Bridge to Terabithia (2007)

Bridge to Terabithia (2007)
Rating: ★★★
Jun 24, 2007Magic World of Childhood Imagination
Made by Walden Media following the success of their The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, a well-made adaptation of a Christian children's book even if it sits uncertainly between gentle realism and the push to make it a fantasy film

Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D (2008)

Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D (2008)
Rating: ★★
Oct 9, 2008Underground Adventures/Jules Verne Adaptation
This family friendly adaptation of the classic Jules Verne novel was made to highlight the 3D process and throws most of the book out to essentially become Jules Verne the theme park ride

Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant (2009)

Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant (2009)
Rating: ★★
Nov 2, 2009Young Adult/Vampire Wars/Circus of Freaks
Adaptation of a series of Young Adult books that should have emerged as Harry Potter made with the sensibilities of a Tim Burton. But the result fails to come to life in Paul Weitz's hands

Detention (2011)

Detention (2011)
Rating: ★★★★
Nov 6, 2013Gonzo High School Film/Slasher Parody/Time Travel/Bodyswap
A film with insane creativity and snide pop culture wit spilling over at the edges. It feels like a mash-up of Bad Kids Go to Hell, John Dies at the End and Back to the Future written by some mad love child of Kevin Williamson and Diablo Cody

The Hunger Games (2012)

The Hunger Games (2012)
Rating: ★★½
Mar 29, 2012Future Televised Human Hunting
A hugely popular Young Adult box-office hit that does little more than competently shuffle around ideas from a body of other SF films. Jennifer Lawrence makes an impressive showing but the film also soft-pedals the moral reality of its scenario

Red Dawn (2012)

Red Dawn (2012)
Rating:
Nov 21, 2012North Korean Invasion of the USA
The idea of remaking John Milus's ridiculous 1984 survivalist fantasy about a Communist invasion of the USA maybe counts as one of the most absurdly unnecessary of all remakes. The film laughably tries to deal with the absence of a Soviet Union by creating a boogeyman out of North Korea

Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (2012)

Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (2012)
Rating:
Feb 8, 2012Jules Verne Adaptation/Island of Giant Fauna
Supposed adaptation of Jules Verne's Mysterious Island that gives the impression that none of the screenwriters have read the book … a consistently silly and nonsensical film that operates at the level of a children's cartoon

Epic (2013)

Epic (2013)
Rating: ★★
May 31, 2013Animation/Miniature Adventures Among the Leaf People
The animated films of Blue Sky Studios (the people behind the Ice Age sequels) have become so formulaic they have been drained of any spark of originality or creativity. This feels more like a series of test-marketing cues than a film

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)
Rating: ★★½
Nov 23, 2013Future Televised Human Hunting/Social Revolution
The first sequel to the box-office juggernaut. The surprise is that it spends so much time defying most of the things that made the first film, not to mention has made one of the year's biggest box-office hits into a parable for Marxist revolution

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 (2014)

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 (2014)
Rating: ★★
Nov 22, 2014Future Social Revolution
The third The Hunger Games film starts in with a more brooding complexity but with the book being split in two parts, the story feels more thinly drawn and comes to an abrupt end just when it starts to get interesting

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 (2015)

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 (2015)
Rating: ★★½
Nov 28, 2015Future Social Revolution
The finale of the saga comes with a tough, gritty edge during the middle scenes that make it the best directed of the series. On the other hand, it builds up well only to arrive at ending that goes oddly sideways and throws sympathies to the wind

Five Nights at Freddy’s (2023)

Five Nights at Freddy’s (2023)
Rating: ★★
Nov 10, 2023Videogame Adaptation/Killer Animatronics
A Blumhouse film adaptation of the videogame that was a considerable hit at the box-office. Josh Hutcherson plays a security guard at a pizza parlour who faces killer animatronics come to life