Armageddon (1998)

Armageddon (1998)
Rating:
Jul 31, 1999Asteroid on a Collision Course with Earth
It has been a long time since one has seen a film that so relentlessly celebrates its own brainlessness. Michael Bay directs an asteroid collision film amid plenty of loud noise, mass destruction, flag-waving patriotism and resolute heroism

The Million Dollar Hotel (2000)

The Million Dollar Hotel (2000)
Rating: ★★
Feb 4, 2001Near Future Fleapit Hotel Murder Mystery
Wim Wenders film from a story idea by U2's Bono set around the down-and-outs at a fleapit hotel slightly into the future. The film circles around a cast of eccentrics without ever really coming together

Minority Report (2002)

Minority Report (2002)
Rating: ★★★★
Jul 15, 2002Future Precognitive Police Force
Steven Spielberg takes on Philip K. Dick in a much grittier film than he usually makes. In the strong and intelligent script, Tom Cruise is an officer on a police force that predicts crime before it happens only to then be hunted by his own side

2001 Maniacs (2005)

2001 Maniacs (2005)
Rating: ★★★
Nov 3, 2007Splatter/Southern Town of Maniacs
Eli Roth-produced remake of the Herschell Gordon Lewis splatter film Two Thousand Maniacs, this plants tongue in cheek, is fairly and squarely aimed at a frat boy audience and unapologetic about piling on copious amounts of gore and naked breasts

The Brothers Grimm (2005)

The Brothers Grimm (2005)
Rating: ★★
Jul 3, 2007Fairy-Tale Authors' Adventures
Probably the least satisfying of Terry Gilliam's films that turns the real-life fairytale authors into scam ghost hunters in an adventure. Purportedly the subject of behind the scenes troubles, the film never quite comes to life on screen

Dylan Dog: Dead of Night (2010)

Dylan Dog: Dead of Night (2010)
Rating: ★★
Aug 24, 2011Supernatural Private Investigator
US film adaptation of a cult Italian comic-book about a private eye who investigates the supernatural, this comes out like a weak episode of tv's Angel where a potential worthwhile idea descends to lame humour

Undocumented (2010)

Undocumented (2010)
Rating: ★★★
Dec 2, 2012Vigilantes Torture Mexican Illegal Immigrants
A Found Footage film that gets political – in this case, featuring a group of American vigilantes torturing Mexican illegal immigrants. Not quite full on Torture Porn but holds a darkly barbed bite

Lockout (2012)

Lockout (2012)
Rating: ★★★
May 5, 2012Future Orbiting Prison/Action
Luc Besson written action-prison film that blatantly borrows from Escape From New York and emerges as an entertaining comic-book of a movie, even if its depth exists no further than Guy Pearce tossing off flip one-liners

Taichi Hero (2012)

Taichi Hero (2012)
Rating: ★★
Feb 13, 2014Wu Xia Film
Sequel to Stephen Fung's Taichi Zero. The first film was distractingly self-conscious and hyper-active; by contrast, this is much less so, allowing it to settle down and start being the fantastic martial arts film it sets out to be. Even so, classic Wu Xia directors leave everything Fung does for dead

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

Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters (2013)

Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters (2013)
Rating:
Jan 31, 2013Dark Adult Fairytale Adaptation
Amid the early 2010s fad for adult fairytale reinterpretations, this has an anachronistic absurdity that invites you not to take it seriously. A series of action movie poses, CGI and splatter effects are transplanted into the fairytale.

Penguins of Madagascar (2014)

Penguins of Madagascar (2014)
Rating: ★★★
Apr 11, 2015Animation/Talking Animal Spy Capers
This spinoff from the Madagascar films is a lot more fun that I was anticipating – how could you dislike a film with John Malkovich as an octopus super-villain? Essentially cast as a spy parody, the film has a gonzo insanity that hits in with a manic delirium

Bang Bang Baby (2014)

Bang Bang Baby (2014)
Rating: ★★★
Sep 11, 2015Mock 1950s Rock'n'Roll Film/Bizarre Mutations
A genre-melding oddity that starts as an earnest recreation of a 1950s rock‘n'roll movie, before introducing a series of bizarre mutations and some fascinating mid-film twists. Most audiences didn't get this but it is unusually different

Rupture (2016)

Rupture (2016)
Rating: ★★
Feb 4, 2019Woman Abducted Into a Series of Mysterious Experiments
Puzzling and enigmatic film in which Noomi Rapace is a regular mom who is abducted and forced to take place in a series of experiments by a group of people who may not even be human