Arrest Bulldog Drummond (1938)
Adventurer Hero/Raygun Device
One of a series of Hollywood films based on popular British adventurer hero Bulldog Drummond. This throws Drummond into the midst of a plot to obtain a raygun
Advanced Weaponry
Advanced Weaponry refers to any of the weaponry that regularly appears in genre cinema. In science-fiction, this can range all the way from the ever-popular handheld lasers, blasters and phasers to larger ship-mounted versions of these, or the likes of lightsabres. At the opposite end of the spectrum, there are world-destroying Doomsday Weapons such as the Death Star.
Serials and Spy Films are filled with scientists creating death rays and various weapons. In genre cinema, exotic phenomena such as antimatter and wormholes, even control of the weather, can be employed as weapons. Secret Government Agencies, Sinister Military and Sinister Corporations are frequently seeking to find weapons application of aliens, monsters, psychic powers, genetic engineering and crashed alien ships.
There are also the more exotic weapons such as ones that are built-in to Cyborgs, while Robots can often be built for military use where they have a frequent habit of going amok. One weaponised use of the robot is the Transformer or Mecha. There is also a whole body of films given over to creating Super-Soldiers.
In fantasy, weapons usually consist of magically empowered swords, sometimes bows and/or arrows or maybe a suit of armour.
BattleBots (2018)
Battle Robots
Prolific bad movie director Mark Polonia offers his own no-budget take on the Transformers films where the Transformers are two men in bulky costume who wrestle one another
Captain Nova (2021)
Time Travel
An appealing Danish-made film in which a pilot travels back in time from the future to save the world from environmental disaster but finds she is now stuck in her twelve year-old body
Cosmic Sin (2021)
Space War
Another among the shoddy last films Bruce Willis-made before retirement, an SF film about a rogue military team that decide to declare war on aliens. This is laughable in terms of military tactics
Deadly Skies (2006)
Asteroid Collision
Very low-budget film about an impending asteroid collision. Possibly the first LGBT disaster movie depending on which version you see
Deal of the Century (1983)
Arms Trading Black Comedy
The great William Friedkin, the director of The Exorcist and other works, had a flop with this unfunny Chevy Chase and Sigourney Weaver comedy about arms dealing and the efforts to obtain a robot plane
The Destructors (1968)
Spy Film
An entry amid the 1960s spy fad that suffers a pedestrian dullness. A stocky Richard Egan seems miscast as a playboy spy up against a bikini designer villain who seeks a powerful laser weapon
Dick Tracy (1937)
Serial/Comic-Book Detective
This is a standout serial based on the famous comic-book detective, featuring some of the best of all serial cliffhangers and action set-pieces, not to mention wonderfully creative super-science inventions
Genocidal Organ (2017)
Anime/The Manipulation of Language to Create Genocide
An extraordinary anime adapted from Project Itoh, a conceptually challenging work concerning a villain who can manipulate language to drive populations to genocide
Gintama (2017)
Live-Action Anime Adaptation
The live-action adaptation of a popular anime and manga, this takes place in an alternate history version of Japan where samurai fight following an alien invasion
Guardians (2017)
Russian Superhero Film
A Russian attempt to create their own equivalent of an Avengers film. The results emerge surprisingly better than you expect and with some standout effects
Jet Stream (2013)
Disaster Movie/Weather Control Experiment Amok
A Syfy Channel disaster movie. Between the formula dramatics and the extremely cheap special effects, this is better than expected, having an undeniable sense of humour and a decidedly more original hero than most of its kind
Kamikaze (1986)
Device That Can Kill People by TV
An early film written/produced by Luc Besson in which a scientist invents a device that can kill people on tv
Legion of Super-Heroes (2023)
Animation/Comic-Book Superheroes
An animated film based on both the Legion of Super-Heroes and Supergirl
Light Blast (1985)
Action Film/Laser Weapon
From the director of the original Inglorious Bastards, an action film with Erik Estrada as a cop pursuing a blackmailing scientist who has a powerful laser weapon
The Lost Missile (1958)
Mysterious Hypersonic Missile
A film from the heyday of Cold War hysteria made not long after the launch of the first ICBM about a mysterious hypersonic missile that is possibly of alien origin that terrorises the US
Meteor Moon (2020)
The Moon on a Collision Course with the Earth/Disaster Movie
The Asylum’s mockbuster version of Moonfall. This plays a ridiculous premise with an ingenious absurdity and proves far more entertaining than its bigger budgeted model
Murderers Row (1966)
Spy Film
An excruciating copy of the James Bond films, the second of the Matt Helm films starring Dean Martin as a drunken lounge lizard spy
No Time to Die (2021)
James Bond Film
Daniel Craig’s swansong as James Bond but it no longer seems a Bond that Ian Fleming would recognise leading to the question of whether James Bond still has any relevance in 2021
The Order of the Black Eagle (1987)
Spy/Action Film
A low-budget spy/action film with entertainingly bizarre elements including a cryogenically frozen Hitler and the hero going into action accompanied by a baboon
The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976)
Bumbling Police Inspector Comedy
Fourth of the Peter Sellers Pink Panther films, this lets all restraints go and becomes completely madcap
Sky Sharks (2020)
Nazi Zombies on Flying Sharks
This has been conceived as the ultimate modern exploitation film featuring Nazi zombie piloting flying sharks. Think Iron Sky by way of Sharknado. The results are highly entertaining
Space Sweepers (2021)
Space Junk Collectors/Korean Space Opera
South Korean space opera about a crew of space junk collectors. If the Star Wars series wanted to find a director to create fresh and exhilarating effects scenes, they need look no further than here
Super Tanker (2011)
Disaster Movie/Super-Container of Antimatter
Syfy Channel disaster movie about the efforts to dispose of a container of antimatter being carried on board a tanker, where things proceed to go wrong
Tenet (2020)
Time Travel Action/Temporal Weaponry
After delays, Christopher Nolan’s unique time travel film is with us, a dense challenging work that plays like an intellectual version of a James Bond film
Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)
Marvel Comics Norse God Superhero
The fourth of Marvel’s Thor films, where director Taika Waititi gets the balance of humour down much more successfully than he did in the previous film
Warriors of Future (2022)
Action Spectacular/Plants Invasion
One of the most intensive and exciting action films of recent with humanity engaged in a furious battle with plants and killer robots
Yakuza Weapon (2011)
Gonzo Japanese Splatter Film/Yakuza With Cyborg Attachments
Another Gonzo Japanese Splatter Film about a Yakuza heir who is blown apart by rivals and then rebuilt with cyborg attachments