Pacific Heights (1990)
Feb 6, 2000Psycho Tenant
Thriller in which landlords Matthew Modine and Melanie Griffith's lives are terrorised by psychopathic tenant Michael Keaton
Scott Rudin
The Addams Family (1991)
Apr 1, 1999Kinky Perverse Family
The big screen version of the 1960s tv series and Charles Addams' cartoons is a highly enjoyable Hollywood Halloween Party, a chance for name actors to put on costume and ape life with a ghoulish, mildly perverse, moderately subversive spin
Addams Family Values (1993)
Aug 8, 1999Kinky Perverse Family
Sequel to the live-action Addams Family film that reunites the same cast who fine-tune their roles, while the black comedy has an even more barbed bite second time around
The Truman Show (1998)
Apr 1, 1999Man's Life as a TV Show
Ingenious film that predicted reality tv shows where Jim Carrey's life has been a tv show since birth with him unaware of everything is staged
Bringing Out the Dead (1999)
Oct 25, 1999Urban Hell/Haunted Ambulance Driver
Martin Scorsese returns to the vision of urban hell he gave us in Taxi Driver with Nicolas Cage as an ambulance driver haunted the dead he sees. Powerful, blackly funny at times, if not quite up there as another Taxi Driver
South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999)
Dec 13, 2010South Park Film/Absurdist Adult Animation
A theatrical release spun off from tv's cult absurdist/scatological show. Not as sophisticated as later seasons of the tv series but with a raucously wacky bite that is frequently hilarious
Sleepy Hollow (1999)
Jan 4, 2000Headless Horseman Killings
Tim Burton adapts the classic Washington Irving ghost story, although throws most of it out, to make his own beautifully designed period piece spearheaded by another eccentric Johnny Depp performance
The Stepford Wives (2004)
Oct 18, 2004Android Housewife Replacements Comedy
Frank Oz conducts a remake of The Stepford Wives, which becomes a broad comedy take on the gender wars in the modern world
The Village (2004)
Sep 5, 2004Pioneer Town/Mysterious Creatures in the Woods
M. Night Shyamalan creates three-quarters of a tense and eerie film about a 19th Century village under siege from mysterious creatures only for it to fall apart when he produces a damp squib of a twist ending
The Manchurian Candidate (2004)
Nov 8, 2004Brainwashed Assassin/Political Thriller
Remake of the classic Cold War thriller from Jonathan Demme that has been updated for the era of George W. Bush
Team America: World Police (2004)
Nov 17, 2004Political Satire/Adult Puppet Show
South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone conduct an hilarious parody of Gerry Anderson via real world politics and a very adult sense of humour
Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)
Nov 30, 2009Stop-Motion Animation/Talking Animals
Wes Anderson makes a delightful detour into stop-motion animation in this Roald Dahl adaptation, a droll caper comedy enacted by talking animals who are all characterised with typical Anderson eccentricities
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)
Dec 20, 2011Serial Killer Thriller
David Fincher's English-language remake of the Swedish film is capably made but a lesser shadow of something that worked perfectly the first time. In particular, Rooney Mara is no substitute for Noomi Rapace
Annihilation (2018)
Mar 24, 2018Mysterious Alien Zone
Alex Garland's second directorial effort after Ex Machina. Clearly influenced by Andrei Tarkovsky's Stalker, this features a group venturing into an alien-affected zone where Garland does a fine job of creating a sense of the otherworldly
Isle of Dogs (2018)
Nov 17, 2018Stop-Motion Animation/Talking Dogs
Wes Anderson is a critical darling with his unique brand of banal whimsy. He is at his best when he does stop-motion animation as in Fantastic Mr. Fox and here. Essentially a Disney talking animals animated film where the animals talk like real people, this comes with charms that make it out of the standouts of the year