The Glass House (2001)
Sep 16, 2001Evil Foster Parents Psycho-Thriller
A modest and reasonably effective psycho-thriller about a brother and sister who are adopted after the death of their parents only to find their step-parents have sinister intent
Original Film
Soul Survivors (2001)
Sep 9, 2001Haunting
This is essentially The Sixth Sense rehashed as a teen horror film and conducted without any finesse - here you can see the twist ending coming miles in advance
Evan Almighty (2007)
Sep 23, 2007Modern-Day Noah's Ark Comedy
Sequel to Bruce Almighty in which Steve Carell is transformed into a modern-day Noah. This was pitched to the Christian audiences but feels like a series of lame gags playing on Noah and the Ark devoid of any biblical context
Prom Night (2008)
May 25, 2008Slasher Film
Another among the fad for remakes of 70s/80s horror films. Any connection to the original Jamie Lee Curtis disco slasher is thrown out in favour of a generic modern slasher
Battle Los Angeles (2011)
Mar 13, 2011Alien Invasion/War Film
Essentially this is a big-budget alien invasion film like Independence Day having been reconceived as a gritty, shakycam-shot war movie along the lines of Saving Private Ryan
The Change-Up (2011)
Sep 10, 2011Bodyswap Comedy
A raucous and eminently predictable variant on the bodyswap comedy that also manages to be expertly played by leads Jason Bateman and Ryan Reynolds and pulls off some genuine laugh-out-loud moments
Total Recall (2012)
Aug 2, 2012Virtual Memories/Reality Bender/Action
I was never a particular fan of the Schwarzenegger original and this improves on it somewhat. This is far better conceived as an action film with some amazing Cyberpunk designs. On the other hand, the two decades interim has made the story's Philip K. Dick-ian reality bendings seem commonplace
R.I.P.D. (2013)
Jul 20, 2013Afterlife Police Force
This feels like someone has simply copied the idea of a secretive law enforcement agency from and substituted the dead escaped from Hell for aliens. The two have remarkably similar story arcs, although this is far more goofily entertaining that the absurdly overblown slapstick that overtook the Men in Black sequels
Passengers (2016)
Jan 21, 2017Cryogenic Sleepers Awake Aboard a Space Voyage
The gratifying pleasure of a solid conceptually-driven science-fiction film – all based around the premise of "what if a cryogenic sleeper woke up halfway through a deep space voyage?" and the moral choices he must make. Strong, intelligent character-driven science-fiction and possibly the best designed film of the year
Goosebumps 2 (2018)
Apr 14, 2019Evil Ventriloquist's Dummy Amok
The second film spun off from R.L. Stine's popular horror stories promotes the wonderfully evil ventriloquist's dummy Slappy to principal nemesis. The rest of the film is predictable but Slappy deserves his own series
Escape Room (2019)
Apr 21, 2019Escape Room of Death Traps
The most high-profile of three identically titled films to come out around the same time all based around the popularity of escape rooms. This generates fair tension and has a certain WTF quality as the characters pass through each scenario
Sonic the Hedgehog (2020)
Mar 14, 2020Videogame Adaptation/Supersonic Alien Hedgehog
After a disastrous fan reception of its initial trailer, the film of the videogame arrives on screen. The surprise is that for such a zero expectation film and one that defies the engagement of any of your braincells it is as much fun as it is.
Escape Room: Tournament of Champions (2021)
Sep 19, 2021Escape Room of Death Traps
Sequel to the 2019 Escape Room. This repeats everything that its predecessor did but bigger and more elaborate to the point that basic believability goes out the window
Fast & Furious 9 (2021)
Jul 29, 2024Action Film
The Fast and the Furious series has escalated from films about illegal street racing to essentially superhero films involving ridiculous stunt work that defies the laws of physics. This takes the characters into orbit
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2022)
May 27, 2022Videogame Adaptation/Supersonic Alien Hedgehog
Sequel to the hit videogame adaptation, this offers up fairly much the same mix of elements as before - a cutely anthrompomorphic creature and Jim Carrey going to rafter-rattling excess
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (2024)
Jan 31, 2025Videogame Adaptation/Supersonic Alien Hedgehog
Third of the Sonic the Hedgehog films and surprisingly far more entertaining than you expect from such a lightweight formulaic film
I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025)
Sep 12, 2025Slasher Film
In recent years, we have seen successful revivals of the Scream and Halloween franchises. Now it is the turn of another classic 1990s slasher film, a reworking that emerges with hugely underwhelming results
Afterburn (2025)
Jun 19, 2026Post-Apocalyptic Action
Action film with Dave Bautista as a treasure hunter retrieving items in a post-apocalyptic world. Directed by a former stuntman, this plays much to the action element with little else of substance