SPACEMAN 15

Into the talking-spider-verse…

★★★★★ OUT NOW CINEMAS 1 MARCH NETFLIX

Adam Sandler tries to remember where the zero-G loo is

Johan Renck’s (Chernobyl) film casts Adam Sandler as ‘the loneliest man who has ever lived’. That’s no wild claim: Sandler plays astronaut Jakub who, nine months into a mission to investigate a mysterious cloud by Jupiter, is the furthest from human contact that anyone has ever been.

Jakub’s eager to patch things up with his pregnant wife Lenka (Carey Mulligan) back on Earth; but this gorgeous existential sci-fi has more than space travel and despair on its mind. Before long, our hero forges a connection with a giant extraterrestrial spider with an abundance of emotional intelligence and a tiny human mouth, from which springs the voice of Paul Dano.

Yes, it sounds like the premise for a broad comedy – and Spaceman does deliver the occasional laugh. But this is an impactful and at times profound film, with a hauntingly lovely turn from Sandler.

From the alien spider’s teeth to a host of glowing celestial bodies and even Sandler’s ship’s zero-gravity toilet, Spaceman is flush with careful detail. It’s also a film filled with the unexpected – one that doesn’t follow a familiar narrative structure, provide neat answers or make the viewer feel any less alone in this vast, cold universe. But for those who are open to the wonderfully weird, it offers up some deep truths, terrific performances and an alien gob that truly transfixes the attention.

THE VERDICT A soulsearching Adam Sandler excels in a sci-fi drama that’s both way-out and weighty.

LISA FRANKENSTEIN 15

Bo(d)y meets girl…

★★★★★ OUT 1 MARCH CINEMAS

John Hughes’ Brat Pack movies meet Mary Shelley’s Gothic classic in this comedy scripted by Diablo Cody (Juno, Jennifer’s Body).

Set in 1989, it centres on Lisa (Kathryn Newton), a highschooler who lives with her father (Joe Chrest), stepmother (Carla Gugino) and stepsister Taffy (Liza Soberano), yet prefers to hang out at the local cemetery, among the tombstones.

Though she has a crush on the editor of the school lit magazine (Henry Eikenberry), Lisa soon finds her real love – at the graveyard – when a corpse (Riverdale’s Cole Sprouse) comes back to life. He doesn’t speak and cries tears that smell like vomit. Nevertheless, hiding him at home in her closet, Lisa is smitten – and becomes more so as things get increasingly macabre.

Directed by Zelda Williams (daughter of Robin), Lisa Frankenstein contains its share of LOLs. Another big plus is the musical interlude featuring a version of REO Speedwagon’s Can’t Fight This Feeling, adeptly sung by a game Newton. Sprouse gives an expressive, Edward Scissorhandsesque performance as ‘The Creature’ – but sadly, the more violent the film gets, the less engaging it becomes. The final act also drifts when it should arrow towards a darkly comic denouement. Still, filled with Cody’s trademark wit and some nifty 80s design schemes, it’s a slick, sick ride with strong teen appeal.

THE VERDICT A neat mash-up of high-school comedy and horror tropes. Pity it falters in the final third.