The Year of the Sex Olympics (1968)
Sep 19, 2023Media-Controlled Future
Film from Quatermass creator Nigel Kneale well ahead of its time in its prediction of a populace controlled by television
Brian Cox
Manhunter (1986)
Apr 3, 2000Hannibal Lecter Film
The very first Hannibal Lecter film. Under Michael Mann, this comes with a stylistic flourish very different to what the films became when Anthony Hopkins took the role
Murder By Moonlight (1989)
Jun 19, 2013Murder Mystery on a Moonbase
Murder mystery set on a moonbase. Aside from assuming the Soviet Union would exist in the future and the datedness of its technology, this creates a surprisingly credible lunar environment set amid East-West tensions. Brigitte Nielsen even gives something approaching a performance
Chain Reaction (1996)
Mar 15, 2001Techno-Thriller
Thriller with Keanu Reeves wrongfully accused and on the run from authorities in the quest for a process that creates cheap energy from water. A rehash of director Andrew Davis's The Fugitive mostly construed around its set-pieces
Kiss the Girls (1997)
Jun 21, 2003Serial Killer Thriller
The first film adapted from James Patterson's books about forensic profiler Alex Cross with standout performances from Morgan Freeman and Ashley Judd
The Minus Man (1999)
Oct 12, 1999Genteel Serial Killer
Standout film featuring Owen Wilson as a genteel serial killer
Complicity (2000)
Mar 7, 2005Serial Killer Thriller
A so-so adaptation of an Iain Banks novel featuring Jonny Lee Miller as a crusading journalist who becomes involved in the hunt for a serial killer who is tied to his own past
The Ring (2002)
Mar 18, 2003Cursed Videotape/Japanese Horror Remake
This is the English-language version of the Japanese horror Ring and actually a much better and far spookier film, where the new script gives the story more depth
X2 (2003)
May 5, 2003Comic-Book Superheroes
Bryan Singer's immediate sequel to X-Men, this ups the number of new mutant characters, although only sporadically manages to kick in with the spectacular superheroic action sequences the first film had
Match Point (2005)
Jun 21, 2006Murder and Conscience
One of Woody Allen's strongest films in years, a London-set work about conscience and murder over which the spirit of Dostoevsky hangs
The Strange Case of Sherlock Holmes and Arthur Conan Doyle (2005)
Mar 24, 2010Arthur Conan Doyle Biopic-Mystery/Meta-Fiction
BBC production that seems to be a straightforward biopic of Sherlock Holmes creator Arthur Conan Doyle only for it to take a very strange dogleg into meta-fiction
Battle for Terra (2007)
Jan 8, 2014Animation/War Between Human Colonists and Aliens
Animated film that has a remarkable number of similarities to Avatar – even though it was released before. A simplistic variant of the same human colonists vs alien natives plot conducted with corner-cut CGI animation
The Water Horse (2007)
Jan 19, 2008Loch Ness Monster
Earnestly made family film from Walden Media in which a young boy finds an egg that grows into the Loch Ness Monster
Zodiac (2007)
May 27, 2007True Life Serial Killer
David Fincher's gripping investigation into the unsolved true-life Zodiac Killer case. Fincher's stagings are exacting and the mystery he builds intensely absorbing
The Escapist (2008)
Jun 8, 2016Prison Escape Drama/Fantastic Twist
This is principally a prison escape drama, at which it works well with a strong ensemble cast. It also has a left field ending that reveals it is a fantasy film, which remains its least satisfying aspect
Trick ‘R Treat (2008)
May 20, 2010Halloween Horror Anthology
Disappointing Bryan Singer produced horror anthology set around Halloween where its potential is frequently dragged down by over-emphatic direction
The Colour of Magic (2008)
Jan 11, 2009Fantasy Comedy/Terry Pratchett Adaptation
The second live-action tv adaptation of Terry Pratchett's Discworld books (in fact combining two books). This is uneven and oddly padded but beautifully produced
The Day of the Triffids (2009)
Jun 19, 2010The Downfall of Civilisation/Lethal Plants Amok
Disappointing tv mini-series remake of the John Wyndham novel about England overrun by killer plants. This abandons most of the book's sociological portrait for cliche melodramatics
Tell-Tale (2009)
Sep 21, 2010Possessed Transplant Organ
This is supposedly an adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's story The Tell-Tale Heart but it throws out all semblance to the story and instead tells a possessed transplant limb tale
Exit Humanity (2011)
Mar 1, 2013American Civil War Zombie Film
Modestly effective zombie film set during the US Civil War. This eschews the usual gore-drenched zombie attacks in favour of a nicely achieved story about one man's internal journey through the apocalypse
Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)
Aug 12, 2011Planet of the Apes Prequel
Reboot of the classic franchise, a loose remake of Conquest of the Planet of the Apes. Thanks to some remarkable CGI effects, the apes entirely outshine the humans
Her (2013)
Jan 11, 2014Human-A.I. Romance
Spike Jonze addresses virtual relationships in this story of a romance between a man and an A.I. A film that is astonishing in its freshness, naturalness and avoidance of any of the cliches that have dogged other treatments.
Mindscape (2013)
Mar 2, 2015Therapist Journeys Inside People's Memories
It would be safe to say that without Inception there would be no Mindscape, which involves people entering memories rather than dreams but is similar in many other ways. Where this fails is in having no interest in the sf potential of the idea beyond using it as springboard for a thriller plot
An Adventure in Space and Time (2013)
Nov 28, 2013The Origins of Doctor Who
A film about the origins of Doctor Who made for the series' 50th anniversary. This comes packed with pieces of fanservice and origins of various iconic aspects. David Bradley gives a wonderfully nuanced and moving performance as William Hartnell
The Anomaly (2014)
Jun 29, 2015Identity Bender/Brain Hijackiing
A surprisingly good conceptual SF film concerning a man trying to deal with a series of increasingly more surreal jumps in which he finds his body is being hijacked
Pixels (2015)
Jul 25, 2015Alien Invaders Bring Classic Videogames to Life
This has a certain cuteness to its premise – of seeing a bunch of classic videogames brought to life. Beyond that, Pixels is a one gimmick film that suffers from two people whose films I hate – the perpetually banal Chris Columbus and the irritatingly smug presence of Adam Sandler
Morgan (2016)
Sep 10, 2016Artificially Intelligent Android
A.I. film directed by Ridley Scott's son. The set-up seems awfully similar to Ex Machina – unfortunately, this sidesteps any of that fascinating questions about A.I. that film dealt in, while the latter half just becomes The Terminator before reaching a frankly unbelievable twist ending that sinks the film
The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016)
Jan 23, 2017Mysterious Corpse on the Morgue Table
The Troll Hunter director Andre Øvredal creates an intense and absorbing mystery about a corpse on a morgue slab and the unsettling spell it exudes on the two coroners examining it
Good Omens (2019)
Jun 14, 2019Biblical End Times/Antichrist Comedy
TV mini-series based on the Neil Gaiman/Terry Pratchett novel that spoofs The Omen and Biblical End Times prophecies. The series is very close to the book as though it didn't want to edit any precious gag
Separation (2021)
Dec 12, 2021Haunting
William Brent Bell, director of The Devil Inside and The Boy, returns with a ghost story where a widower and daughter are haunted by his ex-wife
The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim (2024)
Jan 3, 2025Epic Fantasy/Anime
A spinoff prequel to the Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films that takes the option that several other film/videogame franchises have of Going Anime
The Electric State (2025)
Mar 22, 2025The Robot Revolution
This is a film that had the capacity within its hands to be a class work about A.I. and robotics. Adapted from the art of Simon Stålenhag and directed by the Russo Brothers who were behind the last two Avengers films