Month: June 2016

Movie Review: TOMORROWLAND

On By ANDREW HOPEIn Movie ReviewsLeave a comment
tomorrowland
Tomorrowland

Tomorrowland, Brad Bird’s latest live action movie is a real mixed bag, harkening back to Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, a movie I ultimately found disappointing.  What doesn’t help here is the inclusion of Damon Lindelof to the writing team.  I’m not keen on Lindelof’s work at all.  I feel of all the “name” writers in the business, he’s one of the least talented (though Simon Kinberg – Fantastic Four, X-Men: Apocalypse is catching up quickly), moving from one cliché to another as effortlessly as taking the stairs.  Continue reading “Movie Review: TOMORROWLAND” →

Movie Review: HARBINGER DOWN

On By ANDREW HOPEIn Movie Reviews2 Comments

harbinger

It’s not often a movie makes me angry.  I think a recent honour goes to Josh Trank’s inexcusable Fantastic Four effort, but tonight I witnessed something that truly made my blood boil – Harbinger Down, written and directed by special effects technician Alec Gillis.  I actually saw this included in a couple of best of lists, but it got some bad ratings in other places.  Having watched it, I can only think that there are people out there who are so starved for entertainment that they give basically anything a passing grade.  Harbinger Down deserves no plaudits whatsoever.  It’s actually one of the most disgraceful movies I’ve ever seen. Continue reading “Movie Review: HARBINGER DOWN” →

Movie Review: THE HOUSE ON PINE STREET

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House in Pine Street

I admit, I gave up watching Ben Wheatley’s A Field In England about half an hour in (I’ll return to it, though), but because I still wanted to watch a movie, I went with The House On Pine Street, a 2015 independent horror movie summarized as “a woman with an unwanted pregnancy moves into a haunted house”.  Seemed pretty decent from that brief logline.  And that’s pretty much how I would rate it. Continue reading “Movie Review: THE HOUSE ON PINE STREET” →

Movie Review: APPROACHING THE UNKNOWN

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approaching-the-unknown

Approaching the Unknown is the story of a one-way trip to Mars.  I watched the movie as one of many people on Earth who would consider a solo, never-to-return trip to the cosmos.  I don’t know what the appeal is of that.  Science?  Not for me.  Personally speaking, I live my life unencumbered by any notion of the supernatural, but I’m no scientist either.  Don’t get me wrong, the universe to me is a vast and wondrous place, but I don’t have the mind or discipline to exist from one day to the next carrying out one mundane experiment after another.  Yet the idea of sailing off into oblivion by myself appeals to me.  Continue reading “Movie Review: APPROACHING THE UNKNOWN” →

Short Fiction: THIS NIGHT HAS OPENED MY EYES

On By ANDREW HOPEIn Fiction5 Comments

This Night

On the way back from my appointment at the VA, I stopped by this old antique place. A real chintzy little hole in the wall that I ‘d seen umpteen times, but never thought about. I was bored. Didn’t want to go home right away after hearing that the dosage of my meds had to be increased. Depressing. I thought about Sophia and how shitty I had been to her the last time I saw her. I felt bad. I felt bad a lot, for a whole bunch of things. Ever since I got back from Afghanistan nothing seems connected anymore, not like how things used to be. The VA doctor said upping the meds will help me feel like things are still together, not drifting apart. Continue reading “Short Fiction: THIS NIGHT HAS OPENED MY EYES” →