Hello Down There (1969)
Aug 30, 2023Underwater Habitat Comedy
Director Jack Arnold was one of the great voices of 1950s SF cinema. Here he turns to making a none-too-funny comedy set in an underwater habitat. Featuring a teenage Richard Dreyfuss
Richard Dreyfuss
Jaws (1975)
Feb 15, 2001Killer Shark
The killer shark film that became the No 1 box-office hit of all time and put Steven Spielberg's name on the map. A powerhouse of seat-edge tension, filled with great performances and the young Spielberg with an incredible grasp of his craft
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
Nov 4, 2000UFOs/Alien Contact
Steven Spielberg's film about alien contact was every bit as big as Star Wars in 1977. The whole film is the equivalent of sitting gazing up at a starry sky wondering if we are alone and built up to the wondrous climactic appearance of the UFOs
Always (1989)
Apr 9, 2000Man Becomes a Guardian Angel
One of Steven Spielberg's more overlooked and quieter films, a remake of the 1940s guardian angel fantasy A Guy Named Joe. Spielberg never much ignites the love story but the film has some magical moments and a scene-stealing John Goodman
James and the Giant Peach (1996)
Dec 1, 2000Fantastical Journey/Stop-Motion Animation/Roald Dahl Adaptation
Henry Selick's follow-up to The Nightmare Before Christmas, a Roald Dahl adaptation filled with enormous visual creativity as a boy and several talking insects set forth on a sea journey in a giant peach
Fail Safe (2000)
Apr 17, 2011Nuclear War
Live tv broadcast remake of the 1960s Cold War nightmare about an accidental nuclear release over Russia, now with an all-star cast. This proves far more suspenseful and expertly played than one might have thought
Tin Man (2007)
Jan 19, 2008Modernised Wizard of Oz
Nick Willing conducts the first of his SF revampings of popular tales. Here The Wizard of Oz is reworked into a Steampunk fantasy with some startling reinterpetations of the familiar characters
Piranha (2010)
Aug 28, 2010Killer Fish
Another in the fad for 70s/80s remakes where Alexandre Aja for once captures the spirit of Joe Dante's 1978 original by planting tongue in cheek and wading in with mind-bogglingly gory enthusiasm
Coma (2012)
Sep 22, 2012Medical Conspiracy Thriller
TV mini-series remake of the Michael Crichton medical thriller that pointlessly changes and over-extrudes a tight and effective original, while director Mikael Salomon adds absurd red herrings and keys away major surprises well in advance
Spielberg (2017)
Oct 23, 2017Steven Spielberg Documentary
Documentary made for HBO about director Steven Spielberg in which he reflects on his life and films. The documentary tends to focus more on his major hits and skips his minor films but does give worthwhile insight into Spielberg, his life and formative years
Astronaut (2019)
Aug 9, 2019Senior Pursues a Dream to Go Into Space
Space movies were big following successes like Gravity and The Martian. At complete contrast, this is a genteel laidback film with Richard Dreyfuss as a senior obsessed with boarding a spaceflight
Into the Deep (2025)
Jul 27, 2026Survival in Shark-Infested Waters
One of spate of near-identical films that all came out in the same year where Scout Taylor Compton’s boat is taken over by drug smugglers who force her to dive into shark-infested waters to retrieve drugs