EverAfter (1998)
Jul 14, 1999Deconstructed Cinderella
Witty and very charming retelling of Cinderella that strips out all of the fantasy elements and substitutes a pseudo-historical realism. The cast positively shine.
Dougray Scott
Deep Impact (1998)
May 31, 1999Asteroid Collision/Disaster Movie
Big serious attempt at creating an asteroid collides with Earth film, this came out the same year as Armageddon. Despite arraying much acting talent and effects artistry, this disappears into a melodramatic blandness
Mission: Impossible II (2000)
Jun 30, 2000Spy/Action Film
The second of Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible films where he has the smarts to hire John Woo as director who brings his customary stylish flair with action to transform the film into something exhiliraing
Arabian Nights (2000)
Jul 2, 2005Tales of Arabian Nights
Hallmark tv mini-series adaptation of the classic tales has been granted a decent budget that allows the stories to emerge with lavish spectacle and the fantasy to fly with exceptional regard
Dark Water (2005)
May 2, 2005Japanese Ghost Story Remake/Haunted Apartment
The English-language remake of Hideo Nakata's ghost story made by Walter Salles. This version is surprisingly faithful to the original but entirely miscues Nakata's jolt ending
Perfect Creature (2006)
Oct 21, 2007Alternate World of Vampires
Conceptually ambitious New Zealand made film set in an alternate history where vampires live alongside humans
Hitman (2007)
Dec 15, 2007Videogame Adaptation/Action
Disappointing film adaptation of the videogame from Xavier Gens that comes with unremarkable action scenes, a script filled with holes and Timothy Olyphant miscast as Agent 47
Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde (2008)
Oct 31, 2008Evil Personality Within Unleashed
Modernised version of the Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde story starring Dougary Scott. The principal novelty here is that the bulk of the story takes place in a courtroom as Hyde is placed on trial for murder
The Day of the Triffids (2009)
Jun 19, 2010The Downfall of Civilisation/Lethal Plants Amok
Disappointing tv mini-series remake of the John Wyndham novel about England overrun by killer plants. This abandons most of the book's sociological portrait for cliche melodramatics
Death Race 3: Inferno (2012)
Feb 24, 2013Future Prison/Gladiatorial Road Races
By tthis third film, the Death Race series is straining trying to find something original to do with a ry limited premise. The Death Race now takes place in the South African desert but the action scenes prove monotonous
The Rezort (2015)
Nov 5, 2019Game Resort for Hunting Zombies
This has the interesting idea of "what if we did Jurassic Park but with zombies instead of dinosaurs?" - a game resort where people can hunt zombies only for the security grids to go down. The result is a halfway reasonable effort.
The Replacement (2017)
Sep 1, 2017Workplace Psycho-Thriller
Mini-series made for the BBC that seems to have closely studied the late 80s/90s psycho-thriller – Fatal Attraction, Single White Female. Morven Christie is a pregnant mother who takes a leave of absence from work only to discover that her replacement appears to be plotting to kill her
Sea Fever (2019)
May 16, 2020Sea Monster/Parasitic Infection
The title suggests more a sea adventure but this is a surprisingly good monster movie about the crew of a fishing vessel attacked by a sea creature and infected by parasites.