The Couch Critic
The Couch Critic is your laid-back guide to movies and TV shows that deserve your attention—or maybe don’t. Nathan dives deep into storytelling, character development, and cinematic style with a sharp eye and a wry sense of humor. Whether it’s a blockbuster hit, a hidden gem, or a cult classic, Nathan’s relatable approach ensures every episode feels like a cozy chat with a friend who just happens to love film. Perfect for casual watchers and cinephiles alike, The Couch Critic brings thoughtful critique without the fluff. Grab your favorite snack, settle in, and let Nathan guide you through the world of screen entertainment.
The Couch Critic
Faith Meets Fear: An Analysis of The Nun 2
Ready to face the supernatural with a dash of faith? Join me, Natey, as I dive solo into the shadows of the latest horror flick - The Nun 2. This episode is a roller coaster ride of an analysis where I dive into the religious ties of the Conjuring franchise and the acting chops of its cast. However, not all is rosy as I pull the cloak off some flaws, including a seemingly directionless subplot and an unnecessary character. Despite its share of laugh-inducing moments, if you're a horror enthusiast seeking a religious twist, this film might just be your next watch.
To wrap things up, I'll be sharing some fascinating trivia and expressing my heartfelt gratitude to all our listeners. So, what are you waiting for? Tune in, follow the show, leave a review, and embark on this thrilling journey through horror and mystery.
One's a movie buff, one watches movies, just enough. Together, fun will be had by all. This is Nady and Katie at the Movies. Hello everyone, and welcome to another brand new episode of Nady and Katie at the Movies. I'm your host, nathan, aka Nady, of course, and I know on all our social media posts I advertised that I would not be alone in this episode. Obviously, katie did not want to see the movie I'm about to review, and so I went to go see it with my niece, sarah, and we had planned on her being on the show and recording with me, but something came up and so unfortunately she will not be joining me on this episode. She did record a quick reaction video on our social media so you can look at that and see what her thoughts were about this movie, and that movie is the Nun 2. So this episode will just be me reviewing the Nun 2.
Speaker 1:This movie is the newest movie in the conjuring franchise, and before I get into my thoughts I got to go over the synopsis. In 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. The Nun 2 stars Taissa Farmiga, jonas Bloke and Storm Reed. Now Taissa Farmiga is the relative of the actress who plays the main character's wife in the conjuring films. I always thought that they were mother and daughter, but I don't believe that's true. But they look almost exactly alike and so I always was wondering is this character, sister Irene, related to the main character? Well, this film kind of confirms that. So let's go right into my likes and dislikes of this movie.
Speaker 1:Like number one, I think the people in these films do a good job at bringing these movies into realism. If you know me and Katie, we are Christians and so the whole demon aspect we believe is 100% real, and so that's why these movies, even more so than other traditional horror films, are much more creepy than you know, say, your Halloween and you know Nightmare on Elm Street, because these are based in something that is real, and so that's what brings the fear and the scariness of the conjuring movies. But I think every single person acts really well. They do really well with their characters. They deliver the lines pretty well for the most part. There were a few lines that felt kind of cheesy and I'll kind of get into that with my dislikes portion of this film, but overall I think the acting is just really really well done and it really lets you believe that they believe what is happening in the film.
Speaker 1:Now, going off the belief system, that's my second like of this film and majority of the conjuring movies. I really think it's interesting that they really do tie into the religious connection of what's going on in these films. If you watch the first Nun movie, the solution was dousing the demon in the blood of Christ, and so that's basically what defeats this demon and that's kind of what happens. That's what happens in this film too, and so I guess that'll get right into my first dislike. They go after this artifact that is supposedly the eyes of this saint, saint Lucy, the saint of the blind, and so they think that if they find this container that contains her eyes, that they will be able to defeat this demon once again. And so they do find it, but to me it just came off as pointless because it doesn't really do anything. It like stops Valak for like two seconds and then Valak ends up getting this relic, which doesn't really do anything when they get it, and it just come to find out it's only the blood of Christ that will defeat the demon again, and so I felt like that kind of side story was kind of pointless. I say kind of, because it does say that the descendants of Saint Lucy can't get burned and can't are the only ones who can defeat this demon, and so that goes into his sister Irene, a relative to the modern day character. That's kind of how they tie in, that that basically they're all descendants of this saint. So I guess that was the point of having that in there, but to me it just felt like they could have explained that in another way.
Speaker 1:Another kind of pointless thing about this movie is that there is a character played by Stormreed. She's a fantastic actress. She does a good job in this movie. I'm not saying she does a bad job performing or anything like that. She does deliver one of those lines, as I said before, that came off as kind of cheesy. But overall I felt her character was kind of pointless.
Speaker 1:She's kind of the rebel nun at the beginning of the movie and she runs off with sister Irene to help her with this demon problem. When she gets on the train she's like you need me to go with you and I'm just sitting there thinking why? Why does she need you to go with her? You don't believe in what's going on really, and that's kind of like her arc in the film is before. She doesn't really believe in miracles and then by the end of the film she does and she delivers a really cheesy line where something happens to sister Irene and she turns to her and says that was a miracle and that's exactly how she says it.
Speaker 1:So I felt her character was pointless. I mean, she prays with sister Irene at the end and turns the wine to Christ blood and that's how they defeat the. Yeah, it's yeah. I just felt like her character didn't need to be there. She basically was the sister Irene of this film.
Speaker 1:In the first nun movie sister Irene goes with a priest One of this ones, sister Irene, because of her experience. It's kind of like the priest character and Storm Reid's character is kind of like sister Irene in the first one. But yeah, her character was kind of pointless. So I thought that was kind of like a dislike for me. And the biggest dislike wasn't really something that maybe dislike the film, I just thought it was really dumb looking. So there's a part.
Speaker 1:One of the side stories is there's this stained glass window in this chapel that has a goat on it and the goat's supposed to represent the devil. And there's a moment where they're looking at the stained glass and then they look back and then they look at it again and the goat is gone on the window. Well, my niece turns to me and says, if there's a goat, I will start cracking up laughing. And I said, yeah, me too. That would be really dumb. Well, come to find out, there's a giant goat man who chases all of these boarding school girls and Storm Reid's character and I guess it's supposed to be the devil. And when that happened, my niece and I both started cracking up laughing and from that moment I could not take the movie seriously anymore. It reminded me of the SNL sketch which I think Jim Brewer plays, and it's goat man or goat boy and he talks, he tries to talk normal, but every now and then he'll go me, me. That's what I was thinking the entire time that was happening. I could not take it seriously and it kind of took away from the fact that the nun was supposed to be the main antagonist, but then they brought goat man in here. It was just. It was just really random and dumb, but overall I still thought the film was entertaining for the most part.
Speaker 1:There were a lot of unnecessary deaths. I may be not a lot, but there are two that I was like why did they even have to do that? One in particular is a delivery child. A child who goes around making deliveries goes into this place and starts hearing these weird noises and of course, as most people do in movies, they go check it out and she finds Maurice, who was in the first one, then gets killed by the demon character and no one says anything about it ever again. There was literally no point except, I guess, to reveal what was going on with Maurice. But still again, that could have happened in another way. So I thought I thought the violence was a little over the top at times. I guess that's what they were going for. I actually read an article saying that director put more in when he showed it to test audiences because they wanted more violence in it, which I don't know what that says about people these days. It's a scary movie. I think it's better than the first one, even though the first one made more money. But I think with the strikes going on, a lot of movies are going to be hurt. In the box office it's still doing pretty well. So there's that. So, yeah, that is the none two, and they do hint that they are going to do another conjuring movie. Apparently, this movie will be called the Conjuring Last Writes, so that's coming up. I'm assuming it's going to have something to do with the exorcism of Maurice, and if you watch the Nun, you watch the Nun 2, you'll get what I'm talking about, and I think that's what they're going with in the Conjuring Last Writes.
Speaker 1:I'm going to go ahead and give my rating for this movie Again. I thought it was enjoyable. It's not the greatest thing in the world. A lot of these movies that I've been seeing just aren't doing it for me. So I'm going to give the Nun 2 3.5 out of six stars.
Speaker 1:And our next homework assignment I do believe Katie is seeing this film, so she will be joining me next episode and that movie is A Haunting in Venice, another Agatha Christie inspired movie. But I did not know this. A Haunting in Venice is not the name of Agatha Christie Book. This movie is actually based on an Agatha Christie book called Halloween Party, so I did not know. That Little fun fact just for you and to end this episode of the Nun 2, in the great words of Goat Boy Me, me, me. Thanks for listening to Nadie and Katie at the Moody's. Feel free to leave us a review so people can find the show. Follow us on all our social media platforms and if there's a movie that you want us to watch, feel free to contact us at nadieandkateyatgmailcom. Thanks for listening and have a great day.
