Barry Sonnenfeld Archives

The Addams Family (1991)

Rating: ★★★½

Apr 1, 1999Kinky Perverse Family

The big screen version of the 1960s tv series and Charles Addams' cartoons is a highly enjoyable Hollywood Halloween Party, a chance for name actors to put on costume and ape life with a ghoulish, mildly perverse, moderately subversive spin

Director: Barry Sonnenfeld

Actors: Raul Julia, Anjelica Huston, Christina Ricci, Christopher Lloyd, …

Category: Fantasy

1 April 199920 November 2022 by Roog

Addams Family Values (1993)

Rating: ★★★½

Aug 8, 1999Kinky Perverse Family

Sequel to the live-action Addams Family film that reunites the same cast who fine-tune their roles, while the black comedy has an even more barbed bite second time around

Director: Barry Sonnenfeld

Actors: Raul Julia, Anjelica Huston, Christina Ricci, Christopher Lloyd, …

Category: Fantasy

8 August 19996 November 2025 by Roog

Men in Black (1997)

Rating: ★★★

Aug 20, 2001Alien Coverup Conspiracy Agency

A huge box-office hit, this is a witty comedy that turns the UFO conspiracy of The X Files on its head with the heroes part of an organisation that covers up the existence of aliens

Director: Barry Sonnenfeld

Actors: Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones, Linda Fiorentino, Rip Torn, …

Category: Science Fiction

20 August 20011 September 2026 by Roog

Wild Wild West (1999)

Rating: ★

Jul 10, 1999Western Spy Film/TV Series Remake

The big screen remake of the 1960s Western/spy mashup tv series is transformed into an overblown and painfully unfunny Will Smith vehicle that loudly signals it is taking none of itself seriously

Director: Barry Sonnenfeld

Actors: Will Smith, Kevin Kline, Kenneth Branagh, Salma Hayek, …

Category: Science Fiction

10 July 199930 September 2022 by Roog

Big Trouble (2002)

Rating: ★★

Dec 28, 2004Nuclear Weapon Comedy

A flop comedy based on a Dave Barry novel about various characters trying to obtain a nuclear weapon. Despite a reasonable name cast, this becomes slapstick inanity in director Barry Sonnenfeld's hands

Director: Barry Sonnenfeld

Actors: Tim Allen, Rene Russo, Stanley Tucci, Janeane Garofalo, …

Category: Science Fiction

28 December 200427 November 2025 by Roog

Men in Black II (2002)

Rating: ★

Jul 29, 2002Alien Coverup Conspiracy Agency

Sequel that turns a witty original into overblown slapstick that never consists of anything more than absurd gags with aliens and technology popping up from behind everyday objects

Director: Barry Sonnenfeld

Actors: Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones, Lara Flynn Boyle, Rosario Dawson, …

Category: Science Fiction

29 July 20027 January 2025 by Roog

Enchanted (2007)

Rating: ★★½

Dec 27, 2007Animated Fairytale Characters Enter the Real World

Disney film where an animated fairytale princess emerges into the real world to become Amy Adams. This becomes the opportunity to wittily puncture the unreal world of the Disney fairytale

Director: Kevin Lima

Actors: Amy Adams, Patrick Dempsey, James Marsden, Timothy Spall, …

Category: Fantasy

27 December 20075 July 2026 by Roog

Space Chimps (2008)

Rating: ★★

Oct 9, 2008Animation/Talking NASA Chimpanzees

An animated film about NASA experimental chimpanzees. Not quite up there with Pixar but an amiable and unpretentious and amiable outing

Director: Kirk DeMicco

Actors: Andy Samberg, Cheryl Hines, Patrick Warburton, Jeff Daniels, …

Category: Science Fiction

9 October 200820 March 2025 by Roog

Men in Black 3 (2012)

Rating: ★★

May 24, 2012Alien Coverup Conspiracy Agency

One fails to greet another sequel with any enthusiasm. This mostly consists of tired, familiar gags, where the most generous compliment you can pay is that it is better than Men in Black II

Director: Barry Sonnenfeld

Actors: Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin, Jemaine Clement, …

Category: Science Fiction

24 May 20121 September 2026 by Roog

Disenchanted (2022)

Rating: ★★

Nov 25, 2022Fairytale Characters in the Real World

Enchanted in which Amy Adams played an animated fairytale princess entering the real world was a reasonable hit. This is the long-planned sequel that reunites the principals but feels like a joke that belabours in the retelling

Director: Adam Shankman

Actors: Amy Adams, Patrick Dempsey, Maya Rudolph, James Marsden, …

Category: Fantasy

25 November 202213 October 2025 by Roog