Jurassic World (2015)

Jurassic World (2015)

[9] I enjoyed the hell out of Jurassic World and I don't care who knows it. I don't know who the director is (Colin Trevorrow, anyone?), but I thought this was easily the scariest and most entertaining Jurassic Park flick since the…
Altered States (1980)

Altered States (1980)

[4] William Hurt makes his big-screen debut in this blend of psychedelia and cockamamy psychology based on a novel by Paddy Chayefsky (Network). Hurt plays a college professor of science who experiments with drugs inside isolation tanks to, oh, I don't know…
Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

[6] My favorite part of this Avengers sequel is when the bad guy, a robot voiced by James Spader, first pulls himself together and wobbles confidently in front of the superheroes at the end of a house party. It's a good introduction…
Green Lantern (2011)

Green Lantern (2011)

[4] Green Lantern is probably the single-most generic superhero movie I've ever seen. It's not terrible so much as it is wholly unremarkable. It's mired in a scatter-shot script that dwells on plot points and secondary characters I couldn't give two craps…
Ghostbusters II (1989)

Ghostbusters II (1989)

[5] The gang is back for another outing, five years after the enormous success of the first Ghostbusters. But its a mediocre follow-up at best. Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, Ernie Hudson, Sigourney Weaver, Rick Moranis, Annie Potts, and director Ivan…
Nightbreed: The Director’s Cut (1990/2014)

Nightbreed: The Director’s Cut (1990/2014)

[8] See review of the Nightbreed theatrical cut here. Clive Barker's Nightbreed was originally released in 1990, dumped onto a handful of screens by the studio and barely marketed. It was a financial failure, and for the director it was also a…
Nightbreed (1990)

Nightbreed (1990)

[8] Nightbreed, directed by Clive Barker and based on his book Cabal, wants to be a sprawling horror-fantasy epic for the ages. But the multifaceted story is told so quickly and haphazardly in the studio's cut of the film, the end result…
The Boy Who Could Fly (1986)

The Boy Who Could Fly (1986)

[7] The Boy Who Could Fly is a goofy movie, but it has a lot of heart. Lucy Deakins stars as Milly, a fourteen-year-old girl who has just moved to a new town after her father committed suicide. She discovers her next…
The Dance of Reality (2014)

The Dance of Reality (2014)

[5] The Dance of Reality is the first film in decades from well-loved cult filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky (El Topo, The Holy Mountain). The film is a quasi-autobiography from the filmmaker, covering his childhood in a Chilean coastal town. Jodorowsky is played by…
How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014)

How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014)

[7] This sequel taps into two powerful currents of audience identification: the love between parents and children, and the love between people and animals. You can approach these with cloying calculation, as many family films do, or you can attack them with…