A tale of outsized ambition and outrageous excess, it traces the rise and fall of multiple characters during an era of unbridled decadence and depravity in early Hollywood.

Babylon will be released in Australian cinemas January 19!
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Don’t Worry Darling is a challenging experience but one that will reward those that don’t need to be spoon-fed their films. Its narrative is something on the surface but almost entirely different under that facade. Its bright and colourful fifties persona hides a dark secret.

Alice (Florence Pugh) and Jack (Harry Styles) lead an idyllic life and seem lustfully in love. The desert community in which they live mirrors the fifties lifestyle perfectly, too perfectly. As the cracks appear in this facade of normalcy, you are given discrete clues to its dark secrets.

The assertive mix of social commentary and elements of science fiction reflect a strong female viewpoint and the work is much stronger and relevant for that. That the heroes and villains don’t become known until the end of the final reel is a nod to the quality of the work. Kudos to all the women behind the film.
Rob Hudson
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Fast forward to when both creatures are grown up and Krypto (Dwayne Johnson) and the man of steel (John Krasinski) share accommodations in a walk-up flat in the city of Metropolis. They fight crime and do most everything together until that pesky reporter Lois Lane (Olivia Wilde) enters the scene.

From that point on, things are played mostly for laughs with some life sessions thrown in for good measure. A guinea pig named Lulu (Kate McKinnon) inherits superpowers then kidnaps Superman, disables Krypto’s powers and creates an army to wreak havoc. The now superpower-free Krypto is left to save the day.

Modern computer animation is used to the fullest and the vibrant colours and imaginative action keeps the momentum up as does the all-star vocal cast. The finely balanced sense of humour is consistently engaging and never too rude or saccharine. Parents are kindly Invited to join in on the fun.
Rob Hudson
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Alice (Pugh) and Jack (Styles) are lucky to be living in the idealized community of Victory, the experimental company town housing the men who work for the top-secret Victory Project and their families. The 1950’s societal optimism espoused by their CEO, Frank (Pine)—equal parts corporate visionary and motivational life coach—anchors every aspect of daily life in the tight-knit desert utopia.

While the husbands spend every day inside the Victory Project Headquarters, working on the “development of progressive materials,” their wives—including Frank’s elegant partner, Shelley (Chan)—get to spend their time enjoying the beauty, luxury and debauchery of their community. Life is perfect, with every resident’s needs met by the company. All they ask in return is discretion and unquestioning commitment to the Victory cause.

But when cracks in their idyllic life begin to appear, exposing flashes of something much more sinister lurking beneath the attractive façade, Alice can’t help questioning exactly what they’re doing in Victory, and why. Just how much is Alice willing to lose to expose what’s really going on in this paradise?

An audacious, twisted and visually stunning psychological thriller, “Don’t Worry Darling” is a powerhouse feature from director Olivia Wilde that boasts intoxicating performances from Florence Pugh and Harry Styles, surrounded by the impressive and pitch-perfect cast.

The film also stars Nick Kroll (“How It Ends”), Sydney Chandler (“Pistol”), Kate Berlant (“Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood”), Asif Ali (“WandaVision”), Douglas Smith (“Big Little Lies”), Timothy Simons (“Veep”) and Ari’el Stachel (upcoming “Respect the Jux”).

Wilde directs from a screenplay penned by her “Booksmart” writer Katie Silberman, based on a story by Carey Van Dyke & Shane Van Dyke (“Chernobyl Diaries”) and Silberman. The film is produced by Wilde, Silberman, Miri Yoon and Roy Lee, with Richard Brener, Celia Khong, Alex G. Scott, Catherine Hardwicke, Carey Van Dyke and Shane Van Dyke executive producing.

Wilde is joined behind the camera by two-time Oscar-nominated director of photography Matthew Libatique (“A Star Is Born,” “Black Swan”), production designer Katie Byron (“Booksmart”), editor Affonso Gonçalves (“The Lost Daughter”), Oscar-nominated composer John Powell (“Jason Bourne”), music supervisor Randall Poster (“No Time to Die”) and costume designer Arianne Phillips (“Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood”).

A New Line Cinema presentation, “Don’t Worry Darling” will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures.

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Alice (Pugh) and Jack (Styles) are lucky to be living in the idealized community of Victory, the experimental company town housing the men who work for the top-secret Victory Project and their families. The 1950’s societal optimism espoused by their CEO, Frank (Pine)—equal parts corporate visionary and motivational life coach—anchors every aspect of daily life in the tight-knit desert utopia.

While the husbands spend every day inside the Victory Project Headquarters, working on the “development of progressive materials,” their wives—including Frank’s elegant partner, Shelley (Chan)—get to spend their time enjoying the beauty, luxury and debauchery of their community. Life is perfect, with every resident’s needs met by the company. All they ask in return is discretion and unquestioning commitment to the Victory cause.

But when cracks in their idyllic life begin to appear, exposing flashes of something much more sinister lurking beneath the attractive façade, Alice can’t help questioning exactly what they’re doing in Victory, and why. Just how much is Alice willing to lose to expose what’s really going on in this paradise?

An audacious, twisted and visually stunning psychological thriller, “Don’t Worry Darling” is a powerhouse feature from director Olivia Wilde that boasts intoxicating performances from Florence Pugh and Harry Styles, surrounded by the impressive and pitch-perfect cast.

The film also stars Nick Kroll (“How It Ends”), Sydney Chandler (“Pistol”), Kate Berlant (“Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood”), Asif Ali (“WandaVision”), Douglas Smith (“Big Little Lies”), Timothy Simons (“Veep”) and Ari’el Stachel (upcoming “Respect the Jux”).

Wilde directs from a screenplay penned by her “Booksmart” writer Katie Silberman, based on a story by Carey Van Dyke & Shane Van Dyke (“Chernobyl Diaries”) and Silberman. The film is produced by Wilde, Silberman, Miri Yoon and Roy Lee, with Richard Brener, Celia Khong, Alex G. Scott, Catherine Hardwicke, Carey Van Dyke and Shane Van Dyke executive producing.

Wilde is joined behind the camera by two-time Oscar-nominated director of photography Matthew Libatique (“A Star Is Born,” “Black Swan”), production designer Katie Byron (“Booksmart”), editor Affonso Gonçalves (“The Lost Daughter”), Oscar-nominated composer John Powell (“Jason Bourne”), music supervisor Randall Poster (“No Time to Die”) and costume designer Arianne Phillips (“Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood”).

A New Line Cinema presentation, “Don’t Worry Darling” will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures.
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A little knowledge of that period of Formula 1 does however enhance some of the film’s emotional impact as the sport at that time was incredibly dangerous and killed its drivers with a gruesome regularity. This knowledge puts what is a sporting event into the realm of a real life or death battle.

The film’s main protagonists couldn’t have been any different as well. The British playboy driver James Hunt (played with an impressive verve by Chris Hemsworth) was a live fast and stuff the consequences alpha male type who ran head long into the world of Niki Lauda (Daniel Brühl). Lauda was an exacting Austrian who was precise, organized and made his approach to sport a very calculated one. He also had none of Hunt’s innate charm.

The two locked into a titanic battle for that year’s driver’s championship and in a case of real life being far more unbelievable than anything the Hollywood scribes could make up endured incredible hardships. As a sports film, Rush is top notch but as a study of human nature and our ultimate capabilities, it is almost overwhelming.

Rob Hudson
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Jewell was the security guard who was falsely accused of the 1996 Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta, Georgia. The FBI in a rush to solve the case came up with a profile and then twisted the facts to fit their created scenario. And even though Jewell was never formally charged, the media picked up on the story and he was tried, convicted and sentenced in the press.

Eastwood’s direction is even handed and Paul Walter Hauser (I, Tonya and BlacKkKlansman) delivers what is by all available information an accurate portrayal of Richard Jewell and his calm demeanour but his almost complete lack of outrage over the false accusations drain the proceedings of drama. Even if this element was faithfully presented, we as an audience, right or wrong, have come to expect more fireworks and drama from these miscarriage of justice stories.

Without the overstatement of anger, what we are left with that makes an impact are the close ups of the relationships that Jewell had with his mother (played by Kathy Bates) and his lawyer Watson Bryant (Sam Rockwell). Both Bates and Rockwell are outstanding and provide the emotional core of the movie. As an exercise in acting, Richard Jewell is top shelf, as a damning demonstration of the excesses that both the media and the FBI are capable of, the film is less engaging.

Rob Hudson
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“There is a bomb in Centennial Park. You have thirty minutes.” The world is first introduced to Richard Jewell as the security guard who reports finding the device at the 1996 Atlanta bombing—his report making him a hero whose swift actions save countless lives.

But within days, the law enforcement wannabe becomes the FBI’s number one suspect, vilified by press and public alike, his life ripped apart. Reaching out to independent, anti-establishment attorney Watson Bryant, Jewell staunchly professes his innocence. But Bryant finds he is out of his depth as he fights the combined powers of the FBI, GBI and APD to clear his client’s name, while keeping Richard from trusting the very people trying to destroy him.

RICHARD JEWELL is directed by Clint Eastwood and stars Sam Rockwell, Kathy Bates, Jon Hamm, Olivia Wilde and Paul Walter Hauser, and will be released in Australian cinemas February 13!
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Amy (Kaitlyn Dever) and Molly (Beanie Feldstein) are besties who are about to graduate from High School. They’ve buried their heads in books for too long and are beginning to feel that they might have missed things along the way. Fun things. They decide to cram three years of misbehaving into one last night before graduation with hilarious results.

They share a friendship based on honesty and respect and their banter is utterly modern and comically uninhibited. They support each other and see things of depth and value with each other where their fellow students only see the surface details. It’s to the strength of the script and Wilde’s sure hand that you get caught up with their plight completely.

There is such a satisfying sense of naivety mixed with intelligence with Amy and Molly and it defies the one dimension characters that usually inhabit movies of this genre. Booksmart is full of uncertainty, laughter, awkwardness, bravery and more than a touch of the bittersweet, it’s just like one remembers high school, only better, much better.

Rob Hudson
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Determined never to fall short of their peers, the girls set out on a mission to cram four years of fun into one night.

Booksmart is directed by Olivia Wilde, stars Beanie Feldstein, Kaitlyn Dever, Jessica Williams, Jason Sudeikis, Lisa Kudrow, Will Forte and is in Australian cinemas July 11!
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