1956 – France. A priest is murdered. An evil is spreading. The sequel to the worldwide smash hit follows Sister Irene as she once again comes face-to-face with Valak, the demon nun.

Taissa Farmiga (“The Nun,” “The Gilded Age”) returns as Sister Irene, joined by Jonas Bloquet (“Tirailleurs,” “The Nun”), Storm Reid (“The Last of Us,” “The Suicide Squad”), Anna Popplewell (“Fairytale,” “The Chronicles of Narnia” trilogy) and Bonnie Aarons (reprising her role from “The Nun”), surrounded by an ensemble cast of international talent.

Michael Chaves (“The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It”) directs, from a screenplay by Ian Goldberg & Richard Naing (“Eli,” “The Autopsy of Jane Doe”) and Akela Cooper (“M3GAN,” “Malignant”),with a story by Cooper, based on characters created by James Wan & Gary Dauberman.

The Safran Company’s Peter Safran and Atomic Monster’s James Wan produce, continuing their collaboration as filmmakers on all of the previous “Conjuring” films. “The Nun II” is executive produced by Richard Brener, Dave Neustadter, Victoria Palmeri, Gary Dauberman, Michael Clear, Judson Scott and Michael Polaire.

Joining Chaves behind the camera are director of photography Tristan Nyby (“The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It,” “The Dark and the Wicked”), production designer Stéphane Cressend (“Les Vedettes,” “The French Dispatch”), editor Gregory Plotkin (2022’s “Scream,” “Get Out”), visual effects producer Sophie A. Leclerc (“Finch,” “Lucy”) and costume designer Agnès Béziers (“Oxygen,” “The Breitner Commando”), with composer Marco Beltrami (2022’s “Scream,” ”Venom: Let There Be Carnage”) providing the score.

“The Conjuring” Universe is the highest grossing horror franchise in history with $2+ billion worldwide. Globally, four of “The Conjuring” Universe titles have earned more than $300 million worldwide each (“The Nun,” $366 million; “The Conjuring 2,” $322 million; “The Conjuring,” $320 million; “Annabelle: Creation,” $307 million), and all seven have each grossed more than $200 million. “The Nun” is the top-earning film in the franchise, with more than $366 million worldwide.

New Line Cinema presents an Atomic Monster / Safran Company production, “The Nun II,” distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures. It is set to open only in cinemas September 7.
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June (Storm Reid of Euphoria) is on a rampage. Her mother Grace (Nia Long) is out of town with her new boyfriend and she is going to take full advantage of the absence of parental control. But when mom goes missing the computer-savvy teenager kicks those skills into high gear.

This is a modern thriller fit for modern times. The story is told through a plethora of computer devices and online apps and it’s scary how much information is out there with the mere stroke of a keyboard key. June’s aptitude is not just limited to the PC world either as her lateral thinking skills rock.

With a unique approach to the visual side of storytelling and a script that keeps the surprise reveals coming throughout, Missing is that rare film in that almost all of the ideas, new and traditional come together to form a solid viewer experience. After your folks return from the cinema, that Christmas list of computer upgrades may be closer than you think.
Rob Hudson
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When her mother (Nia Long) disappears while on vacation in Colombia with her new boyfriend, June’s (Storm Reid) search for answers is hindered by international red tape.

Stuck thousands of miles away in Los Angeles, June creatively uses all the latest technology at her fingertips to try and find her before it’s too late.

But as she digs deeper, her digital sleuthing raises more questions than answers…and when June unravels secrets about her mom, she discovers that she never really knew her at all.

Starring Storm Reid, Joaquim de Almeida, Ken Leung, Amy Landecker with Daniel Henney and Nia Long, Missing will be released in Australian cinemas January 26!
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It might be a generational thing as this reviewer is far removed from being a tween but great story telling has the ability to transcend age limitations. There are good things to take from the experience however as Reese Witherspoon is very appealing and funny as one of the major characters and it’s good to see Oprah back on the big screen. It’s also great to see Disney give a chance to a female director on one of its major films, in this case Ava DuVernay (Selma, Middle Of Nowhere).

Mention must also be made about the visual presentation, it has many moments of amazing and imaginative computer generated imagery that could only happen in a non reality landscape. The story defies a quick synopsis but it has to do with interdimensional time travel and science fiction driven possibilities mixed with a fantasy approach that blurs thew lines between them all.

This is a film that will polarise audience members but is worth a look, especially if the fantasy genre is one that appeals.

Rob Hudson
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