Spacecamp (1986)
Nov 10, 2003Teenagers Trapped in Orbit in the Space Shuttle
This comes with the unappealing concept of 'Teenagers Trapped in Orbit in the Space Shuttle' and vies between cliche and passable treatment
Joaquin Phoenix
Clay Pigeons (1998)
Aug 13, 1999Smalltown Psycho Black Comedy
Small town murder/psycho film where an initially promising black sense of humour soon loses its head of steam. On the other hand, a talented cast keeps the fiim going
8MM (1999)
Apr 29, 1999Snuff Movie Thriller
This seeks to be another Se7en, adapting a script by Se7en writer Andrew Kevin Walker and employing the same visual style in the story of Nicolas Cage delving into a seedy underworld in search of a snuff movie.
Signs (2002)
Aug 17, 2002Crop Circles/Alien Invasion
M. Night Shyamalan delves into the crop circle phenomenon and makes an alien invasion film. At this point his films were predicated on big conceptual surprises and this comes out as a damp squib when we find out what is going on
Brother Bear (2003)
Dec 30, 2003Disney Animation/Inuit Warrior Transformed into a Bear
One of the flop Disney animated films of the 2000s, set among the Inuit with the head-scratching premise of a warrior who is transformed into a bear
It’s All About Love (2003)
Jan 20, 2016Near-Future/Reconciliation Drama
Science-fiction outing from Thomas Vinterberg that proved a flop with audiences. Contrarily, I liked it – it is never satisfying in its attempt to be an SF film but you cannot deny it is a work directed with a beautiful and sophisticated cool that draws you inside it
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 Master (2012)
Sep 27, 2012L. Ron Hubbard Fictionalised Biopic
Paul Thomas Anderson's loose biopic of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard is a film composed of great acting and great individual scenes more so than it ever coheses as a story or delves in to interrogate its characters. Far too elusive as a story to quite be the masterpiece it is readily being hailed as
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.
Joker (2019)
Dec 28, 2019Comic-Book Super-Villain
This origin story of Batman's The Joker is less epic superheroics than it is a mundanely grounded work about one individual's rage against modern life. Less capes and costumes than something rooted in disturbed psychology and alienation that comes closest to Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver
Beau is Afraid (2023)
Sep 8, 2023Surreal Journey
Ari Aster’s third film had many audiences scratching their heads. It follows Joaquin Phoenix on an allegorical journey that becomes a dark comedy and an entirely surreal Freudian nightmare
Joker: Folie a Deux (2024)
Nov 9, 2024Comic-Book Super-Villain
Joker was a huge hit with Joaquin Phoenix winning an Academy Award for his role. This sequel emerged to very mixed reception