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US Box Office: The Conjuring Haunts R.I.P.D. During Its Opening Weekend

By Elinor Cosgrave in Movies / TV / Theatre on 22 July 2013

Vera Farmiga Patrick Wilson Lili Taylor Ron Livingston Jeff Bridges Ryan Reynolds Steve Carell Steve Coogan Miranda Cosgrove Benjamin Bratt Kristen Wiig Russell Brand

The Conjuring, Warner Brother's summer horror offering, has defeated the likes of R.I.P.D in the US weekend box office.

The Conjuring, opening this weekend, gained $41.5 million. Another lower budget film beat off the likes of R.I.P.D. which, according to reports, cost more than $130 million to make.

Vera Farmiga at the premiere of Bates Motel, L.A.

Warner Brother's haunted house horror, which stars Vera Farmiga (Bates Motel); Lili Taylor (Hemlock Grove); Patrick Wilson (Prometheus) and Ron Livingston (The Time Traveller's Wife), follows two paranormal investigators as they attempt to help The Warrens overcome a malign presence which lurks in their seemingly idyllic country house.

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The Conjuring Released: Has It Scared Horror Critics Silly Though?

By Lauren James in Movies / TV / Theatre on 19 July 2013

Vera Farmiga Patrick Wilson James Wan Lili Taylor

Paranormal horror 'The Conjuring' is released today (19th July) in the USA but what do the early reviewers reckon to the James Wan-directed ghost story?

If you're not a fan of jump scares, stay well, well away from The Conjuring as the trailer presumably only gives a slight hint of what the latest James Wan scare-fest is serving up cold.

In true, clichéd horror movie style, there's an old, creaky house, a creepy doll, plinky-plonky nursery rhymes, whispering little girls and a protagonist who doesn't know better than to go into the cellar from which they just heard an unsettling noise.on their own...at night...with only a lit match for light. However, before you go and dismiss The Conjuring as "just another ghost film," remember that its strengths lie in its proudly worn 'true story' badge. The film is based on the reported events recorded by Andrea Perron in her novel House of Darkness, House of Light after her mother Carolyn and father Roger purchased their dream Rhode Island home in the early 70s but, after a string of unnerving incidents, find that the old house in inhabited by some very disturbed spirits indeed.

Vera Farmiga Plays One Of The Paranormal Investigators.

Continue reading: The Conjuring Released: Has It Scared Horror Critics Silly Though?

Eli Roth's 'Hemlock Grove' Devoured By Fans As The First Season Hits Netflix

By Holly Williams in Movies / TV / Theatre on 23 April 2013

Eli Roth Famke Janssen Dougray Scott Lili Taylor Landon Liboiron Nicole Boivin Freya Tingley Penelope Mitchell

Supernatural horror 'Hemlock Grove' from director Eli Roth opens to more viewers than 'House of Cards' as season one appears on Netflix.

Landon Liboiron, Freya Tingley, Penelope Mitchell and Bill Skarsgard - Hemlock Grove actors at Toronto premiere

'Hemlock Grove', the new supernatural horror series from Eli Roth, has been announced by Netflix to have had more viewers on opening on April 19th 2013 than Kevin Spacey's 'House of Cards'.

Netflix has become an immediate 'box set' portal for new TV shows; no more waiting until the end of the season to view back-to-back episodes of your favourite show, you can watch them all as soon as the show is available thanks to a new perspective of TV culture. Earlier this year the streaming site debuted the entire first series of Kevin Spacey's new political drama 'House of Cards' with promises to release the second series on its completion. Although it fared well in reviews, it has been overshadowed by the next show to jump on the box set bandwagon, 'Hemlock Grove', which Netflix reveals did rather better in viewing figures, despite receiving a mixed critical reception. 'We're very pleased with its early performance', Netflix said in their quarterly earnings statement. 'Hemlock Grove was viewed by more members globally in its first weekend than was 'House of Cards' and has been a particular hit among young adults.'

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A Week In Movies: The Oscars Ends Award Season, Kidman Thrills In Stoker And Hansel & Gretel Is Action Fairy Tale Romp

By Staff Writer on 01 March 2013

Jennifer Lawrence Daniel Radcliffe Jeremy Renner Gemma Arterton Nicole Kidman Olesya Rulin Patrick Wilson Lili Taylor Vera Farmiga

The Oscars brought the curtain down on this year's awards season with top honours spread between Argo, Life of Pi, Silver Linings Playbook, Lincoln, Django Unchained and Les Miserables.

Oscars Winners 2013

On Sunday night, the Oscars brought the curtain down on awards season with a ceremony that combined the usual starry glamour with rather a lot of music. And it was nice that one movie didn't sweep the boards this year, with top honours spread between Argo, Life of Pi, Silver Linings Playbook, Lincoln, Django Unchained and Les Miserables.

The night before the Oscars, Hollywood's A-listers gathered in Los Angeles to celebrate non-studio movies at the Independent Spirit Awards. Jennifer Lawrence won best actress at both ceremonies, and was caught by the paparazzi signing autographs for fans on her way into the Spirits.

Continue reading: A Week In Movies: The Oscars Ends Award Season, Kidman Thrills In Stoker And Hansel & Gretel Is Action Fairy Tale Romp

The Conjuring Trailer

When the Perron family of six move to a rural old farmhouse in New England, things seemed too good to be true as they find themselves with more space than they could've dreamed of. However, their perfect family unit is soon to be disrupted when strange and often violent supernatural happenings keep taking place about the house at all hours of the day and night. They soon find themselves the target of a demonic spirit hell-bent on devastating their lives and family home. In a bid to rid themselves of this dark force, they call upon the noted paranormal investigators, Ed and Lorraine Warren, to help bring some peace back into their lives. Little do they know that even the Warrens are in too deep with this particular case.

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Being Flynn Trailer

For most of his life, Nick Flynn has never known his father. He has remained absent for most of his life, serving time in prison for forging cheques. Nick's father, called Jonathan, is a self-proclaimed poet and spent most of his time in prison writing letters and poems.

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Public Enemies Trailer

Watch the trailer for Public Enemies.

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The Secret Review

By Brian Chen

Terrible

The Secret's trailer surfaced on the Internet in 2002, and for years I waited and wondered why it was taking an eternity for the movie to hit theaters. Finally, in 2007, the movie came out in French theaters, and just recently it went straight to DVD in the United States. And now that I've finally watched it, it's crystal clear why The Secret was kept on the down low: Boy, is it a bad movie -- and an incredible waste of an intriguing premise.

You can't help but feel ever so curious about how the characters are going to get themselves out of this conundrum: Upon awakening after a car accident, Hannah (Lili Taylor) realizes she's in possession of her daughter Sam's body (Olivia Thirlby). Hannah's husband Benjamin (David Duchovny) is in a tough spot: He loves his wife to death (and wants to do nasty things to her) but she's trapped in their 16-year-old daughter's body. What's a guy to do?

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The Notorious Bettie Page Review

By Chris Cabin

OK

Whether she knew it or not, Bettie Page was breaking a lot of taboos when she started posing in bondage films and photos (maybe she knew but just decided to not care?). Current trends in modeling, including Dita Von Teese and Suicide Girls, often cite Page as an inspiration for their work. In Von Teese there is a certain comparison, but Suicide Girls, whether they like it or not, are not celebrating taboo. If anything, they are destroying taboo and making everything normal, even the strange and macabre. The trick with Page was that she didn't really see it as a bad thing; she never had it in her mind to exploit the idea of "the bad girl." Whether this was on director Mary Harron's mind when she opted to take on the life story of Bettie Page is up for debate.

Raised in Tennessee to a strict, religious family and a father with a fondness for bathing suit areas, Bettie Page (Gretchen Mol) is set to become a teacher at college when she marries an army man and promptly leaves him when he hits her. After being sexually assaulted by a group of men, she makes her way to New York City to become an actress. The moment of fate comes when an off-duty police officer and amateur photog decides to take her picture. Soon enough, she's being sought out by famous photographers like Bunny Yeager (Sarah Paulson) and specialty photography siblings Irving and Paula Klaw (Chris Bauer and Lili Taylor, respectively). Her friends, mostly male, are astonished by her nonchalant attitude towards nudity and bondage. She just sees it as "silly pictures," but the Senate, led by Senator Estes Kefauver (David Strathairn, absolutely wasted), thinks it's warping the youth of America. Mostly, Bettie just wants to make a nice, God-fearing life for herself with a man who doesn't judge her.

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Live From Baghdad Review

By David Bezanson

Very Good

Nothing fascinates the media as much as itself. So it should come as no surprise that one of the best films (so far) about the 1990-91 Gulf War is a drama about the reporters who covered it.

As part of its bid to make 24-hour news an institution, CNN sent producers Robert Wiener (Michael Keaton) and Ingrid Formanek (Helena Bonham Carter) to Baghdad in August 1990 to cover the brutal Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. The HBO film Live from Baghdad is the story of how Wiener and CNN overcame adversity to become the only network to continue broadcasting from Baghdad during the U.S. air strikes.

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Pecker Review

By Don Willmott

Excellent

John Waters lives in two worlds: the trashy and aggressively weird neighborhoods of his native Baltimore and the artsy society circles of New York City. Pecker is his hilarious take on what happens when those two very different cultures collide.

Pecker (Edward Furlong) is a happy-go-lucky teen who loves to carry his camera around town taking quick snapshots of the types of characters who have been populating Waters's films since the '70s. He even lives with some of them: his thrift-shop owning parents (Mary Kay Place and Mark Joy); his foul-mouthed sister Tina (Martha Plimpton), who works as a sassy bartender at the local gay bar; his eight-year-old sister, the hopelessly sugar-addicted Little Chrissy (Lauren Hulsey); and his totally wacky grandmother Memama (Jean Schertler), who cooks and sells pit beef sandwiches on the front lawn when she isn't distracted by her statue of the Virgin Mary, which speaks to her saying, "Full of grace! Full of grace!" Memama doesn't realize that she's actually the one saying it.

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