Track 29 (1988)
Aug 29, 2001Surrealism
This collaboration between Nicolas Roeg and Dennis Potter results in a mind-boggling blurring of dream, reality, symbolism and sexual obsession. A name cast are allowed their heads and go wild
Gary Oldman
Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)
Jan 7, 2001Dracula Adaptation
Francis Ford Coppola remakes and reinvents Dracula, transforming the text of Bram Stoker's book into a sensual, visually ravishing film with lush production values that make you gasp in excitement
The Fifth Element (1997)
Apr 19, 2004Space Opera/Showdown Against Ultimate Evil
A big-budget space opera from Luc Besson. This offers a dazzlingly designed future but the plot is an inane hodgepodge of bad SF elements with a tone that flails between action and camp
Lost in Space (1998)
Jul 31, 1999Intergalactic Adventures/TV Series Remake
Surprisingly halfway reasonable big screen remake of the 1960s tv series, this welcomely dumps the campy silliness of the show for a grittier, much more realistic take on the characters
Quest for Camelot (1998)
Jan 7, 2006Animation/Arthurian Fantasy
An Arthurian legends fantasy adventure made as part of the animation renaissance of the 1990s. Anything serious aspirations are wrecked by the insertion of inane popular culture in-jokes
Hannibal (2001)
Feb 11, 2001The Silence of the Lambs Sequel
The immediate sequel to The Silence of the Lambs. Anthony Hopkins is back but Jodie Foster is not. Ridley Scott takes the director's chair and creates a slick film but it lacks the compulsive grip the original held
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
Jun 15, 2004Young Wizard
The third Harry Potter film where it seems all that it took for the series to become quite good was the exit of the perpetually banal Chris Columbus and the entry of a new director in Alfonso Cuaron
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)
Nov 26, 2005Young Wizard
Fourth of the Harry Potter films and one that feels much more seamless and sure of itself as a story. The problem is the absurd contrivation of J.K. Rowling's weak story that wheels out every sports movie cliche in the book
Batman Begins (2005)
Jun 15, 2005Comic-Book Superhero
After Joel Schumacher killed off the cinematic Batman franchise, Christopher Nolan successfully revives it, bringing back the dark, psychologically brooding superhero and telling a Batman origin story
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)
Jul 11, 2007Young Wizard
The fifth and in my opinion the best of the Harry Potter films. It is the first film where we see the darkening of emotions and the children growing up as storm clouds gather. Much of the show is stolen by Imelda Staunton
The Dark Knight (2008)
Jul 18, 2008Comic-Book Superhero
Christopher Nolan brought the cinematic Batman franchise back to life with Batman Begins and here expands it into something amazing. The show is capped off by Heath Leder's towering Academy Award winning performance as The Joker
Planet 51 (2009)
Nov 30, 2009Animation/Human Astronaut Seen as an Invader on an Alien Planet
A one-gag animated film that essentially reverses the plot of E.T, and has a human astronaut stranded on a planet of aliens and adopted by one boy. More likeable than it has a right to be.
The Unborn (2009)
May 5, 2010Haunting/Possession
Scriptwriter David S. Goyer takes the director's choice to make a possession film. The one distinction here is that Goyer draws from Jewish mythology, otherwise this feels like another canned teen horror film
A Christmas Carol (2009)
Nov 14, 2009Miser's Redemption/Animation
Robert Zemeckis’s motion-capture animated adaptation of the Charles Dickens classic. The tale has gone through so many adaptations, it fee;s an uphill battle to find anything new in the story no matter the technical quality of the film
The Book of Eli (2010)
Jan 18, 2010Post-Holocaust Action
Denzel Washington as an enigmatic Man With No Name wandering the post-holocaust apocalyptic landscape. This follows the cliches of the genre before it bizarrely morphs into a Biblical allegory partway through
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (2011)
Jul 15, 2011Young Wizard
I've never been a huge fan of the Harry Potter series but the final chapter rounds out the boy wizard saga in rousing style, mounting an epic-sized battle and finding characters depths that hold some of the best writing of the series
Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011)
Jun 16, 2011Animation/Talking Animal Martial Arts
Sequel to DreamWorks hit animated film, this does little more than repeat its predecessor. The detail and texture is amplified to a work of art, although you cannot help but wonder if the under tens care about this
Red Riding Hood (2011)
Mar 13, 2011Adult Fairytale
Catherine Hardwcke's adapts the fairytale as a dark adult fantasy where there has been the clear intention to pitch it to Twilight audiences but the results are surprisingly good
The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
Jul 19, 2012Comic-Book Superhero
The Dark Knight is a hard act to follow and Christopher Nolan almost does but not quite. The story keeps Batman off-screen for half the film. Tom Hardy's Bane dominates the show, while Catwoman is surprisingly subdued
RoboCop (2014)
Feb 14, 2014Cyborg Cop
I have to admit despite all the bad feeling for this, I liked it. While what went on in terms of the man inside the machine was cut and dried in the original, this has been shifted to give us a "the soul of Robocop" story . Moreover, the original's biting satire of 1980s corporations and politics has been smartly updated to tackle some big 2010s issues
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014)
Jul 12, 2014Planet of the Apes Prequel
The Planet of the Apes series excels itself and stages a massively exciting inter-species war. The CGI/mocap apes come with an extraordinary range of nuance - quite whether it is performance or animation is up for debate but the results are outstanding
Child 44 (2015)
Aug 31, 2015Serial Killer Thriller Set in the 1950s Soviet Union
This offers one of the most fascinating settings for a detective story - the Soviet Union at the height of Stalinist oppression - and borrows the story of true-life Soviet serial killer Andrei Chikatilo
Criminal (2016)
May 28, 2016Transplanted Memories/Action Film
Everything indicates this should have been a hit – an impressive star line-up, big polished action sequences – only it tanked. Much has been assembled in the service of a hackneyed idea where the memories of an FBI agent are implanted into criminal Kevin Costner
The Space Between Us (2017)
Apr 1, 2017First Kid Born on Mars Comes to Earth
Following the huge success of films like Gravity and The Martian that portray space travel with scrupulous realism, this can be considered the Young Adult version. It pays surprising attention to getting its science right; on the other hand, that doesn't excuse the gaping implausibilities elsewhere
Tau (2018)
Nov 30, 2018Imprisoned Woman Befriends an A.I.
This comes with an intriguing central premise – a woman is imprisoned in the house of a mad tech genius where her only hope of escape is befriending his home security A.I. that is hungry for input about the world. An interesting idea alas doesn’t carry it past an ill-informed idea of how an A.I. would behave
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.