The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985)
Sep 26, 2001Character Steps Out of a Film
Woody Allen comedy in which mousy housewife Mia Farrow is the fan of a film whereupon lead character Jeff Daniels steps out into the real world to romance her
Jeff Daniels
Arachnophobia (1990)
Aug 6, 1999Spider Takeover
Executive produced by Steven Spielberg, a popular revival of the 1970s bugs amok genre about a town overrun by deadly spiders, although this avoids the horror label and plays itself with much humour
The Butcher’s Wife (1991)
Apr 3, 1999Magical Realist Romance
Amiable romantic comedy with Demi Moore as a clairvoyant who dispenses prophetic advice to everybody while caught in her own romantic entanglements
Timescape (1992)
Sep 10, 2001Time Travel
A directorial debut for screenwriter David Twohy who went on to Pitch Black, among other works. Jeff Daniels plays an ordinary man who realises that guests at his hotel are travelers from the future come to witness a disaster. A strong and intelligent maturation of time travel themes
101 Dalmatians (1996)
Nov 22, 2001Live-Action Disney Remake/Dognapping Villainness
This live-action remake of the classic Disney animated film benefits from Glenn Close chewing scenery in grand style as Cruella De Ville but the latter half essentially degenerates into no more than a series of Home Alone-styled slapstick violence scenes
Pleasantville (1998)
Jul 16, 1999Trapped Inside a 1950s TV Show
Tobey Maguire and Reese Witherspoon are modern teens who become trapped in a 1950s tv show and end up puncturing its innocence. The messages made end up being broad and heavy-handed but the premise and the visual palette of the film is extremely clever
My Favorite Martian (1999)
Sep 5, 2004Alien Visitor Comedy/TV Series Remake
The big screen remake of the 1960s sitcom about a wacky alien visitor. However, this all of the original's amusements promptly gets buried under frenetic slapstick and cheap CGI gags
Blood Work (2002)
Jan 30, 2005Aging Detective Pursues Serial Killer
This could be essentially be called Dirty Harry's retirement. Clint Eastwood directs/stars as an aging detective brought back into the game to track down a serial killer from his past.
Space Chimps (2008)
Oct 9, 2008Animation/Talking NASA Chimpanzees
An animated film about NASA experimental chimpanzees. Not quite up there with Pixar but an amiable and unpretentious and amiable outing
Looper (2012)
Oct 29, 2012Time Travel Film
From Rian Johnson, a time travel film that is uneven but is mostly conducted with considerable cleverness and intelligence. One of the few multiplex films driven by plot and some clever twists rather than action
The Martian (2015)
Oct 24, 2015Astronaut Stranded on Mars
This year's Gravity. A film that has worked out the science to the nth degree (and made it digestible for mass audiences). Ridley Scott rides the drama like a pro and makes one of his most enjoyable films in some time
Allegiant (2016)
Mar 26, 2016Young Adult Dystopian Future
The Divergent series is a fundamentally implausible scenario for people that think horoscopes are a profound insight into human nature. This is the most interesting of the films and gives us an imaginative future world
Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story (2024)
Feb 23, 2025Christopher Reeve Documentary
A documentary about the career of Superman star Christopher Reeve and his dealing with life following the accident that left him a quadriplegic