Babe (1995)
Sep 16, 2005Talking Animals
Runaway hit produced by George Miller of Mad Max fame that conducts what in any other terms would be an animated talking animals film in live-action with CGI and animatronics. The results are utterly charming.
James Cromwell
Star Trek: First Contact (1996)
Mar 18, 2002Time Travel/Cyborg Gestalt
The second of the Star Trek: The Next Generation films where series regular Jonathan Frakes takes the director's chair and delivers an exciting adventure, showing an excellent hand with the special effects. Far more satisfying than the previous film
Species II (1998)
Jun 2, 2001Alien Sex Fiend
Sequel to Species that this time offers up the male of the species. The film feels put together as an exercise in makeup effects but their physiological absurdity causes the film to topple into silliness
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
Babe: Pig in the City (1998)
Apr 3, 2001Talking Animals
For this sequel to the hit talking pig film, producer George Miller of Mad Max films fame steps into the director's chair. However, the cuteness of the original promptly becomes buried under careening slapstick
The Green Mile (1999)
Dec 24, 1999Miracle-Healing Death Row Inmate/Stephen King Addaptation
Frank Darabont had a hit with the Stephen King adaptation The Shawshank Redemption. Here he makes another King adaptation about a Death Row inmate with healing powers
Space Cowboys (2000)
Aug 6, 2000Aging Astronauts Reunite for a Space Mission
Clint Eastwood directs a film about a quartet of aging NASA astronauts reunited for one mission back into space after forty years.
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
Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002)
Jul 15, 2002Animation/The Lives of Wild Horses
Beautifully animated DreamWorks film that tells the life of a horse on the Western frontier. For once, anthropological realism is maintained and the animals do not talk
The Sum of All Fears (2002)
Aug 25, 2002Nuclear Terrorism/Tom Clancy Adaptation
Fourth of the Tom Clancy Jack Ryan films, which performs a confusing continuity reset to recast the role with the younger Ben Affleck. The film's release was delayed by 9/11, which makes the plot about nuclear terrorism on US soil seems absurdly tame in retrospect
Angels in America (2003)
Jan 6, 2005Surreal AIDS Drama/Angelic Visitations
Stunning tv mini-series adaptation of Tony Kushner's award-winning play about the impact of the AIDS crisis on gay culture in the 1980s, which becomes a surreal fantasy filled with appearances of angels and ghosts
I, Robot (2004)
Aug 14, 2004Robots Amok/Isaac Asimov Adaptation
Disappointing adaptation of Isaac Asimov’s Robot stories. The film pays token acknowledgement to Asimov's characters and universe and mostly seems interested in spectacular effects set-pieces
‘Salem’s Lot (2004)
Jul 11, 2007Town of Vampires/Stephen King Adaptation
TV mini-series remake of the Stephen King novel, this fails to hold a candle to the earlier 1979 version
Dante’s Inferno (2007)
May 28, 2010Vision of Hell/Puppet Show
Modernised version of the classic journey though Hell conducted with cardboard puppets - a uniquely appealing experiment peppered with a number of biting contemporary jibes
Spider-Man 3 (2007)
May 5, 2007Comic-Book Superhero
Last and by general opinion the least of the Sam Raimi-Tobey Maguire Spider-Man films. With three super-villains present, the plot feels as though it is bursting at the seams juggling the various origin stories and ongoing dramas, although Raimi still delivers some solid superheroic action scenes
Surrogates (2009)
Nov 2, 2009Future Where People Inhabit Avatar Bodies
Interesting conceptual SF film where the populace of the future inhabit a series of perfect avatar bodies. Despite a few logical quibbles with the premise, this does a good job in exploring the idea of such a world
Big Hero 6 (2014)
Nov 7, 2014Disney Animation/Marvel Comics Superhero Team
Disney animation and Marvel Comics come together; Marvel loses and most of the comic-book is tossed out the window and this becomes a simple story about a boy and his robot story before settling into familiar sueprheroics
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018)
Dec 1, 2018Genetically-Engineered Dinosaurs Amok
Fifth of the Jurassic Park films. Industrial Light and Magic do their usual excellent job but this time the film is just recycling the same thing as before with minimal change
Merry Little Batman (2023)
Dec 24, 2023Animation/Batman Christmas Film
A real head-scratching oddity, a Batman animated Christmas film