Movie Review: PREDESTINATION – unspectacular, but watchable, time travel thriller with a terrific paradox at its heart

On By ANDREW HOPEIn Movie Reviews2 Comments

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I don’t know of anyone who would say they’re a fan of Ethan Hawke per se, but I think there are very few people who would say the opposite.  I’m in the former camp – I’ve enjoyed a number of his movies and performances, but can’t quite make the leap to say I’m a fan.  He’s kind of like a less-charming Kevin Bacon; solid, but lacks genuine star power.  I’ve yet to see him turn in a bad performance, though, and I really like the fact he’s done so many genre movies in his long and varied career.  Maybe he just has never had the best agents, maybe he just comes across as too cold and detached in many of his movies, I don’t know.

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Movie Review: THE BIG SHORT – terrific procedural about the housing market crash that runs on a great cast, and excellent writing.

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I can’t properly define what makes a movie great to me, can you?  I know some people think a movie is “great” because of the visuals, which used to feel shallow to me, until I started looking at movies in better depth.  Movies are, above everything else, a visual medium – why wouldn’t people think that’s the most important part of the experience?  It’s not for me to get all judgy on what people like in movies, but there are particular elements that appeal strongly to me, and when they’re brought together well, that’s what makes a movie great.  Such is The Big Short.

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Movie Review: THE PURGE: ELECTION YEAR – mostly rubbish third entry in the franchise browbeats with lame political satire.

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To be fair, I only watched The Purge series because old friend, and fellow blogger, Glenn Miller (check out his blog My Little Underground, it’s great!) said the second one was decent.  You can’t eat only one (right?), so in short order I’ve plowed through the series, culminating in last night’s viewing of The Purge: Election Year, and clearly the series has run out of steam.

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Movie Review: THE GREEN INFERNO – Eli Roth’s homage to Cannibal Holocaust falls way short of delivering the true horror of the premise.

On By ANDREW HOPEIn Movie Reviews8 Comments

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I was going to say I’m not much of a fan of Eli Roth, but having only seen two of his movies prior to tonight’s viewing of The Green Inferno it would be ridiculous to do that.  Having only seen Cabin Fever and Hostel, I approached this one with some baggage.  On one hand I didn’t care for either of those movies, and on the other hand, I can’t say I’m a particular fan of mondo cinema either.  I’m also particular about the genre of horror: gore isn’t enough; jump scares aren’t enough.  That isn’t horror, it’s amateur Grand Guignol – where’s the excitement in seeing people killed off one by one?  I don’t see it.  I’m a character driven writer, and that’s what I look for in the movies I watch.

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Movie Review: Z FOR ZACHARIAH – unconvincing post apocalyptic melodrama feels more like a low-key romantic western.

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I’ve often wondered why post-apocalyptic drama is so popular – I count myself a fan of them, but I don’t know if I can fully articulate why.  Almost every single one of them portray a world I wouldn’t want to live in: I’m not ashamed to admit I love my internet, I love my convenient life and all the trappings that come with it.  I also wouldn’t survive long in the kind of world I tend to enjoy in fiction.  Let’s face it, it would suck.  Living day to day, evading the horrors of not having enough to eat, or clean water to drink.  Instead of my current cushy job and the comfortable life it affords me, I couldn’t abide a medieval life of weak, failing crops, anarchy … loneliness.  I admit I would cash in my chips early.

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