Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Rating: ★★★★½
Aug 6, 2001Tomb Raiding Adventures
Steven Spielberg and George Lucas's homage to the adventure films of the 1940s was a huge hit in its day, spawning several sequels and many imitators. The film is pure action and adventure, delivered with enormous charm and wit

Congo (1995)

Congo (1995)
Rating: ★★★
Jun 30, 2001Lost City of Intelligent Apes/Michael Crichton Adaptation
Following the success of Jurassic Park, a host of other Michael Crichton books were filmed, including this not entirely successful but not uninteresting work where Crichton attempts to modernise the lost world adventure

The Sixth Sense (1999)

The Sixth Sense (1999)
Rating: ★★★★½
Aug 14, 1999Child Medium
The film that made the name of M. Night Shyamalan and still a strong and spooky story despite the variability of Shyamalan's offerings since then. What made the film a classic was its twist ending, something that has been relentlessly copied by numerous genre films since

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)
Rating: ★★
May 25, 2008High Adventure/Alien Artefacts
The fourth of the Indiana Jones films, returning after a 19 year gap to general disappointment. Largely a film about Indy getting old and coming to terms with it, this tries but the action scenes pale against what the series was back in the heyday

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)
Rating: ★★★
Dec 30, 2008Man Ages in Reverse
David Fincher makes a surprisingly positive and upbeat Academy Awards crowd-aimed film in which Brad Pitt is a man who ages in reverse, born as an old man and progressively getting younger as he goes through life

The Last Airbender (2010)

The Last Airbender (2010)
Rating: ★★★
Jul 3, 2010Epic Fantasy Adventure
Live-action film adaptation of the popular animated tv series, this was widely seen as a disaster and a nail in the coffin of the career of M. Night Shyamalan. i am one of the few that liked the film and Shyamalan's creation of a complex and superbly designed world

Jurassic World (2015)

Jurassic World (2015)
Rating: ★★½
Jun 13, 2015Genetically-Engineered Dinosaurs Amok
After two ho-hum sequels, this finally delivers a solid follow-up to Jurassic Park. Rather than just more scenes with dinosaurs chasing people, this comes with a bevy of fascinating ideas about seeing the park in operation and even some snide biting at corporate merchandising

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018)

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018)
Rating: ★★
Dec 1, 2018Genetically-Engineered Dinosaurs Amok
Fifth of the Jurassic Park films, a direct follow-on from the previous entry Jurassic World. Industrial Light and Magic do their usual excellent job but this time there feels like there are no new cards in the deck and the film is just recycling the same thing as before with minimal change