TheRetroCritic

After re-imagining Sherlock Holmes his own way, Guy Ritchie recently turned his attention to the Arthurian legends and delivered  King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword . Due to a ridiculous budget that didn't translate to much on screen, the film was a box-office flop and was mostly panned critically. The film opens with a scene in which Uther Pendragon (Eric Bana) takes on giant elephants in an over-the-top sequence that would fit quite well in a Lord Of The Rings movie. This could set the tone for a proudly ridiculous, action-packed epic but, while it is indeed shamelessly silly, it's not exactly the thrilling actioner you'd expect. Parts of the film are over-stylised, bloated and full of giant CGI creatures, other parts feel bare and not unlike a relatively low-budget effort like Centurion or an Uwe Boll movie. But it's the sub-par writing that really prevents this King Arthur film from being the fun roller-coaster ride it wanted to be. The masterful  Excalibur

Shot entirely in front of a bluescreen, Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow was one of the few movies in the early 2000's to be ahead of its time in attempting something visually very different. Produced and starring Jude Law, the film was a throwback to the old adventure and sci-fi serials. Sky Captain may have been a flop at the box-office when it was released in 2004 but it received predominantly positive reviews and, looking back, it's not only a hundred times better than Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull , which came out a full four years later, it's a surprisingly good film in its own right. Paying homage to the likes of War Of The Worlds , Buck Rogers and many others, this was clearly made by a fan of old movies for fans of old movies as it's not only packed with clever in-jokes and references but it has that old-fashioned yet timeless quality to it. The reason this movie works and something like The Phantom doesn't is the focus