David Jonsson

Wasteman

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Taylor and Dee face to face

Wasteman is a particularly ingenious prison drama, though in many respects it ticks the usual boxes: hyper-masculinity, bullying, drugs, a top dog bossing the show with the tacit assent of the authorities, a rookie prisoner falling foul of said top dog. And this being the 21st century, drones and phones very important. Since the high concept seems preordained, the emphasis on detail is massively important. And casting is crucial – think of Jack O’Connell, remarkable in Starred Up. Or the equally important Tahar Rahim in A Prophet. And Shawshank, of course. Here there are really only five roles that matter. David Jonsson as Taylor, a meek prisoner on the last leg of a … Read more

Alien: Romulus

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Rain and the monster head to head

A reboot and a return to basics in Alien: Romulus, in which Ridley Scott hands over the franchise to Spanish director Fede Alvarez, who returns the favour by handing producer Scott a spectacular sci-fi horror movie up with the best (ie the first two) of the series. We’re on a grungey spaceship on a timeline somewhere between the original Alien and its follow-up, Aliens, where a murderous xenomorph is working its way through Cailee Spaeny’s girlish Sigourney Weaver stand-in Rain, David Jonsson’s “synthetic” Andy, Archie Renaux’s tough, blustering Tyler, Isabela Merced’s hot and vulnerable Kay, Spike Fearn’s callow and peevish Bjorn and Aileen Wu’s practical and sexually ambiguous Navarro. It doesn’t matter why … Read more