Moviefone Editorial

Tag: Taissa Farmiga

Movie Review: ‘The Nun II’
Taissa Farmiga as Sister Irene in New Line Cinema’s horror thriller ‘The Nun II,’ a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Bruno Calvo. Copyright: © 2023 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Opening in theaters on September 8th, ‘The Nun II’ attempts to wring more scares out of the demonic habit-wearer first glimpsed in 2016’s ‘The Conjuring 2’.

Unfortunately, despite some expressive performances from the likes of Taissa Farmiga, Storm Reid and Jonas Bloquet, it falls back on some very tired tropes and giant plot contrivances.
zXyXkGz1iZWZ0hWKJBZHe
What’s the story of ‘The Nun II’?

Taissa Farmiga as Sister Irene in New Line Cinema’s horror thriller ‘The Nun II,’ a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Courtesy of New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. Pictures. Copyright: © 2023 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.

‘The Nun II’, as you might expect, picks up the story of 2018’s ‘The Nun’.

1956 – France. A priest is murdered. An evil is spreading. The film follows Sister Irene (Taissa Farmiga) as she once again comes face-to-face with Valak, the demon nun (Bonnie Aarons).

Given that Valak was not defeated at the end of ‘The Nun’, it’s in no way surprising that the demonic entity is back to cause more chaos, especially since we learned that Maurice (Jonas Bloquet) was possessed by the creature, and also returns here, this time working as a handyman at a girls’ boarding school in France.

Who else is in ‘The Nun II’?

Storm Reid as Sister Debra in New Line Cinema’s horror thriller ‘The Nun II,’ a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Courtesy of New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. Pictures. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.

The cast of ‘The Nun II’ also includes Anna Popplewell, Storm Reid, Katelyn Rose Downey, Suzanne Bertish, Léontine d’Oncieu, Anouk Darwin Homewood, Peter Hudson, Tamar Baruch, Maxime Elias-Menet and Pascal Aubert.

Related Article: Russell Crowe Talks ‘The Pope’s Exorcist’ and What to Expect from the Film

Is ‘The Nun II’ scarily good?

(Center) Taissa Farmiga as Sister Irene in New Line Cinema’s horror thriller ‘The Nun II,’ a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures. Copyright: © 2023 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.

At this point, almost anything from the main ‘Conjuring’ franchise (which, in case you forgot, sees Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson playing real-life paranormal investigators Lorraine and Ed Warren, who come up against some scary situations) that is even slightly popular with audiences ends up getting its own franchise.

So far, we’ve seen doll Annabelle spin-off for three movies, and demonic Nun Valak is now on her (its?) second. The first ‘Nun’ movie was directed by Corin Hardy, but for the second, we have ‘Conjuring’ franchise veteran Michael Chaves, who has so far shot spin-off ‘The Curse of La Llorona’ and third main ‘Conjuring’ entry ‘The Devil Made Me Do It’.

Here’s what we liked about ‘The Nun II’: the performances, by the returning likes of Taissa Farmiga (sister of Vera, though their onscreen roles are seemingly not connected beyond appearing in the same movie universe) and Bloquet are certainly committed, and Storm Reid, playing a fellow nun, is also a welcome presence in the film. Even if later on, they mostly just have to look wide-eyed in terror.

(Left) Taissa Farmiga as Sister Irene in New Line Cinema’s horror thriller ‘The Nun II,’ a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Courtesy of New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. Pictures. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Chaves and cinematographer Tristan Nyby also bathe their movie in an effective wash of dark, European colors and the environs (shot in France) are convincingly creepy. The boarding school setting works for a horror movie, and also provides a batch of suitably scream-happy youngsters to respond to Valak’s terrifying tricks.

And talking of her actions, one or two of the scares are effective, one moment in particular involving a hook working to get the blood pumping. Unfortunately, there the praise ends.

What are ‘The Nun II’s problems?

(L to R) Katelyn Rose Downey as Sophie, Anna Popplewell as Kate, Storm Reid as Sister Debra and Taissa Farmiga as Sister Irene in New Line Cinema’s horror thriller ‘The Nun II,’ a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Bruno Calvo. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Between Chaves and writer Akela Cooper (who has delivered genre fun via movies such as ‘Malignant’ and ‘M3GAN’), you might think that the stage was set for some original horror action. But that’s not really the case.

It seems churlish to castigate a horror movie for keeping to the tropes of its genre, but ‘The Nun II’ rolls out a laundry list of basic cliches that stop being entertaining after a while and will have you start to check your watch.

There are only so many times that Valak can pop up, either as itself or in some other form without warning and you wonder why people keep on screaming when all they have to do is wait a few minutes for the habitual horror to return.

Other scenes are even less effective, particularly one depiction of what is supposed to be the Devil, but which falls foul of what could be dubbed “satanic convenience” –– the creature is seemingly the prince of Hell, but at one point is stopped by a bunch of schoolgirls locking a big door.

Likewise, early in the movie, Valak slays a priest by setting him on fire (it’s this act that partly sends Sister Irene on her latest mission to track the demon down), but later on when it tries the same trick with someone more important, the convenient creature starts much slower, so that they can survive.

(L to R) Katelyn Rose Downey as Sophie and Anna Popplewell as Kate in New Line Cinema’s horror thriller ‘The Nun II,’ a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Bruno Calvo. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.

It’s just one frustrating element that derails the power of the film; for most of it, you feel like you’ve seen all of these moments a hundred times before and pulled off to more successful effect.

How many times, for example, have we seen a character roll or kick a ball into a dark corner in a seemingly empty, only to get a fright when it is kicked back by something or someone unknown? ‘The Nun II’s version, played out during an early scene, feels like nothing new on that front.

Likewise, the entire plot grinds to a halt when Irene seeks out Father Ridley (Hudson), a friend at the Papal archives (well, the ones in France) that has been researching Valak and other Hellspawn. While getting such information across to the audience is an unfortunate necessity, this scene has Ridley serve as Father Exposition, dishing out the details in such a way that it feels as though it’s being dumped on you.

Outside of the terror elements, even the schoolchildren feel like their story is straight from the Big Book of Movie Stories, with mean girls, young outsider heroines and the dedicated teacher all present.

‘The Nun II’ will certainly appeal to dedicated fans of this giant horror franchise, but feels unlikely to convert newcomers with a basic, often tired series of horrid happenings. We’re having none of it.

‘The Nun II’ receives 6 out of 10 stars.

(L to R) Taissa Farmiga as Sister Irene and Storm Reid as Sister Debra in New Line Cinema’s horror thriller ‘The Nun II,’ a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Bruno Calvo. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Other Movies Similar to ‘The Nun II’:
- ‘The Exorcist‘ (1973)
- ‘Possessed‘ (2000)
- ‘Exorcist: The Beginning‘ (2004)
- ‘Dominion: Prequel to The Exorcist‘ (2005)
- ‘Paranormal Activity‘ (2009)
- ‘The Conjuring‘ (2013)
- ‘Annabelle‘ (2014)
- ‘The Conjuring 2‘ (2016)
- ‘Annabelle: Creation‘ (2017)
- ‘The Nun‘ (2018)
- ‘The Curse of La Llorona‘ (2019)
- ‘Annabelle Comes Home‘ (2019)
- ‘The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It‘ (2021)
- ‘Prey for the Devil‘ (2022)
- ‘The Pope’s Exorcist‘ (2023)
- ‘The Exorcist: Believer‘ (2023)
Buy Tickets: ‘The Nun II’ Movie Showtimes

Buy ‘The Nun’ On Amazon
6AIRQvGh
September 16, 2023
‘The Twilight Zone’ Reboot Adds Taissa Farmiga, Rhea Seehorn, Luke Kirby, and Ike Barinholtz

CBS

Four more actors are entering “The Twilight Zone.”

Taissa Farmiga, Rhea Seehorn, Luke Kirby, and Ike Barinholtz are set to star in an upcoming episode of the CBS All Access original series, as CBS announced Monday. It is a modern reimagining of the iconic series that ran from 1959 to 1964. So far, character details remain under wraps.

Percy Hynes-White has also landed a key role in the episode, and Jordan Peele serves as the host and narrator. Other actors that have joined the series include John Cho, Greg Kinnear, Sanaa Lathan, Kumail Nanjiani, Adam Scott, Alison Tolman, Jacob Tremblay, Jessica Williams, DeWanda Wise, and Steven Yeun.

Farmiga, Seehorn, Kirby, and Barinholtz all have plenty of acting experience. Farmiga’s body of work includes “The Mule” and “The Nun,” among others; Seehorn stars in AMC’s “Better Call Saul”; Kirby can be seen in HBO’s “The Deuce”; and Ike Barinholtz has been in the films “The Oath,” “Blockers,” and more.

The upcoming CBS All Access series comes from CBS Television Studios, Jordan Peele’s Monkeypaw productions, and Simon Kinberg’s Genre Films. Peele and Kinberg are both executive producing, as are Win Rosenfeld, Audrey Chon, Glen Morgan, Carol Serling, Rick Berg, and Greg Yaitanes.

“The Twilight Zone” reboot’s premiere date has not yet been announced.

[h/t: Deadline]

January 28, 2019
‘The Mule’ Review: Clint Eastwood’s Latest Movie Is Not One of His Best

Warner Bros.

A lot of aging actors try to persist with or recapture their youth, but Clint Eastwood isn’t one of them.

The actor-director’s “Unforgiven” reflected on and eulogized a bygone way of life, era and genre 26 years ago, and his films since then have increasingly embraced both his own advancing years and the sometimes questionable perspectives of a generation that is quite literally dying out. In “Gran Torino,” his most famous line of dialogue was “get off my lawn.” So it comes as little surprise that his first acting role in six years is playing a man bemusedly detached from modernity and oblivious to political correctness except where he believes it can help him personally.

“The Mule,” Eastwood’s fictionalization of the real-life travails of 90-year-old drug trafficker Leo Sharp, marginally gets by on leathery charisma. But the filmmaker’s reliable professionalism fails to transform one-dimensional characterizations and racial stereotypes into more than a showcase of the filmmaker’s own cultural blind spots.

Eastwood plays Earl Stone, a horticulturist who considers himself a workaholic but really just prefers the adulation of friends and colleagues to the hectoring if fully earned disapproval of Mary (Dianne Wiest), daughter Iris (Alison Eastwood), and granddaughter Ginny (Taissa Farmiga). Estranged from his family after pulling a no-show at Iris’ wedding, he accepts an invitation to attend Ginny’s nuptials 12 years later with the last remnants of his flower business piled in the back of his truck.

But after one of her guests offers him a chance to capitalize on his wanderlust, Earl soon finds himself shepherding increasingly big bags of cocaine across state lines.

Warner Bros.

Though he’s unconventional, cranky, and unafraid of the gun-toting drug dealers like Julio (Ignacio Serricchio) — who load his truck full of drugs — Don Laton (Andy Garcia) takes a shine to Earl, who then quickly earns the drug lord’s confidence. But when young, intuitive DEA Agent Colin Bates (Bradley Cooper) and his partner, Trevino (Michael Pena), begin an investigation into Laton’s organization, their search reveals a trail of clues to an impossibly successful courier whose identity remains shrouded in mystery. This puts Earl in the crosshairs of the DEA, even as he uses his earnings to winnow his way back into his family’s good graces.

It’s hard to know where Eastwood is savvily trolling audiences with his portrayal of a cheerfully bigoted old man — offering some kind of generational commentary — and where he really just doesn’t care. But “The Mule” oozes with discomfiting racial stereotypes that are too often used for lazy punch lines. Casting Michael Pena and Lawrence Fishburne as DEA agents does not reconcile the fact that the drug dealers are all Mexican or Latino, nor does it alleviate Earl’s ongoing indifference to language that could be considered outdated or even offensive.

What these casting and narrative choices actually do is underscore Eastwood’s white privilege, both in character and real life. In much the same way Earl can slip past the authorities — and even help his Mexican cohorts evade police attention — Eastwood not only enjoys the latitude to play a role like this, but gets to do so with the benefit of the doubt that he’s not “really” racist, just a little old-fashioned. And worthy — or even deserving — of forgiveness.

Unfortunately, the movie doesn’t have much else to say about these subjects, at least not intentionally. Earl was a bad husband and parent, but his redemption comes frightfully easily once he starts plying friends and family members with stacks of cash for weddings, tuition and medical bills. Conversely, there is something theoretically interesting about a person like Julio, plucked from the streets and given a sense of purpose — and power — within Laton’s empire, but little more than lip service is paid to his situation, and only when Earl deigns to question it. Or in another scene when Bates and Trevino detain a Latino suspect, one who acknowledges that a routine traffic stop by cops qualifies as the most dangerous five minutes of his life. In this sequence, there’s little clarity as to whether Eastwood the storyteller is offering a real sense of sympathy or clowning people of color for self-victimization.

To be fair, none of Earl’s family members are rendered any better or more vividly than the dealers and intermediaries that he works with as a courier. Wiest delivers what may be the only deathbed reconciliation scene in history where the person who most badly needs to make amends is not the one in the bed. Farmiga’s Ginny alternately comes across as spoiled and petulant, though perhaps more as a byproduct of the director’s well-reported economy behind the camera than any particular choices either she or the script makes. But ultimately, it’s Eastwood’s show, and despite his iconic, grizzled charm, he seems to be working out some introspective curiosity that might be interesting to us if he let us in on his intent.

As it stands, however, “The Mule” feels like a conversation with an aging relative, one where you point out when they say or do something racist, they agree, and then they do it again anyway. You’re not going to change them, just like at 88, we’re not going to change Eastwood — so it’s best to try and either accept what he has to offer or avoid him altogether.
4p0kXwpQASx6URI5mWyDY6

December 13, 2018
‘American Horror Story’ Returns to ‘Murder House’ in Special 78 Minute Episode

FX

Welcome home, Michael.

“American Horror Story: Apocalypse” is the crossover season for “Murder House” and “Coven.” We’ve already seen several “Coven” witches, but not too much from the “Murder House” contingent — besides an older version of Antichrist baby Michael Langdon (Cody Fern).

That changes with Episode 6 — airing this Wednesday, October 17. That special supersized episode will take us back to Murder House. The episode is literally called “Return to Murder House,” and it was directed by none other than Sarah Paulson.

This week, we’ll revisit baby Michael’s family — Vivien Harmon (Connie Britton) is Michael’s biological mother, with Tate Langdon, aka Rubber Man (Evan Peters) as the father. Vivien’s husband Ben (Dylan McDermott) and daughter Violet (Taissa Farmiga) will also return.

And of course we’ll get to see Constance Langdon (Jessica Lange), who raised baby Michael.

AHS normally runs an hour, but this Wednesday’s Episode 6 will run for 78 minutes (or 55 minutes without commercials), starting at 10 p.m. on FX.

Check out the promo:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EpZK3vrPno

[Via: THR]

Want more stuff like this? Like us on Facebook.

October 16, 2018
‘AHS: Apocalypse’ Adds Alums Stevie Nicks, Gabourey Sidibe, Lily Rabe, More

FX

The end of the world is shaping up to be quite the reunion, with a bunch of familiar faces set to return to “American Horror Story” for its upcoming eighth installment, “Apocalypse.”

Creator and executive producer Ryan Murphy announced the additional castings on Twitter on Tuesday, revealing that five more actresses who’d previously appeared on “AHS” will be back for more this fall.

https://twitter.com/MrRPMurphy/status/1026876449175695360

The newest returning group includes Taissa Farmiga, Gabourey Sidibe, Lily Rabe, Frances Conroy, and Stevie Nicks.

“So thrilled the family is together again!” Murphy tweeted.

In addition to those actresses, previously announced returnees include Sarah Paulson, Kathy Bates, Billie Lourd, Leslie Grossman, Adina Porter, Evan Peters, Billy Eichner, Cheyenne Jackson, Emma Roberts, and Jessica Lange (who will be back for the first time since season five). Season eight will feature a crossover between the “Murder House” and “Coven” installments of “AHS” (seasons one and three, respectively), so expect many of these actors to reprise roles from one of those seasons.

“American Horror Story: Apocalypse” is due to hit the airwaves on September 12.

August 7, 2018