Mini Movie Reviews: Box Office Bombs

Today's theme is money losers featuring films by Andrew Dominik, Michael Lehmann, Luc Besson, Michael Cimino, Francis Ford Coppola, John McTiernan, and Peter Yates.

Minority Report (2003)

“The Precogs are never wrong. But, occasionally... they do disagree.”

The year is 2054 and murder has been eliminated in the District of Columbia thanks to PreCrime, a special police taskforce, led by Chief John Anderton (Tom Cruise), that uses a trio of precognitives to predict murders and prevent them. When the Precogs predict that Anderton himself will soon kill a man, someone he has never even met, he is forced to go on the run so he can clear his name by solving a murder that hasn't happened yet.

The Transformers: The Movie (1986)

“One shall stand, one shall fall.”

Imagine being a kid in 1986 going to see this movie expecting a fun adventure featuring all your favourite cartoon heroes only to end up having a front row seat for the animated version of the Red Wedding.

Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. (1966)

“We'll have to bypass Watford. The place is full of Daleks!”

Peter Cushing's second (and final) adventure as Dr. Who is a bigger and more cinematic outing than its predecessor, escaping the confines of the studio for a hectic runaround the backlot.

Mini Movie Reviews: Baroque Works

Today's theme is the 18th century featuring films by Michael Mann, Stanley Kubrick, Tony Richardson, Stephen Frears, and Miloš Forman.

Mini Movie Reviews: Sex, Drugs, and Killer Robots

Today's theme is the science fiction of the 1970s featuring films by Boris Sagal, Michael Anderson, Robert Wise, Ralph Bakshi, John Boorman, and Michael Crichton.

Mini Movie Reviews: Once More Unto the Breach...

Today's theme is historical battles featuring films by Tony Richardson, Peter Weir, Basil Dearden, Zack Snyder, Sergei Bondarchuk, and Richard Attenborough.

Mini Movie Reviews: I Spy...

Today's theme is espionage featuring films by James Cameron, Sidney J. Furie, Tony Scott, Alfred Hitchcock, Sydney Pollack, Martin Ritt, and Daniel Mann.

Mini Movie Reviews: Mother Russia

Today's theme is the land you really don't wanna invade during the winter months featuring films by Alexander Sokurov, David Lean, Franklin J. Schaffner, Igor Maslennikov, Michael Apted, Andrei Tarkovsky, and Vladimir Moty.

Batman & Robin (1997)

"If I must suffer, humanity will suffer with me."

I sat down to rewatch this wondering if it would still be as bad as I remembered. It's got to have been a good two decades since I saw it last. Maybe the older me would be more forgiving of its sins, more willing to laugh off its many blunders, and finally learn to accept it for what it is, not what the teenage me desperately hoped it would be. I wasn't even a quarter of the way through before I realised there was just no chance of that ever happening. This is bad and not even the type of bad I can laugh at. This is the type of bad that just make me feel sad, like watching an aging singer try to knock out the hits when they are long past their best and struggling to hold a tune.

Dr. Who and the Daleks (1965)

“You are different from them and they are afraid of anything different. And what people are afraid of, they try to destroy.”

As with most things Doctor Who, this all leads back to Quatermass.

Mini Movie Reviews: Agatha Christie

Today's theme is the Queen of Crime featuring films by Sidney Lumet, Guy Hamilton, René Clair, George Pollock, and John Guillermin.

Mark's Best of 2025

Seasons greetings, faithful readers, and welcome to what could loosely be called my best of 2025.

Mission: Impossible 1-8 Review

Note: This review has been updated to include Dead Reckoning and The Final Reckoning

"Your mission, should you choose to accept it..."

Your enjoyment of this series will most likely depend on how much you can tolerate Tom Cruise, as he is the dominant feature of the entire franchise. There's barely a scene in any of the eight films produced so far that doesn't feature him. I'm indifferent to the man, I neither love nor loathe him, but will admit that, as an action star, he rarely ever puts a foot wrong (probably because it would cost him his life, crazy stunt lover that he is).

Mini Comic Reviews: December, 2025

This month I'll be looking at new Swamp Thing, the latest relaunch of Moon Knight, Tom King and Bilquis Evely's Helen of Wyndhorn, Transformers, and learning What's the Furthest Place From Here?

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Series Review

"What is the meaning of it, Watson? What is the object of this circle of misery and violence and fear? It must have a purpose or our universe has no meaning, and that is unthinkable. But what purpose? That is humanity's great problem, for which reason so far has no answer."

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous consulting detective has to be one of the most adapted and reinterpreted fictional characters of all time. There have been an untold number of films, plays, radio productions, comics, TV shows, books and cartoons featuring the Baker Street sleuth and his faithful companion, Dr. Watson. For me, this lavish Granada Television series starring the incomparable Jeremy Brett is the undisputed best.

Mini Comic Reviews: November, 2025

This month I'll be taking a look at Greg Rucka's short lived run on Wolverine along with his work on Batwoman with J. H. Williams III, the latest in a long line of Youngblood relaunches, Descender, Paper Girls, and the secrets of The Manhattan Projects.

The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984)

"Evil, pure and simple from the 8th dimension! Grab 'em! Lectroids! Grab 'em!"

Buckaroo Banzai is a wild and bonkers movie. But is it actually a good one? Difficult to say. This is one those films you don't so much watch and enjoy as vibe to.

Mini Movie Reviews: Maritime

Today's theme is the high seas featuring films by Renny Harlin, John McTiernan, Takashi Otsuka, Richard Fleischer, Michael Curtiz, Charles Frend, and Frank Lloyd.

Masters of the Universe (1987)

"People of Eternia, the war is over. My forces are victorious. The Sorceress of Greyskull is my prisoner, and her powers are now joined with mine! Let this be my first decree... those who do not pledge themselves to me shall be destroyed! The new age begins!"

Masters of the Universe is what happens when an overly ambitious film production company meets an overly cautious toy company.