Ultraviolet (1998)
Sep 2, 1999Vampire Hunters
A British mini-series that offers an ingenious modernised reconeptualisation of the vampire genre, depicting the activities of a secret agency of vampire hunters
Idris Elba
28 Weeks Later (2007)
May 27, 2007Post-Holocaust/Zombie Outbreak
I was cautious about hailing 28 Days Later as a modern classic; this sequel is in fact a much better film. Newcomer director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo draws it out into a series of superbly sustained suspense sequences
The Reaping (2007)
May 5, 2007Modern-Day Biblical Plagues
Reasonable budgeted film about a series of Biblical plagues being visited upon a rural Louisiana town. An interesting set up that flounders amid a confused script
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 and a generic modern slasher substituted
The Unborn (2009)
May 5, 2010Haunting/Possession
Scriptwriter David S. Goyer takes the director's choice to make a possession film. The one distinction here is that Goyer draws from Jewish mythology, otherwise this feels like another canned teen horror film
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
Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (2012)
Mar 8, 2012Comic-Book Avenger/Demonic Superhero
Ridiculous sequel to the Marvel Comics adaptation with an indifferently written script assembled from cliches, forgettable action scenes and Nicolas Cage giving one of his silliest performances in ages
Prometheus (2012)
Jun 9, 2012Alien Prequel
Ridley Scott's promised prequel to Alien. The first half creates epic mystery but the answers provided are not nearly as interesting as promised, while the latter half disappointingly settles for doing the Alien standard with decidedly lesser effect
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
Pacific Rim (2013)
Jul 12, 2013Giant Mecha Robots vs Giant Monsters
Giant mecha robots beating the crap out of giant monsters – what's not to like? In comparison to the Transformers films, Guillermo Del Toro looks to find the soul of the robot jock – in essence, Transformers for grown-ups
Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
May 2, 2015Marvel Comics Superhero Team-Up
The first Avengers film came with a massive anticipation in seeing the characters come together and the snappiness of their interplay; here this seems more flat, while the rest is overrun by wall-to-wall action
Zootopia (2016)
Mar 12, 2016Disney Animation/World of Talking Animals
With Pixar having slumped into terminal sequelitis, Disney now seems to be out-Pixaring Pixar at the sort of films they used to do best. Set in a world that imagines what might happen if animals lived in cities, this is an ingenious reworking of the talking animals premise that overflows with visual ingenuity and warm humour
The Jungle Book (2016)
Apr 23, 2016Jungle Boy
Live-action remake of the Disney film, one that takes the Babe approach of giving the animals life through top of the line CGI effects. The results are impressive with the animals emerging as distinctive characters (far more in fact than the film's single human) thanks in large part to near-perfect voice casting
Finding Dory (2016)
Jun 25, 2016Pixar Animation/Talking Fish
Pixar have never been the same since they were overrun by sequelitis; this sequel to Finding Nemo goes a good way to recapturing their heyday. This is not perfect but has a winning array of new characters and some delightfully madcap comic set-pieces
Star Trek: Beyond (2016)
Jul 30, 2016Intergalactic Adventures
Gene Roddenbery created a tv series that was about boldly going, confronting different ways of life. The choice to hire the director of The Fast and the Furious films to helm the film made for the show's 50th anniversary says how wrong-headed the reboot series has become – all about cool young leads and hurtling effects sequences
The Dark Tower (2017)
Oct 21, 2017Stephen King Adaptation/Portal to a Parallel World
Filmmakers have struggled to bring Stephen King's Dark Tower series to the screen for years. Under Hollywood's No 1 worst screenwriter Akiva Goldsman, we get an utterly mangled version that has little resemblance to the books and yet makes little sense if you haven't read them
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
Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
Nov 3, 2018Marvel Comics Superhero Team-Up
Marvel’s third Avengers film, uniting almost every superhero under their roof, resulting in some thirty characters on screen and a plot that becomes a blur of changing locations and superheroic punch-ups
Cats (2019)
Mar 29, 2020Musical/Singing Cats
The film version of the smash Andrew Lloyd Webber musical phenomenon was widely ridiculed. Seen, it is a colourful and absorbing entity and by no means as bad as its rap gives it
The Suicide Squad (2021)
Aug 14, 2021Team-Up of DC Comics Super-Villains
James Gunn takes over the Suicide Squad franchise and welcomely rescues it from the dud first screen outing
Three Thousand Years of Longing (2022)
Oct 1, 2022Djinn Appears
George Miller of Mad Max fame makes a fantastical and charming film where djinn Idris Elba appears to Tilda Swinton
Beast (2022)
Sep 23, 2022Killer Lion
A survival horror where Idris Elba is on a trip to Africa only to be hunted by a rogue lion. Decently produced, this never works as well as you expect it would have
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
Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)
Sep 17, 2022Marvel Comics Norse God Superhero
The fourth of Marvel's Thor films, where director Taika Waititi gets the balance of humour down much more successfully than he did in the previous film
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
A House of Dynamite (2025)
Nov 14, 2025Nuclear Attack
Kathryn Bigelow makes a strong return to form with a film about the lead-up to an imminent a nuclear attack on the US. Made with a documentary-like urgency that convinces you this is the way that the real thing would play out