Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013) - Whannell and Wan's deflated tormented family sequel

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A toddler interacting with something unseen in the pitch dark is a scary motif on this poster for James Wan's Insidious: Chapter 2

 

Josh, Renai and their two sons move again following the traumatic events of Insidious (2010). But Renai experiences that the ghosts move with them, while Josh vehemently rejects this...

 

Insidious: Chapter 2 is written by co-writer/actor Leigh Whannell (Dead Silence (2007)) with co-writer/director, great Malaysian-born American filmmaker James Wan (Stygian (1998)), contributing story elements. It is the 2nd film in the Whannell/Wan Insidious franchise.

The sequel to the highly effective horror shocker seems like it was thrown together too quickly. Despite parts of it being technically impressive, it isn't very scary as such, and Rose Byrne's (Annie (2014)) Renai's experiences are so alike to the character's in the first film that it becomes somewhat involuntarily funny. Patrick Wilson (Aquaman (2018)) channels Jack Torrence (Jack Nicholson's legendary performance of that character in The Shining (1980)) and does well, but the plot is too complex, crowded with dimensions, characters and time travels. Another issue is that the film's inexplicably evil transvestite ghost doesn't measure up to the nightmarish devil from the original film.

Related posts:

James Wan: 2018 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]  

Aquaman (2018) - Wan delivers a majorly satisfying, gung ho action-adventure splash
The Conjuring 2 (2016) - Wan's sequel is a long horror treat with terrifying periods
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess
The Conjuring (2013) - Best horror film in 7 years 

Top 10: Best ghost horror movies  
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess  
Insidious (2010) - Wan's thrilling, scary ghost horror

Top 10: Best first-of-franchise movies 
Saw III (2006) - Good performances in Bousman's grisly third trappings (story contributor)

2004 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

Saw (2004) - Wan and Whannell's landmark horror beast 

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 5 mil. $

Box office: 161.9 mil. $

= Mega-hit (returned 32.38 times its cost)

[Insidious: Chapter 2 was released 13 September (North America, UK, Ireland) and runs 106 minutes. Shooting took place in 25 days from January - March 2013 in California, including in Los Angeles. The film opened #1 to a 40.2 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent one more weekend in the top 5 (#2), grossing 83.5 mil. $ (51.6 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 11.5 mil. $ (7.1 %) and Russia with 9.9 mil. $ (6.1 %). The franchise returned with Insidious: Chapter 3 (2015), written and directed by Whannell with new stars. Wan returned with Furious 7 (2015). Wilson returned in Jack Strong (2014); Byrne in Neighbors (2014). Insidious: Chapter 2 is rotten at 39 % with a 4.80/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Insidious: Chapter 2?

Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) or, Manhattan Struggles and Wonders

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Mia Farrow, Barbara Hershey and Dianne Wiest look very fashionable and lovely on this poster for Woody Allen's Hannah and Her Sisters, which calls to mind a beauty magazine cover

Hannah is the center of her extended family and the coordinator for her parents and two sisters: One of them is a recovered alcoholic, who ventures on an affair with Hannah's husband; the other is a flighty creative with poor self-confidence.

 

Hannah and Her Sisters is written and directed by New-Yorker master filmmaker Woody Allen (What's Up, Tiger Lilly? (1966)), whose 15th feature it is.

Allen hits the bull's eye with this moving romance dramedy, served with intertitles that give the entire ordered story a vivid, intelligent distance. The film has strong characters and amazing performances: Mia Farrow (Guns at Batasi (1964)) towers with assuredness and irony in what is likely a role that she later looked back upon with some anguish, (as her partner at the time, Allen used their personal life in the script and would later leave her for Farrow's Korean-adopted daughter.) Also fantastic in Hannah and Her Sisters are Barbara Hershey (Frogs for Snakes (1998)), Michael Caine (The Quiet American (2002)), Dianne Wiest (Rabbit Hole (2010)); Max von Sydow (Judge Dredd (1995)) is grand - and Allen himself, of course.

How does the film transcend many of Allen's other great films? In a classical way, you may say, through a simple case of raised stakes: There's really something at stake in the several strong scenes here. Allen shows great curiosity, interest in and knowledge of life, religion and first and foremost love, - the capricious and the flighty kind in particular, - while he himself is divinely funny yet again.

 

Related posts:
 
Woody Allen: 2016 in films - according to Film Excess

Café Society (2016) - The greatest living American filmmaker hands us another splendid gem

Irrational Man (2015) - Allen's pleasant morality tale divertisement

2014 in films - according to Film Excess

Magic in the Moonlight (2014) - Allen's irresistible French Riviera romance

2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
Blue Jasmine (2013) - Allen presenets Blanchett, a woman under the influence

Fading Gigolo (2013) - Turturro's pleasant turn as a high-end NY prostitute  (as actor)

To Rome with Love (2012) - Woody Allen's slightest film to date  

2011 in films - according to Film Excess

Midnight in Paris (2011) - Allen's zany (and a little depressing) crowd-pleaser  

Cassandra's Dream (2007) - Allen's well-laid but inconsequentiel English cul-de-sac  

Match Point (2005) - Allen takes London with pensive thriller hit 

2003 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

2003 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

Top 10: The best big flop movies reviewed by Film Excess to date  
Anything Else (2003) - Perfect contemporary relationship comedy 

The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (2001) - Allen's hypnotic, noirish shenanigans 
Celebrity (1998) or, Stars in New York
Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989) - Sin and guilt up for laughs and rumination in unspectacular Allen work 
Broadyway Danny Rose (1984) or, Keep Your Heart   

Top 10: Best comedies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Annie Hall (1977) or, My Relationship with Alvie Singer   

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask) (1972) - Allen's curious sex comedy is a riot
Bananas (1971) - Woody Allen's South American misadventure is still a barrel of laughs   
Casino Royale (1967) - The packed spy spoof frontrunner, a film very much of its time (as actor)   

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 6.4 mil. $

Box office: 40 mil. $ (North America alone)

= Uncertain, but at least a huge hit (returned 6.25 times its cost domestically alone) and more likely a mega-hit (projected return of at least 8.59 times its cost)

[Hannah and Her Sisters premiered 25 January (Sundance Film Festival) and runs 106 minutes. Inspirations for the film include Ingmar Bergman's Fanny and Alexander (1982) and Luchino Visconti's Rocco and His Brothers (1960) as well as Leo Tolstoy's novel Anna Karenina (1878). Farrow criticized the script to Allen, calling it "self-indulgent and dissolute" and felt that it "was wordy but it said nothing". Shooting took place from October 1984 - ? in Italy, New York and California, including in Los Angeles. Many of Hannah's scenes were shot in Farrow's actual New York apartment. Farrow later elaborated on her and her mother's reaction to Allen's script; he "had taken the ordinary stuff of our lives and lifted it into art. We were honored and outraged." The film opened #10 to a 1.2 mil. $ first weekend in 54 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #5, behind new releases Pretty in Pink and House and holdover hits Down and Out in Beverly Hills and The Color Purple, and in 761 theaters (different weekends), grossing 35.3 mil. $ on its original release in North America, which was boosted with a re-release the following year by impressive 4.6 mil. $. Regrettably the foreign numbers are not made public. A very conservative world gross of 55 mil. $ (the real number may well be 65 mil. $ or beyond) would result in a return ratio of at least 8.59 and elevate the film's status to that of a mega-hit. It was nominated for 7 Oscars, winning 3: For Best Supporting Actor (Caine), Supporting Actress (Wiest) and Original Screenplay. It lost Best Art Direction/Set Decoration to A Room with a View, Director to Oliver Stone for Platoon, Editing to Platoon, which also took Best Picture. It also won 2/8 BAFTA nominations, was nominated for a César award, won 1/2 David di Donatello awards, 1/5 Golden Globe nominations, 3 National Board of Review awards and many other honors. Roger Ebert gave the film a 4/ 4 star review, equal in rating to this one. Allen returned with Radio Days (1987). Farrow returned in Radio Days; Hershey in Hoosiers (1986); and Wiest in Radio Days. Hannah and Her Sisters is certified fresh at 91 % with an 8.40/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Hannah and Her Sisters?

Falling Down (1993) - Schumacher's arguably best film, a fiery dragon of a societal thriller

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+ Best Los Angeles Movie of the Year + Best Societal Critique of the Year + Best Thriller of the Year 

Michael Douglas' white shirt, tie and crew cut character towers as a troubling exclamation mark in LA's simmering heat on this truly great poster for Joel Schumacher's Falling Down

A man leaves his car in a traffic jam under a bridge during a heatwave one day in Los Angeles. He has had enough, and he is determined to go home to his ex-wife for their daughter's birthday, no matter the cost.

Falling Down is written by Ebbe Roe Smith (Car 54, Where Are You? (1994)) and directed by great New-Yorker filmmaker Joel Schumacher (Flawless (1999)), whose best film it arguably is, matched in quality, probably, only by his very different type of thriller, Veronica Guerin (2003) .
Michael Douglas (Coma (1978)) is utterly peerless as the man who 'falls down', William 'D-FENS' Foster, in a kind of paralleled plot, which other side is Robert Duvall (Network (1976)) as the police sergeant on his last day on the job, who gets the unenviable task of stopping Foster's rampage.
Falling Down is lit by a zeitgeist in its bold tackling of modern, urban themes, an indignation in the Foster character, which may seem persuasive even as it becomes amoral and wrong, and a societal critique arriving in the guise of pure loathing. Foster is a unique character in mainstream American cinema, who is repelling yet keen in some of his observations.
Falling Down is a character-driven, masterly thriller with torrid scenes, major suspense and a killer plot. It is a must-see.

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Joel Schumacher: 1993 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

The Lost Boys (1987) - A crazy 80's teen vampire bonanza

Watch the sensational opening scene of the film here

Cost: 25 mil. $
Box office: 40.9 mil. $ (North America only)
= Uncertain - but likely a box office success
[Falling Down was released 26 February (USA) and runs 113 minutes. Shooting took place from March - June 1992 in California, including Los Angeles, partly during the race riots, which caused production delays in March and April. The film opened #1 with an 8.7 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it retained the spot for another week and stayed in the top 5 for a 3rd week (#3), grossing 40.9 mil. $. The world gross is not reported, as was common at the time, but if we make the cautious estimate of the film making 50 % of its gross domestically, its 81.8 mil. $ end gross would render it a box office success. It competed for the Palme d'Or at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival. Douglas' film legend father Kirk Douglas praised his son's performance as "his best piece of work to date." Roger Ebert gave the film a 3/4 star review, translating to a notch harder than this one. Korean Americans, Korean grocers and unemployed defense workers were among the groups who protested the film. The man responsible for shooting and killing 3 Muslim neighbors in an alleged parking dispute in North Carolina's 2015 Chapel Hill shooting allegedly praised Falling Down as his favorite film and watched it "incessantly". Schumacher returned with the European music video for Lenny Kravitz's Heaven Help (1993) and theatrically with The Client (1994). Douglas returned in Disclosure (1994). Falling Down is certified fresh at 73 % with a 6.7/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Falling Down?

Insidious (2010) - Wan's thrilling, scary ghost horror

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1 Film Excess win:

Best Sound 

1 Film Excess nomination:

Best Sound (won)

+ Best Horror Movie of the Year
+ Best Mega-hit of the Year

The eerie poster for James Wan's Insidious, prominently featuring Ty Simpkins (Jurassic World (2015))

A family moves into a new house, where their oldest son soon after has an accident that puts him into an unexplainable coma. Meanwhile the house is haunted, but so is the next one that they move into. - Turns out that it's the comatose son who's haunted!

Rose Byrne (The Internship (2013)) and Patrick Wilson (Bone Tomahawk (2015)) have chemistry and seemingly play the terrorized parents, whose lives are under a malicious attack. Lin Shaye (The Penthouse (2010)) is also great as the clairvoyant brought in to solve the issue. Once the horror begins in Insidious, it works fast and pummels us good, despite most of its effects being relatively simple camera tricks, peppered with terrific, affecting sound work. Great Malaysian director James Wan (The Conjuring (2013)) is a master of ghost horror, SPOILER and the red-faced demon of Insidious is seriously scary.
We are terrorized to a degree that few movies can here, even if the small budget becomes recognizable in some moments of the film. The very end of the film is super cool and whets the horror fan's appetite for more. Insidious is a remarkable horror. It is written by Leigh Whannell (Cooties (2014)), who also stars as one of the supernatural investigators that also work as comedic relief in the movie.

Related posts:

James Wan: The Conjuring 2 (2016) - Wan's sequel is a long horror treat with terrifying periods
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess
The Conjuring (2013) - Best horror film in 7 years   
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

Here's an interview with James Wan about his great The Conjuring

Cost: 1.5 mil. $
Box office: 97 mil. $
= Mega-hit
[Insidious premiered September 14 (Toronto International Film Festival) and runs 102 minutes. Wan wanted to prove that he could make an effective horror that didn't rely on torture and gore, following his success with Saw (2004). Filming lasted just 3 weeks in April - May 2010. Less than 12 hours after the film's Toronto premiere, the US distribution rights and worldwide rights to sequels were acquired by Sony. The film opened #3 (behind Hop (37.5 mil. $) and Source Code (14.8 mil. $)) with a 13.2 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it grossed 54 mil. $ (55.7 % of the total gross). Its 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 11.5 mil. $ (11.9 %) and Spain with 7.7 mil. $ (7.9 %). Insidious is reportedly the most profitable movie of 2010. It has so far spun a 2013 sequel, a 2015 prequel and will get another sequel, probably releasing next year. Insidious is fresh at 66 % with a 6 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Insidious?

Black Swan (2010) or, Manic Dance

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2 Film Excess nominations:

Best Lead Actress: Natalie Portman (lost to Jennifer Connelly for Virginia/What's Wrong with Virginia)
Best Costumes: Amy Westcott (lost to Pat Field for Sex and the City 2)  

+ Best Dance Movie of the Year

Natalie Portman freakishly made up as Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan

Nina is a ballerina in the New York Ballet, where Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake is the coming production, and she gets elected to play the swan queen. But the demanding duality of the part, the director's advances, the competition, a traumatized ex-star and her own and her mother's insatiable ambitions make everything fall apart for the young woman.

Natalie Portman (Léon (1994)) gives the performance of the year in a film so laden with pain that it literally hurts to watch it.
The ending of the utterly fantastic Black Swan is emotionally overpowering, but, comparing the film e.g. to its great American director Darren Aronofsky's earlier works such as Pi (1998) and his ultimate masterpiece Requiem for a Dream (2000), (not to mention The Wrestler (2008)) Black Swan's falls a little short. It nearly becomes a special effects-fueled horror movie, and for my taste, Aronofsky could have saved himself a swan effect or two for a bit more chilling realism towards the end. Bear in mind, though, that this is a minor impediment for the toweringly strong ballet psycho-thriller that Black Swan is.
For it is a wildly intense experience, beautiful and disturbing, and also a treat for classical lovers of Tchaikovsky's marvelous ballet. It was 5 times Oscar-nominated, and deservedly won Portman her only Oscar so far for her uncompromising performance in the lead.
We are at the moment fearfully awaiting Aronofsky's next film, the Biblical epic Noah (2014) with Russell Crowe. Its trailer is online for the curious.

Related posts:

2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

Click to enlarge this other delicious, uncanny poster of Natalie Portman breaking like porcelain

Watch the goose-bumps-inducing trailer for the movie here

Budget: 13 mil. $
Box office: 329.3 mil. $
= Unbelievably successful

What do you think of Black Swan?
Other ballet or classical music films that are equally incredible?