GalaxyQuest (1999)
Dec 28, 1999Star Trek Parody
An extremely funny parody of Star Trek that sends up both the show, the actors and the fandom. A very witty and knowing script that has definitely been written by fans
Missi Pyle
Josie and the Pussycats (2001)
Apr 15, 2001Girl Rock Group's Adventures/Cartoon in Live Action
A live-action film based on the animated tv series about a girl rock band who originally appeared in Archie comics, this gets buried under its own efforts to be cutely ironic
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)
Sep 16, 2005Gonzo Children's Film/Fantastical Candy Factory
Tim Burton's remake of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory is a peculiarly lifeless confection that fails to find any of the zaniness of the original, something that one would have thought would have been Burton's forte
Stormbreaker (2006)
Nov 10, 2006Teenage Spy
Film adaptation of a popular series of Young Adult books about a teenage spy. Made not long after the Austin Powers films, this seems unable to decide if it is being serious or a parody
Just My Luck (2006)
Jun 21, 2006Good Luck-Bad Luck Teen Romantic Comedy
A painfully unfunny Lindsay Lohan romcom in which she has good luck and Chris Pine has bad luck and they swap after a kiss. Lohan seems to regard this as an exercise in her adulation
Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters (2013)
Aug 16, 2013Greek Myth in the Present Day
This sequel is marginally better than the first film (largely due to Chris Columbus no longer being in the director's chair), being more dramatically engaged and with effects that feel less like random eye candy. That still doesn't disguise the fact that the Percy Jackson series is no more than a lightweight and forgettable Harry Potter knockoff
A Haunted House 2 (2014)
Jun 1, 2015Genre Spoof
Sequel to A Haunted House where writer/star Marlon Wayans conducted a riff on the Scary Movie films. This is marginally more amusing than its predecessor
Pandemic (2016)
Oct 25, 2017Zombie First Person Shooter Found Footage Film
While the title leads you to expect a plague outbreak film, you soon discover this is a zombie film. What it is is a Found Footage film mounted as a First Person Shooter film at which you have to admit that it launches into action with considerable gusto and ferocity
Director’s Cut (2016)
Jan 4, 2022Meta-Fiction/Film Gets Invaded by a Psycho Fan
A mind-bogglingly meta film that starts out as a regular crime thriller before it gets invaded and taken over by psycho fan Penn Jillette who abducts the star and is determined to write himself in as the hero
Slash (2016)
Apr 21, 2017The World of Slash Fandom
Film that concerns itself with slash – a form of fan fiction that imagines sexual relationships between the two male leads of various film and tv series. Some passable discussion of the fandom has been grafted onto a Coming of Age story in ways that only awkwardly gel
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017)
Mar 25, 2018Trapped Inside a Jungle-Themed Videogame
A revival of Jumanji. The original's boardgame is now a videogame that sucks the players inside. The adventure elements are routine but the film's has comedic fun with its bodyswapped characters
Ma (2019)
Sep 6, 2019Psycho Film
Blumhouse production with Octavia Spencer as a stalkery mad woman who befriends a group of teens in an elaborate revenge plot. Quite what people though they were making is a scratch of the head
Unseen (2023)
May 25, 2024Blind Woman Flees Through the Woods
A film with an ingenious premise where a nearly blind woman must rely on a total stranger to guide her by her phone through the woods while avoiding a pursuer
If You Were the Last (2023)
Apr 12, 2024NASA Space Mission Romantic Comedy
A space film set aboard a NASA space mission as two stranded astronauts debate whether to surrender to mutual attraction. In contrast to realistically grounded efforts such as Gravity, The Martian et al, this is a comedy