Author: ANDREW HOPE

Originally from Glasgow, Scotland, I am a part time writer and full time nerd. Besides having written Fantomex Max for Marvel Comics, I have done lots of other work buried under a mountain of NDAs, and you can find my movie reviews at https://thatsnotcurrentblog.wordpress.com/

Movie Review – THE LIGHTHOUSE. Coupled with The Witch, Robert Eggers has become a niche moviemaker. We need more like him.

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I’m writing this review in the wake of a handful of “name” directors speaking up in the press about their dislike for the Marvel movies.  As much as I enjoy them, everyone is entitled to their opinions, and while I don’t get the strength of their dislike (Coppola said they were despicable – surely there are bigger things in the world that justify that pejorative), they make a good point: by being so globally successful, their appeal blinds younger viewers to the power of cinema, the art of it.  When all young people hear about is cinematic superheroes, the risk is that greater movies don’t gain traction in the minds of the next generation of moviegoers, who instead become conditioned to spectacle.  If that happens, it will be a shame, because it leaves moviemakers like Robert Eggers relegated to that of niche status.

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Movie Review: AD ASTRA – Brad Pitt sleepwalks through an intimate space journey that doesn’t deserve the hype.

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You know, when some people liken ANY science fiction movie to 2001: A Space Odyssey, I’m immediately skeptical.  Not only is the Kubrick Klassic one of the few actual science fiction movies out there (sorry, Stars Trek and Wars don’t count), it also happens to be one of my all-time favourite films.  So I was skeptical but curious enough to watch it.  Admittedly though, the draw for me was Brad Pitt.

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Movie Review: JOKER – A mesmerizing performance from Joaquin Phoenix charts the rise of a villain, not an anti-hero.

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Image result for joker movie poster

I have to go back to the summer of 1985 to a movie that inflamed so many Loud Voices to compare the phony hysteria currently surrounding the latest DC movie, Joker.  That movie was Rambo: First Blood Part 2.  The sequel to one of the greatest action movies of all time crossed the Atlantic on a tidal wave of what we now identify as hashtag-outrage.  Ireland banned it, the rest of mainland Britain did not, so I was able to see it … and wonder what the fuss was all about.  After today’s viewing of Joker, my reaction is basically the same.

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Movie Review: PERSONAL SHOPPER – Kristen Stewart’s performance elevates this supernatural-tinged “American abroad” drama about grief and loss..

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I can’t really think of many actors whose name inspires sight-unseen mockery and ridicule than Kristen Stewart.  Granted, these feelings are most commonly expressed by trolls from the safety of their keyboards, so I take these with a bucket of salt.  Of course, the same vitriol is directed at Robert Pattinson so you know the common thread here: the Twilight series, where they played Bella Swan and Edward Cullen respectively.  I haven’t seen any movies n this series, so my exposure to Stewart is pretty limited, but based on what I have seen, I’ve nothing against her, and in Personal Shopper she acquits herself quite well as the lead character.

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Movie Review: POSSUM – If you’re going to create a feature from a short story, be prepared to add material. If you don’t, you end up with this.

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In the end credit roll for Matthew Holness’s Possum, you see in the fine print that it was based on his short story of the same name, published in the anthology The New Uncanny: Tales of Unease.  Weird that the source material would be buried in the credits and not shown during opening titles, as it is in most cases.  I haven’t read the short story but I’m going to track it down now that I’ve seen the movie.  I suspect it’s not going to be all that different from the movie, because even though it has a running time of an hour and a half, there’s perhaps only about half an hour of story.

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