Movies

This is a summation of every movie review on the site arranged by year. Most years are arranged in star order, highest first. Thumbnail review links are provided for all nine and ten star films. To find a specific movie you’re looking for it is easiest to use the find function of your browser.

2012 Movies:

★★★★★ ★★ 7/10

Avengers Assemble is better than you could have hoped for, if not quite as dramatically interesting as it may have been, and it also contains what is certainly one of the all-time classic final showdowns.

2011 Movies:

★★★★★ ★★★ 8/10

Marvel Studios surprised everyone by hiring Kenneth Branagh (better known for his Shakespearean endeavours) to direct fantasy actioner Thor and he rewarded them with their best film yet. Released in the UK in 2011, documentary Senna is a must-watch for any Formula 1 fan. Another pleasant surprise was the successful reboot of the Planet of the Apes franchise with Rupert Wyatt’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

★★★★★ ★★ 7/10

Source Code is a movie with daft science fiction but emotionally engaging performances. Tarsem, as expected, brings some great visuals to the screen in Immortals but backs it up with good work from his hero and villain and by keeping the production largely comprehensible. Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows felt like it came out quickly for a sequel (it didn’t; it took the typical two years) but was a considerable improvement on the first movie in every respect.

★★★★★ ★ 6/10

Transformers: Dark of the Moon improves over Revenge of the Fallen but isn’t as good as the first Transformers. Captain America: The First Avenger was pretty solid but nothing more. British intelligence services drama Page Eight was unconvincing enough to distract but still intriguing and entertaining. Cars 2 is probably Pixar’s worst movie but it’s still entertaining and looks great. Battle Los Angeles is an uneasy but superficially thrilling blend of a Hollywood alien invasion movie and a war movie.

★★★★★ 5/10

Car action movie Fast Five may be Justin Lin’s best Fast & Furious sequel yet, but that’s not saying much. Crime-fighting hero movie The Green Hornet doesn’t click despite some nice ideas and visuals.

★★★ 3/10

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides proves that the entertainment value of the franchise has all dried up.

★★ 2/10

Green Lantern was green pants.

2010 Movies:

★★★★★ ★★★ 8/10

Vash the Stampede returned in a movie, action comedy Trigun: Badlands Rumble and was instantly on top form; this is satisfyingly more of the same.

★★★★★ ★★ 7/10

Dreamworks Animation produced their best film since Shrek 2 with How to Train Your Dragon (fantasy buddy-buddy adventure). Ben Affleck continued his impressive directorial run of quality movies with The Town (one last job heist romance). The story and characters are better than expected in Jerry Bruckheimer’s Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (period fantasy action adventure) but the action, as is the norm at the moment, edited to an instantly forgettable flurry of noise. John Rabe is a high-quality based on true events German / Chinese production set during the Second Sino-Japanese War. With, rather randomly, Steve Buscemi in it. The Next Three Days is a quality prison escape thriller with, as usual, charismatic work from Russell Crowe. Tamil blockbuster Enthiran: The Robot is a fun science fiction adventure with a couple of eye-opening action scenes. Even though Arrietty (Studio Ghibli fantasy animation) is a good enough film and commercially successful, Studio Ghibli is still struggling to produce visionary talent to take them into the future.

★★★★★ ★ 6/10

Christopher Nolan’s Inception was a solid, interesting action movie but, surprisingly, a watch-once only experience. Second time is just dull. Iron Man 2 delivered a predictable but not bad sequel though if you had seen the trailer, it definitely spoiled the movie. So much so that I’ve stopped watching movie trailers now. Conversely, with a trailer moment that made me see the movie (the tank sequence), The A-Team was better, more ambitious and more imaginative than expected. While Unstoppable (runaway train thriller) was exciting, it also featured depressingly poor characterisations and Hollywood embellishments that weren’t needed. Salt (espionage sleeper thriller) didn’t quite convince but is interesting and slickly put together. Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island (psychological mystery thriller) is a movie to talk about but, like all his works, it feels like it goes on and on and doesn’t quite keep the interest. Jon Turteltaub made his best movie for Jerry Bruckheimer yet with The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (fantasy action adventure) which was more imaginative and entertaining than anticipated. Tom Cruise has fun (and so do the audience) but also kills an inordinate number of innocent fellow agents in espionage action comedy Knight and Day. Medieval action adventure drama Robin Hood was nearly a Gladiator with mud and was more interesting than expected. Modestly-budgeted Bruce Willis conspiracy espionage-themed action movie Red featured much better action than expected and boasts one of the coolest action moments in Willis’ career. L’Illusionniste is a lovely-looking animation but an unconvincing early plot development distracts from most of the remainder of the movie. The Other Guys is a fun buddy-buddy police action comedy with an on-form Will Ferrell. Luc Besson directed the slightly disappointing fantasy adventure Les adventures extraordinaires d’Adèle Blanc-Sec but it does feature some great Egyptian mummies and a lovely leading lady in Louise Bourgoin.

★★★★★ 5/10

Michael Mann’s Public Enemies (period crime drama) was disappointing. Chris Columbus Percy Jackson & The Lightning Thief (Greek mythology fantasy adventure) wasn’t disappointing: it was as bland as expected. Predators (science fiction action) wasn’t bad, but it didn’t generate any suspense or excitement either. Go and watch the 1987 classic again, instead.

★★★ 3/10

Tim Burton delivered a disappointingly dull Alice in Wonderland (dull fantasy Adventure) but his wife as the Red Queen was a genuine treat.

★★ 2/10

Clash of the Titans is a bland fantasy adventure whose only purpose was to generate $500 million in worldwide box office. Not to entertain audiences.

2009 Movies:

★★★★★ ★★★★ 9/10

Best blockbuster of the year will probably be the return of James Cameron doing technically astonishing action that works emotionally in Avatar.

★★★★★ ★★★ 8/10

Ron Howard takes Dan Brown’s page turner Angels & Demons and successfully translates it into a good thriller with an unusual backdrop. Unexpected treat of the year was wonderful Belgian animated adventure A Town Called Panic.

★★★★★ ★★ 7/10

J.J. Abrams resurrected Star Trek for Paramount with a fun, exciting action adventure with a couple of nice moments of gravitas from series’ legend Leonard Nimoy and a surprisingly good leading man in Chris Pine. Though it didn’t sustain a tremendous opening (backed by Michael Giacchino’s timeless score), Up is yet another good Pixar movie. Jackie Chan does something genuinely different for him in Shinjuku Incident (Jackie Chan Crime Drama). Armored (heist thriller) is refreshingly tight and tidy. Though still obtuse, science fiction horror anime King of Thorn wasn’t as impenetrable as many of it’s animated Japanese stable-mates and worked brilliantly as a relentlessly paced monster chase movie. Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs is the best in the franchise so far.

★★★★★ ★ 6/10

April before I’m well enough to go to the pictures. Grief. Anyway, my first big-screen adventure of 2009 came with Monsters vs Aliens which is rescued from Madagascar / Shark Tale weakness by a lovely leading lady (though it probably isn’t important who animated her so Dreamworks don’t credit them). The Terminator franchise unexpectedly resurfaced on the big-screen with Terminator: Salvation. While it is the franchise’s weakest entry so far, thanks to a lot of spectacular action, it is rather better than one would have expected when first announced. Nicolas Cage and somebody else’s hair starred in Alex Proyas’ Knowing which was an occasionally bad film but featured a couple of impressively harrowing disaster sequences and was most definitely about something. It will give your pondering abilities a good workout, especially if you believe in the Bible or other prophetic works with a documented history of fulfilment. Bruce Willis starred in the slightly cheap-feeling but interesting Surrogates. District 9 was a little spoiled for me by high expectations thanks to gushing contemporary reviews; it’s not that good and it’s not quite entertaining or thought-provoking but it is visually remarkable and certainly highlights director Neill Blomkamp as one to watch. Duncan Jones is another director to watch after delivering a tidy science fiction movie with some good work from Sam Rockwell (if you’re a fan of his) in Moon. 9 (CG Animated Post-Apocalyptic Action Adventure) has a clearly broken story but is thrilling and entertaining nonetheless. Sherlock Holmes (Period Crime Adventure) was fine but didn’t focus on intelligence or detection and feels like a missed opportunity. Supernatural Disney fantasy The Princess and the Frog saw a welcome return for physically-produced animation but the magic just isn’t there. Computer animated science fiction action movie Astro Boy starts off rather more interestingly than anticipated but remains fun even when it devolves into ‘finding yourself’ ordinariness. Race to Witch Mountain is a reasonably thrilling but forgettable and shallow science fiction action adventure. G-Force is more fun, is ferociously paced and has superb special effects but a low-quality script keeps it at a six. Night at the Museum 2 is an entertaining adventure film, as good as you could have hoped for.

★★★★★ 5/10

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs is queasy.

★★★★ 4/10

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen proved, unsurprisingly, badly written and conceived but, surprisingly, boring. X-Men Origins: Wolverine had Hugh Jackman but poor bad guys.

★★★ 3/10

Bourne trilogy screenwriter Tony Gilroy directed Duplicity to little entertainment effect though he did supply a rather fun slo-mo fight scene between Tom Wilkinson and Paul Giamatti. Tom Tykwer disappointed with globe-trotting but remarkably dull conspiracy thriller The International.

★★ 2/10

Though entirely watchable, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra is the worst kind of cynical marketing ploy undisguised as a cynical marketing ploy. Somewhat less watchable is the continued demise of Robert Zemeckis with another CG freak show needlessly performing Disney’s A Christmas Carol.

2008 Movies:

2008 started with an unexpected bang as the brilliantly conceived Cloverfield (9/10) stomped into cinemas as the best monster movie since Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park.

Roland Emmerich’s long-in-the-making 10,000 BC (4/10) also stomped into cinemas a few weeks later and, while it did okay financially, a distinct lack of atmosphere makes it his worst and dullest American film.

The 2008 Summer blockbuster season opened strongly both financially and critically with Iron Man (7/10). The following week, the Wachowski’s delivered the psychedelic but broken Speed Racer (6/10). Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls (5/10) was anticipated with trepidation and, sadly, the badly told adventure did disappoint in entertainment terms and is, arguably, Steven Spielberg’s worst ever film. The Incredible Hulk (6/10) was not disappointing and hints at an entirely agreeable future where multiple Marvel movies and characters all cross over into each other (which sounds very cool). Kung Fu Panda (7/10) provided an unexpectedly fun blip of quality in DreamWorks Animations’ miserable recent output.

Hellboy II: The Golden Army (5/10) disappointed by burying the entertaining title character under an illogical plot and boring action.

Even though hopes weren’t high for the Rob Minkoff-directed Jackie Chan / Jet Li movie The Forbidden Kingdom (4/10), it has the feel of podgy, bland Hollywood fingers all over it and, therefore, still manages to be a disappointment.

Pixar delivered another good movie in Wall·E (7/10) but I liked the associated short Presto even more.

Then the good news came: The Dark Knight (9/10) was a bit good if not exactly fun. Intense, disturbingly thought-provoking and unexpectedly deep, it is the best, if not the most fun, movie of the year.

With October came Eagle Eye (6/10) which sees Disturbia cohorts D.J. Caruso and Shia LaBeouf follow up their Rear Window-esque thriller with an entertaining action thriller reminiscent of North by Northwest. Opening without competition is Bond 22, Quantum of Solace (7/10) which, while certainly a good interesting action movie, doesn’t really feel like a Bond movie.

2008 home viewing catch-up

★★★★★ ★★★ 8/10

Despite somewhat sniffy reviews Vantage Point is a tremendous thriller, tightly written and directed and hugely exciting and enjoyable. JCVD is just astonishing with a revelatory performance by the eponymous leading man. Clint Eastwood makes his final on-screen appearance (again) in Gran Torino and it’s a good-‘un. Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who (CG animated fantasy adventure) is Fox Animation’s best movie yet. The Young Victoria is a lovely film and a most enjoyable experience.

★★★★★ ★★ 7/10

Valkyrie highlighted an area of German World War II history than I had not come across before. The Hurt Locker focused on a much more recent war and the extraordinarily dangerous work of making bombs not explode. M. Night Shyamalan’s The Happening is an efficient, effective disaster horror movie which didn’t deserve the critical pounding it received. Baz Luhrmann’s sniffed-at Australia is an entertaining, not-dark and good-looking romantic epic. Clint Eastwood delivered a precision-directed true story but Angelina Jolie was just a perfectly-set hair off in Changeling.

★★★★★ ★ 6/10

Jeremy Clarkson released his now-customary Christmas automotive DVD (Clarkson: Thriller) and, while not as good as Top Gear, it still provides a good amount of fun. Decent movies featuring Vikings are almost unheard of so Outlander is something of an impressive achievement. The Day the Earth Stood Still remade a much-revered science fiction classic and didn’t embarrass itself. Adam Sandler fantasy Bedtime Stories did not fulfil its potential.

★★★★★ 5/10

Get Smart (5/10) was more fun than expected with the cast producing the goods from a thin script. Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (5/10) featured some terrific character visual designs. Brad Pitt was outstanding in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (5/10) but everything else felt fake. Ridley Scott delivered an hilarious beard for Leonardo Di Caprio to sport in Body of Lies.

★★★★ 4/10

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (4/10) had good visual effects and Michelle Yeoh but no entertainment value and was otherwise worthless. The Chronicles of Narnia would-be franchise came to a boring halt with Prince Caspian (4/10) though it did feature a spectacular and interesting climactic battle. Coraline (Stop-Motion Fantasy Adventure) did nothing to endear me to Henry Selick’s non-Nightmare Before Christmas work. Though it had plenty of action, 12 Rounds over-edited itself into averageness.

★★★ 3/10

Max Payne continues the endless run of poor movies based on video games.

2007 Movies:

★★★★★ ★★★ 8/10

Bridge to Terabithia was an unexpected treat, an intelligent, beautifully-told family movie. The best movie of the summer was unquestionably The Bourne Ultimatum which was a bit brilliant climax to a better-than-expected trilogy. More unexpected entertainment came in the form of the happy Hairspray. Atonement was an impressively classy romance with an interesting backbone. Pixar delivered another unusual but quality experience with Ratatouille. Despite being directed by Gregory Hoblit, Fracture turned out to be a fun, engrossing cat-and-mouse perfect murder movie. Ben Affleck continued to improve his Hollywood standing by directing and co-adapting the thought-provoking child kidnap drama Gone Baby Gone.

★★★★★ ★★ 7/10

Transformers was probably the most eagerly anticipated of the big summer movies and, while not a classic, Michael Bay’s stupendously good-looking film didn’t disappoint. With Stardust, Matthew Vaughn (director of crime drama Layer Cake) surprised by delivering a fun family fantasy adventure which largely supplied entertainment with an agreeably light touch. Superman: Doomsday reboots Warner Bros. Animation Superman franchise and boasts an outrageously good (and emotional) first third and is pretty good for the remainder. 3:10 to Yuma featured two great contemporary actors, Russell Crowe and Christian Bale, on great form in an interesting quality western. The Exorcism of Emily Rose is a thought-provoking and scary movie and rather better than expected. Don Cheadle provides a nice reminder that he is a capable and charismatic actor in 9/11 PTSD-themed Reign Over Me. Sunshine is generally good but the final section weakens the impact. Tightly-focused, just like Liam Neeson’s character, and crisply-directed, Taken is a simple but good thriller. Hitman is a surprisingly good video-game adaptation in the realm of modest no-nonsense action movies. Refreshingly short for an ‘important’ movie, Lions for Lambs is good without being particularly thought-provoking. Los Cronocrímenes aka Timecrimes is a crisp time-travel thriller.

★★★★★ ★ 6/10

Die Hard 4.0 (6/10) surprised everyone by being rather good fun. A good action-y trailer wasn’t enough to find an audience for The Kingdom (6/10) though that might have had something to do with everyone thinking the movie was set in Iraq (it wasn’t, it was set in Saudi Arabia). I Am Legend (6/10) was as dour as expected but Will Smith has charisma to spare. Johnny Depp was outstanding in the brilliantly-made Sweeney Todd (6/10) but the music and gratuitous gore was not a good experience for me. Disturbia (6/10) was a not-terrible contemporary take on Alfred Hitchcock’s perfect classic Rear Window. Fantastic Four sequel Rise of the Silver Surfer (6/10) surprised everyone by exceeding our low expectations. It’s not great but it’s certainly not bad. Vacancy (6/10) is a decent scary movie but cannot disguise it’s lack of imagination. Evan Almighty (6/10) is unusually good-natured for a big-budget American movie and, therefore, rather original. Appleseed: Ex Machine (6/10) is a good-looking CG anime with a slightly muddled bad guy. Though not convincing, high-school bullying comedy Drillbit Taylor is charming, and that was enough.

★★★★★ 5/10

Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix (5/10) made little sense but lots of money. The unexpected financial bonanza of 2007 was awarded to Knocked Up (5/10) despite it being unconvincing, overly crude and not funny (though not unfunny, either). Croc was fine for a no-budget monster movie.

★★★★ 4/10

The annual Saturday Night Live-spawned movie for international audiences to scratch their heads over was Hot Rod (4/10). Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (4/10) made pots of money but was absolutely no fun. Also from Disney, also no fun and sadly from the completely lost animation studios came Meet the Robinsons (4/10) which had plenty of heart from it’s writer / director Stephen John Anderson but, it seems, not enough talent. T4XI (or Taxi 4 for the non-illiterate) all but dumped the series trademark action but the comedy remained frantic, energetic and funnier than it should be.

★★★ 3/10

In a terrible year for Disney artistically, the much-lauded Enchanted (3/10) did not enchant me. Pierce Brosnan starred in the duff, transparent, if not quite worthless, thriller Butterfly on a Wheel (3/10).

★★ 2/10

Those of us who thought Steven Soderbergh couldn’t produce a worse film than Ocean’s Twelve had to be impressed when he did just that with the almost indescribably dull Ocean’s Thirteen (2/10). Another dull thud for cinemas landed in the worthlessly gory violent shape of AVPR: Aliens Versus Predator Requiem (2/10). It wasn’t a good year for horror. Hilary Swank slummed in Stephen Hopkins’ typically dull The Reaping (2/10). After the game and now this dreadfulness (fantasy adventure movie The Golden Compass), I hate everything to do with Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials.

★ 1/10

Ghost Rider (1/10) and Shrek the Third (1/10) surprised no-one who had seen any of the trailers by being utterly atrocious. However, Bee Movie (1/10) proved a genuine surprise when, instead of being uselessly bland, it, too, was irredeemably awful. In fact, CG animation is fast becoming a byword for unwatchable. Next example, Open Season. An Open Secretion would have been more pleasant to watch. Distressingly poor animation seems to be a theme of 2007 with Fox excreting a big-screen adventure for The Simpsons in The Simpsons Movie (1/10). Tony Gilroy made his directorial debut with the directionless and boring Michael Clayton (1/10). Presumably Jude Law and Kenneth Branagh thought the original, rather good, Sleuth didn’t have enough F-words in it, so they made a distasteful and unnecessary remake (Sleuth (1/10)).

2006 Movies:

★★★★★ ★★★★ 9/10

Christopher Nolan followed up his Batman Begins blockbuster success with brilliant period mystery (though it’s much more than that) The Prestige (9/10).

★★★★★ ★★★ 8/10

Director Paul Greengrass delivered an impressively visceral tale of United 93 (8/10), the plane that didn’t hit a building on September 11th, 2001, thanks to the efforts of passengers using their dying actions to save others. Actor-turned-director Guillaume Canet delivered a surprisingly terrific thriller in the shape of Tell No One (8/10). Starter for Ten (8/10) is engaging romantic comedy fun. The Last King of Scotland (semi-fictional biopic) also stars James McAvoy but is certainly not. But it is a very good film. Breach (8/10) featured an outstanding performance from Chris Cooper as a US traitor.

★★★★★ ★★ 7/10

Cars (7/10) is another good movie from Pixar though, ultimately and surprisingly, it is rescued by cinema’s best motor-racing scenes for a very long time. Sharkwater (7/10) is an eye-opening documentary about our misconception of sharks and the brutal trade that, if it continues, will make them extinct and maybe ourselves too. Stranger Than Fiction (7/10) delivered a brilliantly original and stimulating premise but didn’t quite make the most of it. While largely sniffed at by critics and assorted bandwagon jumpers, I enjoyed X-Men: The Last Stand (7/10) and maintain that it contained, arguably, the best unexpected scene in any of the summer blockbusters. Renaissance (7/10) provided one of the most striking looking movies of all time, a literally black-and-white noir. Death Note (7/10) and Death Note: The Last Name (7/10) successfully adapted and squished the brilliant manga and anime into a few hours. While both had significant weaknesses, Clint Eastwood’s World War Two double-header Flags of our Fathers (7/10) and Letters from Iwo Jima (7/10) were both worthwhile entries in a crowded genre. Penélope Cruz and writer / director Pedro Almodovar headline the quality drama Volver (7/10). Michel Ocelot delivered a number of stunning moments in animated fantasy adventure Azur et Asmar.

★★★★★ ★ 6/10

Ben Affleck restored some of his battered professional reputation with good work in Hollywoodland. J.J. Abrams delivered, arguably, the best summer blockbuster sequence with the opening of Mission: Impossible III but the remainder felt merely solid. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest was, in terms of action and visual effects, better than we could have hoped for but the complete lack of depth is felt. The otherwise weak Night at the Museum showcased the joy and screen charisma of the great Dick Van Dyke. Fast Food Nation wasn’t quite as digestible (hehe) as Morgan Spurlock’s 2004 Super Size Me (7/10). Robert DeNiro directed a classy but fictional take on the early development of the CIA in The Good Shepherd but there was a welcome glimpse of the charismatic greatest-actor-of-his-generation that we hadn’t seen for too long. Keanu Reeves showed off his charisma with the ladies by romancing Sandra Bullock from two years and death away in The Lake House. Better-than-expected thriller Slow Burn makes you wonder why they waited two years after production to release it. Darren Aronofsky finally got to make and release The Fountain and it was an intriguing movie that doesn’t outstay its welcome. The DaVinci Code turned out rather duller than it’s fantastically controversial plot should have allowed. Seraphim Falls is an intriguing chase western but it could have been even better. Japanese animation studio Gonzo delivered their first feature film with Origin: Spirits of the Past but it’s superb visuals and sonics were not backed up by an involving story. Ice Age 2: The Meltdown is better-than-expected in that it’s not awful and is entertaining.

★★★★★ 5/10

Goro Miyazaki’s Tales from Earthsea showed that Studio Ghibli currently has no future. Korean monster movie The Host also didn’t quite work despite a number of eye-catching ingredients. John Cena didn’t turn out to be another charismatic Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in adequate bottom-shelf actioner The Marine. You could clearly see the plot problems in The Invisible. Prisoner-of-war movie Rescue Dawn was not as interesting or involving as it should have been. Jamel Debbouze has one arm. The character he plays in Indigènes (aka Days of Glory) has two. It’s a problem. While not exactly good, The Last Legion was rather better than the trailers made it look.

★★★★ 4/10

Dhoom 2 (4/10) proved slightly weaker than the original Dhoom. Writer / director Steven Zaillian couldn’t put All the King’s Men (4/10) back together again but it was all his own fault. No Nick Park, no quality, in Aardman’s dismal Flushed Away (4/10). Thanks to director Corey Yuen, hopes were a little higher than is usual for video-game movies so DOA: Dead or Alive (4/10), despite being nice-looking and professionally put together, still managed to be slightly disappointing.

★★★ 3/10

At the opposite end of the quality spectrum from Paul Greengrass’ United 93 (8/10), audiences slept through Oliver Stone’s unconvincing and almost criminally dull World Trade Center (3/10). M. Night Shyamalan deservedly bore the full brunt of a film critic backlash with his first poor film Lady in the Water (3/10).

★★ 2/10

Richard Linklater added to his pile of boring, unlikeable movies about boring, unlikeable drug addicts with A Scanner Darkly. Renny Harlin’s Hollywood career started high with Die Hard 2 but it continues it’s downward plummet with The Covenant though, to be fair, it did have potential.

★ 1/10

If you ever wondered what would happen if Steve Martin wiped his bum on your local cinema screen, The Pink Panther will satisfy your thirst for knowledge. Eragon joins the near endless list of movies that feature dragons but are inexplicably awful. Jackie Chan produces possibly his worst movie ever with action comedy Robin B Hood. Alphabetically punctuating what must rank as one of cinema’s worst ever years is Kurt Wimmer’s Ultraviolet.

2005 Movies:

★★★★★ ★★★★ 9/10

Batman Begins

Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (stop-motion animated action adventure)

★★★★★ ★★★ 8/10

Idiocracy (satirical science-fiction comedy)

Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (science fiction action adventure)

★★★★★ ★★ 7/10

Angela-A

Chaos (police heist thriller)

Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride

King Kong

Memoirs of a Geisha

Romanzo Criminale aka Crime Novel

★★★★★ ★ 6/10

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (6/10)

Dark Water (6/10)

Fantastic Four (6/10)

Illusionist, The (6/10)

Kronk’s New Groove (6/10)

Zathura: A Space Adventure (6/10)

★★★★★ 5/10

Æon Flux aka Aeon Flux

Hoodwinked

Les chevaliers du ciel aka Sky Fighters (French aerial action)

Mr. and Mrs. Smith

The Myth (Jackie Chan Fantasy Action Romance)

★★★ 3/10

2004 Movies:

★★★★★ ★★★ 8/10

Premier British director Danny Boyle gave us an outstanding child’s performance (from Alex Etel) in the wonderfully uncynical Millions.

★★★★★ ★★ 7/10

20 30 40 proves that women are the same the world over. 50 First Dates is a good, if overly crude, Adam Sandler romantic comedy. Caché is another successful under-your-skin exercise from Michael Haneke. Appleseed is a cool CG anime. Roland Emmerich delivered spectacular but un-histrionic disaster movie The Day After Tomorrow.

★★★★★ ★ 6/10

Hellboy provided some fun and a visually impressive title character. The Jacket was unconvincing but in an interesting way.

★★★★★ 5/10

Dhoom had, appropriately, fun songs but the remainder of the enterprise was weak and undermined by leading man Abhishek Bachchan.

★★★ 3/10

Mulan 2 proved another hateful Disney sequel that I’d rather take as a suppository than watch again. Despite audiences looking forward to Ocean’s Twelve as another fun caper, Steven Soderbergh didn’t bother to make, well, anything, seemingly. Steven Spielberg’s worst ever film? He directed The Terminal which should have been about two minutes long but was instead eked out over a miserable two hours.

2003 Movies:

★★★★★ ★★★ 8/10

Terminator: Rise of the Machines (science fiction action)

The Matrix: Reloaded (Science Fiction Action)

★★★★★ ★★ 7/10

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

Tais toi! aka Ruby & Quentin (buddy-buddy comedy)

Tears of the Sun

★★★★★ ★ 6/10

Brother Bear (and the commentary (9/10)

Elf

Red Lights aka Feux rouges