Cyborg<sup>2</sup>: Glass Shadow (1993)
Apr 6, 1999Cyberpunk
Sequel that abandons that mindless chop suey of Albert Pyun's Cyborg and reconstructs it into a halfway reasonable Cyberpunk film. A then unknown Angelina Jolie plays the cyborg
Angelina Jolie
Hackers (1995)
May 1, 2004Teenage Computer Hackers
Film that wants to be an expose of the lives of hackers but seems an absurd agglomeration of cliches that stumbles over its own feet trying to establish its counter-culture cool
The Bone Collector (1999)
Nov 6, 1999Serial Killer Thriller
Serial killer thriller with Denzel Washington as Jeffrey Deaver's quadriplegic profiler Lincoln Rhyme and Anjelina Jolie as a rookie cop who becomes his aide
Lara Croft, Tomb Raider (2001)
Jun 15, 2001Videogame Adaptation
The first film adaptation of the popular videogame was a big hit. It is a film largely premised around the personality mystique of Angelina Jolie. Outside of the Jolie presence, the film is a half-baked series of plot ends and action scenes taken from better films
Life or Something Like It (2002)
May 24, 2009Woman Receives a Prophecy of Her Death
Bland romantic comedy with a miscast Angelina Jolie as a tv newswoman who receives a prophecy of her death and begins to reconsider her life
Lara Croft, Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003)
Nov 21, 2003Videogame Adaptation
The first Tomb Raider film was empty-headed but a hit but the series was then promptly killed off by this sequel. Angelina Jolie's performance that feels detached from human emotion and the action sequences ludicrous
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004)
Feb 12, 2005Retro SF Adventure/Flying Ace Hero
Superlative film that recreates an imagined world of 1930s retro sf filled with flyer heroes, giant robots and stunning Art Deco designs.
Shark Tale (2004)
Sep 24, 2004Animation/Talking Fish
DreamWorks animated talking fish film that was dismissed in the shadow of Pixar’s earlier Finding Nemo but is perfectly likeable in its own right
Taking Lives (2004)
May 12, 2004Serial Killer Thriller
Serial killer thriller with Angelina Jolie as an FBI profiler tracking a killer in Montreal and becoming involved with suspect Ethan Hawke. The plot falls apart in some shabby twists
Beowulf (2007)
Dec 2, 2007Epic Legend/Animation
After the success of the motion captured animated The Polar Express, Robert Zemeckis turned his attentions to the classic legend. Armed with a Neil Gaiman script and a host of name actors in the mocap suits, the result is a soaring fantasy
Kung Fu Panda (2008)
Jun 29, 2008Animation/Talking Animal Martial Arts
Massively successful animated film for DreamWorks, a comic riff on the martial arts training film that proves amiable and crowd-pleasing without ever being riotously funny
Wanted (2008)
Oct 9, 2008Super-Assassins/Action
The film that Hitman should have been concerning a secret world of super-powered assassins, revved up by out of this world visuals from Timur Bekmambetov
Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011)
Jun 16, 2011Animation/Talking Animal Martial Arts
Sequel to DreamWorks hit animated film, this does little more than repeat the basics of its predecessor. The detail and texture of the film is amplified to a work of art, although you cannot help but wonder if this is something the under 10s care about.
Maleficent (2014)
May 31, 2014Live-Action Prequel to Disney's Sleeping Beauty
Another in the early 2010s fad for fairytales rewritten as dark adult fantasy films – in this case, a version of Disney's Sleeping Beauty (as opposed to the original fairytale version) told from the viewpoint of the witch. Nicely produced, not much substance – the most interesting parts are when it gets to mess around with the fairytale
Kung Fu Panda 3 (2016)
May 30, 2016Animation/Talking Animal Martial Arts
The Kung Fu Panda series feels like films for couch potatos – a handful of martial arts films cliches and a hero who proclaims the virtues of laziness, overeating and combats everything with his own self-inflated sense of awesomeness. What baffles about such low-engagement films is the quality of artistry lavished on them
Maleficent, Mistress of Evil (2019)
Jan 11, 2020Sleeping Beauty Continuation
Nobody much liked Maleficent but did make a reasonable amount of money, hence we get this sequel. The surprise is that in the hands of Norwegian director Joachim Rønning, it is far better than anything one expected
Eternals (2021)
Jan 22, 2022Marvel Comics Superhero Team
A Marvel Comics offering that is an adaptation of a team created by the greatest comic-book writer/artist of all time. This emerges with strangely flat and moribund results