Seen on Screen: Leo, Toni, Pavement and The Rock

It’s a bracing time to head cinemas, with word-of-mouth sensation One Battle After Another rocking IMAX (and mid-sized) screens and The Smashing Machine showing us Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in a very different light. Also look for a new take on heist flicks from a master of slow-burn indie cinema.

And at home, streamers are offering a fun balance of self-aware docos and creeping-dread thrillers across both television and movies. But hey, it’s not all serious stuff: there’s a new romcom in the mix with some classic tropes and familiar faces.

Here’s what to watch in October.

For a fun, farfetched sports comedy: Chad Powers season 1

With his chiselled jaw and cocksure manner, Glenn Powell was born to play jocks. And indeed, that’s what we’ve seen from him in recent years, as the American has risen to stardom via roles like Hangman in Top Gun and Sydney Sweeney’s verbal sparring partner in Anyone But You. But in this series he co-created with screenwriter Michael Waldron (Rick and Morty), our leading man plays an actual quarterback – albeit a disgraced star who lost his team a key game by showboating. Donning facial prosthetics, a goofy hick accent and new name, it’s up to Powell to win his way to redemption with his new team, game by game. What ensues is a kind of Waterboy meets Remember the Titans meets Mrs Doubtfire. Yes, it’s just as silly and fun as it sounds. On Disney+ now.

For Leo playing a washed-up revolutionary: One Battle After Another

Paul Thomas Anderson’s 10th movie is a lot to take in. The filmmaker draws from Thomas Pynchon’s 1990 novel Vineland to deliver a timely indictment of America’s war on immigration, with Leonardo DiCaprio playing a washed-up revolutionary and single dad who’s thrown back into the fray after more than a decade of living under an assumed name in northern California. One Battle After Another is an epic-length gut punch, but also bitterly funny and shaggily cool. The focus isn’t always on DiCaprio – as usual, Anderson has assembled a stellar supporting cast. That includes Sean Penn as over-the-top military man Steven J. Lockjaw, Benicio del Toro as a beer-swilling sensei, Chase Infiniti as DiCaprio’s teen daughter and Teyana Taylor as a fiery, scene-stealing activist. See it on the big screen if you can. In cinemas now.

For Toni Collette doing shades of Twin Peaks: Wayward

National treasure Toni Collette is the charismatic villain (and possible cult leader) at the heart of this eight-episode slow burn from creator and co-star Mae Martin (Feel Good), who plays a small-town Vermont cop pulling at the threads of an ominous boarding school run by Collette’s character. The cloistered forest setting of Tall Pines is sure to evoke Twin Peaks (or M. Night Shyamalan’s series Wayward Pines), but the show’s gravitational centre is the mystery of what’s actually happening to the teenagers behind closed doors at Tall Pines Academy. As two students try to break free from the school, Martin’s anxious cop dives deeper into its culture and legacy. Expect a strong ensemble cast of adolescent actors, plus reliable horror flourishes punctuating the mystery and drama elements. On Netflix now.

For a poignant romance starring a familiar face: All of You

Between Ted Lasso and Shrinking, Brett Goldstein has become a much-loved staple of Apple TV+. Now he co-stars with Imogen Poots in this slightly high-concept romantic drama – which Goldstein co-wrote with director William Bridges – about two best friends whose chemistry seems undeniable to almost everyone. But Poots’ character Laura does deny it, opting to take a sci-fi-ish test that allows people to find their soulmates. But the passing years and Laura’s budding family don’t dampen the potential for sparks between her and Goldstein’s character Simon. The premise recalls the 2023 movie Fingernails (also on Apple TV+), but All of You is both broader and more grounded by comparison. It’s a classic couple movies about two people who can’t be together, only to find that they can’t be apart. On Apple TV+ now.

For The Rock in Oscar mode: The Smashing Machine

In Benny Safdie’s first movie without his brother Josh – his co-director on Good Time and Uncut Gems – Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson plays early MMA star Mark Kerr. The Smashing Machine mingles elements of biopic, melodrama and montage-driven sport movies, all with Safdie’s familiar cinéma vérité style. Complete with prosthetics, Johnson’s transformative and physically demanding performance has Oscar bid written all over it, and it’s great to see him tap the self-awareness of his earlier acting turns (see 2013’s Pain & Gain). Emily Blunt plays his antagonistic partner, with the story split between domestic strife in their Arizona home and Kerr’s uphill battle for championship status in Japan’s burgeoning MMA league. Not everyone will click with the film’s chaotic verve, but Safdie captures the visceral crush of the then-nascent sport. In cinemas now.

For a winking musical mockumentary: Pavements

Indie rock’s quintessential secret-handshake band during the 1990s, Pavement folded just before that decade came to a close. Yet the California five-piece have only grown in stature since then, thanks to new generations discovering them via streaming and sporadic reunion tours that included an Australian leg in early 2023. DIY-minded filmmaker Alex Ross Perry has crafted a genre-crossed artefact that befits Pavement’s many cryptic facets and contradictions. That means it jumps from a jokey biopic – with Stranger Things ’ Joe Kerry as frontman Stephen Malkmus – to rehearsals for a would-be jukebox musical and documentary footage of the band both now and in their heyday. Perry and his ultra-meta creation were just in Melbourne for MIFF (along with guitarist Scott Kannberg), and now Pavements comes exclusively to Docplay in Australia. On Docplay now.

For a doco about our past and future: The Idea of Australia

Screen legend Rachel Griffiths hosts this four-part doco, based on Julianne Schultz’s probing 2022 book. The thrust of the series is about questioning Australia’s self-constructed “fair go” identity, and suggesting how the country might live up to such self-mythologising in a fraught future. The requisite talking heads are fascinating to say the least, ranging from Grace Tame and Bruce Pascoe (Dark Emu) to prominent journalists and Schultz herself. Also look out for archival footage of Australia’s history, and a welcome diversity of opinion and perspective. The Idea of Australia was produced by Blackfella Films, the company behind the acclaimed drama Total Control (in which Griffiths co-stars). The producers say the series is meant to prompt conversation and debate, so think of it more as an opening statement than a final word. On SBS On Demand now.

For a domestic nightmare in time for Halloween: The Hand That Rocks the Cradle

Scream queen Maika Monroe (Longlegs, It Follows) now gets to play a proper villain in this pressure-cooker remake of the 1992 movie about a new nanny who slowly takes over a suburban household. There’s some fun doubling as Monroe’s interloper begins to slip into the maternal role of Mary Elizabeth Winstead’s mother character, from attracting the eye of her husband (Task ’s Raúl Castillo) to winning the allegiance of her children. (And the two share enough physical similarities to complete the parallel.) Directed by Mexican filmmaker Michelle Garza Cervera, The Hand That Rocks the Cradle seems to apply an elevated-horror update to what was originally a sharp domestic thriller. Arriving less than a fortnight before Halloween, this could be a tasty entree to some fun horror marathons. On Disney+ October 22.

For a low-key, slow-burning heist: The Mastermind

A few months before his prominent role in the third Knives Out outing, Josh O’Connor plays an aspiring art thief in 1970s suburban Massachusetts in the latest movie from indie veteran Kelly Reichardt (First Cow). It’s ostensibly a heist film, but anyone familiar with Reichardt’s slow and philosophical pacing will know not to expect anything too frenetic. Instead, we should be in for a character study that’s rounded out by a great cast (including Alana Haim, Hope Davis and Gaby Hoffmann) and flecked with hints of both Wes Anderson-esque playfulness and ’70s-style New Hollywood. And rather than being a seasoned criminal, O’Connor’s character is an unemployed husband and father who’s naively feeling his way towards his first big score, making this caper more charming than it is airtight. In cinemas October 23.