The Thief and the Cobbler (1994)
Feb 23, 2004Gonzo Arabian Nights Adventure/Animation
Legendary animated masterpiece from Richard Williams that was butchered in release. Williams' animation is visually extraordinary
Toni Collette
The Sixth Sense (1999)
Aug 14, 1999Child Medium
The film that made the name of M. Night Shyamalan and still a strong and spooky story despite the variability of Shyamalan's offerings since then. What made the film a classic was its twist ending, something that has been relentlessly copied by numerous genre films since
The Dead Girl (2006)
Dec 2, 2007The Women Affected By a Serial Killer
Karen Moncrieff directs a strong and powerful drama that tells five stories of the women whose lives are affected by a serial killer. The film has an amazing ensemble cast who deliver sterling performances
Like Minds (2006)
May 4, 2008Psychological Games in a Boys' Boarding School
A British thriller Eddie Redmayne stars in a about a mystery in a boys boarding school involving murder and secrets from history leading to Knights Templar bloodlines
Mary and Max (2008)
Aug 13, 2000Claymation/Friendship by Correspondence
Quirky, hilarious Australian claymation film about the mail correspondence between a young girl and a lonely middle-aged man
Fright Night (2011)
Aug 27, 2011Vampire Next Door Neighbour
Another 1980s horror remake that resurrects and changes the original to little purpose. This fails to understand that what was original in 1985 lacks much when placed alongside contemporary vampire films
Hitchcock (2012)
Dec 1, 2012The Making of Psycho
A non-fiction film about Alfred Hitchcock and the making of Psycho. The script does a great job nailing the psychological undertows and the parts are brought to life with several tour-de-force performances
The BoxTrolls (2014)
Oct 18, 2014Cuddly Trolls/Stop-Motion Animation
From Laika, a stop-motion animated work about misunderstood creatures who wear boxes as shells and are perceived as monsters by polite society. An enormous degree of creativity has gone into this
Krampus (2015)
Dec 12, 2015Christmas Horror Film
Drawing on the Teutonic traditions of the anti-Santa, this gleefully wades into anti-Christmas spirit. Although never as much as it promises to be, it does astonish at a major studio releasing such a dark film right on Christmas season
xXx: Return of Xander Cage (2017)
Apr 2, 2017Extreme Adventure Sports Spy
xXx, with Vin Diesel as an extreme sports junkie version of James Bond, was ridiculous. This second sequel surprisingly turns out halfway watchable, keeping the stunts moving fast and introducing an ensemble to build this out as a Fast and the Furious-type franchise
Hereditary (2018)
Nov 24, 2018Hauntings/Sinister Cult
Word of mouth hit that has in its fingertips the capacity to be a great horror film. Moments of intense spookiness and an awards-worthy performance from Toni Colette but Ari Aster has an unfocused script
Velvet Buzzsaw (2019)
Mar 8, 2019Cursed Artworks
This gets full marks for an eye-catching title, even if it is one that has next to no relevancy in the film. The film itself is set in the world of art dealership and concerns a series of cursed paintings that kill all who seek to acquire them
Stowaway (2021)
Apr 30, 2021Stowaway Aboard a Mars Mission
In the vein of realistically grounded space movies such as Gravity and The Martian, a solidly effective film concerning the crew of a Mars mission who discover a stowaway aboard
Mickey 17 (2025)
Apr 12, 2025Cloning/Planetary Colonisation
Parasite director Bong Joon Ho makes an ambitious SF film where Robert Pattinson as a clone(s) on a planetary colonisation expedition who becomes embroiled in trying to save an alien species