The Lost Room (2006)
Nov 3, 2008Everyday Objects with Mysterious Powers
One of the most conceptually ingenious tv mini-series ever created concerning a quest for objects from a mysterious hotel room that have been imbued with amazing powers.
Elle Fanning
The Nines (2007)
Jul 17, 2009Reality Bender
Fascinating directorial debut from screenwriter John August that tells three stories about Ryan Reynolds who gradually makes mind-boggling discoveries about the nature of reality
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)
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
Super 8 (2011)
Jun 16, 2011Alien Monster/1980s Coming of Age Tale
J.J. Abrams makes a homages to 8mm filmmaking and the films of his youth – you could easily imagine this as a Steven Spielberg-produced film of the era. On the other hand, after the obsessive secrecy in pre-release, the results emerge as underwhelming
Twixt (2011)
Jan 26, 2013Ghost Story/Vampire Film
Francis Ford Coppola makes what may be a ghost story or a vampire film but things are so confused you are never sure what. Less like the mature work of one of the great American filmmakers than an ingenue effort from director straight out of film school with a head full of muddled pretensions
Maleficent (2014)
May 31, 2014Live-Action Prequel to Disney's Sleeping Beauty
Another in the early 2010s fad for fairytales rewritten as dark adult fantasy films – in this case, a version of Disney's Sleeping Beauty (as opposed to the original fairytale version) told from the viewpoint of the witch. Nicely produced, not much substance – the most interesting parts are when it gets to mess around with the fairytale
Young Ones (2014)
Dec 15, 2014Drought-Ridden Future
Not to be confused with the cult British comedy series, the anonymous title disguises an excellent film about a drought-ridden future. Less another Mad Max-inspired film than an SF version of There Will Be Blood that becomes a study in greed, ambition and the fight for resource control
The BoxTrolls (2014)
Oct 18, 2014Cuddly Trolls/Stop-Motion Animation
From Laika, a stop-motion animated work about misunderstood creatures who wear boxes as shells and are perceived as monsters by polite society. An enormous degree of creativity has gone into this
The Neon Demon (2016)
Jul 3, 2016Horror Film in the L.A. Modelling World
Nicolas Winding Refn makes a horror film set in the L.A. modelling world. A film of hypnotic surfaces that glitter with a troubling undertow, the result is like Valley of the Dolls as remade by Dario Argento
How to Talk to Girls at Parties (2017)
Sep 28, 2018Romance with an Alien Visitor
Though the title seems more suitable to a book of pick-up lines, this is about a romance with an alien visitor set during the punk era. John Cameron Mitchell adapts a Neil Gaiman story but seems to have forgotten the comedy elements
Mary Shelley (2017)
Nov 9, 2018Frankenstein’s Author Biopic
Biopic of Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein. This is a women-written and directed work so the film places an interesting feminist slant on her story meaning that she wrote the book less to address themes about science and hubris than because she was in an unhappy marriage
The Beguiled (2017)
Oct 8, 2017Southern Gothic
Sofia Coppola's remake of the 1971 Clint Eastwood film. The original was a work of brooding Southern Gothic of repressed sexual tensions; Sofia seems more interested in making a costume drama that is a stretch to call a horror story any longer
I Think We’re Alone Now (2018)
Dec 14, 2020Oddball Friendship After the Apocalypse
Set in the aftermath of an unspecified apocalypse, this is a film about the oddball friendship that grows between misanthropic Peter Dinklage and pixie-ish Elle Fanning
Maleficent, Mistress of Evil (2019)
Jan 11, 2020Sleeping Beauty Continuation
Nobody much liked Maleficent but did make a reasonable amount of money, hence we get this sequel. The surprise is that in the hands of Norwegian director Joachim Rønning, it is far better than anything one expected
Predator: Badlands (2025)
Jan 17, 2026Alien Huntsman on a Death Planet
The ninth Predator film. This changes the mix quite considerably from the usual alien huntsman vs human prey formula we have had so far. It also offers a return to the Alien universe, although not quite what we expect