A WALK IN THE WOODS (2015)

Mildly entertaining lightweight comedy about a aging travel writer (Robert Redford) who's beginning to face the fact that he's getting old.  Spurred on by this reality, he teams up with his old buddy Nick Nolte and they beginning walking the 2,200 miles long Appalachian Trail...without any preparation (other than buying a few supplies).  I don't even think they looked at a map because two months in they're completely shocked to learn that they're not even halfway to their destination despite the fact that Redford said at the beginning of their journey it would take 5 months or so.

I wanted to enjoy A WALK IN THE WOODS, but the whole thing just felt very disjointed.  There's little introduction to either of Redford or Nolte's characters and the entire walking along the Appalachian Trail doesn't have any feeling of progress or hardship.  Both characters look the same the entire film (even their hair stays the same).  Also they ride in a car at one point, stay in a hotel, eat at multiple restaurants.  I've never walked the Appalachian Trail, so all of these things were very confusing to me.  I thought it was all about being in nature and camping, not hitchhiking and sleeping in motels.  Another thing, besides the weak script, was weird stuff going on in the background.  There's multiple scenes that looked really really fake, like they were acting in front of a screen or in a studio.  That took me out of the movie.

Overall, I liked the film and I'm glad I watched it (I always enjoy seeing Redford and Nolte), but I just wish the script and direction had been better.  Oh yeah, Emma Thompson and Mary Steenburgen are both in this film as well, but their roles are so small that they're only on screen for a few minutes each.

Vermont and New Hampshire switched.

Somebody in the background controlling traffic.

SINISTER 2 (2015)

Not a hundred percent sure why, but in Part 2 the evil Mr. Boogiebritches teams up with the friggin' Children of the Corn.  Or, at least, the ghosts of the Children of the Corn.

A mom, who is having marriage issues with her husband, moves, with her two children, into a secluded farmhouse that was the location of one of Mr. Boogie's family murders.  But this time instead of the parent finding the "home movies", the two twin boys are pestered by the ghosts of the children who murdered their families.  And I don't mean "pestered" in a scary way, but literally pestered non-stop like an annoying car salesman.  They're so relentless that Mr. Boogiepants can barely even get a word in edgewise and probably has less than two minutes screentime.  Also, the snuff films this time were totally lame.

After the mildly promising original film, I was looking forward to the sequel, but SINISTER 2 fails to move the story forward in a good direction.  Overly complicated story, zero scares, slow pace, weak kills, annoying ghost children, zero gore, zero nudity, dumb as fook ending.  Good acting by James Ransone who has "Cotton-Eyed Joe" as his ringtone, but other than that I'd just skip the entire thing and take a nap instead.

Part 1 - Sinister (2012)

NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968)