Psycho Beach Party (2000)
Sep 7, 2001Genre Parody
Based on an off-Broadway play, this is a drag parody of the beach party movie. It does dig into the squeaky clean image of the genre but never seems a particularly funny parody
Amy Adams
Underdog (2007)
Sep 23, 2007Canine Superhero/Cartoon in Live-Action
Excruciating and unfunny live-action version of the animated tv series about a superpowered dog. Everything is now run over with lame slapstick and smartass one-liners
Enchanted (2007)
Dec 27, 2007Animated Fairytale Characters Enter the Real World
Disney film where an animated fairytale princess emerges into the real world to become Amy Adams. This becomes the opportunity to wittily puncture the unreal world of the Disney fairytale
Night at the Museum 2 (2009)
May 24, 2009Museum Exhibits Come to Life
Sequel to the Ben Stiller hit offers more of the same with a bigger museum and more exhibits come to life but little else
The Muppets (2011)
Nov 19, 2011Muppet Movie
Surprisingly fun revival of the Muppets that reboots the series after the insipid entries of the last few years and succeeds by going back to recapture the sly double-level of humour that Jim Henson patented
The Master (2012)
Sep 27, 2012L. Ron Hubbard Fictionalised Biopic
Paul Thomas Anderson's loose biopic of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard is a film composed of great acting and great individual scenes more so than it ever coheses as a story or delves in to interrogate its characters. Far too elusive as a story to quite be the masterpiece it is readily being hailed as
Man of Steel (2013)
Jun 14, 2013Comic-Book Superhero
Zack Snyder's reboot of Superman leaves you irritated in the first half of the film at its throwing chunks of comic-book canon out the window and the second half bored with the mass destruction orgy that drags on
Her (2013)
Jan 11, 2014Human-A.I. Romance
Spike Jonze addresses virtual relationships in this story of a romance between a man and an A.I. A film that is astonishing in its freshness, naturalness and avoidance of any of the cliches that have dogged other treatments.
Arrival (2016)
Dec 11, 2016First Contact with Aliens
Most SF films gloss over the issue of communication with aliens, having them either speaking English or with devices like Universal Translators. This is a superbly intelligent film that grapples with how to communicate with something different
Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)
Mar 27, 2016DC Comics Superhero Team-Up
It took DC Comics the better part of a decade to catch up with the massive success Marvel Comics are having on screen in crossing their characters over. Zack Snyder comes to the party offering up THE biggest headline double-bill in superherodom
Justice League (2017)
Dec 30, 2017Comic-Book Superheroes
Zack Snyder completes his run through DC superheroes with mixed results. The introduction of the characters works well but Snyder too readily throws established continuity out the window, while the visual dourness becomes tedious
Zack Snyder’s Justice League (2021)
Mar 27, 2021Comic-Book Superheroes
Zack Snyder’s original cut of Justice League is a magnificent work that restores much character depth and story. I would far rather watch this than any of the recent MCU films
The Woman in the Window (2021)
May 22, 2021Psycho-Thriller
Slickly produced psycho-thriller that comes mired in controversy, featuring Amy Adams as an agoraphobe who maybe witnesses a murder.
Disenchanted (2022)
Nov 25, 2022Fairytale Characters in the Real World
Enchanted in which Amy Adams played an animated fairytale princess entering the real world was a reasonable hit. This is the long-planned sequel that reunites the principals but feels like a joke that belabours in the retelling
Nightbitch (2024)
Jan 10, 2025Mother Becomes Were-Dog
This comes with the irresistible appeal of a premise where frustrated mother Amy Adams finds herself turning into a dog. A very interesting take on the problems of motherhood