Ian McNeice Archives

Edge of Darkness (1985)

Rating: ★★★★★

Feb 1, 2008Nuclear Power/Environmental Thriller

One of the great tv series of the 1980s, a powerful and incisive snapshot of Thatcherite England, the backroom politics of the nuclear power industry and the environmentalist movement. A brilliantly written show featuring great performances

Director: Martin Campbell

Actors: Bob Peck, Joe Don Baker, Joanne Whalley, Charles Kay, …

Category: Science Fiction

1 February 200817 October 2025 by Roog

No Escape (1994)

Rating: ★★

Jun 19, 2000Future Prison/Action

Big-budget action film that essentially rewrites Papillon in SF terms. Martin Campbell has a good eye for widescreen action but the film is only drawn in cliches.

Director: Martin Campbell

Actors: Ray Liotta, Lance Henriksen, Stuart Wilson, Kevin Dillon, …

Category: Science Fiction

19 June 200021 January 2025 by Roog

A Life Less Ordinary (1997)

Rating: ★★½

Feb 20, 2009Kidnapping & Angelic Intervention Comedy

Danny Boyle eccentricity with Ewan McGregor as an inept kidnapper and Cameron Diaz as his more astute abductee. A head-scratching comedy that also throws gun-toting angels into the mix

Director: Danny Boyle

Actors: Ewan McGregor, Cameron Diaz, Holly Hunter, Delroy Lindo, …

Category: Fantasy

20 February 200920 September 2019 by Roog

A Christmas Carol (1999)

Rating: ★★★★

Oct 31, 2008Miser's Redemption

For my money, the best adaptation of the multiply-filmed Charles Dickens tale. Patrick Stewart is a great Scrooge and the film respects the story, giving its milieu and central character life as a tale for adults

Director: David Jones

Actors: Patrick Stewart, Richard E. Grant, Joel Grey, Saskia Reeves, …

Category: Fantasy

31 October 200810 December 2023 by Roog

Dune (2000)

Rating: ★★★★

Jul 8, 2005Desert World/Intergalactic Politics/Precognitive Messiah

This TV mini-series remake of the Frank Herbert novel is much more faithful to the essence and complexity of the book, even if it lacks the visual resplendence of the film versions

Director: John Harrison

Actors: Alec Newman, Saskia Reeves, William Hurt, Julie Cox, …

Category: Science Fiction

8 July 200525 January 2026 by Roog

From Hell (2001)

Rating: ★★

Oct 21, 2001Jack the Ripper

Disappointing attempt, based on a Alan Moore graphic novel, to depict the Jack the Ripper killings. The film feels over-produced and slides off the cliff by throwing its weight behind one of the more ludicrous and implausible Ripper theories

Director: Albert Hughes, Alen Hughes, The Hughes Brothers

Actors: Johnny Depp, Heather Graham, Ian Holm, Robbie Coltrane, …

Category: Horror

21 October 20011 March 2025 by Roog

The Body (2001)

Rating: ★★½

Jun 21, 2001Archaeological Discovery of Christ's Body

Thriller in which Antonio Banderas is a Catholic priest dispatched to Jerusalem to deal with the apparent archaeological discovery of Jesus Christ's body

Director: Jonas McCord

Actors: Antonio Banderas, Olivia Williams, Derek Jacobi, John Shrapnel, …

Category: Fantasy

21 June 200121 February 2020 by Roog

Children of Dune (2003)

Rating: ★★½

Oct 8, 2005Desert World/Intergalactic Politics/Precognitive Messiah

Follow-up to the 2000 tv mini-series adaptation of Dune, this adapts Frank Herbert's two books sequels, Dune Messiah and Children of Dune. The production lacks the depth of its predecessor

Director: Greg Yaitanes

Actors: Alec Newman, James McAvoy, Alice Krige, Steven Berkoff, …

Category: Science Fiction

8 October 20051 January 2026 by Roog

Around the World in 80 Days (2004)

Rating: ★

Aug 21, 2014Jules Verne Comedy Adaptation

Jules Verne’s classic adventure novel is turned into a comedy vehicle for Jackie Chan. One of Chan’s biggest flops, an overblown turkey packed with celebrity cameos and replacing Verne’s adventure with incredibly unfunny slapstick

Director: Frank Coraci

Actors: Jackie Chan, Steve Coogan, Cecile De France, Jim Broadbent, …

Category: Science Fiction

21 August 201419 November 2025 by Roog

White Noise (2005)

Rating: ★★★

May 22, 2005Communications from the Dead

Ghost story about so-called Electronic Voice Phenomenon with Michael Keaton as a widower being contacted from beyond by his late wife. A film that achieves some quite reasonable spooky effect

Director: Geoffrey Sax

Actors: Michael Keaton, Deborah Kara Unger, Ian McNeice, Chandra West, …

Category: Horror

22 May 20055 August 2020 by Roog

Day of the Dead (2008)

Rating: ★

Oct 19, 2008Zombies

A remake of George Romero's third and most underrated zombie film, This came out as part of the 2000s revival of the genre but majorly miscalculates the original and emerges as wrong in just about every way

Director: Steve Miner

Actors: Mena Suvari, Ving Rhames, Annalynne McCord, Nick Cannon, …

Category: Horror

19 October 200815 January 2026 by Roog

The Man Who Invented Christmas (2017)

Rating: ★

Mar 5, 2018Charles Dickens and the Writing of A Christmas Carol

Among the fad for biopics about writers and the origins of famous stories, this, about Charles Dickens and the creation of A Christmas Carol, is the most lunatic – and that's not counting the blatant lie of the title

Director: Bharat Nalluri

Actors: Dan Stevens, Christopher Plummer, Jonathan Pryce, Morfydd Clark, …

Category: Fantasy

5 March 20187 December 2025 by Roog