
Cowboys & Aliens Review: A $163 Million Genre Exercise That Mistakes a Premise for a Story
Cowboys & Aliens (2011): Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford in a $163M space Western that squanders its cast, its premise, and its own best scenes.

Every film we have scored, from 1980s horror to what is in cinemas now.

Cowboys & Aliens (2011): Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford in a $163M space Western that squanders its cast, its premise, and its own best scenes.

Bridget Jones's Diary review: Renée Zellweger's Oscar-nominated turn anchors a 2001 romantic comedy that made $282 million and still holds up.

Darkest Hour review: Gary Oldman as Churchill in May 1940, weighing whether to talk to Hitler. A strong historical drama with a great lead performance.

How three unknown actors, a 35-page script and eight days of shooting made The Blair Witch Project a found-footage and marketing landmark.

A review of 13 Going on 30 (2004): Jennifer Garner's wish-fulfillment comedy has a clever premise, a sharp 1987 opening, and an ending that stops short.

The Dark Tower runs 95 minutes and tries to compress eight Stephen King novels. Idris Elba shines, but the 2017 film scores just 3.4/10.

Zhang Yimou's The Great Wall promised monsters and Matt Damon, then lost up to $75 million. A review of the 2016 siege film that never found its people.

National Treasure: Book of Secrets review: Nicolas Cage hunts a Civil War cipher, Helen Mirren and Ed Harris join in, and the franchise coasts on formula.

Review of Tom Hooper's Les Misérables: Hugh Jackman shines, Russell Crowe doesn't, and Anne Hathaway's Fantine is the film's saving grace.

Anastasia (1997), Fox's first in-house animated feature from Don Bluth and Gary Goldman, reviewed: Meg Ryan, the songs, Rasputin, and the $140M haul.

Starship Troopers review: Verhoeven's $100M satire of fascism fails to land, saved only by strong Arachnid effects and a 5.1/10 score.

Dredd review: Karl Urban never removes the helmet in a brutal 96-minute siege of Peach Trees tower, and the box office math that killed the sequel.
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