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thefallsatnewyork
Reviews
The Conjuring (2013)
Some Great Scares. Almost Got it Right.
This film is essentially The Exorcist meets Amityville Horror.
My two major complaints with the movie: 1) Poor pacing that gave a roller-coaster effect, with long drawn out boredom accompanied by jump-out-of-your-seat shots that lasted a mere seconds, 2) The unfortunate and too many typical and routine scenes that made this just another scary movie.
My friend and I both got five or so great jumps from the scare shots. But where Director Woo finally got close to seriously and deeply scaring me was with the exorcism that takes place in the basement towards the end. The jump scenes were great, but The Conjurer is the one 'scary movie' that finally comes close to matching The Exorcist in terms of being evil. Almost got there, but - UGH.... Woo let the moment and potential slip away. What could have been true horror turned out to be just some really excellent scary spots.
Since I found The Exorcist to be the most horrific and honest "horror" movie I have seen in my 45 years watching movies, I rate all others from that. To me, The Exorcist is so evil, I won't watch it alone. I tried once, about seven years ago, and it scared me so bad, I had to stop and put on a Disney movie to un-scare me (seriously.) The acting here was by and large fantastic, except the young actress playing the youngest of the daughters, who delivered her lines poorly... she sadly couldn't pull off the roll. Once again, for a horror film, I've come to expect uneventful or poor acting, but the cast did a fine job here for a change.
The Conjurer was pretty darn scary at points, generally well-done, and was worth the cost of seeing at the theater. Would I see it again? No. Would I recommend it to anyone who is a fan of scary flicks? Oh yeah! I'm just disappointed that Woo put the breaks on right when he was developing what could have been a Horror Classic to match that of The Exorcist. Dang! So Close!
Zookeeper (2011)
Surprised... Much Better Than I Expected
Some basic background about me and this movie: I honestly did not want to see this movie. I walked out of Eddie Murphy's Dr. Doolittle years ago, and thought this would be about the same. I'm also not a big Kevin James fan. Then, my Niece (who is in her 30's) told me she took her three young children (all under the age of seven) to see this movie a few days ago. She told me that the kids seemed to basically like the movie, but that she "loved it"... finding it an over-all fun and fast-paced-humor movie. Despite my serious doubts, I went today with a friend. Look... this is not a top ten comedy of all time movie. However, I left having the same feelings about it as my Niece (which surprised me very much.) The bottom line for me: Really loved getting to see and hear so many fantastic movie stars! Cher! Adam Sandler! Don Rickles! Well... there are tons of stars in this movie. And... what a great treat to have about two hours with good natured humor, back to back jokes and humor that gives you lots of giggles - but not a crack-you-up laugh-till-you-cry movie. Not meant to get an Academy Award, but it made me smile and feel good about going to the movies again (at age 42.) Look, this movie was worth the $8 to see in a theater. Really glad I went to see it. I'm a bit shocked to read to many bad reviews, and I really didn't want to see this movie. Lot's of memorable lines. And, there were a few heart-warming moments, too.