A Little Bit of Soul (1997)
Jan 25, 2003Longevity Drug and Satanism Black Comedy
Australian black comedy about research into longevity and Satanism. The film has a great cast but hits a shrilly hysteric pitch without ever being funny
David Wenham
The Bank (2001)
Jun 7, 2002Stockmarket Prediction Formula
Smart and intelligent Australian thriller about the invention of a stockmarket prediction formula. This digs its teeth into the banking industry with considerable bite
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
Dec 24, 2002Epic Fantasy Adventure
Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings saga truly gains its feet here, expanding out onto an epic scale where he has fused special effects and story into a singular vision
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Dec 23, 2003Epic Fantasy Adventure
The weakest of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings films. This is the most variant from the source material and the one where Jackson allows his tendency to visual effects bloat to take over
Van Helsing (2004)
May 12, 2004Monster Hunter/Famous Monster Bash
Stephen Sommers conducts a big-budget rehash of a 1940s Universal monster bash. A film so overloaded with CGI bombast and general overkill it becomes utterly absurd.
300 (2007)
Apr 19, 2007Fantasticised Historical Battle/Graphic Novel Adaptation
Zack Snyder's adaptation of the classic Frank Miller graphic novel about the Greek battle of Thermopylae. In replicating the look of the original's panels, Snyder pushes what would otherwise be a standard historical film into something extraordinarily stylised and fantastic
Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole (2010)
Sep 21, 2010Animation/Talking Owls
Zack Snyder makes an exquisite motion-capture animated film for adults about talking owls. This has a story that comes with a sweeping mythic arc
300: Rise of an Empire (2014)
Mar 8, 2014Fantasticised Historical Battle
Less a 300 sequel or prequel than a parallel story, this offers much the same as before but in 3D and with naval instead of land combat. Seeing Zack Snyder's amazing visuals repeated all over again, all the poses and hyper-masculinity now seem to bubble with an inherent risibility.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017)
Sep 16, 2017Pirate Fantasy Swashbuckler
After the two last lacklustre entries, the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise starts to recover where the two new directors pull off some spectacular comedy-action sequences that go a long way towards recapturing what the series used to be
Nekrotronic (2018)
Aug 30, 2020Demon Hunters
The second film from the director of Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead about demon hunters. A great deal has been expanded on the creature effects and in building the film's mythology.
Peter Rabbit (2018)
Apr 29, 2018Talking Animals
Beatrix Potter wrote genteel stories of talking animals in the English countryside. This is a film so astonishingly awful in its treatment of the source material - it feels like someone drunkenly urinating on Beatrix Potter's gravestone for lulz. The No 1 contender for Worst Film of 2018
Mortal Kombat Legends: Snow Blind (2022)
Mar 4, 2024Animation/Interdimensional Combat/Videogame Adaptation
The third of the Mortal Kombat animated films. This abandons inter-dimensional kombat and takes place in a post-apocalyptic world, focused around the blind swordsman Kenshi