THE CONJURING 2 [2016]

After a successful turn with The Fast & the Furious franchise, director James Wan returns to the frightening world of The Conjuring.
Suffering from a particularly distressing case at the infamous Amityville house, real-life paranormal investigators Lorraine & Ed Warren are reluctant to take on another case until they are summoned to help out a broken family in London, England.
While it might not be nearly as pants-shittingly scary as the first film, it holds up with some heartily told human stories supported by a strong cast.  Wan maintains his knack for inventive visual frights, supremely creepy atmosphere and a cleverly paced build-up that explodes with scary grace that never seems quite as long as it actually is.

3 crooked men out of 5

THE TRUTH ABOUT EMANUEL [2013]

Written & directed by Francesca Gregorini, The Truth About Emanuel is a dark, haunting drama that explores themes of death, grief, growing up and mental illness.
The film's greatest strength is without a doubt the two leading performances of Skins' Kaya Scodelario, who portrays a intelligent yet troubled kid with a smart assed response to everything, and Jessica Biel as a recently divorced single mother dealing with some loose screws.  They display a wonderful chemistry that is unfortunately sullied by some spots of horrible dialogue.  What's odd is the film has some moments of beautifully poetic dialogue that you won't soon forget.
The whole movie seems to rapidly teeter back & forth between a hypnotizingly original indie-drama and a overly melodramatic TV movie which can be quite frustrating at times.

3 fish out of 5

THE HUNTER [2011]

The Hunter is a deeply saddening mystery thriller from Australian director Daniel Nettheim, adapted from the novel of the same name by Julia Leigh.
It stars Willem Dafoe, in a wonderfully subdued performance, as a mercenary sent to Tasmania to hunt down the sole surviving Tasmanian Tiger for a biotech company interested in it's DNA.  It slowly burns it's way into your heart with feelings both distant and warm, beautiful photography of the same description and enough moral questions to keep you thinking.

4 music in the trees out of 5