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In the Lost Lands is a bit under-par for Paul WS Anderson. What that means is that it's a total blast from end to end... but maybe not *quite* as good as some of the other great 'B' SF/action movies he's done over the years.

I'll admit that Anderson's previous Monster Hunter was more fun. The setup was more catchy, the look was brighter, and the story just seemed more bouncy. In the Lost Lands is very dark, and has a strangely 'digital' look to it, factors that are likely to put some viewers off.

That would be their loss. Because Lost Lands is actually a very good film of its type - quite beautiful to look at, in its own grimy way, with a story that's more than clever enough to justify its numerous excellent action sequences. Bautista and Jovovich are used well, the villains are suitably vile, and there's never a dull moment on the way to a satisfying conclusion. This is a standard sadly lacking in lots of recent hundred-million dollar blockbusters.

Paul WS Anderson doesn't get much respect, but to me he ranks with directors like Emmerich, Besson, Romero, Carpenter and Collet-Serra - experts at 'genre' action films, who know how to work the formula and make it feel fresh and well-polished every time. There's nothing crude or amateurish about In the Lost Lands - it is confidently exactly what it intends to be.

The upshot is this: if you enjoy fantasy/SF/action films, and don't insist on big budgets or some kind of artistic stamp of approval from nit-pickers, see In the Lost Lands for just what it is, and enjoy every outlandish second of it. As I did.

Avgrunden (confusingly translated as "The Abyss") is a film that commits the cardinal sin of not being what many viewers will expect. This earns it an IMDb rating that doesn't remotely reflect the quality of the work.

Avgrunden is emphatically not a typical Hollywood-style 'disaster movie.' Instead, it's a serious, thought-provoking and downright scary look at one specific type of environmental disaster that's being made increasingly likely in one particular country, as a result of poorly-managed extraction of the Earth's resources.

Admittedly, the film does start out on a fairly pleasant note of family drama, by way of introducing its major characters. And then it does check off some of the usual 'disaster movie' scenes of rising tension.

But after that things evolve in a very different way. The story becomes quite dark, realistically reflecting the kind of experience regular people would have in the midst of a natural (or in this case, unnatural) disaster. There are no superheroes here - no Dwayne Johnson, no Jason Statham to leap into the fire and rescue victims in the nick of time. Instead there is helplessness, terror, anguish and panic. People who feel very real die in unpleasantly realistic ways.

Many English-speaking viewers may find this arc unexpected and off-putting. But anyone willing to accept the movie on its own terms will find something quite worthwhile: a solid drama about how real people are likely to face life-threatening danger.

Avgrunden is well-acted, intelligently written and smoothly directed. It's not a 'fun' film to watch over and over on Saturday afternoons - but it is a very good film about a ominously believable disaster. Definitely worth seeing.

...but I'll restrain myself (something this film never does for a moment) and offer a conservative nine stars.

Fight or Flight makes no pretense of being anything other than a low-budget action film, cranked way, WAY up over the top. But it's executed with such impeccable wit and panache that it borders on (lunatic) genius.

The dialog is razor sharp. The acting, especially by the three leads - Hartnett, Chandran and Sackhof - is suitably exaggerated yet tightly focused, never spoiling the delicious balance between credibility and caricature. Hartnett is particularly endearing, as he traverses an extravagant range of mental states.

Direction is brilliant, from the slam-bang opening through to the forward-looking denouement. Fight scenes are expertly choreographed using every cinematic trick in the book, while running the gamut of just about every type of mayhem that could possibly occur on an airliner (and just a few that probably couldn't).

The story, such as it is, hangs together well, and manages to include a few legitimate jabs at unrestrained corporatism and the excessive power of tech companies.

Fight or Flight reminded me, in the best way possible, of such 'B' classics as Snakes on a Plane, Big Trouble in Little China and Deep Rising - movies that keep you in the precarious position of laughing hysterically while sitting on the edge of your seat.

Believe it: this is non-stop cinematic pandemonium at its finest - an absolute must-see for fans of slightly demented action films.