Outbreak (1995)
Sep 11, 2000Plague Outbreak
Spectacular big-budget, all-star film about a plague outbreak on US soil - one that was loosely inspired by the Ebola outbreak
Morgan Freeman
Se7en (1995)
Feb 15, 2001Serial Killer Thriller
Classic serial killer film from David Fincher, a superb effort from the casting to a script that seems weighted by the moral ills of the 20th Century to the unforgettable twist ending
Chain Reaction (1996)
Mar 15, 2001Techno-Thriller
Thriller with Keanu Reeves wrongfully accused and on the run from authorities in the quest for a process that creates cheap energy from water. A rehash of director Andrew Davis's The Fugitive mostly construed around its set-pieces
Kiss the Girls (1997)
Jun 21, 2003Serial Killer Thriller
The first film adapted from James Patterson's books about forensic profiler Alex Cross, featuring standout performances from Morgan Freeman (cast as Cross) and Ashley Judd
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
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
Bruce Almighty (2003)
Jul 8, 2003Man Gains Godlike Powers Comedy
Comedy in which God appears to Jim Carrey and grants him His powers for one week. Expectedly the film is of zero theological depth and all about Carrey going completely over-the-top
Dreamcatcher (2003)
Apr 27, 2003Alien Body Snatchers/Stephen King Adaptation
Lawrence Kasdan directs an adaptation of the Stephen King novel about a group of men on a weekend get together in the woods who find themselves in the midst of an alien invasion
Batman Begins (2005)
Jun 15, 2005Comic-Book Superhero
After Joel Schumacher killed off the cinematic Batman franchise, Christopher Nolan successfully revives it, bringing back the dark, psychologically brooding superhero and telling a Batman origin story
Evan Almighty (2007)
Sep 23, 2007Modern-Day Noah's Ark Comedy
Sequel to Bruce Almighty in which Steve Carell is transformed into a modern-day Noah. This was pitched to the Christian audiences but feels like a series of lame gags playing on Noah and the Ark devoid of any biblical context
The Dark Knight (2008)
Jul 18, 2008Comic-Book Superhero
Christopher Nolan brought the cinematic Batman franchise back to life with Batman Begins and here expands it into something amazing. The show is capped off by Heath Leder's towering Academy Award winning performance as The Joker
Wanted (2008)
Oct 9, 2008Super-Assassins/Action
The film that Hitman should have been concerning a secret world of super-powered assassins, revved up by out of this world visuals from Timur Bekmambetov
The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
Jul 19, 2012Comic-Book Superhero
The Dark Knight is a hard act to follow and Christopher Nolan almost does but not quite. The story keeps Batman off-screen for half the film. Tom Hardy's Bane dominates the show, while Catwoman is surprisingly subdued
Oblivion (2013)
Apr 19, 2013Post-Holocaust Deserted Earth/Conceptual Breakthrough
This falls short of being a great science-fiction film by a hairs breadth. Not the big space/action film it was sold as, more a Philip K. Dickian conceptual breakthrough film that seems to have borrowed large chunks of its set-up from Moon
Lucy (2014)
Jul 27, 2014Drug Grants Enhanced Intelligence and Superpowers/Action Film
Luc Besson makes a preposterously entertaining work where drug mule Scarlett Johansson develops superhuman mental capabilities - sort of if you imagine Limitless reconceived as an action film
The Lego Movie (2014)
Feb 7, 2014Animation/Adventures in the Lego Universe
How much fun can a film based around Lego characters be? A film that overflows with cleverness, wit and energy. The most fun is in the film's creating a madcap mix-up of characters from different franchises
Transcendence (2014)
Apr 19, 2014Scientist's Mind Uploaded Into a Machine
A film that bites off some Big Ideas from the transhumanist movement – A.I., nanotechnology, and especially Mind Upload – and fails to do anything with them except for reach for hoary cliches of Frankenstein science. A film that, despite its self-importance, ends up as only a better budgeted version of The Lawnmower Man
Ted 2 (2015)
Jun 27, 2015Foul-Mouthed Teddy Bear
Whether you loved or hated the crude and raucous, un-PC stoner/fratboy humour of Ted, Seth MacFarlane is back with exactly the same mix here. This manages to be offensive in an amiably inoffensive, even occasionally quite funny, way
The Nutcracker and the Four Realms (2018)
Feb 22, 2019Fairytale Adaptation
Big, no-expense-spared Disney production of the fairytale. The film is stunning to look at it in terms of design and costuming but has a simplicity that leaves little for adults to engage with
The Ritual Killer (2023)
Jul 14, 2023Ritual Killings
A film that stands much in the shadow of Se7en and the serial killer thriller with Morgan Freeman tracking a ritual African killer