Heaven (1998)
Nov 24, 2002Precognition
New Zealand-made film about criminal dealings also involving clairvoyance in a series of daring editing schemes that recall something of Don't Look Now
Karl Urban
The Irrefutable Truth About Demons (2000)
May 9, 2001Pursuit by Satanic Cult
New Zealand-made horror film with Karl Urban as a lecturer on the run from a Satanist cult
The Price of Milk (2000)
May 15, 2001Kiwi Magical Realism
Quirkily eccentric and surreal New Zealand made comedy about a couple living on a farm
Ghost Ship (2002)
Feb 27, 2003Haunted Ship
This was a big-budget revival of the ghost ship theme by Dark Castle Entertainment about a salvage crew encountering a ghost vessel. Visual effects tend to trump spooky atmosphere
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
Dec 24, 2002Epic Fantasy Adventure
Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings saga truly gains its feet here, expanding out onto an epic scale where he has fused special effects and story into a singular vision
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Dec 23, 2003Epic Fantasy Adventure
The weakest of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings films, the most variant from the source material and the one where Jackson allows visual effects bloat to take over
The Chronicles of Riddick (2004)
Aug 14, 2004Intergalactic Adventures
The sequel to Pitch Black where Vin Diesel's serial killer now becomes the hero of the show and the original planetary survival story is expanded out into an ornate Gothic space opera
Doom (2005)
Oct 31, 2005Videogame Adaptation/Labyrinth of Monsters
Disappointing film version of the videogame. The film seems to either miss or water down the principal appeals of the game, although you do get Dwayne Johnson (still billed as The Rock) as the bad guy
Out of the Blue (2006)
Nov 10, 2006True Life New Zealand Killing Spree
Film based on a true-life shooting spree in the tiny nowhere New Zealand town of Aramoana
Star Trek (2009)
May 12, 2009Intergalactic Adventures
J.J. Abrams revives the Star Trek franchise by recasting it with younger faces and rewriting continuity. But in the appeal to a hipper, sexier vibe, it feels a long way from Gene Roddenberry’s creation – nowhere in evidence is the original's concern with galactic politics and social issues of the day
And Soon the Darkness (2010)
Jan 29, 2011Stalked Tourists Psycho-Thriller
Another pointless 1970s remake, in this case of the little-known British psycho-thriller about two tourists stalked in the French countryside (now transplanted to Argentina) with ho-hum results
Priest (2011)
May 20, 2011Future World of Vampires
This spends much effort creating an imaginative future where priests battle vampires who are banished to reservations only to do nothing with it other than reach for the tropes of the Western
Dredd (2012)
Jan 12, 2013Comic-Book Adaptation/Future Law Enforcement Officer
A second film version of the Judge Dredd comic-book. More faithful than the Sylvester Stallone version, this comes with a satisfyingly visceral kick, yet a low-budget means that we see little of Dredd's satiric future
Walking With Dinosaurs (2013)
Dec 22, 2013Animation/Talking Dinosaurs
Walking With Dinosaurs was an amazing documentary series that recreated prehistoric life with CGI animation. By contrast. the film spinoff is a cutsie animated film with talking dinosaurs. It is a film that is killed by the decision to let the dinosaurs talk with smartass one-liners and contemporary in-jokes
Riddick (2013)
Sep 6, 2013Planetary Survival
The third Riddick film abandons the dark space opera of the less popular Chronicles of Riddick and tries to return to the planetary survival story of Pitch Black. Despite the effort showing at times, the film gets to be a good deal of fun when it gets to the scenes of Riddick outwitting the mercenaries
Star Trek: Into Darkness (2013)
May 17, 2013Intergalactic Adventures
I had mixed feelings about J.J. Abrams' reboot of Star Trek This time around the actors seem more at home in the characters and the plot works a good deal better (for the most part), while Abrams creates a hurtling effects spectacle that is the most action-oriented of the Trek films
Future Shock! The Story of 2000AD (2014)
Sep 23, 2016Documentary About 2000AD Comic-Book
A documentary about 2000AD, a weekly British comic-book that gave birth to Judge Dredd and featured some of the earliest works from names like Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman, among others
For the Love of Spock (2016)
Sep 18, 2016Leonard Nimoy Documentary
Documentary about the life of Leonard Nimoy made for the 50th Anniversary of Star Trek. Directed by Nimoy's son Adam, this is mostly a biography tracing Nimoy's life with some fascinating material showing the evolution of Spock
Star Trek: Beyond (2016)
Jul 30, 2016Intergalactic Adventures
Gene Roddenbery created a tv series that was about boldly going, confronting different ways of life. The choice to hire the director of The Fast and the Furious films to helm the film made for the show's 50th anniversary says how wrong-headed the reboot series has become – all about cool young leads and hurtling effects sequences
Pete’s Dragon (2016)
Aug 27, 2016Boy and Invisible Dragon/Disney Remake
Pete's Dragon was hardly a film that called out for a remake – even then, all but the basic premise has been thrown out here resulting in two films that hardly resemble one another – the original was light slapstick with a big cartoon dragon, this has become a sober wild child story where the dragon is now an endangered species
Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
Feb 3, 2018Marvel Comics Norse God Superhero
The third of the MCU's Thor films. This time Kiwi director Taikia Waititi gives much more of a comedic emphasis where you get the impression the intention has been to push the film in the direction of Guardians of the Galaxy. On the other hand, the superheroics are routine
Hangman (2017)
Jan 8, 2018Serial Killer Thriller
A dreary revival of the 1990s serial killer thriller. The surprise for a work that has no ambition beyond cable filler is that it has attracted a name like Al Pacino who mugs and showboats through the worst performance of his career