Open Your Eyes (1997)
Nov 4, 1999Reality Bender
Excellent film from Alejandro Amenabar in which a handsome playboy finds himself in the midst of a baffling series of reality flips before arriving at an SF twist ending
Penelope Cruz
Twice Upon a Yesterday (1998)
Oct 28, 1999The Past Revisited/Romance
Appealing and well told fantasy in which a couple are each individually offered the opportunity to go back in time and change the circumstances that led to their breakup
Woman on Top (2000)
Sep 22, 2010Magical Realism
Frothy work of Magical Realism with Penelope Cruz as a woman whose cooking weaves a magical spell
Vanilla Sky (2001)
Dec 14, 2001Reality Bender
The English-language remake of Open Your Eyes, starring Tom Cruise. The Spanish version is still the superior of the two but this stays surprisingly faithful to the original
Gothika (2003)
Feb 23, 2004Asylum Haunting
Halle Berry is a psychiatrist who comes around to find she has been incarcerated in her own asylum only to then find it is haunted. An improbably contrived set up with some jumps
Volver (2006)
Feb 11, 2007Drama/Mother's Ghost
Pedro Almodovar film in which two daughters try to deal with their mother's seeming return from the dead
G-Force (2009)
Oct 20, 2009Talking Guinea Pig Secret Agents
Imagine a Tom Cruise Mission: Impossible spy caper played out with talking guinea pigs. Produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, no less, this offers appealingly energetic silliness
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011)
May 20, 2011Pirate Fantasy Swashbuckler
The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise is revived for a fifth outing. There is a new director in Rob Marshall but bar an energetic comic opening, he never does much that hits the zany heights of the previous entries
To Rome with Love (2012)
Jul 15, 2012Quartet of Rome-Set Comedy Tales
Another film amid Woody Allen's European renaissance, four tales all set around the gorgeously shot location of Rome. The stories are on the slight side and it is lesser Allen but there is great casting and moments where Allen is on good form
The 355 (2022)
Feb 5, 2022Spy/Action Film
Female-led spy/action film that serves everything up in an enjoyably kinetic mix with likeable characters. Not wheel reinventing but more enjoyable than most Hollywood product
The Bride! (2026)
Apr 18, 2026Frankenstein Film
Maggie Gyllenhaal’s reinterpretation of The Bride of Frankenstein is the first spectacularly bad film of the 2020s. Jessie Buckley gives an absurdly unrestrained performance and the film’s tone veers all over the place