INSIDIOUS FAMILY

For those thinking about the future, you have 99 days until Christmas.  I went to see two films this weekend.  To my surprise, they ended up #1 and #2 in box office revenues:

  #1   Insidious:  Chapter 2   $41 million

  #2   The Family                    $15 million

#3 was Riddick at $7 million.  The timing was perfect, and I almost made it a triple-bill, but didn't.

The title of both movies could just as well have been Insidious Family A and Insidious Family B.  Both were insidious films about families.

Rotten Tomatoes:
                                          Reviewers      Audience

  Insidious Chapater 2             38%                71%
  The Family                             33%                53%

I don't know why I went to IC2, for I place this type of offering in the same category as vampire and shaky camera flicks, programmed to make you feel nauseous.  Remember the Blair Witch Project of 1999?

Affected by all those killings above, thought I'd here editorialize on that shooting at the Navy Yard in DC yesterday with 12 victims and the killer dead, and the Columbine massacre of 12 students and one teacher, which also occurred in 1999.  The Sandy Hook Elementary School incident resulted in 21 deaths less than a year ago.  Yet, two Colorado state legislators were just recalled because they wanted to strengthen gun control laws.  This, after the Aurora movie theater extermination of another 12 citizens just in 2012.  No wonder our U.S. Congress feels powerless to confront the National Rifle Association.   What's wrong with Colorado...the Nation?

But back to insidious families, the reality of IC2 is preposterous and they try to artificially startle you as much as possible.  That photo to the right, though, is about as frightening as it gets.  At least IC2 had steady cameras and a script that, while ridiculous, showed a semblance of rationality.  Even though I know this was a movie and everything was faked, I was still unnerved a couple of times, and there might have been some cold sweat, I think.  The transitions were poor, or at least confusing, as the combined flashbacks in parallel with a ghost universe, left me addled.  I still never figured out who was one of the characters for she seemed somewhat important, yet useless.  If I'm being evasive and not entirely logical, this is only payback for my ordeal.  Pretty clear that the ending opened Chapter 3, which, trust me, will return to haunt you...and, perhaps, me.

Even though the ratings were poor to scathing, I kind of enjoyed The Family, no doubt because IC2 was not my idea of fun.  You'll love this second film if you like gory comedy, a major gunfight where only the invading bad guys die and endless situations where the victims generally deserve their fate.  Robert De Niro (Mafia boss who ratted on his kind) and Michelle Pfeiffer play parents in  hiding with their two children, who have learned well the family business of mayhem, near Normandy (site of D-Day landing--yes, France), protected by FBI agent Tommy Lee Jones.  If all goes well, there will be a sequel.

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There is another storm in the west Pacific.  Usagi is only at 45 MPH, but will considerably strengthen, and crash into Taiwan by this weekend:

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