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Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere delivers an honest, deeply human look at Bruce in his darkest period
11:30 pm | October 24, 2025
Author: admin | Category: Computers Disney Plus Gadgets Streaming | Comments: Off

For the Bruce Springsteen faithful – and probably those who feel that way about Jeremy Allen White – today, October 24, 2025, has been a long time coming, as Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere is finally showing in movie theaters across the globe.

Now, for lack of a better analogy, the Boss has been the soundtrack of my life – well, for most of it – so I headed to a local AMC Theatre with Dolby Cinema in the great state of New Jersey for an opening-night preview screening.

I had a lot of feelings going in, especially since Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere isn’t like most biopics. But I wouldn’t even call it that, because it focuses on a very specific, short time in Springsteen’s career. Instead of portraying the many months spent on getting Born to Run just right or even Born in the U.S.A.’s release or Springteen’s rise to stratospheric stardom, it turns the spotlight onto one of his darker chapters – one that Springsteen became more open about in his memoir Born to Run and in Warren Zanes’s Deliver Me From Nowhere, which is the book that inspired this film.

So, let’s dive into it – and fair warning, I’ll have some mild spoilers ahead, though it’s kind of comical as this is based in reality, and we all know about Nebraska.

Inside Nebraska

Warning: some spoilers for Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere lie ahead.

Jeremy Allen White as Bruce Springsteen in 20th Century Studios' SPRINGSTEEN: DELIVER ME FROM NOWHERE. Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios.

(Image credit: 20th Century Studios)

Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere is a lot better than I was expecting it to be. It’s a good film that’s more like a deep character study of a specific time in Bruce Springsteen’s life. It jumps from before, during, and a bit after the recording of Nebraska, giving a deep dive into his mental health – both Bruce’s and his family’s – and his upbringing. The latter is done through black-and-white flashbacks, which at times feel a bit out of place but do an excellent job of at least rooting the pain and depression.

It opens showing a glimpse into that upbringing, but soon ties the anxiety and rush of an encounter into the rush and thrill of performing Born to Run to close out The River Tour. This is our first glimpse, and one of the few, of the E Street Band during Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere.

I never really got comfortable believing Jeremy Allen White was entirely the embodiment of Bruce Springsteen, but he sure gives off the look of a rock star known for energetic performances. Maybe most importantly, Allen White doesn’t just do an imitative voice of the Boss but, in my opinion, does a lot more with body language and how he presents himself.

From there on out, we see the relationship between Jon Landau – played by Jeremy Strong – and Bruce unfold on screen, and it matches the real-life relationship. They were two friends forever, who clearly had each other’s backs, and Landau definitely does a masterclass in being an agent, manager, and friend – fighting for what the artist wants.

We see Bruce then settle into a rental in Colts Neck, dive deep into some reading, and eventually watch Terrence Malick’s 1973 film Badlands, which pushes him to research a bit more and eventually start on a track of songs dubbed Starkweather, which becomes Nebraska. Seeing this process depicted on the big screen, and the historic room with the orange shag carpet, is something of a bit of a holy grail. And Jeremy Allen White does get the singing voice pretty close, as well as the guitar playing, though there is a unique blending. I also need to give a shout to the audio quality in this Dolby Cinema theater, but also to the mixing team on Springsteen: Deliver From Nowhere, it is done excellently. And there are a few tracks where the singing shifts from Jeremy Allen White to Bruce Springsteen, and vice versa.

We also see Bruce go on a few dates with a character, Faye – who in reality is a composite, and we see that struggle as he runs away from fame and goes on some self-discovery, which in turn is himself feeling like an outsider in his own body.

The human story behind the music

(L-R) Jeremy Allen White as Bruce Springsteen and Jeremy Strong as Jon Landau in 20th Century Studios' SPRINGSTEEN: DELIVER ME FROM NOWHERE. Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios. © 2025 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.

(Image credit: 20th Century Studios)

Beyond the recordings, I think what really hit the most with me was the visual telling of Springsteen’s struggles with his own mental health and that of his father’s, and the repairing of their relationship. While it’s rooted in fact, director Scott Cooper certainly took some liberties here and sped up the timeline.

It’s rare, I think, for Bruce himself to be so open with showing, telling, and reliving this, and Jeremy Allen White really shines in these scenes – he depicts the feeling of an outsider in their own body perfectly, acting the build-up to a breakdown and a panic attack with realism. Allen White also shows the struggle of realizing something is up but not knowing how to seek help – remember this is in the 1980s, specifically 1982.

I think those are the most powerful moments, and even if the pacing could be slow at times, it lets these moments of the film really build up and be delivered with ample time. For those who have read Born to Run or maybe watched Springsteen on Broadway, I think this acts as a really nice introspective and deep dive into Nebraska.

Yes, it’s more niche than, say, Born to Run, Born in the U.S.A., or Springsteen’s other work, but it’s also the most raw, natural, and, in the end, more impactful. It’s an important aspect of how the Boss became the Boss, and while I had my doubts going in, the result is an impactful, good film that’s very deep, emotive, emotional, and ultimately a close character study.

A scene from 20th Century Studios' SPRINGSTEEN: DELIVER ME FROM NOWHERE. Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios.

(Image credit: 20th Century Studios)

Yes, it can be hard to get past the fact that Jeremy Allen White is not Bruce Springsteen, but thanks to the attention to detail, the physicality, and the close study, it’s believable – minus the looks.

Ultimately, Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere explores the process of coming to terms with childhood trauma and the impacts of that, which can sit with you and become a theme of life as you move on. We’ve known Bruce’s family has had mental illness, and he's had his own demons; the art comes from that to a degree.

It may not hit every note perfectly, but I think fans will like it – it’s an honest, heavy, and deeply human look at Springsteen during arguably one of his darkest periods, one that still showcases the music-making process with just a taste of E Street Band greatness.

Ultimately, an antithesis of most biopics – a good thing.

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Harlan Coben’s Lazarus review: The Silence of the Lambs meets The Sixth Sense but it’s not his best TV show
4:00 pm | October 21, 2025
Author: admin | Category: Amazon Prime Video Computers Gadgets Streaming | Tags: | Comments: Off

My Lazarus review verdict might make you think I'm being hypocritical about Harlan Coben's new Prime Video show, but I stand by it. Lazarus is at once my favorite TV story in the ever-growing Harlan Coben collection, but it's also the least effective so far.

So, why have I managed to get so much out of it? Two words: ambitious storytelling. It's always much more satisfying to watch something that takes huge swings that don't entirely land than to watch something that stays meek. Lazarus is anything but the latter.

Coben hasn't exactly nailed his first original script (co-written with showrunner Danny Brocklehurst), but you can't say it's not dynamic. The story follows psychiatrist Joel Lazarus (Sam Claflin), who is forced to confront a series of cold cases after the death of his father Dr. Jonathan Lazarus (Bill Nighy) leads him to start having visions of his dad's dead patients.

The best way I can sum up the series is to describe it as a cross between The Silence of the Lambs and The Sixth Sense, but neither the show's synopsis nor nailing it to cultural references as well known as the famous line "I see dead people" does the experience justice.

Alongside The Girlfriend, I'd confidently say Harlan Coben's Lazarus is Prime Video's most fascinating crime or psychological thriller of the year. Given the fact that I'm still thinking about it nearly a month after first seeing it, I'm happy to let it be imperfect in its execution.

Harlan Coben's Lazarus is a daringly ambitious Prime Video thriller, but it's not perfect

There's a lot to like here. Lazarus is visually stunning, thanks to how the creative team has chosen to weave together two contrasting timelines into its production design. Indeed, the 'best fictional psychologist's office' award is firmly won by Dr. Jonathan's astonishing fortress.

It's in his office that the bulk of exciting storytelling takes place. Joel encounters his father's former clients behind closed doors, and that's when reality and delusion begin to converge into one soupy mess. Claflin's performance completely sells Joel's inner turmoil, keeping a firm hand on the tiller when we've got no idea what's going on.

The advantage of being kept in the dark is that we've got an abundance of twists and turns that genuinely shock us. Each episode is capped off with a mysterious question that made me want watch the next one, unable to tear myself away from the screen until I got some answer, any answer.

They do come, as well. The door has slyly been left open for a second season to be possible, but for the most part, our mysteries are wrapped up. This in itself is a rarity for 2020s television, which is often desperate to keep things open-ended in the hopes it'll be picked up for more episodes. That's not the way Coben has ever worked, and it's to our advantage.

Being imperfect isn't a sign of failure, actually

Bill Nighy touches Sam Claflin on the shoulder in a study

Sam Claflin and Bill Nighy in Harlan Coben's Lazarus. (Image credit: Amazon Prime Video)

There is a big downside to the show, though – Harlan Coben's Lazarus is a slew of conflicting storylines that don't sit well together as a whole. There's everything going on with Joel inside his dad's office, alongside a present-day mystery surrounding how Dr. Johnathan actually died and whether it was more nefarious than first thought.

It goes without saying that both storylines are indeed linked, but it took me at least three to four episodes to figure out what was actually happening, bearing in mind Lazarus has six episodes in total. There are no clear markers for whether we're in the past or present in any given moment, and so much happens at once that you need a breather (or a whiteboard thought mapping session) to digest what you've seen.

For me, that payoff comes a little too late, and it's information overload up until that point. I can see viewers tuning out before the reveal, feeling as though they're putting in a second shift at work just to watch a TV show in their downtime. It was hard enough for me watching it as my actual job.

On top of that, Prime Video's marketing really oversells how much Nighy is actually in the series. His scenes are pivotal, that's for sure, but blink and you'll miss him. However, the names you'll recognize in its ensemble are as formidable as you'd expect.

As I've said, I don't mind that Coben's first real shot at scriptwriting is chaotic and flawed, and I genuinely do feel enriched by watching Lazarus. In an age where crime procedurals fit a cookie-cutter mould that's ripe for consumption, Coben is taking risks, going bold and giving audiences something he hasn't shown them before.

If this is where Coben's first original script gets him, imagine where the second or third will end up. Ultimately, he still nailed the things his books are renowned for – intelligent reveals, satisfying conclusions and well-thought out character dynamics.

Critically engaging with something that doesn't quite work but leaves us with lots of questions isn't a bad way for us to spend our free time.

All six episodes of Harlan Coben's Lazarus are available to stream on Prime Video from October 22.

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Frankenstein is the Mary Shelley adaptation of my dreams – and it’s now my new favorite del Toro movie
4:00 pm | October 18, 2025
Author: admin | Category: Computers Entertainment Gadgets Streaming | Comments: Off

The stubborn part of me was convinced I would always consider Pan's Labyrinth to be the finest Guillermo del Toro movie. Then the new Netflix movie Frankenstein was unleashed, and it changed everything.

When someone as great as del Toro can outdo himself, it makes me even more hopeful for his future as a filmmaker. Once again, he made me cry with a sympathetic, tense, and utterly beautiful movie, the kind of offering that makes me remember why I fell in love with film in the first place.

Yes, it really is that good. Literature lovers among us may be concerned that it doesn't retell Shelley's story to the letter, but you needn't be, as del Toro's version offers a different perspective and does it very well.

Indeed, he even spoke about this in an Empire interview where he said, "The best moments in my mind of Frankenstein, of the novel, are yet to be filmed". So he set out to tell said best moments, resulting in this beautiful movie.

I really do mean it when I say beautiful, both in terms of its story and how it looks visually. I'm used to del Toro's movies being well-crafted, and he was right to partner with cinematographer Dan Laustsen, who he worked with on the Oscar-winning The Shape of Water.

Alexandre Desplat has composed many of my favorite scores, such as The Grand Budapest Hotel and again, The Shape of Water, so there's some familiar names here, and this makes for a beautiful collaboration. A movie like this shines when there's a great score alongside it, and trust me, you'll get that here.

That's not the only similarity Frankenstein shares with The Shape of Water, either, as both made me cry a lot. I do tend to cry at many movies, admittedly, but no one tugs at my heartstrings quite like this guy. I will always be obsessed with del Toro's sympathetic lens and how he crafts his characters.

Jacob Elordi's The Creature is as captivating to watch as it is heartbreaking. We see the world through his eyes, a technique I always love, which was done wonderfully in Leigh Whannell's Wolf Man, too. Forcing us to see things from a seemingly impossible perspective, a place we will never be, is jarring and makes for an excellent narrative device.

It's not all doom and gloom, though, as his signature brand of wonder does shine brightly at times. Amid the horrors, there's hope and innocence, something that brings me back to his movies over and over. We get to see as much light as we do darkness, taking us on a rollercoaster of ups and downs. While it is a bleak story, of course, it's balanced with this overarching feeling of empathy that stays with you long after you leave the theater.

Frankenstein is best seen on the biggest screen possible

Victor Frankenstein is played equally as brilliantly by Oscar Isaac, embodying the spirit of a man who is ostracized but refuses to give up, a complicated man who has long been the subject of many literary debates. He's a traumatized, obsessed man, rich in complexities. This comes across brilliantly in Isaac's performance.

The entire ensemble is excellent, with huge names like Mia Goth (she really is a star, like her iconic horror character Pearl professes), Charles Dance, Ralph Ineson, and Christoph Waltz rounding out the cast. Nobody is wasted here; I was impressed by every role.

This is only elevated by beautiful costumes and set design, which have transportive powers at the best of times, but I couldn't believe that 2 hours and 30 minutes had passed. It really does fly by, and I can't wait to watch it all over again.

I urge people to go and see Frankenstein as soon as possible. Its arrival on Netflix does mean more people will get to see it, but it's best experienced in theaters if you can. It's a cinematic feast for the eyes and should be seen on the biggest, loudest screen possible.

When it does arrive on Netflix, I highly recommend checking out del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities, too, to further satisfy your grisly cravings. What better way to celebrate Halloween than that?

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New Prime Video movie Hedda isn’t just this year’s Saltburn – it’s cooler, more calculated and serious fun
5:40 pm | October 17, 2025
Author: admin | Category: Amazon Prime Video Computers Gadgets Streaming | Comments: Off

There's been something of a narrative that new Prime Video movie Hedda is simply a Saltburn-style retelling of Henrik Ibsen's classic play Hedda Gabler, but that doesn't remotely do it justice. Those who think the gender-swapped characters and LGBTQIA+ romance are the most interesting things about it aren't digging deeply enough.

If there's anyone that knows a thing or 35 about sapphic movies, it's me. I report on them every chance I get, and if I'm not doing that, I've likely worked Carol, Ammonite or Bound into conversation. I'll confess that Hedda caught my interested because of Nina Hoss – who played Cate Blanchett's fictional wife in Tár – but little did I know what a treat I was in for.

Of course this film isn't perfect. Considering how messy Hedda is as a character alone, it was never going to be. But there's no doubt that this is the strongest entry in director Nia DaCosta's body of work to date. She received an unjustified amount of flack for The Marvels and the 2021 version of Candyman, and I hope the same doesn't happen here.

We almost need to read between the lines to fully see the brilliance of what Hedda has to offer, and that's half the fun. A friend described it to me as a whodunnit mystery where you already know who the killer is (instead you're searching for the motive), and I think that's a fair assessment.

It's sexy, scandalous and as wild as you'd hope it to be, but it's also controlled, pulling back when it needs to. When it comes to creating a memorable dinner party, that's exactly the balance of tension that you're looking for.

Hedda is more than simply sex and scandal – it's a moving mirror

If you're unfamiliar with Ibsen's original story, this is what we're dealing with: Hedda (Tessa Thompson) is an unhappy newlywed, feeling like she's being stopped from being her true self. When her husband George (Tom Bateman) wants a new position at work, Hedda decides to throw an extravagant party so George can invite boss Professor Greenwood (Finbar Lynch) and try to seal the deal.

During the evening, George's rival Eileen (Hoss) arrives to poach Professor Greenwood for the same role, prompting the party to fall into chaotic disarray. Eileen's writing partner and lover Thea (Imogen Poots) tries to keep her on the straight and narrow, but Hedda takes her meddling too far.

The most satisfying part of Hedda is how effortlessly DaCosta pulls off dangerous power play dynamics between women, with the man's world around them becoming peripheral in the process. Thompson's Hedda isn't a woman that you'll like, or who even seems to consciously know what she wants.

She's acting on impulse, and everyone around her feels the consequences of the decisions she makes. This means a hell of a dinner party for us, bringing long-buried tension and trauma to the surface, where they explode onto whoever is nearby. That's usually Eileen and Thea, and boy is their romantic triangle a complex one.

Where the structure falters, the cast hold it up

Tessa Thompson, Nina Hoss and Imogen Poots talk to each other

Tessa Thompson, Nina Hoss and Imogen Poots in Hedda. (Image credit: Prime Video)

The core structure of Hedda isn't playing to shock factor like Saltburn, and it arguably could have deepened and ultilized the intimacy and pure romance between the three women a lot further. But even with these small faults, our cast deliver something to be in awe of.

While Thompson's accent is… interesting in the Prime Video film, her conviction and gumption can't be faulted. It's not easy to make us completely devoid of empathy for a character while still making them likeable, and she maintains the balance at all times. Poots plays an effective counterpart as anxious Thea, calling out Hedda's manipulation like she's shouting into the wind.

For me, it's Hoss who gives the performance of the movie. There's an exceptional scene after Eileen gets drunk and swims in the lake, entering the drawing room to talk to her male rivals while her dress is wet and see-through. She tells explicit stories on top form, and by the time she has them metaphorically eating out of her hand, the dress is dry.

This is the level of detail that's worth paying attention to, making the overall effect of Hedda as filling as a sumptuous cake, caressing every possible details of humanity to serve up an ugly truth worth devouring. It's tough to make odious people appealing, but we love to watch when it works (that's why reality TV is so popular).

Without spoiling anything, DaCosta also changes the ending of Ibsen's play. With one simple tweak, she removes sapphic media stereotyping that Hedda could have easily fallen prey to, and that alone is a fantastic way to sum up what she has achieved.

We've all had enough of classics being adapted, but when they hold a mirror up to who we've become and what we're capable of so deftly, who are we to look away?

Hedda is now streaming on Prime Video.

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Not heard of new Netflix movie Train Dreams? Come for the A-list cast, stay for the heartbreaking story
3:43 pm | October 16, 2025
Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets Netflix Streaming | Comments: Off

As a press delegate at London Film Festival, your watchlist usually passes double figures – but after two weeks, the movie I'm still thinking about is Train Dreams. In all honesty, there's not a higher compliment you can give a film, especially one that most people haven't seen yet.

In an age where we want everything in an instant (including answers to the questions movies ask of us), it's a brave move to opt for a slow-burn story. It's even braver when said story isn't one familiar to most people, demanding that we go in with no prior knowledge to watch a deeply personal journey.

This is how to best experience the new Netflix movie, based on the Denis Johnson novella of the same name. Combined, the streamer and the story are demanding that we leave our brains and baggage at the door to live out the life and death of Robert Grainier, a lumberjack working on the railroads in the early 1900s.

Sure, there's plenty of steel being fashioned into tracks that ferry bemused passengers from A to B, but Grainier's occupation is the least interesting thing about his life. Joel Edgerton plays him with such an unguarded sense of masculinity that you cannot help being invested in his love of life, love, and the world around him (and that's just in a nutshell).

Train Dreams is the most beautifully understated Netflix movie of the year

On the whole, I cannot tell you how impressed I am with Netflix for gifting us Train Dreams. I was initially skeptical about whether a streaming platform would be the right fit, but being able to watch in the privacy of your own home echoes the personal intimacy we see reverberate through Grainier and the film itself.

Edgerton runs away with this, and it's all thanks to his commitment to vulnerability. On the surface, Grainier is the archetypal man's man – he routinely leaves his wife and kid at home to work seasonal lumberjack jobs, embodying the traditional masculine values of physical labor and strength, responsibility and self-reliance.

Yet Edgerton strips that all away to reveal a man who would do anything for his wife and daughter, revering them with just as much authority and respect as he would give to any man working alongside him. He's open about his emotions, letting himself break down in front of Gladys (Felicity Jones) and Claire (Kerry Condon) respectively as life becomes something he doesn't recognize and cannot grasp. He has wronged, and his conscience is restless because of it.

It's an astonishing portrait of a man enveloped in a lifetime of turmoil, and I cannot think of a better point in time for us to quietly unpack what it means to be a man than now. Life is tough, and Grainier has it a lot harder than most, and it all feeds into a beautiful invitation for introspection... something that's still actively shaping my worldview a few weeks on.

It's all about the meaning, but don't discount what you're seeing on screen

Felicity Jones holds Joel Edgerton's face as they lie in the grass

Felicity Jones and Joel Edgerton in Train Dreams. (Image credit: Netflix)

While the meditating on the not-so-brilliant fruits of Grainier's life of labor, what we're seeing on screen aptly reflects that. Train Dreams' aesthetic is one shrouded in mist, keeping secrets of the past and future at bay while we get lost in the present. The natural landscape of rural America is nothing short of astonishing, essentially becoming a secondary character or member of the Grainier family.

Train Dreams is a story tinged by longing, and I felt my heart and mind open up to something bigger while I was watching. I yearned for my love, my family, my sense of place, and of course to visit the film's gorgeous location, absorbing it with nothing else around me but my thoughts. While the subject matter is often provoking and difficult to process, these hope-filled moments – the kind we spend our whole lives looking for – act as a mental palette cleanser.

There are issues here too. For those who aren't a fan of the slow-burn, Train Dreams takes a noticeable length of time to properly stoke its fires, and that could be to its detriment once its release into the big wide world. I'd have like to have seen Condon's character Claire utlilized more evenly throughout the film (or at least give her more screen time after she's introduced), and I predict people may be left unsatisfied by the way Grainier's life ends. For me, it's the perfect salute to life's natural cruel streak.

Netflix is really hitting a stride of offering us everything in moderation this year, and Train Dreams is another successful string to its bow. In such a saturated release window (we're heading into Awards season, after all), I can see it being lost in the fanfare, but I cannot urge you enough to board this train for a ride that will leave you changed.

Train Dreams releases on Netflix on November 21, 2025.

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Jay Kelly is a new Netflix movie you need to stream this week – it’s George Clooney’s finest hour
1:17 pm | October 14, 2025
Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets Netflix Streaming | Comments: Off

Let's not beat around the bush with what director Noah Baumbach is trying to achieve with Jay Kelly, it's a blatant love letter to George Clooney. The new Netflix movie is self-indulgent to the point of rubbing in it in our faces, and I'm as surprised as anyone else that I have no problem with that.

In fact, I think it's this indulgence that means the film can exist and emote in the way that it needs to. Clooney and the character he plays Kelly are basically one synonymous figure, gently poking fun at a sadness that runs through the veins of Hollywood. As they say, you need to be your own cheerleader, and look where that can get you.

Where I was expecting to be emotionally eviscerated by other movies at the London Film Festival (namely Hamnet, as every critic and their dog suggested), Jay Kelly delivered meditative heartbreak where its programmed rivals have failed to. There's nothing too overt or gauche happening to achieve this, merely a lot of sitting in the moment, thinking and processing.

I'd go as far as to say that Jay Kelly is the movie many of us need to see this year. I don't know what kind of permanent Mercury retrograde 2025 feels like it's in, but people are collectively going through it now more than ever. To be grounded is to bring us back to ourselves, and for Jay/George, the answers aren't quite what he'd hoped for.

Jay Kelly isn't just an ode to George Clooney, but regrettable choices

Let's set the scene: After filming his latest big picture, Jay Kelly thinks he wants out of the business. When a longtime mentor suddenly dies, he's brought face-to-face with things in his past that he'd rather forget. With his daughters making their own way in the world, Kelly impulsively decides to follow his youngest to Europe, throwing the lives of everyone around him into jeopardy.

Like him or loathe him, Clooney is the epitome of old-school Hollywood. He's got the voice, charm and physicality of peers gone by, and still never fails to make a group of people swoon at his feet at the age of 64. Is he the best actor around? No. Have all of his films been successful? Absolutely not. Yet he remains golden.

Kelly is exactly the same. By his own admission, he isn't the best actor and hasn't made the best decisions professionally or personally. This leaves him wondering if his 35-year career actually meant anything. Kelly's family life isn't much better, as he's now estranged from his eldest daughter, Jessica (Riley Keough), while his youngest, Daisy (Grace Edwards), is determined to find her own feet. As he soberly tells us, "my memories are all in movies. That's all they are, memories".

This is where Clooney and Kelly differ. While we've got no idea what goes on in Clooney's personal life (and nor should we), Kelly's is violently ripped apart. We follow his life through flashbacks of his youth, adulthood and recent past, all while present-day Kelly watches on in the moment. It's clear that introspection is never something he's considered, running through life like a bull in a China shop.

Truthfully, he's ruined just about everything without realizing. Alongside his daughters, friend and manager Ron (Adam Sandler) believes their relationship is purposeful while Kelly sees it as transactional, and publicist Liz (Laura Dern) is one crisis away from jumping ship. Kelly decides he doesn't really know who he is, and everyone feels the consequences.

But while that's a massive nuisance for literally everybody who has ever met Jay Kelly, it's helpful for us as a viewers. By examining his career, personal choices and parenting in painstaking detail, we have no choice but to be confronted with our own lives in the process. Can you truly have a work-life balance? Will our kids resent us for how much our careers pull us in other directions? Are we making the right decisions for ourselves and our loved ones?

As life likes to remind us, there are no conclusive answers for this. But watching Kelly struggle to comprehend his own accountability packs the ideal emotional punch. As Jay Kelly continues, we become one with him, laughing, crying and resolving his issues as if they are our own. When it comes down to it, they are, and Baumbach knows just how to connect us to that feeling.

Jay Kelly isn't just about Jay Kelly

Laura Dern and Adam Sandler watch George Clooney sign an autograph

Laura Dern, George Clooney and Adam Sandler in Jay Kelly. (Image credit: Netflix)

As you might expect, Clooney is a duck to water when it comes to his performance, but he's not the only person behind the fractured man. Sandler returns to a comedy-drama balance as the long-suffering Ron, laying his heart on the line for it to get openly beaten by Kelly's self-delusion. It's the perfect blend of stern and soft, and we're rooting for him to stick up for the quality of life we know he deserves.

Liz doesn't suffer fools, which is the counter-balance needed to an industry intent on telling Kelly what he wants to hear. While I absolutely hated watching Jim Broadbent die for the 137465th time in a movie (playing Kelly's mentor Peter), Riley Keough is my standout supporting performance.

As a woman in a lot of pain, where she is in life and how she's choosing to live it has the most significance for understanding who Kelly is. She is desperate for her dad to listen to how she feels, yet direct about not wanting to be in his life on a permanent basis. It's a case of too little to late for Kelly, and an emotionally excruciating phone call scene hammers that point home.

Sure, Baumbach isn't doing anything exciting or fresh with his vision and direction, and there's a part of me that's annoyed with myself for loving a film about the most-documented genre of all time (men in Hollywood). But I loved how Jay Kelly left me examining my own life, reassessing what's going on around me and reminding me it takes a village to be a decent person – it's surprising how easy it is to forget self-reflection.

Jay Kelly is available on Netflix from December 5.

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Ballad of a Small Player is the most visually exciting Netflix movie of the year – and it’s out now
1:00 am |
Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets Netflix Streaming | Comments: Off

As the biggest Conclaviac (that's a fan of director Edward Berger's movie Conclave) around, I was always seated for Berger's next movie before it had even been filmed. Now I've seen Ballad of a Small Player, it's clear that it was never going to live up to the hype.

Really, we're wrong to pit the new Netflix movie against Berger's previous work (which includes All Quiet on the Western Front), yet it's inevitable. Each of his last three projects exist in their own right, not sharing any characteristics outside of Berger's outstanding personal vision.

If you're coming to Ballad of a Small Player hoping for cinematography that will blow your mind, you're in the right place. If you're hoping Colin Farrell bares his acting soul in the portrait of a tortured gambler at war with his addiction, he charmingly delivers.

The downside is that the movie suffers from the classic problem of waning at the two-third mark – in a nutshell, the fatal moment where you're itching for things to wrap up and draw their conclusion, checking your watch in the process.

But besides this, I fell in love with Berger's end goal, flaws and all. While I wonder if being streamed on Netflix does the film's artistry a disservice, we should be thanking out lucky stars for such immediate access to thoughtful, quality craft

Ballad of a Small Player's visuals are the real star of the show

Macau is a city where, by Berger and his team's own admission, is unlike anywhere else in the world. A beast with two distinctly different identities, it's the perfect place to reflect big-time gambler Lord Doyle's (Farrell) inner demons, struggling to get himself out of a hole he makes deeper with every decision.

Without giving too much away, he's a man who owes a lot of people money (or has flat-out stolen it), spending anything he has left on the next game of Baccarat. When Cynthia Blithe (Tilda Swinton) begins to tail him for the life he's left behind, Doyle turns to Dao Ming (Fala Chen) in his hour of need. What follows is the ultimate test of his character.

Where there are big-scale locations like Macau and Hong Kong, there's big-scale vision. Doyle is accurately reflected as the flea in a circus of lights and power that he is, lost in an environment he's tricked himself into thinking he understands.

That's bad news for Doyle but excellent news for viewers, who'll be entranced by visuals that'll leave their eyes blaze in wonder, like a child seeing light for the first time. We see repetitions of Conclave's cinematic framing, meaning you can easily pause Ballad of a Small Player from time to time and find a freeze frame worthy of gallery installation.

In this respect, Berger is playful. Light plays against dark, overwhelm contrasts against stillness and chaos manifests under many different guises. As far as artistry is concerned, both he and the movie are at the top of their game.

Should Ballad of a Small Player have been picked up by Netflix?

Colin Farrell and Tilda Swinton sit across from each other at a table

Colin Farrell and Tilda Swinton in Ballad of a Small Player. (Image credit: Netflix)

Obviously, there are very few films in existence that are objectively flawless, and Ballad of a Small Player comes with its issues. Fans of the original 2014 novel of the same name might be horrified to realize quite a few key details have changed.

For example, Dao Ming is now directly tied to the Rainbow casino thanks to a switch in occupation, and Swinton's character has been entirely invented for the adaptation. Subjectively, I have a separate gripe here – a film without Swinton in every conceivable shot is one that doesn't have enough seasoning, offering up yet another chameleonic performance that stands uniquely on its own two feet.

But even if you're okay with the above, you'll likely feel the dreaded narrative lag that hits around the two-thirds mark. It was almost a given considering how much mental anguish Doyle puts himself though (which the storyline relies on), but we find ourselves frustrated with his lack of personal progress. It comes in the blink of an eye towards the end of the movie, making the journey from zero to hero unconvincingly rushed rather than thoughtfully mapped out.

Most importantly, though, Ballad of a Small Player being a Netflix release doesn't feel like the right fit, and that's for two reasons. The advantage of its stylistic visuals means it needs to be seen on the biggest screen possible, and I fear the average living room TV won't do the scale of what's been achieved true justice.

On top of this, the movie is going up against huge Netflix releases like Knives Out 3 and Frankenstein within weeks of each other. Out of all originals movies dropping on the streaming service, I think Ballad of a Small Player is the most likely to be glossed over (if for no other reason, purely because it's the smallest IP).

As Netflix hits its fall of back-to-back movie stride, my plea to you is to not overlook this one now that it's arrived. Granted, it's no Conclave, but what Ballad of a Small Player lacks in narrative nous it more than makes up for in cinematic scope, taking us to locations and circumstances we cannot access in reality.

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Roofman review: Channing Tatum and Kirsten Dunst have incredible chemistry in Toys R Us true tale gone wild
11:00 am | October 10, 2025
Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets Paramount Plus Streaming | Comments: Off

If you've never heard the jaw-dropping true story of Jeffrey Manchester, the new Paramount movie Roofman is about to school you in the best way. Don't expect it to outline the facts, but you'll be guaranteed a good time with this endearingly unhinged slice of Toys R Us-themed entertainment.

Remember the good old days in the nineties and noughties when your parents would take you to the toy store to pick something out, if you'd been really well behaved? My eye always gravitated towards the rows on rows of bikes, wishing I could ride one of the ever-so-shiny frames straight out of the door of the shop.

Turns out that if you were a kid living in Charlotte, North Carolina, in 2004, you were likely coming toe-to-toe with Jeffrey Manchester, a convicted criminal who spent six months holed up in the city's Toys R Us after escaping from prison (Manchester was previously sentenced to 45 years incarceration for armed robbery and kidnapping). I swear on my own mother's life that this is what actually happened.

In Roofman, Channing Tatum takes on the role of the charming escapee, and it's undeniably the best performance of his career so far. The Magic Mike star's latest role is much more revealing (not like that) and vulnerable, and frankly, Tatum's portrayal of a man who really loves and wants to do right by his kids makes him the hottest he's ever been.

Roofman makes takes the Jeffrey Manchester story to a new level of entertaining

Here's our basic premise: a man robs 45 (yes, 45) McDonalds stores to provide for his kids after leaving the US Military with no support or direction. After a short time in prison, he uses his onsite job in the woodwork shop to make a fake bottom for their weekly delivery truck to hide in, successfully escaping to you know where.

What's most surprising is that the movie version of Manchester falls in love with one of the Toys R Us workers and integrates himself into her church and family – and again, that's what really happened. Every sequence of events seems so unfeasible that it must have been engineered by director Derek Cianfrance to make a plausible movie narrative, but the work was done for him.

If you've ever thought you could survive on the run, Manchester is proof that even if you pick a smart strategy, you will get stung by love and pick up a lot of cavities along the way. Tatum's connection with Kirsten Dunst's character Leigh isn't only what pulls Manchester away from success, but it's what pulls us more into the storytelling.

Together, they're an unlikely yet exceptional pair. The perfect cross-section between what's right and wrong with suburban America. Although, the two never fully reveal their truth to each other before it's too late to act. Isn't that always the way? Leigh in particular is an intriguing portrayal of what happens when a woman suddenly (and unashamedly) decides to go after what she wants, and how that doesn't always end in a happy ever after.

Take a shot every time you see an A-grade actor being underused

Channing Tatum drinks out of a coffee vat while holding a baby food spoon

Channing Tatum as Jeffrey Manchester in Roofman. (Image credit: Paramount Pictures)

Tatum's balance between kind-hearted loverman and an intelligent criminal is pitch perfect, and seeing the after-hours dynamics in the most magical store in our cultural zeitgeist is solid entertainment, but there are some flaws.

Most notably, Roofman dips around the two-thirds mark. Once we've established how Manchester hid himself and how he successfully lived a double life with Leigh and her children, we've seen the whole movie. The ending, though I won't spoil it, is pretty guessable, despite the true story certainly being available on Google. There isn't enough substance or momentum to drive us through the 126 minute runtime, and that's to the Paramount movie's detriment.

It goes without saying that none of what we see touches the sides of following what happened in real life (though stay until the end for more on this). However, that doesn't mean we needed key details very obviously spoonfed to us. We find out what happened between Manchester and Leigh because another character literally asks Tatum that question, which is the equivalent of reading stage directions aloud.

On top of this, we've got a stacked cast who barely get any screentime, ranging from Ted Lasso's Juno Temple to The Residence's Uzo Aduba. If a film is going to feature people we desperately want to see, it's unhinged that we have to plead (like this) for it to actually do that.

But are any of us watching Roofman for it to blow us away or to win awards? Of course not. I'd probably recommend watching a YouTube video of Manchester's story instead (until an inevitable Netflix documentary comes out), but Roofman is worth it for Tatum alone. Flawed, funny and flaming good at what he does, and that's what we want from any leading man.

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Wake Up Dead Man is the best Knives Out mystery yet, and that’s not just because of Benoit Blanc
3:09 pm | October 9, 2025
Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets Netflix Streaming | Tags: | Comments: Off

Rian Johnson, I owe you an apology. After trashing the first Knives Out movie and reluctantly warming up to Glass Onion (though that was mostly Kathryn Hahn's doing), Wake Up Dead Man has knocked it out of the park, and might just be the best crime caper I've seen in the last few years.

When I was 14, I was a huge fan of the legendary crime author Agatha Christie. I hoovered up her books, watched every TV adaptation known to man and even tried getting into Doctor Who in 2008 when they randomly decided to do an episode on her disappearance.

Ever since those glory days, I've been trying to chase the same feeling Christie's stories once gave me. We're spoilt for choice when it comes to incredible crime dramas, but nothing quite fills her shoes... until now. Wake Up Dead Man takes the likes of The Murder at the Vicarage and elevates it for 2025, and boy is there a lot to like.

Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery is the Agatha Christie classic for 2025

In Upstate New York, a shy and charming young priest (Josh O'Connor) joins a rural community as the assistant pastor of their church. It's run by a totalitarian monsignor who looks a little like a Walmart version of God (Josh Brolin) and instills fear into his flock every week.

In the middle of an Easter week sermon, the monsignor is fatally stabbed in the back, and only Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) has the foresight to solve the case. Local police chief Geraldine (Mila Kunis) is at her wits end, the church's right-hand woman Martha (Glenn Close) is in religious turmoil, and local author Lee (Andrew Scott) wants to make as much money from what's happened as possible.

Every bone in my body said Wake Up Dead Man should be set in England when I watched the trailer (there are a lot of Brits playing Americans here), but its location is actually crucial to the subtext. Being set in 2025's America means the movie can easily poke fun at Western culture and the cultural landscape, particularly given where its politics is at.

The jibes are well-covered, but they're there if you look hard enough. The monsignor's style of preaching with vengeance reflects how we're seeing people communicate with each other in the wider world, weaponizing faith and opinions to use against one another. But it's not all doom and gloom (except for our victims, obviously).

Thanks to a whip-smart script, there's almost a laugh every minute peppered in between Blanc's exceptional monologues we've come to know and love. Netflix, the cast and absurdness of what's happening around them are all in the firing line, and the metaphorical shots fired make for the most enjoyable surprises. Nothing is too scathing or overt, and there's no 'woke brigade' here. It's just smart craft, and that's what we want.

Our A-list cast get in the way of... well, our A-List cast

Josh O'Connor covered in mud raises a knife above his head

Josh O'Connor is our breakout star in the Knives Out 3 cast. (Image credit: Netflix)

Not only has director Rian Johnson raised his game when it comes to how Wake Up Dead Man has been visualized, but his casting choices have excelled themselves. Daniel Craig has Blanc down pat and that hasn't lost its shine, but our attention returns to Josh O'Connor time and time again throughout the film.

Struggling with a troubled past and a community that would rather eat a pile of worms rather than embrace him, O'Connor's role as Father Jud is pivotal to the main mystery. He's stuck between a rock and a hard place when it comes to testing his faith, and it's truly beautiful to see him tested on all fronts thanks to such a nuanced performance.

As for the rest of our suspects, they fall victim to something else entirely. When you have so many names in one place, you inevitably compromise your time with them. As a result, most of them (including Kerry Washington, Daryl McCormack and Jeremy Renner) leave you wanting more, fleetingly presenting us with their intriguing backstories before vanishing into the background.

Still, we can't complain too much. Yes, the runtime is longer than I'd like it to be and my butt went numb watching. Yes, I needed more of Kerry Washington's quietly savage lawyer onscreen. Yes, the story took an oddly supernatural turn I wasn't expecting.

But as a girl who loves her classic crime capers, Wake Up Dead Man is up there with the best. It has a stacked cast who deliver a well-crafted story that's the ideal bridge between old and new, with every element keeping you in the dark.

Most importantly, I didn't guess whodunnit, and that's a rare feat these days. I'm now ready for the Knives Out franchise to continue on for so long that Craig eventually has nobody left to act alongside except for the Muppets. Make it happen, Johnson.

Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery comes to Netflix on December 12.

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Tron: Ares review – Disney reboots its dazzling digital world, but the new story left me longing for the original Grid
7:00 pm | October 7, 2025
Author: admin | Category: Computers Disney Plus Gadgets Streaming | Tags: | Comments: Off

Steven Lisberger’s dormant digital mecca is finally being rebooted for the big screen, with director Joachim Rønning (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales; Kon-Tiki) crafting a sequel that takes us back inside the neon-washed virtual world known as the Grid. Picking up the baton from Joseph Kosinski’s Tron: Legacy more than a decade after that film’s release, Tron: Ares moves the action out of the Grid and into the real world.

This ambitious shift takes the franchise in a new direction, which Rønning manages to do while honoring the film series’ style and tone, peppering the movie with numerous references that eagle-eyed fans will pick up on. Just like the second installment, Tron: Ares opens with a quick flash of newsreels that establish a futuristic setting where two tech titans, ENCOM and Dillinger Systems, are competing to find the long lost ‘Permanence Code’, a technology that could enable digital life to exist in the real world.

From the beginning, it’s clear that Tron: Ares is setting out a bold new direction for the franchise. It flips the original premise, so rather than a human entering the Grid, a program enters the real world, raising timely questions about AI’s next advancements and the nature of human morality.

Jared Leto’s (Requiem for a Dream; Dallas Buyers Club) titular Ares is a self-learning AI known as the Master Control Program. Like his mythological namesake, Ares is built as a security protocol, so it’s fitting when we’re introduced to him during a combat training montage inside the Dillinger Grid. Keeping in line with the original movie, Dillinger is the same corporate antagonist in this latest chapter.

In the original movie Dillinger Systems was owned by the nefarious Ed Dillinger, who was played by David Warner. Dillinger’s son now calls the shots, with Evan Peters (X-Men: Days of Future Past; Monster) replacing Cliian Murphy who previously took on the role in Tron: Legacy. Dillinger Junior has his sights set on retrieving the code, and in his desperation to beat ENCOM to the punch he invents a technology that can make the programs he’s coded in the Grid temporarily exist in the real world – except that’s not what he tells investors, much to the annoyance of his mother Elisabeth Dillinger, who’s played by Gillian Anderson (The Last King of Scotland; The X-Files).

A person wearing a Tron suit waves around a stick with light cycles trailing behind it

Tron: Ares revisits the same neon-soaked sci-fi setting of the original 80s movie. (Image credit: Disney )

The limitations of the technology mean that when Ares is finally transmitted into the real world, he can only survive in a temporary physical state for 29 minutes before his new form completely destabilizes, sending him back to the Dillinger Grid. This digital resurrection echoes the story of Frankenstein’s monster, as we watch Ares grapple with what it means to be human throughout the film. Anchoring this moral struggle is a quote from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein that’s referenced more than once in the dialogue: “Beware, I am fearless and therefore powerful”. But, unlike Frankenstein’s monster, Ares is less a cautionary tale about the perils of unchecked experimentation than a mirror for human morality.

Jodie Turner-Smith’s (After Yang; The Agency) Athena, a fellow digital soldier who works for Dillinger, sharpens the movie’s thematic point around humanity. Her robotic obedience stands in stark contrast to Ares’ existential curiosity, and it’s a smart dynamic that works to set them apart when Ares and Athena are sent on a mission to hack into the ENCOM grid. They’re ordered to spy on CEO Eve Kim, who’s played by Greta Lee (Past Lives; The Studio), to see if she’s any closer to getting the ‘Permanence Code’, but the story takes a sharp turn when Ares starts to explore what existing in a permanent physical form could mean for him.

A person in a Tron suit rides a bike with a cop car next to it

Ares breaks free from the Grid, taking a Light Cycle for a spin on a real-life highway. (Image credit: Disney)

Created by the genius programmer Kevin Flynn, who’s played by Jeff Bridges (The Big Lebowski; The Old Man), the code is rumored to contain the key to bridging the gap between digital and human realities. It’s this search that also underpins Ares’ desire to understand his new feelings, which becomes the emotional core of the film.

Honoring the original movie’s groundbreaking use of CGI, Tron: Ares uses a mix of physical sets and visual effects (VFX) to give it an edge over Tron: Legacy, which had more of a CGI-heavy video game feel. I found this added another layer of immersion to the ambitious action sequences throughout, as you see Light Cycles cutting across freeways and streets. Visually, it felt like a fever dream in which characters and vehicles from a 1980s arcade game escape into a real-world setting.

Adding to that immersion is an industrial electronic score composed by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. The digital synthesizer-heavy soundtrack also features music from Nine Inch Nails, building on Daft Punk’s signature sound in Tron: Legacy and creating a new futuristic beat that the movie matches its rhythm to.

Greta Lee runs along the street of a metropolitan city with a Recognizer chasing after her

Seeing Tron's futuristic vehicles in the real world was a highlight of the movie. (Image credit: Disney )

Not everything ties together as seamlessly though. The symbolic references can be heavy-handed, with the dialogue often over explaining (the unnecessary repetition of the Frankenstein story hints at the obvious). The chemistry between Eve and Ares is also nonexistent, often coming across more like the relationship between a scientist and her creation, which given that the themes of the movie are centered around AI and moral evolution would have been absolutely fine, but instead the movie tries to imply a deeper relationship with a throwaway comment at the end of the film. This hints at a budding romance between them that didn’t feel entirely fitting for a sentient AI that’s only just beginning to recognize emotions.

By the time the credits have finished rolling, Rønning sets up a new direction for the sci-fi franchise in a mid-credits cut scene that suggests this won’t be the last of the disgraced tech CEO we see. TRON: Ares may not rewrite the film series’ code the way its predecessor did, but it has an emotional heft and depth, as it does explore some of the biggest questions we have today around our relationship with technology. It by no means answers any of these questions – and to be clear it doesn’t pretend that it’s setting out to do so – making Rønning’s spin at the Tron wheel less about machines being AI gods and more about the flaws within our own creations. It’s ambitious, occasionally obvious, but unmistakably Tron.

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