The Commuter (2018)

There was a time when I loved watching action flicks, especially those starring Liam Neeson. I don’t know why but I just loved the man. I no longer am a fan of those movies and I think Neeson is at his best when he is far away from the action —Schindler’s List, Love, Actually— but I decided to check out The Commuter anyway as it looked like a silly movie to enjoy during the holidays. Silly, it is. Enjoyable, not so much.

The film follows Michael MacCauley (Liam Neeson), a former cop turned insurance salesman. He goes through the same routine every day, a routine that includes taking the same commuter train and interacting with the other commuters. One day he’s fired from his job and, on his way home, he is approached by a woman (Vera Farmiga) who offers him £ 100,000 to identify which passenger does not belong.

Aquaman (2018)

I love superhero flicks but usually, I'm more excited about MCU than DCEU as the latter often turn out to be not so good while the first, while pretty much all identical, are entertaining. It's different with Aquaman. I was over-the-top excited about it —entirely because of Jason Momoa at first; also because of James Wan after watching some of his horror flicks. 

The story follows Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa), the son of a lighthouse keeper, Thomas Curry (Temuera Morrison), and the princess of Atlantis, Atlanna (Nicole Kidman). When he learns that his half-brother, Orm Marius (Patrick Wilson), seeks to unite the seven underwater kingdoms to declare war to the surface world, Arthur must step forward and fulfil his destiny of becoming king.

The Switch (2010)

I wanted to watch The Switch about a month ago but somehow —I blame Patrick Wilson and the short title—I ended up watching The Ledge instead, which was quite the opposite of the light romantic comedy I was expecting to see. I double-checked this time and I was finally able to watch it. 

The film revolves around Wally (Jason Bateman), a neurotic man who has a hard time finding his soulmate, and his best friend Kassie (Jennifer Aniston), who decides to get artificially inseminated. Wally doesn't like the idea, mainly because he's in love with her though he hasn't realised it yet. At Kassie's insemination party, he gets drunk, he accidentally dumps the donor's (Patrick Wilson) sperm in the sink and decides to replace it with his own. He forgets completely about it, and Kassie leaves New York as she doesn't feel like it's the right place to raise a child. Seven years later, she comes back with her son Sebastian (Thomas Robinson) and Wally starts to notice striking resemblances between the boy and himself. In the meantime, Kassie becomes intimate with Roland, the sperm donor. 

The Ledge (2011)

I must be retarded or something because I wanted to watch The Switch, yep, the romantic comedy starring Jason Bateman and Jennifer Aniston, but I ended up watching The Ledge, a thriller starring three very bangable actors instead. Or perhaps it's because Patrick Wilson is in both and the short titles confused me. 

Either way, the film is about two men who intersect each other on the ledge of a skyscraper: one man, Gavin (Charlie Hunnam), is about to jump, the other man, Hollis (Terrence Howard), is the detective trying to talk him out of it. At first, it looks like a regular suicide attempt but it quickly relieves to be way more complex than that as Gavin starts telling his story and explains to Hollis why he has no other choice than to jump. 

Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013)

I think we can all agree Insidious is no horror masterpiece. Despite this and the fact that sequels are usually disappointing, I was expecting Insidious: Chapter 2 to be a solid horror. You know, it's still directed by James Wan, the same guy, Upgrade's Leigh Whannell, wrote it,  and the cast is pretty much the same. And I couldn't have been more wrong. 

The film picks up where the previous left, with Renai (Rose Byrne) being interrogated by a police detective (Michael Beach) about the death of Elise (Lin Shaye). While the police continue their investigation, the Lamberts move in with Josh's (Patrick Wilson) mother, Lorraine (Barbara Hershey), and try to put everything behind them. However, the spirit world isn't done with them yet. 

Insidious (2010)

I almost watched Insidious many years ago when I mistook it for Ingenious, a dramedy starring Jeremy Renner which was awful by the way. As soon as I realised it was the wrong movie, a horror moreover, I put it off. Today, since I enjoyed James Wan's Conjuring movies, I decided to check out this series. 

This first film follows the Lambert family, Josh (Patrick Wilson), his wife Renai (Rose Byrne) and their three children, two boys, Dalton (Ty Simpkins) and Foster (Andrew Astor), and a little girl, Cali, after they move into a new home. One night, while exploring the attic, Dalton falls from the ladder and hits the head on the floor. The next morning, he is in a comatose state. Three months later, horrible things start happening in the house, Renai believes the house is haunted and asks the help of Elise Rainer (Lin Shaye), a medium and paranormal investigator. 

The Phantom of the Opera (2004)

I have mixed feelings about Joel Schumacher as I loved Phone Booth and Tigerland, but I hated Batman Forever and Batman & Robin. Ergo, although Katy said very nice things about it in her Against the Crowd blogathon entry, I didn't know what to expect from The Phantom of the Opera.

The film tells the story of a disfigured man known only as the Phantom (Gerard Butler) who lives beneath the Paris Opera House. He falls deeply in love with Christine Daae (Emmy Rossum), a talented and young chorus singer, and starts tutoring her while terrorizing the rest of the opera house and demanding leading roles to be always given to her. When Christine meets back up with her childhood friend, Viscount Raoul de Chagny (Patrick Wilson), and they fall in love, the Phantom, insane with jealousy, kidnaps her.

The Conjuring 2 (2016)

If you have read yesterday's review then you already know that The Conjuring blew me away. I don't remember the last time a movie scared me that much. Actually, I don't believe it ever happened. That, the recurring cast, Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga, and the recurring director, James Wan, set my hopes pretty high for The Conjuring 2.

Just like the previous film, this one too is based on true events and follows Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine Warren (Vera Farmiga) as they travel to London, England, where a single mother, Peggy Hodgson (Frances O'Connor), and her four children are being haunted by an unknown, evil entity who eventually posses the second oldest daughter, Janet (Madison Wolfe).

The Conjuring (2013)

I'll start this by saying that I'm an atheist, I don't believe in paranormal activities and therefore I don't like to waste my time with paranormal horror movies. But there's someone in the blogosphere *cough*Margaret*cough* who keeps praising James Wan so I decided to watch one of his most loved films, The Conjuring. 

As you probably know the film is based on true events and tells the story of the Perron family who shortly after moving into their "new" dilapidated farmhouse in Rhode Island begins to experience paranormal events. Fearful, they ask for the help of Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine Warren (Vera Farmiga), two paranormal investigators that soon discover there's a witch haunting the house and the area surrounding it.