Stellan Skarsgård

Exorcist: The Beginning (2004)

Exorcist: The Beginning (2004)
Rating: ★½
Nov 17, 2004Demonic Possession
Prequel to The Exorcist concerning the young Father Merrin. Production company Morgan Creek dumped Paul Schrader’s original version of the film and brought in the perpetually terrible Renny Harlin to make something scarier but Harlin’s pop-effects remain tepid
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Dominion: Prequel to The Exorcist (2005)

Dominion: Prequel to The Exorcist (2005)
Rating: ★★★
Aug 10, 2011Demonic Possession
Paul Schrader's original version of Exorcist: The Beginning that was junked by the producers. This is a far more subtle telling of the same story that eschews shock effect in favour of a moral struggle of the soul
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Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (2006)

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (2006)
Rating: ★★½
Jul 24, 2006Pirate Fantasy Swashbuckler
The second of the Pirates of the Caribbean films. Johnny Depp and all the principals are back and much of the eccentric humour is present but the action has undergone budget bloat
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WΔZ (2007)

WΔZ (2007)
Rating: ★★
Nov 11, 2014Serial Killer Thriller
Serial killer thriller that eventually emerges as I Spit on Your Grave reimagined as a police procedural. Much effort is made to portray a grim urban environment but little to engage as a thriller, although Selma Blair owns the show as the avenged woman in the latter third
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The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)
Rating: ★★★
Dec 20, 2011Serial Killer Thriller
David Fincher's English-language remake of the Swedish film is capably made but a lesser shadow of something that worked perfectly the first time. In particular, Rooney Mara is no substitute for Noomi Rapace
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Melancholia (2011)

Melancholia (2011)
Rating: ★★★
Nov 20, 2011Depression and the End of the World
Lars von Trier’s exploration of his depression continues in this nihilistic end of the world film. It is bleak and relentless but the characters are opaque in their motivations. Somehow I prefer von Trier back in agent provocateur mode
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The Avengers (2012)

The Avengers (2012)
Rating: ★★★★
May 4, 2012Marvel Comics Superhero Team-Up
The culmination of one of the most ambitious cinematic exercises ever conducted, with Marvel weaving storylines through several films to finally merge here with flawless regard. The characters get far more depth than in all of their previous films
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Thor: The Dark World (2013)

Thor: The Dark World (2013)
Rating: ★★½
Nov 9, 2013Marvel Comics Norse God Superhero
Sequel to Thor that earranges the same basic elements much more satisfyingly than the first film – the actors (with the exception of a tranquilised Natalie Portman) seem more at home in their roles and a director who is more confident with the effects and superheroics. That said, it is starting to feel like Marvel is shuffling the same plot ingredients around between films
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Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
Rating: ★★½
May 2, 2015Marvel Comics Superhero Team-Up
The first Avengers film came with a massive anticipation in seeing the characters come together and the snappiness of their interplay; here this seems more flat, while the rest is overrun by wall-to-wall action
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The Man Who Killed Don Quixote (2018)

The Man Who Killed Don Quixote (2018)
Rating: ★★★
Jun 15, 2019Delusionary Modern-Day Quest
This has been called the unluckiest film ever made - there is even an entire documentary devoted to the collapse of a prior version. Here Terry Gilliam's film about people on delusional quests finally emerges with the glory he always intended it to be
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Dune Part One (2021)

Dune Part One (2021)
Rating: ★★★★
Oct 30, 2021Desert World/Intergalactic Politics/Precognitive Messiah
Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation of Frank Herbert's classic SF novel comes with a determination to give the story and its richly detailed world faithful life on screen. Villeneuve adapts freely in many areas but gets the complexity of the saga
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Dune Part Two (2024)

Dune Part Two (2024)
Rating: ★★★★
Apr 20, 2024Desert World/Intergalactic Politics/Precognitive Messiah
The second part of Denis Villeneuve's adaptation of Frank Herbert's classic SF novel Dune, this delves more deeply into the world of the Fremen, although starts to diverge more from the book
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