Based on Real People

The Iceman (2012)

/ Shawn / Leave a comment

(Originally from Facebook – August 16, 2013)

This should have been a no-brainer win for me. I like Michael Shannon (and most of the rest of the cast, which includes Robert Davi, James Franco, and David Schwimmer), and I had seen the HBO documentary with the real “Ice Man” years ago. Something just didn’t quite gel for me, though. The performances were good, and for me the surprise was Chris Evans, whom I didn’t even recognize until well on into the film. The mood was effectively tense. I even laughed at the “disco dancing” scene. Ultimately, though, it just felt a little flat. Continue reading →

The Conjuring (2013)

/ Shawn / 1 Comment

mv5bmtm3nja1ndmymv5bml5banbnxkftztcwmdqzndmzoq-_v1_sy1000_cr006741000_al_

(Originally from Facebook – August 8, 2013)

As I said to a friend recently, “The Conjuring was so creepy, I nearly conjured a load in my shorts.” I was kidding, but only just. Horror is one of those genres in which there’s such a glut of options that most of them are bound to suck. This isn’t one of them. James Wan keeps proving that he knows how to create films that scare us. I feel like he’s moved away from the sheer gore of his Saw series (which frankly became cartoonish after a while), and found a much deeper creepy. His previous film Insidious was more frightening, I think (although not by much), but this one is more mature, and doesn’t have the third act issues that the former had. Continue reading →