Dearing and Grady enlist Grant and Sadler to rescue a girl holding the secret to preventing ecological collapse. A loosely-plotted series of chases, escapes, and fan service this time out. Fun while it’s on but doesn’t cohere, lifting bits from across the franchise as well as from Damien: Omen II and sundry Bond flicks.
Here’s the trailer.
An aged hotelier recounts his life story. If Keaton and Kubrick ever teamed up to make a deadpan farce prequel to The Shining, then this’d be it. Beautiful to look it, gorgeously designed and presented, with a cast in depth happy to help out. Lots of fun, basically, with Ralph Fiennes on fine form.
Here’s the trailer.
A group of friends become suspicious when mysterious seed pods grow everywhere and the people they know start to act strange. Brilliant remake of the 1956 sci-fi classic, this is well crafted, genuinely disturbing in places and remains remarkably tense and downbeat.
A rescue mission to a second island – where the original film’s dinosaurs were engineered – goes awry. Patchy sequel to the original, stronger on set-pieces than on logic or story, with borrowings from a dozen monster movies.
Thor and Loki must battle their forgotten sister to regain Asgard. Hugely entertaining and impressively throwaway piece of popcorn tosh. Everyone is having a whale of a time, even if there’s minimal actual story or incident. Lots of fun all round though, especially in the details.
Another perspective? Here’s Lemonsquirtle’s take.
Aliens invade Earth. Patriotic, team-oriented, and generally satisfactory War of the Worlds update which shoehorns in Wells’ ending and makes space for an ensemble cast having fun plus then-state of the art effects work. Slyly tongue-in-cheek throughout.
20 years after Independence Day, the aliens return. Sequel/reprise of the 1996 original, taking a lighter, space operatic tone. ID4:R works because it plays as B-movie fodder, and is less interested in plausibility than in creating fun moments.
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