What to Watch This Weekend: Caveat, The Real Thing, Conjuring, Spare Parts, Plan B, Port Authority, Boogie, Monster

For A Tense, Unsettling Night: Caveat (Shudder)
Caveat is a masterfully done indie horror film with a use of light and sound that plays with the viewers senses and keeps them on edge throughout this tension-filled film.  For more information, check out the review!

For A Dramatic Slice of Life (Virtual Cinema)

The Real Thing is a wonderful slice of life with complex characters and plenty of drama, looking at life and relationships in modern Japan.  For more information, check out the review!

For A Horrorific Return To Form: The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (HBO Max and Theaters)

The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It possesses your attention with the great chemistry between Wilson and Farmiga and some spectacular and creepy effects.  For more information, check out the review! 

For A Punk-Fueled Grindhouse: Spare Parts (Digital)

Spare Parts tells a strange, grindhouse story fueled by pumping music, plenty of gore, and a badass group of female rockers.  For more information, check out the review!

For A Thoroughly Modern Romance Drama: Port Authority (Digital)

Port Authority is a thoroughly modern coming of age story with complicated lead characters, great acting, and a story that will challenge you.  For more information, check out the review!

For Love And Basketball: Boogie (Redbox)
Boogie scores some easy points with its realistic setting and wonderful characters and uses sports to explore issues of race, dreams, and realities.  For more information, check out the review!

For A Drama About Criminal Justice: Monster (Netflix)

This film about a talented teen whose world is turned upside down when he is charged with felony murder has inconsistent pacing, but is worth watching for Kelvin Harrison, Jr.'s performance alone.  

For A Sharp, Funny Comedy: Plan B (Hulu)
Plan B gets your attention with the wonderful chemistry between the main characters and the sharp funny writing.  Plan B is a girl buddy comedy that should be your choice A. 

Review: Annabelle Comes Home

Release date: June 26, 2019
Running time: 106 minutes
Starring: Vera Farmiga, Mckenna Grace, Patrick Wilson 

Annabelle Comes Home is the latest movie in the long-running (potentially too long running) Conjuring Cinematic Universe.  The movie is loosely tied into previous movies in the world, with the creepy doll Annabelle making a major (though not as major as I would have expected) appearance.  The movie ties into the lives of ghost hunters Lorraine and Ed Warren, though this movie deals more with their daughter Judy.  

If you've seen any of the movies in this universe, you'll know that these filmmakers are masters of suspense.  There are times when you are on the edge of your seat, waiting for the jump scare to happen or the creepy scene everyone knows is coming to finally unfold.  The filmmakers are also masters of light and dark, with shadows moving just outside your periphery and objects in the dark shifting to build up tension or outright scare the audience.  

Unfortunately, this is about all the praise I can give this movie.  Even the excellent filmaking is marred by poor special effects at times that really draw you out of the film.  And it pains me to say it, because the Conjuring is probably my favorite horror movie of all time, but this film just doesn't meaningfully advance the story of this series.  The main characters of Lorraine and Ed are barely featured, with the film focusing almost exclusively on their daughter and a host of teenage newcomers to the story.  They do an admirable job, but they just don't have the pull of the main characters we have grown to love.  

The story itself is all over the place, with a host of new ghosts and haunts introduced with little backstory and not enough of a cameo to really grab the audience.  It seems like each main character has to deal with one main ghost, but it jumps around too much to effectively pull you into the conflict.  And the problem with all these additional ghosts is that very little time is spent on Annabelle.  In this film, she is simply a malevolent spirit that relies on goon ghosts, not a main antagonist that must be conquered.  This movie should have really been called Annabelle and Friends, not Annabelle Comes Home.  Or even, Annabelle, and the other characters you care about, Make Quick Cameos At Home.  I’m guessing that this is the studio attempting to bless a few new characters to then go off and have their own spin off origins movies a la the Nun.

Annabelle Comes Home just feels like a movie that didn't need to be made.  It doesn't meaningfully advance the story of the Conjuring Cinematic Universe, it barely features the main Conjuring characters, and it introduces a host of new ghosts that don't have enough backstory to really grab you.  Annabelle Comes Home to little fanfare and a disappointingly disjointed Conjuring film.

Don't see it.

What to Watch: Halloween 2013 Edition

Here are some movies that may help you have a scary Halloween.

Streaming (Netflix): V/H/S and V/H/S/2

These indie, found-footage horror anthologies are uneven but fun. They both consist of frame stories where someone finds and watches video recordings made by people who unwittingly found themselves within horrific situations. There are monsters, aliens, cults and other horror standbys. They feel very low budget but polished, and the effects and creatures are effectively presented. The sequel received better reviews but both have great moments joined with less successful ones. Some of the stars and makers reunited for recent indie slasher You're Next. 

Streaming (Netflix): Silent House

Elizabeth Olsen stars in this indie remake of Uraguayan horror film La Cusa Muda. She plays a girl terrorized by something mysterious in her family's vacation home. Inspired by Alfred Hitchcock's Rope, the directors designed the film to appear as a single, very long take (they actually edited together several, still impressive 12-15 minutes takes). SH received mediocre reviews due to a sense of tedium and an unsatisfying third act, but may be worth a look for its great atmosphere and Olsen's performance.

Streaming (Amazon Instant, Netflix): Paranormal Activity 3 and 4

This is the first year since 2009 that audiences can't go to theaters for PA's found-footage scares. To get your fix, you can take a look back the series' attempt to change up the formula (3) and the tired entry that many consider the series' low point (4). Lucky for fans, there are two PA films expected in 2014. The demon leaves the suburbs for a Hispanic community in PA: The Marked Ones, which was delayed to January. PA5 will likely return to the original, increasingly complicated storyline.

Streaming (Amazon Instant, Netflix): Scream 1, 2 and 3

Except for the recent fourth installment, Wes Craven's classic, self-aware slasher series is available for streaming. The first two are clever, fairly thrilling, and often credited with revitalizing Hollywood's once-declining interest in horror. The third reminded many of the routine slashers that the series mocks.

On DVD: The Conjuring

This story of paranormal investigators assisting a tormented family was a surprise hit. The marketing and hype really exaggerated its scares, but the creepy mood and suspenseful pacing made it a refreshing alternative to the bloody and gory slashers that have recently dominated the genre.

In Theaters: Carrie

Like the sequel The Rage: Carrie 2 and the 2002 made-for-tv film, the latest adaptation of the popular Stephen King novel is largely considered inferior and unnecessary when compared to the Brian De Palma's 1976 attempt. That being said, it sounds like Chloe Grace Moretz and Julianne Moore give decent performances as the tormented telepathic teen and her terrible mother. It's the month's only horror release due to the delay of Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones.

Weekend box office for July 19 - 21; Conjuring scares away Turbo, Red and R.I.P.D.

The Conjuring was the week's unexpected critical and commercial leader among major releases, taking the weekend's top spot with $41.5 million and stopping Despicable Me 2 from being #1 for the third time. The other new releases--Turbo, Red 2, and R.I.P.D.--fared less well, taking the third, fifth and seventh spots. Turbo premiered on Wednesday and took in $31 million over its first five days, but that's still a low debut for a Dreamworks picture. Puss in Boots opened with $34 million, but it also dropped only 3% in its second weekend, a feat I doubt Turbo will match. Red 2's $18.5 million was less than the original's $21.7 million opening, likely due to so much competition. Its cast may help it sustain attention similarly to Now You See Me, possibly bring it to a mediocre but not disastrous total. R.I.P.D.'s $12.7 million makes it the biggest summer flop so far, beaten by Pacific Rim which is struggling to reach $100 million. See how other movies performed here.

Weekend box office for July 19 - 21, 2013:

1) The Conjuring; $41,530,000; opening weekend

2) Despicable Me 2; $25,059,000; $276,159,000 total; -42.9%; 3rd weekend

3) Turbo; $21,500,000; $31,203,000 total; opening weekend

4) Grown Ups 2; $20,000,000; $79,500,000 total; -51.8%; 2nd weekend

5) Red 2; $18,500,000; opening weekend

6) Pacific Rim; $15,955,000; $68,235,000 total; -57.2%; 2nd weekend

7) R.I.P.D.; $12,763,000; opening weekend

8) The Heat; $9,325,000; $129,292,000 total; -33.4%; 4th weekend

9) World War Z; $5,200,000; $186,941,000 total; -44.2%; 5th weekend

10) Monsters University; $5,005,000; $248,998,000 total; 5th weekend