Ghost Town (2008)
Nov 22, 2008Man That Can See Ghosts Comedy
Director/screenwriter David Koepp proves that comedy is not his forte in this light fantasy in which Ricky Gervais emerges from anaesthesia to find that he can now see ghosts
Kristen Wiig
How to Train Your Dragon (2010)
Apr 3, 2010Animation/Boy Befriends Dragon
Popular animated adaptation of a children's book. This hits all the right story arcs and in sufficiently likeable measure to work amiably. Two sequels and a live-action remake followed.
Despicable Me (2010)
Jul 17, 2010Animation/Comic Travails of a Super-Villain
An animated effort about a mad scientist and three orphans. One entered this with zero expectation only for it to unexpectedly emerge as a side-splitting and completely charming pleasure
Paul (2011)
Mar 27, 2011Science-Fiction Fans Encounter an Alien Comedy
Hilarious Simon Pegg-written homage to science-fiction fandom and alien visitor cinema. imagine Starman recast with two science-fiction fans and tv's sarcastically wisecracking ALF (voiced by Seth Rogen)
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.
Despicable Me 2 (2013)
Jul 2, 2013Animation/Comic Travails of a Super-Villain
Despicable Me was a charming lightning in the bottle hit. Here Illumination Entertainment merely recyclethe familiar and already the cute sweetness and gags of the original are starting to feel like processed formula
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013)
Jan 12, 2014Daydreamer's Fantasies
Ben Stiller's remake of the unfunny Danny Kaye vehicle about an impractical daydreamer has no more depth than an inspirational postcard and takes a long time to deliver it
How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014)
Jun 20, 2014Animation/World of Dragons
This is a film that leaves you in two minds – one that is constantly going wow at the animated artistry and detail before us; the other that is realising that this is yet another formula animated film
The Martian (2015)
Oct 24, 2015Astronaut Stranded on Mars
This year's Gravity. A film where you can almost see the writers having the time of their life working out the science to the nth degree (and moreover making it digestible for mass audiences). Ridley Scott rides the dramatic peaks and troughs like a pro and the result is one of the most outrightly enjoyable films in some time
Ghostbusters (2016)
Jul 23, 2016Team of Spook Chasers Comedy
There was a lot of hate centred on this for recasting what is considered a classic film with an all-girl cast. It emerges mostly likeably, no better, no worse on the whole, where the new ensemble make a solid showing
Sausage Party (2016)
Aug 20, 2016Animation/Talking Supermarket Produce
The most demented premise of the year – an animated film about the lives of the talking produce in a supermarket. This is crude, rude and guaranteed to offend (as might be expected from a Seth Rogen penned vehicle); it is also one of the funniest and cleverest films of the year
Downsizing (2017)
Feb 4, 2018Miniaturised People
Matt Damon gets shrunken to five inches tall in this effort from Alexander Payne, an award-winning director who usually makes films about men undergoing mid-life crises. The film has a cleverness but Payne often misses the possibilities raised
Mother! (2017)
Dec 16, 2017Surreal Allegorical Drama
Darren Aronofsky's surreal drama wildly divided critics – many panned, while others called it the Best Film of the Year – and was a box-office flop with general audiences. Naturally, what I thought the film was about was completely different to what Aronofsky stated the film was about
Despicable Me 3 (2017)
Sep 9, 2017Animation/Comic Travails of a Super-Villain
Despicable Me was a delightful debut for Illumination Entertainment but has come close to making the studio a one-hit wonder they have milked that one hit for all they can
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019)
Apr 20, 2019Animation/World of Dragons
One of the most beautifully made formula animated films of recent vintage but at the end of the day no more than a film that is by the numbers where the artistry is unsupported by the banal script
Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)
Jan 2, 2021Comic-Book Superheroine
The much-anticipated sequel to the Gal Gadot starring Wonder Woman is a highly divided success, partly due to an inane plot centred around a magic wishing stone