Conclave – Movie Review

TL;DR – An exquisitely acted and produced film that takes you into a world rarely seen with the weight of a drama but with all the fascination of a political intrigue.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I paid to watch this film.

Red Cardinals against white marble columns.

Conclave Review

It is tough to see honest explorations of faith and religion in modern cinema. When films exploring faith come out of Hollywood, they usually feel like hollow vessels divorced from reality. But then you watch movies that come out of the faith-based industry, and more often than not, you are watching trumped-up emotional blackmail hiding under the frame of faith. So, call me surprised when I sat down to watch Conclave and discovered something different.   

So, to set the scene, the Pope is dead, long live the Pope. If there is ever an organisation that has embraced the pomp and circumstance, it is the Catholic Church, and this happens in death just as much or even more than life. Cardinal Thomas Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes), who is Dean of the College of Cardinals, has to convene a conclave to pick the next Pope even though he feels unworthy of the task. However, as cardinals fly in from across the globe, it is clear that there is tension regarding how the Church will move forward. Will it embrace tradition or modernity? Or maybe somewhere in between.

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The Nun II – Movie Review

TL;DR – We get a film that terrifies in its opening and reigns with a bombast at the end. You just have to get between these two points.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is a mid-credit scene.

Disclosure – I was invited to a press screening of this film.

The Nun appears in a magazine.

The Nun II Review

In 2023, I set myself a goal of dipping my toe more into the Horror genre, and while I am not sure how successful I have been on that front, I have continued with some interesting new entries in that genre. Today’s entry is another film in the Conjuring Universe, of which I have only seen The Conjuring 3, and neither of the three other films the main character appears in before now. With that in mind, can you follow a sequel when you missed everything leading up to it?     

So to set the scene, it is 1956 in Tarascon, France, where a young alter boy is going about his daily routine to prepare for evening mass, not knowing that an evil presence lurks in the dark. Sister Irene (Taissa Farmiga) is now working in a quiet monastery mentoring young nuns like Sister Debra (Storm Reid) when she is told that The Nun (Bonnie Aarons) is back and carving a swath of destruction across Europe. But the potential victims dramatically increase when The Nun homes in on a school.

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Movie Review – Lady Bird

TL;DR – A coming of age story with a strong emotional centre, and an amazing cast

Score – 4.5 out of 5 stars

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene

Lady Bird

Review

Last year I missed seeing Moonlight in the cinemas, due to its very limited release near me. Well, Moonlight went on to win the Best Picture Oscar at the Academy Awards, and I felt a bit foolish for missing it. Well this year I made sure that this would not happen again and the last film on that list is Lady Bird and it has finally been released here in Australia. So today we are going to look at this magnificent insight into families under stress, yet still being resolute in the face of it all.

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Movie Review – Spotlight

TL;DR – This is a real life story that needed to be told, of scumbags who hurt children and them covered it up, I just wish it had been done a bit better.

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

Spotlight. Image Credit: Open Road Films.

Review

Spotlight is the real life story of the Spotlight team of The Boston Globe. This is a team of investigative journalists who pick their own stories to investigate, sometimes spending years researching their cases. In early 2001 after some prompting, they start looking into the Catholic Church in the Boston area and how they handled sexual abuse cases. Here they discover that it is not just a couple of bad apples and that it is a much bigger problem, one the Church knew about and one they covered up.

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