Return of the Killer Tomatoes! (1988)
Jan 5, 2006Genre Spoof
The first of the sequels to Attack of the Killer Tomatoes. Featuring the first screen appearance of George Clooney.
George Clooney
From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)
Oct 19, 2002Getaway Thriller/Vampire Bar
Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino combine forces on a film that begins as a getaway thriller and then abruptly morphs into a vampire film. This has a smart edginess to it but the vampire scenes have not dated well
Full Tilt Boogie (1997)
Jul 11, 2007The Making of From Dusk Till Dawn
A documentary shot during the making of From Dusk Till Dawn, which gets to the heart of the issues in ways most making of documentaries don't
Batman & Robin (1997)
Sep 30, 2000Comic-Book Superhero
Possibly the worst film ever made on a big studio budget, Joel Schumacher’s follow-up to Tim Buton's standout Batman films where he turns everything into an absurd Day Glo realm with a script for two year-olds, campy puns and badly overacting super-villains
South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999)
Dec 13, 2010South Park Film/Absurdist Adult Animation
A theatrical release spun off from tv's cult absurdist/scatological show. Not as sophisticated as later seasons of the tv series but with a raucously wacky bite that is frequently hilarious
Fail Safe (2000)
Apr 17, 2011Nuclear War
Live tv broadcast remake of the 1960s Cold War nightmare about an accidental nuclear release over Russia, now with an all-star cast. This proves far more suspenseful and expertly played than one might have thought
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
Feb 2, 2001Depression-Era Version of The Odyssey
The Coen Brothers hilariously adapt The Odyssey into the Depression Era with George Clooney leading a trio of escaped convicts as he tries to return to his wife
Solaris (2002)
Apr 1, 2003Enigmatic Alien Planet/Ghosts of Memory
Steven Soderbergh's English-language remake of Andrei Tarkovsky's epic SF film. Soderbergh trims Tarkovsky's long-windedness and makes the plot tighter, more intimate but this still emerges as a lesser version than the original
Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over (2003)
Jan 13, 2004Adventures Inside a Videogame
The third in the series is no longer even a Spy Kids film but a Virtual Reality videogame film. Robert Rodriguez has some fun creating the virtual worlds but the parody that the other films engaged in is missing
Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)
Nov 30, 2009Stop-Motion Animation/Talking Animals
Wes Anderson makes a delightful detour into stop-motion animation in this Roald Dahl adaptation, a droll caper comedy enacted by talking animals who are all characterised with typical Anderson eccentricities
The Men Who Stare at Goats (2009)
Nov 14, 2009US Army's Psychic Warfare Division Comedy
Film based on the supposed Psychic Warfare Division of the US Army. Based on a non-fiction book, this is played by director Grant Heslov as a broad farce and sits on an uncertain line as to whether the powers are real
Gravity (2013)
Oct 5, 2013Astronaut Stranded in Orbit
Sensational drama with Sandra Bullock as an astronaut trapped in orbit. The film is scrupulous and thorough about portraying being in space scientifically accurately and the dramatic set-pieces are gripping in tension
Tomorrowland (2015)
May 23, 2015The Fight to Create a Utopian Future
Despite being another film based on a Disney theme park, I had high expectations of this because of Brad Bird. Alas, the initial promise of a retro-sf work that mainlined the wonderment of Jetsons-styled futurism turns into a surprisingly glum and message-heavy work about how the modern world is a depressing place
The Midnight Sky (2020)
Jan 8, 2021Last Man on Earth Tries to Communicate with a Space Mission
George Clooney starred in Gravity and now directs/stars in his own scientifically grounded space film about the last man trying to communicate with a surviving space mission following a catastrophe event on Earth
The Flash (2023)
Jul 29, 2023Comic-Book Superhero
Despite a poor box-office performance and a troubled production behind the scenes, it is a surprise what a good film this is, easily outstripping the last half-dozen MCU films put together
IF (2024)
Jun 29, 2024Imaginary Companions
Ryan Reynolds and director John Krasinski combine to make a film about imaginary companions, an appealingly quirky effort where a young girl befriends a large furry invisible creature