The Island of Dr Moreau (1996)

The Island of Dr Moreau (1996)
Rating: ★★★½
Feb 15, 2001Mad Scientist Creates Beast Men
Legendary cinematic train wreck filled with behind the scenes stories of fired directors, an eccentric Marlon Brando and an egotistical Val Kilmer. On the other hand, this remake of the H.G. Wells novel is still a well made and watchable film

Whatever Happened to Harold Smith? (1999)

Whatever Happened to Harold Smith? (1999)
Rating: ★★★
Nov 20, 2019Coming of Age Story/Eccentric Psychic Father
Likeably eccentric Coming of Age story set in England during the 1970s at the height of the punk era where, among the usual other very funny travails, the protagonist's father starts demonstrating unusual psychic abilities

Timeline (2003)

Timeline (2003)
Rating:
Feb 1, 2004Time Travel/Michael Crichton Adaptation
Michael Crichton adaptation that flopped at the box-office. Crichton tells a story about time travel to the Mediaeval period where he spends a good deal of time researching the era. The film ditches all of this to make no more than an historical film with an SF gimmick

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)
Rating: ★★★½
Jul 11, 2007Young Wizard
The fifth and in my opinion the best of the Harry Potter films. It is the first film where we see the darkening of emotions and the children growing up as storm clouds gather. Much of the show is stolen by Imelda Staunton

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)
Rating: ★★½
Jul 17, 2009Young Wizard
Sixth of the Harry Potter films, this feels like a step back from what its predecessor built up. The film suffers from trying to cram all of J.K. Rowling's book into its running time and ends up being frustratingly mannered

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (2011)

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (2011)
Rating: ★★★
Jul 15, 2011Young Wizard
I've never been a huge fan of the Harry Potter series but the final chapter rounds out the boy wizard saga in rousing style, mounting an epic-sized battle and finding characters depths that hold some of the best writing of the series

The Zero Theorem (2013)

The Zero Theorem (2013)
Rating: ★★★
Aug 3, 2014Dystopian Future/The Meaning of It All
This is Terry Gilliam largely going back to revisit Brazil, albeit having been updated to the 2010s and the era of the internet. A renaissance of many Gilliam themes, nevertheless this feels like one of his slighter works

Eliza Graves (2014)

Eliza Graves (2014)
Rating: ★★★
Nov 22, 2015Victorian Asylum Taken Over by the Inmates
Brad Anderson adapts an Edgar Allan Poe story about an asylum where the inmates are posing as the staff. This is lush period piece with an amazing cast line-up – the only surprise is that it did no box-office

I’m Thinking of Ending Things (2020)

I’m Thinking of Ending Things (2020)
Rating: ★★★★
Sep 12, 2020Surrealism and Identity Blurring
Charlie Kaufman's mind-bending, head-scratcher about road trips, weird dinner conversations and shifting identity blurrings as what we assume become increasingly more surreal as the film goes on

Avatar: Fire and Ash (2025)

Avatar: Fire and Ash (2025)
Rating: ★★★
Apr 4, 2026War Between Human Colonists and Aliens
James Cameron makes a third venture into the world of Pandora. The question is whether he finds any new territory to explore. What you cannot deny is that he creates a pretty and absorbing picture out of it all