The Nun (2018)

A priest with a haunted past and a novice on the threshold of her final vows are sent by the Vatican to investigate the death of a young nun in Romania and confront a malevolent force in the form of a demonic nun.

Run-of-the-mill horror flick has good production value, a capable cast and a few atmospheric scenes, but the plot is incoherent and simply a succession of the usual horror tropes.

 

When They See Us (2019)

Chronicles the true story of a notorious case of five black teenagers who were convicted of a rape they did not commit.

Intense, thorough, passionate and utterly heart-wrenching depcition of a gross injustice with an excellent script giving each episode a different stance and with an extraordinary great ensemble of actors; depressingly, it is obvious that the evenets are not simply historical, but can happen all over again today.

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (2008)

Set during WWII, a story seen through the innocent eyes of Bruno, the eight-year-old son of the commandant at a German concentration camp, whose forbidden friendship with a Jewish boy on the other side of the camp fence has startling and unexpected consequences.

Heart-wrenching and tragic tale is successful in envisaging the mad hypocrisy of the Nazi ideology, but only skims the horrors of the Holocaust.

Maltin***: "Unique Holocaust fable...Quietly powerful drama personalizes the qualms and contradictions facing German families during the Nazi era."

The Conjuring (2013)

 

 

Paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren work to help a family terrorized by a dark presence in their farmhouse. 

 

Nicely assembled old-fashioned haunted house movie; the problem is that it has all been done before with much more thrills. 

Maltin**1/2: "Well made and well acted, this is an intelligent horror movie (based on supposedly real events) but there's nothing new here. Incidentally, no conjuring takes place."

Orphan (2009)

A husband and wife who recently lost their baby adopt a 9-year-old girl who is not nearly as innocent as she claims to be.

OK horror thriller with a great cast is at times suspenseful, but the story is old hat and the actual resolution something of a letdown.

Maltin**1/2: "Formulaic "bad-seed"-type horror movie still manages to offer up plenty of creepy Gran Guignol moments and sports a genuine you-won't see-it-coming twist that sets it apart from others in the overworn genre...Some of this goes way over the top, yet remains a gulty pleasure for genre fans."