When does television cross the line? That is the central question raised in the hallucinogenic first narrative feature for acclaimed documentary filmmaker Lance Oppenheimer. The focus is on the real life “gotcha” NBC TV reality program To Catch A Predator, which ran from November 2004 to December 2007. Its host was ambitious Chris Hansen, a…
It is 2054 and Earth is in trouble, so droves of people are taking up the opportunity for interplanetary relocation. A man who has gotten himself into trouble and is financially destitute is Mickey Barnes (Robert Pattinson). Without digging too deeply, he seizes the chance to start afresh, as a new human colony is about…
In Matt Reeves’ dark vision, The Batman, Gotham City is a cesspool of evil and corruption. For two years Bruce Wayne – a.k.a. The Batman (Robert Pattinson) – has been trying to clean it up, but to no avail. The situated has deteriorated further. Promises of renewal and change have not materialised. Now a madman…
The Devil All the Time is a sprawling and multi-layered Southern Gothic tale of good and evil. The film offers a rich tapestry of amoral and unsavoury characters and explores that potent nexus between religion, sex and violence, fate and faith. The atypical and nonlinear narrative spans a couple of decades between the end of…
If you can imagine James Bond, mixed with Harry Potter and topped with Edge of Tomorrow, you might have some idea what Christopher Nolan’s new epic Tenet is all about. In terms of scope and ambition, this is one of Nolan’s grandest films. But the big ideas get lost in an overly complicated script and…
Director Robert Eggers certainly loves a descent into madness. After the refined horror-thriller The Witch, he’s back with another hallucinatory drama in The Lighthouse. Despite having only two characters on screen for much of the time, this is a complex, disturbing examination of human frailty; sprinkled liberally with a variety of myths from different cultures….
The low budget indie crime drama Good Time is the latest film from the Safdie brothers (Benny and Joshua). Their films, like Daddy Longlegs, often explore the struggles of losers who live on the edges of society. This is a gritty and downbeat black comedy and heist drama with plenty of energy. Connie Nikas (played…
The Lost City of Z turns out to be a kind of boy’s own adventure story. Based on author David Grann’s non-fiction bestseller, the film follows British explorer Lieutenant-Colonel Percy Fawcett (Charlie Hunnam). Fawcett journeys into the Amazon in 1906 where he discovers evidence of a previously unknown, advanced civilisation that once inhabited the region. His…
Oneohtrix Point Never returns with his new album Good Time Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. Fresh from the Cannes Film Festival, the film Good Time is directed by Josh and Benny Safdie. Robert Pattinson takes the lead role (in a very different part for him), alongside Jennifer Jason Leigh. The crime thriller follows Pattinson’s character, Connie, in…
