, Ju-On: The Grudge, possibly my favourite film in the genre. I recommend The Ring to everyone but the easily frightened.
The Ring (2002): 4.5/5
Ringu (1998): 4.5/5
Ringu 2 (1999): 3.5/5[/quote]