Conjuring Up Terror

Concept: Expose a horrifying true story about a family requesting the aid of two ghost hunters in dealing with an evil presence in their new home.

Review:

Plot: 9/10 An evil spirit haunts a family in their new home. The family then requests the help of Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga), two ghost hunters, to deal with this menace. Not very original right? Well, this is based on a true story so think again. Even the Annabelle Doll is real! (Although the one in the movie was much scarier than the one in real life, whcih was a Raggedy Anne doll). I reasearched the story and the movie does exagerate some things, but the incident really happened. 

Music: 9/10 That little jingle theme you hear quite a bit in the film still haunts me thinking about it. The actual music is scary and makes the film 2x scarier.

Acting: 8.5/10 Overall the acting is fantastic, especially the children. Patrick Wilson was great as always. I did have a bit of a hard time taking Ron Livingston seriously due to me being so familiar with his role in Office Space, but as the movie got darker and scarier, I got over it. The only person I did not like was Vera Famiga's role. It was kind of cheesy and over the top. She kept giving corny speeches at the weirdest times. 

Special Effects: 9.5/10 Holy crap! The ghosts all looked terrifying (especially the witch, as seen below). The objects AND people being thrown around were very well done. Awesome job effects people!

Entertainment: 10/10 Scariest movie I have ever seen and I have seen a lot. You will NOT get bored. In fact, you will be screaming your head off throughout the whole movie.

Overall: 9.5/10 

WARNING!!!! BELOW IS A TERRIFYING PICTURE OF THE ANNABELLE DOLL AND THE WITCH BATHSHEBA SHERMAN!!!! DO NOT SCROLL DOWN IF YOU HATE SCARY STUFF!!!

Church Hill Food Tour

Last week, my Creative Writing class took a food tour around the Church Hill area in Richmond, Virginia. It was a great time and we got to eat some great food. Real Richmond was the name of the tour service we went with. We first got to eat some delicious BBQ sandwiches that were delivered by bike. They were extremely tasty and I couldn't help but steal a second one. After that we took a little walk down the street and into a pizza place. That was some of the best pizza I have ever had. The sauce was homemade and had a wonderful spice to it. The cheese was stringy, which showed how well it was made. We went back outside into the rain. After another bit of walking, we stopped at a bakery and ate some cake. It was rich and sweet to the point where I could only eat two of them :(. The stop at the closed bakery was pretty sad. Two family members opened a bakery that everyone loved. But unfortunetly, a fire forced the two owners to shut the place down until it is repaired. Our final stop was a pie place and it was packed in there. We ate some pies with vegitables in them. I wasn't a fan. But then I bought a slice of cocoanut cream pie and it was amazing. I highly recommend taking a tour similar to ours. It showed me how much better small food businesses are compared to commercial industries. 9.5/10

Property Pie Company, the place where we ate, of course, pies.















Buff's Corner. This was the pizza place that was incredible.

Dysfunctional Heroes

Concept: Gather a bunch of superheroes together into one dysfunctional team and have them "smash" some aliens to a pulp.

Review

Plot: 5/10 Boring. There is nothing new in the plot that separates it from anything I've seen before. It's funny when the heroes fight with each other, but whenever Captain America (I hate him) gets involved, it just turns cheesy and painful to watch. The villain is terrible. Compared with the monstrosity Bane from The Dark Knight Rises (My favorite villain in any recent movie), he is an absolute pussy. Loki the Pussy wants to enslave the human race so he uses some device or something. I don't know because I couldn't follow the plot. It was pretty confusing.

Music: 5/10 Nothing special. It fits the mood of the movie, but it even sounds cheesy (Blaming Captain America).

Acting: 8/10 Great. Everyone really gives a captivating performance, especially Robert Downey Jr. Jeremy Renner is always great (One of my favorites). Scarlett Johansson is always hot. Samuel L. Jackson is always so Samuel L. Jackson. I swear this is the only movie he is in where he doesn't drop his infamous F-bomb. The acting is all around really good.

Special Effects: 9/10 Amazing. This is where the movie really shines. The final battle is so well done effects wise. Everything that was computer generated looked real. The explosions were cool. The camera work was perfect as it showed all the heroes kicking butt in one fluid camera shot.

Entertainment: 7/10 It'll keep you entertained. Even though there is quite a bit of cheese, it ends up being a great movie, full of action. I'm not a comic guy, but I enjoyed watching a bunch of superheroes battle it out in New York City.

Overall:7.5/10