Cloverfield (2008)
Jan 19, 2008Found Footage Monster Movie
A J.J. Abrams produced film that was made under an absolute pall of secrecy. Released, it turns out to only be a fairly ordinary monster movie that is shot Found Footage style
T.J. Miller
Gulliver’s Travels (2010)
Jan 13, 2011Land of Little People
Jonathan Swift's classic tale of a man in a land of miniature people is turned into a comedy vehicle for Jack Black and outfitted with a series of vulgar and pop culture gags
How to Train Your Dragon (2010)
Apr 3, 2010Animation/Boy Befriends Dragon
Popular animated adaptation of a children's book. This hits all the right story arcs and in sufficiently likeable measure to work amiably. Two sequels and a live-action remake followed.
Yogi Bear (2010)
Dec 13, 2010Talking Bear/Cartoon in Live-Action
The live-action adaptation of the classic Hanna-Barbera cartoon series is a film construed entirely around slapstick sequences that never requires you to engage your brain in any way
Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (2012)
Jul 15, 2012End of the World Romantic Comedy
The End of the World seems the least likely backdrop for a romantic comedy. Newcomer Lorene Scafaria seems less interested in depicting social collapse than in making an insipid romcom road movie with two leads who fail to strike up any connection
Big Hero 6 (2014)
Nov 7, 2014Disney Animation/Marvel Comics Superhero Team
Disney animation and Marvel Comics come together; Marvel loses and most of the comic-book is tossed out the window and this becomes a simple story about a boy and his robot story before settling into familiar sueprheroics
Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014)
Jun 28, 2014Live-Action Transformer Robots
Are there any new creative directions that Michael Bay feels he he has to explore for a fourth Transformers film? All the Transformers beating the crap out of each other and copious mass destruction has become hard to tell one of the films from each other
How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014)
Jun 20, 2014Animation/World of Dragons
This is a film that leaves you in two minds – one that is constantly going wow at the animated artistry and detail before us; the other that is realising that this is yet another formula animated film
Deadpool (2016)
Feb 14, 2016Marvel Comics Superhero
Maybe the smartest and wittiest of the modern Marvel Comics adaptations, this takes every opportunity to deflate its own seriousness, not to mention frequently breaks the fourth wall with side-splitting results
The Emoji Movie (2017)
Dec 4, 2017Animation/The Lives of Talking Emojis
An animated film that bizarrely speculates that the emojis in your text messages are actually living entities that have lives inside the phone. A not-too-well-thought out concept that leaves you with strange questions about its world
Ready Player One (2018)
Sep 29, 2018Virtual Treasure Hunt Through 1980s Pop Trivia
Steven Spielberg adapted Ernest Cline’s book about a massive virtual treasure hunt through 1980s pop culture trivia. The film winds up the pop culture references by a factor of ten, but misses the book’s compulsive readability
Deadpool 2 (2018)
Nov 10, 2018Marvel Comics Superhero
Deadpool was an hilarious breath of fresh air amid the Marvel Comics adaptations. This sequel is even better, with the self-deflating, fourth-wall breaking humour even funnier and more slickly polished action
Underwater (2020)
Apr 10, 2020Monster Underwater
Throwback to late 80s/early 90s films like The Abyss and Sphere with the crew of a sub-oceanic station fighting off a monster. Generic in plot terms bit directorially this is an intense and claustrophobic ride