The Last Exorcism: Part II is dreadfully boring.
The Last Exorcism: Part II (2013)

The Last Exorcism: Part II is dreadfully boring.
In 2013, Damien Chazelle premiered at Sundance a short film called Whiplash designed to build up interest in creating a feature film version of the story.
I understand there’s a sense of nostalgia around these dumb, effects-heavy, non-superhero blockbusters. But this is just a far worse Independence Day (you gotta love that downgrade from young Will Smith to Patrick Wilson) with a little bit of Contact sprinkled in there, blended into the stupidest possible slurry. And it’s not even that fun. There are a few cool images, and the score gave me goosebumps once or twice, but that’s it.
Puss in Boots 2 is:
The best movie in the Shrek franchise.
The best Dreamworks movie since How to Train Your Dragon 2, maybe 1.
The best mainstream American animated movie since Spider-Verse, and possibly as far back as the early 2010s.
A vessel for the best animated villain in so long I can’t even think of the last one better than this — you might have to go to the Disney Renaissance.
And, in all seriousness, maybe the best movie of 2022.
Here it is: The first list or ranking published on The Goods.
Damien Chazelle is not even 40 but is one of the most exciting directors in Hollywood.
There’s not a single thing I like more here than in Knives Out, but I do like almost everything almost as much. The two big exceptions are the over-obvious satire (I can feel Rian Johnson whispering “really makes ya think, huh” in my ear as I watch) and the disappointing ending. But it’s still pretty gripping storytelling for most of its (overlong) runtime.
The pitch is sound: 1973’s The Exorcist, but found footage.
Sometimes the flaws don’t matter too much.
There is some irony inherent in writing and reading a review of a film like The Menu.