Annabelle

By Kurt Jensen, Catholic News Service

NEW YORK (CNS) – Demon-possessed dolls are a sturdy bunch.

Take the googly-eyed star of “Annabelle” (Warner Bros.), who likes to interfere with anything electrical while plotting to steal a baby’s soul for Satan, known in this film simply as “the Ram.” Try tossing her in the garbage and she’ll sneak back in a mover’s box. And don’t smack her around. That angers the Ram.

Annabelle Wallis stars in a scene from the movie “Annabelle. (CNS photo/courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures).

“Annabelle” delivers a reliable series of horror-genre frights under the direction of John R. Leonetti from Gary Dauberman’s script. It’s a sort-of prequel to 2013’s “The Conjuring,” which featured the exploits of real-life, self-styled exorcists and “demonologists” Ed and Lorraine Warren.

Though there’s a “real” Annabelle in a glass case at the Warren’s house, so we’re informed, the cabinet-dwelling counterpart turns out to be a decidedly mundane-looking Raggedy Ann.

In this go-round, neither the Warrens nor the rite of exorcism are portrayed. Alas, this being a demon tale, Catholic faith is still the background. Leonetti and Dauberman aim to duck most clichés, though, so there’s no brandishing of crucifixes, nor are faith practices portrayed as ancient superstition.

However, kindly Father Perez (Tony Amendola) proves less vital to the machinations than Evelyn (Alfre Woodard), the owner of a bookstore specializing in the paranormal.

Father Perez, who gets punched around a bit by the forces of evil, mostly speaks in aphorisms about Christian faith with the occasional New Testament quotation, and limns the all-important theme of sacrificial mother-love.

He’s comforting but ineffectual. Instead, Evelyn, who lost her young daughter years before, is the moral center.

“Demons. What do they want?” asks Mia (Annabelle Wallis), whose infant daughter is being threatened by the Evil One.

“A soul,” Evelyn replies. “And they won’t stop until they get one.”

The story is set in Southern California in 1970, a year after the Manson Family killings. While Mia is still pregnant, she and her next-door neighbours are attacked by members of a cult known as the Disciples of the Ram. One cultist, Annabelle Higgins, is the neighbours’ daughter.

Mia’s surgeon husband, John (Ward Horton), and the police shoot down the attackers. But Mia, you see, collects large antique dolls. Wouldn’t you know it, Annabelle’s soul enters the largest of them, the baby is born, all doors begin to creak, and the skittering around begins.

The film contains occult themes, two scenes of bloody knife violence and intense action sequences. The Catholic News Service classification is A-III – adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R – restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

Brick Mansions

By John Mulderig, Catholic News Service

NEW YORK (CNS) – Combat, albeit of a stylised kind, is the whole point of the action picture “Brick Mansions” (Relativity). Though gore is kept to a minimum, some of the mayhem registers as vicious, if only by implication.

Paul Walker, left, and David Belle star in a scene from the movie “Brick Mansions.” (CNS photo/Europacorp)

In a version of Detroit even more dystopian than its current reality, the dilapidated housing project of the title has become so dangerous that it’s been walled off from the rest of the city. Within its crumbling halls, drug lord Tremaine Alexander (rapper RZA) holds sway, though his rule is challenged by anti-narcotics vigilante Lino Dupree (David Belle).

Alexander is also in the crosshairs of dedicated undercover cop Damien Collier (Paul Walker in his last completed role). Damien believes Alexander murdered his father, a decorated police officer, and he’s determined to exact revenge.

He gets his opportunity when a weapons heist has the authorities panicking, and they assign Damien to retrieve the situation by infiltrating Brick Mansions with Lino as his guide. Lino has an agenda of his own, however, since Alexander has kidnapped his ex-girlfriend, Lola (Catalina Denis), in a bid to draw Lino into his lair.

Belle is one of the originators of a practice known as Parkour, which enables its devotees to move through an urban setting at maximum speed using physical discipline and taking spontaneous advantage of various elements of the environment. “Brick Mansions” showcases Belle’s skills in this regard to entertaining effect, his impressive manoeuvres providing welcome relief from all the brawling.

As bullets fly and cars race for the rest of the running time in director Camille Delamarre’s adaptation of the 2004 French-language film “Banlieue 13,” a wildly unrealistic plotline has the Motor City’s ruling class scheming to use apocalyptic means to gentrify Brick Mansions.

Screenwriter Luc Besson, who co-wrote “Banlieue 13” with Bibi Naceri, plays on resentment fuelled cynicism in his caricatured portrayal of the urban elite. He also justifies Alexander’s criminality as nothing more than an oppressed underdog’s attempt to adapt to his surroundings.

If some of the scenes appeal to envy, others are designed to excite a certain brand of lust. Thus, in her captivity, Lola is subjected to the unwanted attentions of Alexander’s leather-clad underlying Rayzah (Ayisha Issa) who threatens the prisoner with a combination of torture and lesbian rape.

A souped-up Mustang (Alexander’s pricey ride), endless fistfights and one chick menacing another. What more could a movie offer?

The film contains pervasive action violence, some of it brutal, a threat of homosexual rape, a glimpse of partial nudity, frequent crude and crass language and a couple of obscene gestures. The Catholic News Service classification is L – limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 – parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.