FLICKS TO GET YOU ON EDGE OF YOUR SEAT
15 MINUTES OF SHAME (M) FOR WHOM THE HELL TROLLS, US, 85 MINS
Currently back in the public eye due to her prominence in the superb limited series Impeachment, Monica Lewinsky serves as both producer and joint narrator of an engrossing documentary on a subject she knows a little something about. The hot topic here is how the rise of the internet has weaponised the age-old practice of public shaming. Whereas once upon a time, people may have paid for their mistakes by being pelted with fruit in a town square, those who transgress now face a more damning, unrecoverable cost. One slip-up can blow up an entire life, vaporising careers, friends and families within 24 hours of being “cancelled.” Lewinsky’s team tracks down a fascinating group of people who have experienced the explosion of a socialmedia shaming. One woman criticised Donald Trump briefly on Facebook, and mobilised a national army of trolls that came after her. Another poor fellow accidentally got mistaken for a neo-Nazi, and lost everything before he could even clear his name. You will immediately appreciate these people’s bravery for daring to return to the blast crater of where their lives used to be. Maybe you will also think twice before joining the next internet pile-on that will crush someone forever? ****
FREE GUY (M) EVERYTHING IS A GAME, BUT NOT EVERYONE IS PLAYING, US, 115 MIN
Recent cinema hit now rush-released to Foxtel in addition to original platform premiere on Disney+. This big-budget star showcase for a softer, lighter non-Deadpool side of Ryan Reynolds throws the likes of The Truman Show, The Lego Movie, and Ready Player One into a blender, then mixes the whole lot at top speed. While the contents of this concoction do take some time to settle, they ultimately form something with a flavour, texture and colour that will definitely appeal to the tastes of a majority of moviegoers. Reynolds stars as Guy, a happy-go-lucky everyman saddened to learn that his life is actually unfolding within the confines of a carefully coded video game. With the aid of a programmer who enters the game as a virtual-reality avatar, Guy stages a rebellion that just might allow him to literally get himself a life of his own. Co-stars Jodie Comer, Taika Waititi. ***
FOXTEL (FREE), DISNEY+ (FREE) OR PREMIUM RENTAL
THE GUILTY (M) QUICK TO PICK UP, HARD TO PUT DOWN, US, 88 MIN
All you’re getting from The Guilty is the making and taking of phone calls by Jake Gyllenhaal. And yet, as we work through the hurried, high-stakes sequence of conversations haunting the headset of Gyllenhaal’s hyper-vigilant 911 emergency officer, the dark mystery that unfolds becomes allconsuming for any willing, worried viewers. To unleash the full power coursing through this movie (a very faithful remake of an astonishing 2018 Danish thriller of the same name) it is best to stagger into its forbidding storytelling maze with next to no advance information. All you need to know is that Gyllenhaal’s Joe Baylor is a decorated cop who has been banished to desk duty for reasons not disclosed. A distress call comes through from a woman who has been abducted by a former partner. What has happened in the lead-up to this incident – and what could be about to happen – must be methodically deducted by Joe with the very limited means at his disposal. As each minute ticks away, who Joe speaks to on the phone – and how he interprets what they are saying and not saying to him – become individual matters of life and death. Intrigued? You should be. Totally riveted? You will be. ****
NETFLIX
THE LAST VERMEER (M) A MAN WITH HIS ART IN THE WRONG PLACE, US-UK, 113 MIN
A bizarre true story that unfolded shortly after World War II. How did a long lost masterpiece by the great painter Vermeer land in the collection of an infamous Nazi leader? The mysterious Dutch gadfly Han van Meegeren (a brilliant Guy Pearce) knows the answer, and when he finally spills the beans in the second of this erratically entertaining affair, you’ll be itching to hit Wikipedia afterwards to double-check all of this actually happened. Pearce might be one of our most underrated actors, but he is also one of our strongest and slyest in the right situation. ***
AMAZON OR RENT
PET SEMATARY (MA15+) A SITE FOR PAW RISE, US, 99 MIN
This excellent contemporary horror flick is based on the book by Stephen King. Very loosely based, I should add. And an infinitely superior screen rendition to the cheesy 80s flick of the same name as well. While several liberties have been taken with King’s terrifying tale, they are all for a greater, galling good. Optimum shock value is achieved with minimum pre-awareness on the part of the viewer. All you need to know is that a city family has moved up-country to a spread abutting an ancient animal burial ground. When their house cat carks it, then reappears days later as if nothing has happened, Dad (Jason Clarke), Mum (Amy Seimetz) and the kids (Jeté Laurence, Hugo and Lucas Lavoie) learn a little more about reincarnation than anyone should ever know. This three-way collision between the whoa!, the wow! and the WTF? effortlessly induces fear, pokes fun and scars the memory. **** PARAMOUNT+ OR RENT
PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN (MA15+) NO MORE, MISTER NICE GUYS, US, 113 MIN
This hellish hybrid of edgy thriller and dark comedy is a Gone Girl for these post-#MeToo times: a provocative, confronting and ethically slippery affair sure to polarise opinion wherever it plays. Carey Mulligan stars as Cassie, a former star student who has thrown away a certain glittering career to avenge the sexual assault of a close friend. This is in no way a typical revenge thriller, and many viewers are going to find themselves unsettled by the sudden swerves the movie will often make around convention. What will keep you watching is the aggressively ambiguous and riveting performance of Mulligan as Cassie. You will worry for her. You will be worried by her. And that’s a promise. ****