Category: Movie Reviews

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

On By ANDREW HOPEIn Movie ReviewsLeave a comment

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

On By ANDREW HOPEIn Movie ReviewsLeave a comment

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” →

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” →

Movie Review: CREEP

On By ANDREW HOPEIn Movie ReviewsLeave a comment

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” →