Month: June 2016

Movie Review: 10 CLOVERFIELD LANE

On By ANDREW HOPEIn Movie Reviews2 Comments

10-Cloverfield-Lane-Poster

Funny thing about this movie, or more precisely, how I reacted to the trailer.  “I’ll never pay to see a movie with John Goodman!” I said, and never went to see it theatrically because of that.  It isn’t that I hate Goodman, but for some reason he annoys me.  Like Morgan Freeman, seeing him on the big screen is not something I enjoy.  I can’t explain it, then again, I don’t have to.  Watching 10 Cloverfield Lane last night, I realized that I’d robbed myself of a very decent cinematic experience. Continue reading “Movie Review: 10 CLOVERFIELD LANE” →

Guest Opinion: WHY I’M DONE WITH COMIC-CONS

On By ANDREW HOPEIn Opinion1 Comment

BY TERRY BEATTY

terry beatty

I suppose I could be convinced to change my mind by a great guest list or the promise of a trip to an interesting location — but I think I’m done with “comic cons.” I won’t call them comic book conventions, because they’re not that, really, anymore. The last one I attended that felt like a real comic book show was OafCon in Oklahoma — which is specifically themed around vintage comics and paper collectibles — and was wonderful. My SupaNova experience in Australia was great, because they LOVE The Phantom there. But the last few shows I’ve attended elsewhere have been disappointing. Continue reading “Guest Opinion: WHY I’M DONE WITH COMIC-CONS” →

Movie Review: CREEP

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creep

There’s something so fundamentally flawed about found-footage movies.  I think most people know it, and if they don’t know it, they feel it.  I’m not talking about the unthinking surface-level criticisms of “it’s dumb” or “it gave me motion sickness!”, I’m talking about the phoniness of the actual technique.  I happen to think The Blair Witch Project is one of the greatest horror movies ever made – being as it is also one of the earliest popular examples of the technique, it stands to reason it doesn’t show much of the fatal flaw throughout the later ones, but it exists.  Continue reading “Movie Review: CREEP” →

Movie Review: ENEMY

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enemy-poster

The adjective “Lynchian” gets tossed around frequently, mostly by people who like to sound like they know what they’re talking about when it comes to movie reviews.  I don’t claim to be any great film critic or expert, but I can tell you that I am a huge fan of Lynch’s work.  He’s by far and away the director whose work I seek out above all others.  I don’t even claim to have any great insights into Lynch’s work either.  His work is something I consider to be as close as you can get to art-film without sliding into total subjectivism.  Continue reading “Movie Review: ENEMY” →

Movie Review: X-MEN: APOCALYPSE

On By ANDREW HOPEIn Movie Reviews2 Comments

X Men apocalypse

Being honest, I’m not a big fan of the X-Men movies. I can’t deny that X-Men (2000) was a real game changer for superhero movies. Good actors, a decent script that didn’t attempt to water things down too much, and a good young director in Bryan Singer – and, of course, the breakout performance of Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. 2003’s X2: X-Men United, the year after Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man built on that, and paved the way for the genre being the annual cinematic staple it now is. Continue reading “Movie Review: X-MEN: APOCALYPSE” →