Bug (2006)
Mar 17, 2025Disturbed Psychology and Paranoia
One of the last films from William Friedkin, an astonishingly deranged descent into paranoia and madness, featuring an alarming performance from a young, unknown Michael Shannon
Michael Shannon
My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done (2009)
Aug 27, 2012Madness and Matricide/True Story
As might be expected, a collaboration between Werner Herzog and David Lynch makes for an exceedingly strange film, involving matricide, mental illness and ostriches – and all apparently based on a true life murder. Very strange, if in the end it only produces a puzzled scratch of the head
13 (2010)
Jan 12, 2011Russian Roulette Gambling
The English-language remake of the Georgian 13 Tzameti about underground Russian Roulette gambling. This has an impressive cast line-up but lacks the stark tension of the original
Jonah Hex (2010)
Jun 19, 2010Western Comic-Book Adaptation/Supernatural Bounty Hunter
This is an adaptation of the DC comic-book character of a supernatural avenging Western gunslinger that fails to burn with the grim mood it should have
Take Shelter (2011)
Nov 5, 2011Possible Premonitions of Disaster
Strong and effective film with Michael Shannon as a man who has precognitive vision of a terrible coming storm and tries to build a shelter while everyone around him thinks he is going mad
Man of Steel (2013)
Jun 14, 2013Comic-Book Superhero
Zack Snyder's reboot of Superman leaves you irritated in the first half of the film at its throwing chunks of comic-book canon out the window and the second half bored with the mass destruction orgy that drags on
Young Ones (2014)
Dec 15, 2014Drought-Ridden Future
Not to be confused with the cult British comedy series, the anonymous title disguises an excellent film about a drought-ridden future. Less another Mad Max-inspired film than an SF version of There Will Be Blood that becomes a study in greed, ambition and the fight for resource control
Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)
Mar 27, 2016DC Comics Superhero Team-Up
It took DC Comics the better part of a decade to catch up with the massive success Marvel Comics are having on screen in crossing their characters over. Zack Snyder comes to the party offering up THE biggest headline double-bill in superherodom
Midnight Special (2016)
Apr 9, 2016Gifted Otherworldly Child
This feels like a reworking of late 70s/early 80s sf films like Starman and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Much of the film is based around a series of amazing happenings but its crucial failure as science-fiction is the lack of explanations for why these are happening
The Shape of Water (2017)
Jan 13, 2018Romance with an Amphibian Man
Guillermo Del Toro makes monster movies with sympathy for the monster. This is his take onThe Creature from the Black Lagoon where the romance between creature and heroine is brought out to centre stage
Fahrenheit 451 (2018)
May 26, 2018Book-Burning Dystopia/Ray Bradbury Adaptation
This had one simple job – adapt a book by one of the great SF writers. Instead, we go from a work set in a book-burning future to The Firemen on reality tv shows competing for Likes on social media
Night’s End (2022)
Mar 14, 2024Haunted Apartment
A film shot during Covid lockdown that creates a great sense of isolation with a man locked inside a possibly haunted apartment
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