Tuesday 28 June 2016

The Conjuring 2 Movie Review


How many times have you gone into the sequel fearing it won't be as good as the first? Well you have nothing to fear here... that's not totally true; you do have something to fear here you have a lot to fear with The Conjuring 2 which I believe is far better than the first one.

James Wan really pulls out the scares in the follow up to his 2013 The Conjuring. The story focuses on the Enfield haunting. Set in 1977 London, England; Peggy Hodgson is a single mum of five children who asks for help after she believes her youngest daughter Janet maybe possessed. Ed and Lorraine Warren are sent to investigate.

Not only am I impressed with the scares in the film which come in the form of jump scares and slow burn tension building I am really impressed with the way James Wan recreates England in the 70's. For someone that isn't even from the country I have to give credit for the amount of research that must have gone into this project to get the feeling right.

The movie has a great cast with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprising their roles as Lorraine and Ed Warren; they are joined with great performances by Frances O'Connor who plays Peggy Hodgson, Lauren Esposito who plays Margaret Hodgson and the stand out performance from Madison Wolfe as Janet Hodgson.

When it comes to real life hauntings like the story this film is based on I am somewhat of a sceptic, I don't believe in ghost so in order for me to enjoy a film that is advertised as the true story from the case files of the Warrens I have to try really hard to turn the sceptic side of my brain off and enjoy it for what it is... Which is one of the most scariest films I've seen in a long time.

5/5

Wednesday 15 June 2016

Excited For The New Ghostbusters Movie


As we are only weeks away from the release of the new Ghostbusters movie I want to put it out there how excited I am for it.
Growing up in the 80s and 90s; Ghostbusters was a big part of my life. I collected all the toys (which I wish I kept in the original packaging now), watched all the cartoons and can't count how many times I've seen the movies.
I remember the second movie coming out and was so excited with the build up; all the promotional gifts that you got with kid meals at Burger King, the comic series where the second movie was told with the characters from the Real Ghostbusters and all the other promotions I tried to squeeze my mum and dad for. I remeber loving the 2nd film and although it doesn't stand the test of time I loved it as a kid and still do now.
I've been waiting and waiting for a third Ghostbuster movie and after a lot of false starts with certain actors not wanting to take part we finally got a computer game which most of the cast took part in and it now stands in for me as the third movie. The cut scenes and music really make it special and I truly enjoyed it.
When the reboot was announced I was sad that the third film was never going to happen but I managed to get over it. When I saw the trailer I can see why they had to reboot and got excited for it.
Ghostbusters is a family film and although I would have loved to see the original cast taking their original roles on the big screen that movie would be aimed at me and people aged 30 plus. I'm not sure my children (boy 8 and girl 4) would take to four men older than their grandparents being chased by ghosts. Even if the original cast only had a bit part where they introduced new recruits you still have a huge gap to explain what the ghostbusters have been doing since the last movie. Where do you go from having a giant Marshmallow Man attacking New York and then taking the Statue Of Liberty for a walk? I think if a third movie was ever going to work and be a big money success it should had been made at least 15 to 20 years ago.
I'm going to go into the reboot with an open mind and if I love it I will write a review about it. If I hate it then you won't hear another word about it from me as I like to give recommendations not shit all over someone's work.
One thing the new movie will never be able to do is change any of the memories and love I felt and still feel for the original movies. I just hope it creates the same joy for my children as the original did for me.