Little Nicky (2000)
Nov 10, 2000The Devil's Son Comedy
The Adam Sandler comedy and its pitch to the most vulgar common denominator is an acquired taste. This not very funny effort casts Sandler as The Devil's Son
Rhys Ifans
Garfield: A Tale of Two Kitties (2006)
Nov 10, 2006Lazy Talking Cat
Where the first live-action Garfield film approximated the original comic-strip and its focus on a cat delivering sarcastic lines, this sequel pitches everything down to the level of an inane children's film
Hannibal Rising (2007)
Feb 26, 2007Hannibal Lecter Origin Story
Building on the successes of the Hannibal Lecter films, this is a prequel that goes back sets out to tell an origin story of how the young teenage Hannibal came to be who he was during World War II
Mr. Nobody (2009)
Jul 3, 2010Alternate Life Pathways
Jaco Van Dormael film that reaches for epic ideas in a story about multiple life pathways and a babble of ideas taken from physics but fails to assemble them in a way that makes much sense
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 (2010)
Nov 17, 2010Young Wizard
The penultimate chapter in the Harry Potter series surprisingly strips out most of the effects and is much slower, more character driven, while moving the saga towards an epic conclusion
Nanny McPhee & the Big Bang (2010)
Sep 16, 2010Magical Nanny
I never much cared for Nanny McPhee. This is a sequel that replicates the original in fairly much the same amount mix of plot elements, slapstick sequences and nonsensical absurdism
Neverland (2011)
Jan 10, 2012SF Version of Peter Pan
Following Tin Man and Alice, another of Nick Willing's ingenious rewritings and rationalisations of classic children's tales in science-fiction terms. Here the essentials of Peter Pan are transported to another planet
The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)
Jul 2, 2012Comic-Book Superhero
The reasoning behind rebooting the Spider-Man franchise after ten years and only three films is a puzzle. That said, this offers an edgier origin story than Sam Raimi's take and Andrew Garfield makes for a fine Spider-Man
Another Me (2013)
May 17, 2015Doppelganger Film
2013 brought a spate of doppelganger films. This was overshadowed by the more high-profile Enemy and The Double. Here Sophie Turner plays a schoolgirl who finds her life being overtaken by a mysterious double
Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016)
Jun 4, 2016Alice in Wonderland Sequel
Sequel to the 2010 Tim Burton Alice in Wonderland. This has even less in common with Lewis Carroll's book sequel than its predecessor did – a total of two scenes. The sets and effects are just pretty eye candy
Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)
Mar 19, 2022Comic-Book Superhero
Sony’s Spider-Man franchise ingeniously competes with Marvel’s shared universe by bringing all their previous incarnations of Spider-Man together
Venom: The Last Dance (2024)
Dec 21, 2024Marvel Comics Superhero
The third of the Venom films, which has become one of the worst of the modern Marvel spinoffs. By this point any pretence that the films are taking themselves seriously has been long forgotten