Sneakers (1992)
Jun 22, 1999Hi-Tech Thriller
Standout thriller set around the world of computing, one of the earliest techno-thriller to adapt to the new internet age
Ben Kingsley
Species (1995)
May 28, 2003Alien Sex Fiend
Slick and rather silly copy of Alien that conceptually cross-hatches it to emerge as essentially Basic Instinct with tentacles
Photographing Fairies (1997)
Jun 14, 2002Fairies and Altered Perception
One of two films that came out in 1997 about the Cottingley Fairies Hoax. In comparison to the other, FairyTale: A true Story, this expands the premise out into a remarkable study of altered perception
Alice in Wonderland (1999)
Jun 30, 2003Alice in Wonderland TV Adaptation
A fairly reasonable tv mini-series adaptation of Lewis Carroll – a version that excels in terms of design and in using The Jim Henson Workshop to bring the Wonderland creatures to life
What Planet Are You From? (2000)
Mar 4, 2000Alien Visitor Comedy
A sex-changed version of My Stepmother is an Alien in which Garry Shandling is an alien come to Earth to breed with a woman. Despite being directed by Mike Nichols this is as lame as it sounds and stumbles through tired routines that were not even funny the first time around
Tuck Everlasting (2002)
Dec 2, 2007Family of Immortals
Disney adaptation of a classic children's novel about the discovery of a family in the woods who are immortal due to a magical spring
Suspect Zero (2004)
Oct 31, 2005Serial Killer Thriller
Serial killer thriller with Aaron Eckhart on the trail of an ambiguous Ben Kingsley. This offers some interesting twists but fails in the core issue of developing it into an absorbing thriller plot
Thunderbirds (2004)
Sep 21, 2004Hi-Tech Rescue Organisation/TV Series Remake
This live-action film version of the cult Gerry Anderson puppet series is a disaster. Great effort is made to replicate the look of the original but the film is killed by the choice to rewrite everything as a modern formula kid’s movie
BloodRayne (2005)
Mar 29, 2008Videogame Adaptation/Vampire War
Another Uwe Boll's videogame adaptation, this feels slung together from vampire film and sword and sorcery cliches. Among the badly mismatched casting, the most eyebrow raising is Ben Kingsley as the vampire villain
A Sound of Thunder (2005)
Feb 11, 2007Time Travel/Dinosaurs Amok/Ray Bradbury Adaptation
Adaptation of the classic Ray Bradbury time travel story is overblown as a ridiculous big-budget film filled with bad science where the original point of the story disappears in a script that makes no sense
The Last Legion (2007)
Dec 31, 2008Historical Adventure/Arthurian Origins
A not uninteresting historical epic from Dino de Laurentiis that merges the tale of the deposed last emperor of Rome into the beginnings of the Arthurian legends
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010)
May 28, 2010Videogame Adaptation/Arabian Nights Adventure
Adaptation of the popular videogame that ventures into Arabian Nights adventure, this was a box-office flop. It swashbuckles entertainingly but Jake Gyllenhaal feels badly miscast as a buffed adventure hero
Shutter Island (2010)
Mar 9, 2010Sinister Psychiatric Institution/Reality Bender
Martin Scorsese and an impressive A-list cast make a 1940s-styled psycho-thriller about a sinister asylum that soon starts into a series of major reality bending turns
Hugo (2011)
Dec 15, 2011Children's Film/Georges Melies Tribute
Martin Scorsese’s venture into making a children’s film is a beautiful production but must have been a studio nightmare – while they try to sell it as a magical fantasy film, Scorsese wants to pay tribute to silent filmmaker Georges Melies
Ender’s Game (2013)
Nov 2, 2013Space Military Recruits in Training
I will defend Orson Scott Card as an exceptional science-fiction writer, his controversies aside. While this is an extremely faithful adaptation of his book, it works unevenly as a film and never soars dramatically
Iron Man Three (2013)
May 3, 2013Comic-Book Superhero
A major disappointment. Stripping the superhero of the show of his suit makes for no more than a regular action hero, while the film's reduction of Iron Man's No 1 villain to a cardboard threat ranks down alongside a Batsuit with nipples
Eliza Graves (2014)
Nov 22, 2015Victorian Asylum Taken Over by the Inmates
Brad Anderson adapts an Edgar Allan Poe story about an asylum where the inmates are posing as the staff. This is lush period piece with an amazing cast line-up – the only surprise is that it did no box-office
Robot Overlords (2014)
Dec 28, 2015Earth After Invasion by Alien Machines
While the title sounds like a cheesy faux B movie, this a surprisingly serious work. Taking undeniable influence from tv's The Tripods , it is a YA work about the fight to free Earth following a machine invasion that proves far more entertaining than anything one expects of it
The BoxTrolls (2014)
Oct 18, 2014Cuddly Trolls/Stop-Motion Animation
From Laika, a stop-motion animated work about misunderstood creatures who wear boxes as shells and are perceived as monsters by polite society. An enormous degree of creativity has gone into this
Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (2014)
Jan 24, 2015Museum Exhibits Come to Life
The third entry in a franchise that seems to be stretching to find anything to do with its premise beyond the first film. Everyone involved seems to have only turned up to collect a paycheque and be going through the motions in a show that entirely coasts by solely on your familiarity with the characters
Self/less (2015)
Jul 11, 2015Bodyswap and Rejuvenation Thriller
Tarsem Singh is one of the most extraordinary visual stylists at work today. The disappointment here is that he has abandoned this to make a regular chase and shootout film that any other director could have. What we get is an uncredited rehash of the Rock Hudson film Seconds stripped down to an action film
Dragonheart 3: The Sorcerer’s Curse (2015)
Aug 28, 2015Dragon Fantasy
Sequel to a largely forgotten fantasy series. While never transcending formula, this fares somewhat better than the previous sequel largely because CGI effects have advanced since the original
The Jungle Book (2016)
Apr 23, 2016Jungle Boy
Live-action remake of the Disney film that gives the animals life through top of the line CGI effects. The results are impressive aided in large part by near-perfect voice casting
Spielberg (2017)
Oct 23, 2017Steven Spielberg Documentary
Documentary made for HBO about director Steven Spielberg in which he reflects on his life and films. The documentary tends to focus more on his major hits and skips his minor films but does give worthwhile insight into Spielberg, his life and formative years
Watership Down (2018)
Apr 19, 2019Animation/Talking Rabbit Quest
BBC tv mini-series remake of the classic Richard Adams novel about talking rabbits on a quest. To get it over with, the animation is not the high-end quality that we have been spoiled with by Pixar et al. On the other hand, what remains is an excellent faithfully told version of the story
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021)
Nov 20, 2021Marvel Comics Martial Arts Superhero
The Marvel onslaught continues with this resurrection of a martial artist superhero character from the 1970s. Amid the mostly ho-hum MCU offerings of the 2020s, this becomes an energised action vehicle
Jules (2023)
Jan 11, 2026Senior Citizen Befriends Alien
Likeable comedy variant on E.T. - The Extra-Terrestrial in which senior citizen Ben Kingsley befriends an alien visitor after its UFO crashes in his backyard. Few films are made with such an acute awareness of aging
Deep Water (2026)
Jul 26, 2026Stranded in a Sea of Sharks
The perpetually terrible Renny Harlin makes a halfway watchable film about the survivors of a plane crash at sea trying to stay alive as the sinking plane is surrounded by sharks