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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.
[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.]
+ 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.
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?
One of the many incredibly cool posters for Colin Trevorrow's Jurassic World
It's here! - It's finally here! I am one of the many fans of the Jurassic Park universe and franchise who has been waiting eagerly for years for the 4th movie, which has been a very long time in the making, going through a decade of countless unmade versions also known as 'development hell'. It follows Steven Spielberg's (Schindler's List (1993)) masterpiece, the original Jurassic Park (1993), and sequels The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) and Jurassic Park III (2001). 14 years of waiting for the next chapter in your favorite mega-movie franchise is simply too long. Luckily, Jurassic World is a kick-ass return! More than 20 years since the events in John Hammond's original, ill-fated dino theme park, Isla Nublar's Jurassic Park has been running stably for many years. But to continue to attract huge crowds with deep pockets, the company behind it has designed a new, ferocious dinosaur. And guess what ... - It breaks loose!
Spielberg, the master director of the original, formidable film and the less than good first sequel, still only acts as executive producer on Jurassic World, which is co-written and directed by surprise career-catapulting Colin Trevorrow (Safety Not Guaranteed (2012)), who has only directed 3 small films before this. Trevorrow succeeds tremendously here, although it is nearly impossible to say how much credit rightly befalls him. Jurassic World looks like a billion dollars, (cinematography by John Schwartzman (Saving Mr. Banks (2013))); it sounds incredible, - any Jurassic Park fan knows how important the soundscapes are to these movies, - and its mix of CGI and practical effects is top shelf. Michael Giacchino (Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011)) has composed the effective, elegant score, using John Williams' legendary theme and generally doing a great job of making a very Williams-like score that still has something different here and there. The story kind of erases the two middle films, (which few will seriously object to), and it is definitely designed with an especially keen eye on the original, which is a good choice. It uses some very known devices, but it does so playfully. A wonderful thing about it is that you can take from the movie so many different things: Implicit critique of corporate management, consumerism, military logic, environmental damages by humans etc. etc. etc. - or just marvels, thrills and laughs. The film is, as it should be, a ride, perhaps even more so than a conventional film. It is a summer cineplex blockbuster dream, but also a very well-crafted, carefully and intelligently written film. The screenplay is attributed to both Trevorrow, Derek Connolly (Safety Not Guaranteed), Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver (Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011), both), who have been waging a credit battle against each other before the film's release.
The only part of Jurassic World that I didn't feel was completely right was its very end, the last, climactic few minutes, SPOILER in which the T-Rex is let out to fight the monstrous Indominus Rex, along with raptors, until, finally, the huge sea monster concludes the battle (and the movie) by dragging the anti-social beast into the sea. This may sound cool, and I know that many think it is a great, exciting end to the film, but I personally thought it was a little too much, and also that the T-Rex/raptor-fighting culmination was a bit too similar to the end of Jurassic Park. I would have liked the new ending to be more its own. Instead, it felt a little convoluted and perhaps a little as an ending that the writers have had a hard time pulling together. And also a little too similar to the end of the great, recent Godzilla (2014): SPOILER There Godzilla, delightfully, turned out to be our savior; this year in Jurassic World, T-Rex does practically the same... But let it be said straight away that this is a small detractor to a near-perfect film of a very rare breed. - Everything leading up to this climax is spectacular. Jurassic World ups the savagery, deaths and blood significantly, which is to be expected, and the PG-13 rating's limit has certainly stretched since its inception for Spielberg's masterpiece Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) over 30 years ago. - Some will undoubtedly feel that the film is too savage for its audience, (SPOILER particularly the amusingly included character of the evil, British nanny's demise, devoured by both flying and water dinos, could be argued in poor taste and probably is), but this critic goes with the kid inside him and shrieks out in loud Wooow's throughout it all. The cast is superior, a very exciting gathering in themselves, and the film gives many characters room to stand out: Chris Pratt (Wanted (2008)) and Bryce Dallas Howard (Manderlay (2005)) are a great screen match: He as an Indiana Jones/Steve Irwin-type he-man, and she as an emotionally disconnected symbol of some of our problems today. They are both strong here, charming and sweet. And as to the gender criticism of the film that some have raised, (calling it 'male-chauvinist' and the like), - I just don't buy into that one bit. BD Wong (Jurassic Park) is the only actor here who has been in any of the previous films, and he is great as Dr. Wu, - someone I predict we'll see in the (hopefully) not too distant next film in the franchise. Crucially, the two kids of Jurassic World work: Adorable and good actor Ty Simpkins (Insidious (2010)) and Nick Robinson (The Kings of Summer (2013)) do a great job, even if they are not as completely natural as the siblings of the original film. Together, they act in my favorite scene in the film, SPOILER the glass bubble attack scene, the film's arguably most spectacular and a clear reworking of the intense T-Rex car attack scene of the first film. Judy Greer (Tomorrowland: A World Beyond (2015)) is also very good as the boys' mother. Omar Sy (Untouchable/Intouchables (2011)) is good as Pratt's right hand man; Irrfan Khan (The Lunchbox/Dabba (2013)) makes a fine, new, somewhat clueless Hammond-like billionaire owner; Jake Johnson (Safety Not Guaranteed) gets a humorous part as an office charmer; and finally Vincent D'Onofrio (The Judge (2014)) is great as a sort of evil John Wayne-ish military honcho. Jurassic World is pretty much the film anyone who has ever loved seeing a film in the cinema should allow themselves to go see. It is easily the best huge event movie since Avatar (2009). What's best about it, to me, is that it makes me feel like an 11 year-old again for a couple of really awesome hours. In 3D, IMAX or 2D doesn't matter too much. - Just don't miss it!
Watch the official trailer for Jurassic World here - and then run to a cinema to watch it!!!
Cost: Estimated 150-190 mil. $ Box office: 17.8 mil. $ - and counting = Too early to say [The figure listed above is only from the film's opening day and previews in China. Jurassic World is actually a US-Chinese co-production. Trevorrow, btw, has already shared that he for some reason will not be directing any possible sequel to the film. It opens in America tomorrow, June 12th. And if it doesn't break a billion $ gross worldwide within the next month, I'd say there's something wrong with the world!] What do you think of Jurassic World?
