Lola (2022)
Making history will never be the same again
Filmmaker(s): Andrew Legge
Sussex, England, 1938. Shortly before the outbreak of World War II, Thomasina and Martha Hanbury, two ingenious sisters, create LOLA, a miraculous machine.
Nimona (2023)
A new hero takes shape.
Filmmaker(s): Troy Quane, Nick Bruno
A knight framed for a tragic crime teams with a scrappy, shape-shifting teen to prove his innocence.
19 Oct Nimona (2023)
Your Local Manager I came to this with kids, not knowing anything. The story is ordinary, with features borrowed from a familiar bucket. But it had energy, massive energy in more than one dimension. The title character, the city backgrounds, and most particularly the camera...
X2: X-Men United (2003)
The time has come for those who are different to stand united.
Filmmaker(s): Bryan Singer
Professor Charles Xavier and his team of genetically gifted superheroes face a rising tide of anti-mutant sentiment led by Col. William Stryker. Storm, Wolverine and Jean Grey must join their usual nemeses—Magneto and Mystique—to unhinge Stryker's scheme to exterminate all mutants.
08 Oct X2: X-Men United (2003)
Utterly Pedestrian I have enthusiastic hopes for big budget action pictures. That’s because the market is so crowded, and the viewing public so visually sophisticated that we know that some thought must go into these things. This is especially so when you are building a...
X-Men (2000)
Trust a few. Fear the rest.
Filmmaker(s): Bryan Singer
Two mutants, Rogue and Wolverine, come to a private academy for their kind whose resident superhero team, the X-Men, must oppose a terrorist organization with similar powers.
30 Sep X-Men (2000)
Missed a Chance One nice thing about this is the casting of McKellan and Stewart. Despite the latter’s adventures with the stupid StarTrek, he is an intelligent actor, as is McKellan. They tower over the amateurs in this film as their characters should. About bad...
The Day After Tomorrow (2004)
Where will you be?
Filmmaker(s): Roland Emmerich
After years of increases in the greenhouse effect, havoc is wreaked globally in the form of catastrophic hurricanes, tornadoes, tidal waves, floods and the beginning of a new Ice Age. Paleoclimatologist Jack Hall tries to warn the world while also shepherding to safety his son, trapped in New York after the city is overwhelmed by the start of the new big freeze.
22 Sep The Day After Tomorrow (2004)
Burned Books Why oh why do makers of bad films sometimes put a really good actor in a minor part? It just makes everything else seem cheap. In this case, Ian Holm has a few small scenes that anchor the film. He plays the part...
2012 (2009)
We Were Warned.
Filmmaker(s): Roland Emmerich
Dr. Adrian Helmsley, part of a worldwide geophysical team investigating the effect on the earth of radiation from unprecedented solar storms, learns that the earth's core is heating up. He warns U.S. President Thomas Wilson that the crust of the earth is becoming unstable and that without proper preparations for saving a fraction of the world's population, the entire race is doomed. Meanwhile, writer Jackson Curtis stumbles on the same information. While the world's leaders race to build "arks" to escape the impending cataclysm, Curtis struggles to find a way to save his family. Meanwhile, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes of unprecedented strength wreak havoc around the world.
21 Sep 2012 (2009)
Foreground – Background When you make a film that is nothing but flavoured special effects, when you make the matter of those effects into a character, you have two decisions to make. The first is whether you are dealing with object or environment. This is...
Quantum Cowboys (2022)
Observation always affects the outcome.
Filmmaker(s): Geoff Marslett
Two hapless drifters, Frank and Bruno, team up with Linde to recover her land and trek across 1870's Southern Arizona to find an elusive frontier musician. The complex quantum time theory is blended with philosophical musings about art as the way we understand our history and memories, with gunfights, horses, dance halls, cacti, and saloons!
19 Sep Quantum Cowboys (2022)
Overlapping Takes This a bit of a philosophical stew but with naive ingredients. I don’t know how many movies we’ll get with this notion of parallel universes, each of which are occupied, or can be. But set that aside and accept it as a useful...
The Wild Robot (2024)
Filmmaker(s): Chris Sanders
After a shipwreck, an intelligent robot called Roz is stranded on an uninhabited island. To survive the harsh environment, Roz bonds with the island's animals and cares for an orphaned baby goose.
15 Sep The Wild Robot (2024)
Programmed At the front I have to say that both the adults were affected, cried, emoted. This is a Mommy story in a sea of Daddy stories, especially animated ‘family’ fare. It pulled on some formulaic strings, enough for me to say that this knows...
The Chronicles of Riddick (2004)
All the power in the universe can't change destiny
Filmmaker(s): David Twohy
After years of outrunning ruthless bounty hunters, escaped convict Riddick suddenly finds himself caught between opposing forces in a fight for the future of the human race. Now, waging incredible battles on fantastic and deadly worlds, this lone, reluctant hero will emerge as humanity's champion - and the last hope for a universe on the edge of annihilation.
03 Aug The Chronicles of Riddick (2004)
Three Women I go to opera now and then. Some people — I suppose — think that because much classical music is complex, so is opera. But there is a world of difference between a complex experience and a rich one. Opera is rich, and...
Total Recall (2012)
What Is Real?
Factory worker Doug Quaid takes a virtual mind-trip vacation with the Rekall company, opting for implanted memories of being a spy. When the procedure goes wrong, Quaid becomes a wanted man by the police and joins forces with a rebel fighter to stop the evil Chancellor Cohaagen.
