KANSAS CITY, Mo–
THE CONJURING (R)
RUSS
“The Conjuring” is a supernatural thriller from “Saw” director James Wan that claims to be based on true story of demonic possession. Vera Farmiga leads the cast as paranormal researcher Lorriane Warren who comes to the aid of a family in a haunted farmhouse.
SHAWN
It’s been a great year in the horror department this year and a big reason why is James Wan who owns this genre right now. And “The Conjuring’ is a borderline classic that looks and feels like an old school ’70s style scary movie in the tradition of ‘The Exoricist” and “The Omen.”
RUSS
While reminiscent of every horror movie you’ve seen since “The Exorcist,” it’s a skillfully made and well-acted creepfest.
SHAWN
That’s not true. “The Conjuring” is a radical departure from the recent slew of “Paranormal” and “Saw” type horror flicks. Yes, the acting is excellent. The execution even better. The extras include James Wan giving you his scare secrets, real life paranormal expertsand a featurette called “The Conjuring: Face-to-Face with Terror.”
RUSS: 3 Popcorn Bags
SHAWN: 4 Popcorn Bags
THE INTERNSHIP (PG-13)
RUSS
Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn, who teamed up for the 2005 hit “The Wedding Crashers,” reunite for another fish-out-of-water comedy, “The Internship.” They play middle-aged unemployed salesmen who take competitive summer internship positions at Google. Compared to the young, tech-savvy people they’re competing with, they’re dinosaurs.
SHAWN
But the reason “The Internship” isn’t as funny as it could be is because Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson are actually cooler than the young adults that work at Google. In order for this premise to work the reverse has to happen.
RUSS:
“The Internship” is utterly predictable, by-the-numbers and overlong. Still, it manages to generate some good-natured laughs and thanks to the charisma of Vaughn and Wilson, it seems better than it is.
SHAWN
I hated that the Google logo and presence dominates every shot in an overly perverse way that makes the movie an advertisement on steroids. The bonus matertial is a fail. not even a blooper reel but deletedscenes on the blu-ray version only.
RUSS: 3 Popcorn Bags
SHAWN: 3 Popcorn Bags
THE WAY WAY BACK (PG-13)
RUSS
The Oscar-winning screenwriters of “The Descendants” offer up an appealing coming of age flick called “The Way Way Back.”
SHAWN
Not another mopey movie about a mopey kid struggling with self, friends and family. Way, way boring.
RUSS
It doesn’t break any new ground, but “The Way Way Back” goes down like a cool lemonade on a hot summer day.
SHAWN
The extras include a making of and a couple of featurettes.
RUSS: 4 Popcorn Bags
SHAWN: 2 Popcorn Bags
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