Here are Cinephile Corner’s 10 recommendations for movies like Jumper:
Superman
I had mixed feelings heading into James Gunn’s 2025 Superman, his latest take on one of the most iconic superheroes in popular culture. Early trailers and previews left me underwhelmed, with so-so CGI and dialogue that didn’t land. Die-hard Superman fans seemed intrigued by Gunn’s approach, especially since this film effectively ends the DCEU and launches a newly defined DCU.
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts
Rise of the Beasts is better than nearly any Transformers film, or perhaps it’s just better at not being a noticeably abysmal movie. To blubber a plot synopsis of any of the Transformers movies seems like a task done only by the deranged. They draw you so far into the weeds that it’s hard to keep your bearings while you watch them (Who’s the villain this time? How’s that different from the last?). But regardless, they keep chugging along.
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom
I rarely subscribe to the notion that a movie can be “so bad that it’s good,” but there’s a rhythm to Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom that occasionally worked for me. I acknowledge so many of the aspects that cause it to fall short, but in an era of superhero movies (particularly DC superhero movies) that are content with being unadventurous, at least The Lost Kingdom finds some glossy, overly indulgent ways to be weird. It has the usual James Wan touch.
Logan
James Mangold’s spaghetti western approach to Logan fits like a glove, and the smaller, more contained approach to setting and plot allows the film to really center on Wolverine’s chaotic and mangled past. Includes gruff performances by Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart.
Predator: Badlands
Predator: Badlands is a baffling turn for Dan Trachtenberg after the clean thrills of Prey and the surprise bite of the animated Predator: Killer of Killers. Coming off those entries in his Predator reboot, I expected craft, tension, and clever constraint. What arrives is scale without spectacle, a loud, CG smeared detour that forgets why this series works.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps
The Fantastic Four: First Steps makes a case that goopy, comic book looking superhero movies are back. In Superman, it felt like a conscious choice from James Gunn to lean into cartoons and pulp. Here it reads more like a limitation. The visual effects often look unfinished, and the soundstage lighting keeps scenes flat. As a soft reset for Marvel Studios, that is a frustrating place to start, even if the core family arrives with potential.
Madame Web
There might be a fun, oddly interesting, “so bad that it’s good” movie with Madame Web, but it’s marred by so many technical errors and misfires that it makes the film hard to take seriously on any level. Dakota Johnson and Sydney Sweeney are a strange pairing for a superhero movie setting up further adventures down the line.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania serves as a critical turning point in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The movie simultaneously introduces Jonathan Majors as Kang the Conqueror and tries to steer the inconsistent MCU back on track. It may not entirely succeed, but Paul Rudd‘s latest movie has a few glimmering pieces.
Dune: Part Two
There’s nothing like Dune: Part Two, which feels like it could only be conceived by Denis Villeneuve and the best crew around him possible. Everyone is working at the top of their game to create one of the best theatergoing experiences of 2024. Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya star in the science fiction movie that stands against the genre’s best.
Black Adam
When Black Adam isn’t trying to piece together narrative fragments into a puzzle without any inside pieces, it’s cramming in every genre trope at its disposal. The action is clunky and unengaging and relentless, bludgeoning you with one horribly rendered CGI fighting sequence after another. Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson fails to deliver a new hierarchy for the now-defunct DC extended universe.
READ MORE: Jumper (2008)
