Perhaps the fact that three is an odd number – or as some might say, a crowd – is nowhere as glaringly apparent as in a game played in doubles or singles, and this is why tennis offers the perfect backdrop for Luca Guadagnino’s latest foray into the complex nature of desire. The narrative framework of Challengers is set in the summer of 2019: the final of a rinky-dink ATP challengers tournament is fought between Aston Martin-sponsored and Uniqulo-endorsed professional Art Donaldson (Mike Faist) and down-on-his-luck underdog Patrick Zweig (Josh O’Connor). Why this match, that promises prize mon ..read more

The Watched, a new film directed by Ishana Night Shyamalan and produced by the enigmatic M Night Shyamalan, is set to captivate audiences in cinemas across the UK on 14th June 2024. This gripping cinematic piece, inspired by the novel from AM Shine, explores the harrowing tale of Mina, a 28-year-old artist who, alongside three strangers, finds herself ensnared in a remote, unspoiled forest in western Ireland. The group quickly learns they are not alone, as they are relentlessly observed by unseen entities that see everything, whilst they remain in the dark. Featuring a stellar cast including D ..read more

When Marwan Barghouti was a young boy, the IDF killed his dog. This, his son tells us at the start of Tomorrow’s Freedom, was the beginning of the occupation: robbing Palestinians of all worldly possessions until they have nothing left to fight for. Except, as we soon learn from Georgia and Sophia Scott’s passionate yet meditative documentary, such means of dehumanisation have come to have the opposite effect. The Scott sisters first gained access to Barghouti, a Palestinian activist and Fatah leader, in 2017. Over the course of three years, they documented his family’s unrelenting fight for h ..read more

For all the promising fertile ground on which Franklin is sown, the overwhelming takeaway from the Apple TV+ eight-part miniseries is confirmation of a historical certainty – Michael Douglas is a magnetic leading man. The 70-year-old founding father is a role into which Douglas throws himself with relish and vivacity, providing a central spark to a drama whose inert pace often strangely plunges it into the realm of comfort viewing.  This iteration of Benjamin Franklin finds him arriving on the shores of Western Europe with his 17-year-old grandson (Noah Jupe), hoping to covertly enlist mi ..read more

Abigail follows a group of six criminals who kidnap the titular Abigail (Alisha Weir), taking her to a secluded mansion on the orders of their handler Lambert (Giancarlo Esposito) in the hopes of receiving ransom money from her father. The group, who use aliases derived from the Rat Pack, is tasked with watching over Abigail for 24 hours. However, it soon becomes clear that Abigail is no ordinary 12-year-old, and the kidnappers find themselves in a far more dangerous situation than any of them bargained for. Despite its horror-movie trappings, Abigail is not a scary movie, leaning more into th ..read more

In the much-anticipated sequel, Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver, Zack Snyder’s mega-budget sci-fi saga picks up where the last ended. Now the scene has been set for his otherworldly universe, this second chapter dives into a more out-and-out war movie, with high-octane action sequences, while also delving deeper into the various characters’ backstories and the sacrifices they must make in their rebellion against the Motherworld.  The Upcoming had the chance to hear from the visionary director and producer duo, Deborah and Zack Snyder, on the red carpet at the London premiere, wh ..read more

Right off the heels of the success of Dune, Netflix may be hoping to capitalise on the trend of sci-fi and space storytelling with Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon franchise. This second chapter follows the supposed death of Atticus Noble (Ed Skrein) post the events of Part One: A Child of Fire. Here, he is seemingly revived and out for Kora’s (Sofia Boutella) blood – the woman who has given him a scar. Quite apropos given this instalment’s title. Meanwhile, the rest of the surviving members of protagonist’s group settle in Veldt and prepare to protect it from the incoming attack of the admiral and th ..read more

Plant-based diets have steadily been on the rise over the past few years. But with this ever-burgeoning movement, we’ve also seen the proliferation of anti-vegan propaganda, often tied to conspiratorial climate denialism and rampant incel-fuelled misogyny. With his slick direction and snappy edits, lifelong vegan Tom Pickering presents the key ideas of I Could Never Go Vegan in an affable manner. Seeking the help of nutrition experts, vegan athletes, climate activists and animal welfare advocates, Pickering methodically addresses the most common arguments against veganism. The documentary expl ..read more

Written and co-directed by Brock Driver alongside Finn Bruce, pun-titled mockumentary Swede Caroline centres around champion marrow grower Caroline (a wonderfully deadpan Jo Hartley), who’s preparing for the upcoming competition after a controversy saw her disqualified the previous year. Working alongside her neighbour Willy (Celyn Jones) and conspiracy-obsessed friend Paul (Richard Lumsden), she’s nurtured a mammoth marrow nicknamed Ricky Hutton. However, disaster strikes when the prized vegetable is stolen in the middle of the night by masked thieves. Kidnapping, shady schemes and cut-throat ..read more

Black Flies is a New York film if ever there was one; a dark, grimy, dirty assault on the senses, where the grey, monolithic colossi that are the city’s skyscrapers loom over its residents like an army of sinister iron giants, trapping them in an urban nightmare of destitution and depression.  Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire’s barrage of noir-inflected nihilism centres around rookie paramedic, Ollie Cross (Tye Sheridan), whose time is split between night shifts and studying for a medical degree. He is an idealistic young man who sees his work as a vocation and lives in a rundown apartment in China ..read more