Audrey Rose (1977)
Jan 6, 2001Reincarnation/Courtroom Drama
Big serious film about reincarnation that places the arguments for into a courtroom setting. Director Robert Wise and a young Anthony Hopkins fail to do much with a talk-heavy script
Anthony Hopkins
Magic (1978)
Dec 13, 2002Malevolent Ventriloquist's Dummy
Muchly under-appreciated film with Anthony Hopkins as a performer dominated by his ventriloquist’s dummy. Great direction from Richard Attenborough, fantastic script and performances
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Dec 16, 2001Serial Killer Thriller
This caught on in a big way with the public, created a fascination with serial killers and forensic psychology and was nominated for a host of awards. Personally, one finds it one of the more overrated films of modern vintage
Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)
Jan 7, 2001Dracula Adaptation
Francis Ford Coppola remakes and reinvents Dracula, transforming the text of Bram Stoker's book into a sensual, visually ravishing film with lush production values that make you gasp in excitement
Freejack (1992)
Oct 19, 2002Future Body-Snatching/Time Travel
Emilio Estevez is snatched into the future and pursued for his body by bounty hunter Mick Jagger in an SF film that makes no sense at all. A film more worth watching for some bizarrely awful performances
The Trial (1993)
Feb 22, 2005Bureaucratic Nightmare World/Kafka Adaptation
All-star adaptation of the Franz Kafka novel that gets a far better sense of the book's black ironies than the previous Orson Welles version
Meet Joe Black (1998)
Jul 16, 1999Death Falls in Love
Ponderous big screen remake of Death Takes a Holiday where Death in the form of Brad Pitt comes to Earth, engages in a romance
Instinct (1999)
Jun 9, 1999Killer Anthropologist
This makes all effort to sell itself as Anthony Hopkins in another Hannibal Lecter-like role. Rather than any Silence of the Lambs copy, this undergoes several bizarre dogleg turns to emerge more as The Shawshank Redemption by way of Gorillas in the Mist
Mission: Impossible II (2000)
Jun 30, 2000Spy/Action Film
The second of Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible films where he has the smarts to hire John Woo as director who brings his customary stylish flair with action to transform the film into something exhiliraing
How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)
Nov 17, 2000Dr Seuss Adaptation
Ron Howard's live-action adaptation of the Dr Seuss story visually embraces the nonsense absurdism but the charms get buried beneath the lavish production polish. Jim Carrey saves the day cast as The Grinch however.
Hearts in Atlantis (2001)
Sep 29, 2001Clairvoyance/Stephen King Adaptation
Another in the spate of serious Stephen King adaptations that seeks to avoid the horror label. Although psychic powers do feature, this is more of a wistful 1960s Coming of Age story
Hannibal (2001)
Feb 11, 2001The Silence of the Lambs Sequel
The immediate sequel to The Silence of the Lambs. Anthony Hopkins is back but Jodie Foster is not. Ridley Scott takes the director's chair and creates a slick film but it lacks the compulsive grip the original held
Red Dragon (2002)
Nov 1, 2002Hannibal Lecter Prequel
Following the success of the Hannibal Lecter films, Dino de Laurentiis smartly repackaged Thomas Harris's earlier novel as a Hannibal Lecter prequel
Shortcut to Happiness (2003)
Dec 8, 2021Pact with The Devil
Alec Baldwin’s financially troubled modernised remake of The Devil and Daniel Webster comes to the screen as a compromised vision
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
The Wolfman (2010)
Feb 15, 2010Werewolf Film
The 1941 Lon Chaney Jr The Wolf Man is given the remake treatment in a way that builds out on the creaky original with lavish sets and state of the art transformation effects
Thor (2011)
May 7, 2011Marvel Comics Norse God Superhero
The film adaptation of Marvel Comics’ The Mighty Thor is placed in the hands of Kenneth Branagh who delivers an okay film, if one where he never quite seems at home with the superheroic action
The Rite (2011)
Jan 29, 2011Demonic Possession and Exorcism/"True Story"
Full-blooded possession and exorcism that takes its Catholic cant seriously and emerges as dramatically gripping, with Anthony Hopkins delivering a tour-de-force performance. Supposedly based on a true story.
Hitchcock (2012)
Dec 1, 2012The Making of Psycho
A Non-fiction film about Alfred Hitchcock and the making of Psycho. The script does a superb job of nailing the psychological undertows between the players and the parts are brought to life with several tour-de-force performances
Thor: The Dark World (2013)
Nov 9, 2013Marvel Comics Norse God Superhero
Sequel to Thor that earranges the same basic elements much more satisfyingly than the first film – the actors (with the exception of a tranquilised Natalie Portman) seem more at home in their roles and a director who is more confident with the effects and superheroics. That said, it is starting to feel like Marvel is shuffling the same plot ingredients around between films
Noah (2014)
Apr 12, 2014Biblical Legend
Darren Aronofsky's adaptation of the Biblical legend was mired in controversy. I can only applaud his decision to defy those who claim ownership of the story and set out to make an interesting film. Yet Noah remains an epic that never seems to quite fill the screen and a human drama that never quite comes to life
Solace (2015)
Sep 11, 2016Clairvoyance Thriller
This was intriguingly once planned as a Se7en sequel but I felt uninspired as it seems just another clairvoyant murder mystery. On the other hand, it is grippingly well written and has some great performances. With the introduction of a rival clairvoyant halfway through, it however becomes something amazing
Transformers: The Last Knight (2017)
Sep 23, 2017Live-Action Transformer Robots
The fifth of Michael Bay's Transformers films. This comes with more of an outright comedy focus than any of the other films where Bay seems to be second-guessing his critics and spoofing his own peccadilloes in quote marks, only to produce the silliest entry in the series yet
Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
Feb 3, 2018Marvel Comics Norse God Superhero
The third of the MCU's Thor films. This time Kiwi director Taikia Waititi gives much more of a comedic emphasis where you get the impression the intention has been to push the film in the direction of Guardians of the Galaxy. On the other hand, the superheroics are routine
The Father (2020)
Apr 24, 2021Alzheimer's Sufferer/Reality Blurrings
A film receiving great acclaim at award season. Anthony Hopkins is a dementia-ridden senior and we experience his state of mind subjectively in a constantly shifting sense of what is real
Rebel Moon – A Child of Fire: Part One (2023)
Jan 6, 2024Space Opera
Zack Snyder returns with a work that is all but a Star Wars film in name where he draws heavily on the basics of The Seven Samurai/The Magnificent Seven
Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver (2024)
Apr 27, 2024Space Opera
Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon was intended as a two-part space opera saga. This first half emerged watchably and this is Part Two