Thursday, July 25, 2013

'The Conjuring' Frightens Away Guts and Gore For Retro Ghost Hunting

Lorraine Warren (Vera Farmiga) confronts the evil entity tormenting a Rhode Island family.



















For a while there, director James Wan failed to generate the same level of genre-changing thrills that his breakout slasher Saw had in 2004. Dead Silence and Death Sentence weren't exactly resume highlights, however Wan returned to the horror scene in early 2011 with his terrifying supernatural thriller Insidious, which gave  audiences a second wind of Wan's contemporary mastery of the genre, and in return scared the living daylights out of them as hefty thank you. Wan now continues to spread his wings into the supernatural once more with The Conjuring.

From the start, The Conjuring claims to be based on the undisclosed investigation of paranormal team Ed and Lorraine Warren, most notable for their involvement in the Amityville Horror case. The Conjuring, however, is set a few years before Amityville as the Warrens (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga) investigate the disturbing events at house of the Perrons, a Rhode Island couple living with their five girls.

Saturday, July 13, 2013

'Pacific Rim' Wins War Against Summer Sequels, Prequels and Reboots

Two pilots control the massive "Jaeger" robots to fend off the "Kaiju" attacks in Pacific Rim.



















In a summer where there's practically a sequel or prequel or reboot released weekly, it's a refreshing change of pace when an original high-concept film maneuvers into a pivotal position that challenges the landscape of a sea of summer blockbusters.

Pacific Rim is unquestionably that movie. Visionary Guillermo del Toro returns to the director's chair after a five-year hiatus since helming Hellboy II: The Golden Army back in 2008. Instead of demons and dark fairy tales, del Toro tackles a concept intended to appeal any inner child who was visually fed Transformers, Power Rangers and Godzilla. In that mindset, what can be more entertaining than robots and monsters duking it out for over two hours?