The Conjuring - Movie Review

   

Who's in it?

Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga, Lili Taylor and Ron Livingston


What's it about?

The Conjuring is the story of demonologist Ed Warren and his clairvoyant wife Lorraine's investigation into the haunting of the Perron family's new house in 1970. It also has the (rushed, tacked on feeling) case of two nurses and a friend, in which one of the nurse's Raggedy Anne doll named Annabelle has been infested with a malevolent demon.

Left: The real Annabelle,  Right: The film's Annabelle

Any Good?

I want to start out by saying that I usually HATE the horror genre, I always expect to be scared or at least a little freaked out but come away disappointed EVERY TIME due to the fact that they're basically all the same story, characters and unexplained idiocy. Then there comes along a horror like this..

The film opens to the aforementioned tacked on-feeling story of two nurses and some random dude that's apartment has been plagued by one of the nurses Raggedy Anne that has been infested with a demon. They are the stereotype for haunted people, they throw out the doll then later that night when there's a loud thumping at the door they open their bedroom doors at exactly the same time, step out at the same time and exchange the same glance of 'WTF?'. While I did find this awful in the fact IT'S EVERY HORROR WITH A DOLL EVER, it's bearable due to the fact it's how you meet the complete badasses that are Ed and Lorraine Warren.

Did someone say possessed doll stereotype?

After you meet the Warrens you meet the Perrons, every movie-stereotype family ever, we've even got the annoying teenage daughter moaning about everything. Now this was a low point for me, even with the AWESOME Season of The Witch playing in the background, it made me think that this was another example of the only scary thing about horrors for me; it's an exact carbon copy of it's predecessors. But that's where it all stops, what follows is a completely engrossing, arm rest gripping-until it hurts- real horror movie.

The actual Perron sisters and the film's Perron sisters

Ed (who sadly passed away in 2006) is a through-and-through boss, he's just completely cool from his clothes, to his demeanor, and even his (apparently trending) side burns. He is acted fantastically by Patrick Wilson, and after reading an interview with the the real Ed I realised Wilson was even closer to the mark than I thought. Vera Farmiga played Lorraine brilliantly as well, even when her cue was to be an annoying wife that just repeated herself. But tied for the star of the film with Wilson as Ed is Lili Taylor as (mother) Carolyn Perron, she was incredible. She is consistently good, as is her makeup as the film goes on, no matter what happens she hits the mark for me every time. Then there's Roger Livingston playing Roger Perron, and I'll admit he was as wooden as Pat Kenny's hair to start but he progressively gets better throughout the film. Overall the film is excellently acted, but then again this is a horror film so I'm not sure if that's saying much.

Dem sideburnzz

Now I have to say The Conjuring is brilliant, but I am aware that it is from a genre I usually hate and this took me surprise so I have to acknowledge the flaws and not be blinded by 'this is different so it's great' views. The tacked-on Annabelle aspect of the story is a huge disappointment after reading the actual case because that case alone could have had a great film. It's rushed, out of place and just lazily thrown in (it's a totally different case) to create tension in an already tense film, which it kind of took out of it for me, but then OH MY GOD when it actually is 'relevant' again. Then there's the first ghost you see. I want to let you get excited to see it but it's just such a letdown, it's basically the exorcist face from every horror/popup face in videos and it's such a pain because of how well it's built up to the showing, then it's just like being on Newgrounds pre-2005. 

 The  Face of  Disappointment..

All in all The Conjuring is really incredible, but bear in mind that's in regard to the fact it's a horror as well a film. It's not the typical jump scare with the Face of Disappointment up there popping up every two minutes, when the scares and shocks happen they're there and will remain there, not just pop up and leave. I spent the day reading about the Warrens and their cases and they really are awesome, as is the movie, but even without the (certainly unneeded) added or changed 'scare factors' in the film it would have been just as good. The film captured it's time (1970) in both fashion, style and technology and this just added to it being believable and added to my immersion in the story which most movies of any genre never really get right. I would love to give The Conjuring a 5 but it's flaws will just glare you in the face, so it sadly just doesn't deserve it. It's things like this that really make me question my skepticism on all matters paranormal..

              Rating: 

This film really is perfectly thrilling, scary and well worth a watch, as is reading up on the Warrens cases. If you either catch the (highly recommended) film or just even read up on the couples exploits I'd love to hear about it on Facebook, Twitter or in the comments.

The (sigh..) Eldest Gorgebag

Monsters University - Movie Review

Who's in it?

Billy Crystal, John Goodman and Helen Mirren

What's it about?

Monsters University is the prequel to (my personal favourite Pixar film) Monsters Inc., and it follows Mike, Sully and a host of new monsters (including a young Randall Boggs) work their way through college, or attempt to anyway. 

The winds of change certainly treated Randall well...

Mam had told me that before the film there would be a new short film, as Pixar are known to do, and this time it was The Blue Umbrella. It was a story about a blue umbrella among a sea of grey umbrellas and how he spots a bright red umbrella among the grey. This short film has to be my one of my favourites of all Pixar's short films, it opened with the sound of raindrops on different surfaces that came to form a really sweet song, the best part of the short film for me. It was a really sweet story to go with the song and the animation was absolutely incredible, the littlest things on the screen would suddenly form a face, and it was overall a brilliant opening to the feature film.

This picture doesn't do the animation justice at all

Any Good?

This is tied to Monsters Inc., so it was my immediate reaction to think 'this will be AWESOME' and I was delighted to see I was completely right. Watching this movie it struck me that the jokes in this would go over kids heads, this isn't so much as a children's film in terms of jokes, but more for people who grew up around Monsters Inc., which would include me and also the beautiful Grandmomma Cherry (who accompanied me to this showing) who would have watched it with me as a child. Said jokes weren't in your face adult, but very subtle to the point I wouldn't be surprised if Sully or Mike had turned around and winked down the camera and this really was a pleasure in terms of this film.

Whoosh!!

In terms of general animated films of late, this would be a masterpiece but following the actual masterpiece that was Monsters Inc. it just wasn't on the same playing field. It was without a doubt hilarious, but the story just didn't stand up to it's predecessor. The writing was in itself excellent, on par with the likes of Studio Ghibli anime movies (which I HIGHLY recommend), but very typical in the way of most college films go. As it reached the end the film did take after the original, that is until the climax, which was fantastic and the most original turn in any film (animated generally but also includes most films out today) I have seen in a good while. 

Doooood it's about, like, our lives!!

The opening of the film follows Mike as he grows up, and continues to follow him for a short while longer until Sully in introduced as the typical college jock winking at the teachers and doing nothing in class. Now Billy Crystal did a great job voicing Mike as he did before, but for me more Mike Wazowski wasn't necessarily a good thing. John Goodman (another of my favourite actors) was absolutely brilliant, being able to switch the tone of his voice to match the situation or Sully's expression perfectly. For me anyone else would have just held Sully as the jock that everyone loved but the audience was supposed to hate, but Goodman really did shine as the Sully who would be the jock that everyone was supposed to dislike but they just couldn't. While Crystal and Goodman were stars in their own right, for me it was the supporting cast that really stole the show. The students of Oozma Kappa were truly fantastic, every one of them playing their part to a tee and Charlie Day(of It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia fame)'s Art was the best of all. He was reminiscent of  Kimmy Jin (the quiet one with the weird outbursts) in Pitch Perfect, but he talked a good bit more and everything he said was hilarious. And of course, Helen Mirren was excellent as Dean Hardscrabble, but in all fairness this is Helen Mirren so that would go without saying anyway.

I wanna touch it..

Overall this film is truly a fantastic movie in its own right, but falls just short of it's predecessor in terms of story. I definitely recommend it, if you have kids that want to see it, liked the original, or just want a good laugh with a really well written story then this film is perfect for you. I absolutely loved it, and the 3D is good enough to stand out even to me who is pretty much blind at 2 feet, much less in the very back row of a huge cinema. It even had Nan Cherry awake for the entire time, and when a movie can do that you know that it's something special. While I didn't find it as good as the original, I adored it and I can bet anyone who goes to see it will agree with me that it really was excellent in every aspect even if the story does take a little bit to become the style you're used to from the original. The animation blew me away, the opening scene on the bus looked like it was monsters actually CGI'd onto a real bus and it kept a constant standard all through the movie. And even if I didn't like the focus he got at the start, I can't help but love Mike throughout the film, ESPECIALLY baby Mike, he's unbelievably adorable!!

I can't believe it.. I was on a review!!

Now even though I found the story to be weaker than the original, I adored Monsters University and it is worth every penny you would spend going to see it, even if you just stayed for The Blue Umbrella you would get your money's worth. I can't recommend this enough, you just have to go see it for yourself to get what I mean when I say how well it is done, I know I'll be dragging Mama Cherry to see it with me again and maybe once more, as it really is that good.

I loved the original Monsters Inc., and like I said, Monsters University is for those who grew up or were around for the original as it features more adult aimed jokes but still will be loved by children, just look at the AWESOME Adventure Time (which Mother Cherry LOVES) for an example of a children's show that would be great for adults too with their jokes that are geared towards said adults that would be watching too. A well written, hilarious, for all ages film that falls just short of perfect, it may become a classic and I wouldn't argue that at all.

Rating:

Tell us what you made of Monsters University in the comments or on Twitter if you've seen it, I'd love to hear what you thought of it,

The (sigh..) Eldest Gorgebag