David Jonsson – ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

WASTEMAN – Review by Nadine Whitney

April 21, 2026April 23, 2026 Nadine Whitney Alex Hassell, british films, Cal McMau, Cole Martin, David Jonsson, Tom Blyth, Wasteman

Cal McMau’s debut feature Wasteman feels like the oxygen is being sucked out of your lungs as it presses the claustrophobic hell of an English prison on to the audience via the beaten down protagonist Taylor (David Jonsson). Incarcerated for thirteen years, Taylor has stayed out of trouble by shrinking himself. His hunched shoulders and heavy-lidded eyes communicate that he wants to be ignored in the overcrowded prison by both other inmates and the screws. Stepping out of line has violent consequences as the opening scene viscerally demonstrates. Shot on someone’s cell phone is an assault where the section’s drug dealers mercilessly beat a prisoner who stole from him. Paul (Alex Hassell) picks up a television and smashes it on the thief’s head. No one tries to stop what is happening, and from the response of the guards, no one really can.

Reviews

THE LONG WALK – Review by Susan Granger

September 23, 2025September 25, 2025 Susan Granger David Jonsson, Francis Lawrence, JT Mollner, lionsgate, Mark Hamill, Ray Garraty, stephen king, the long walk

With uneasiness and uncertainty dominating the news, it’s not surprising that the latest Stephen King adaptation – The Long Walk – tanked at the box-office. Instead of angst and agony, audiences are looking for optimism and an emotional escape from adversity. The brutal premise is deceptively simple: 50 young men – one from each state – are chosen by lottery to participate in an annual contest that involves continuous walking at no less than three miles-an-hour. If someone fails to maintain that pace, he is shot in the head.

Reviews

THE LONG WALK – Review by Valerie Kalfrin

September 16, 2025September 25, 2025 Valerie Kalfrin David Jonsson, Francis Lawrence, JT Mollner, lionsgate, Mark Hamill, Ray Garraty, stephen king, the long walk

Brutal and wrenching, The Long Walk is a Stephen King adaptation that you may watch only once but find impossible to forget. Based on the novelist’s first work, later published in 1979 as Richard Bachman, The Long Walk chronicles a twisted endurance contest: Fifty young men from across the United States walk more than 300 miles across Maine, not stopping for food, water, or even sleep.

Reviews

THE LONG WALK – Review by Nadine Whitney

September 15, 2025September 14, 2025 Nadine Whitney David Jonsson, Francis Lawrence, JT Mollner, Mark Hamill, Ray Garraty, stephen king, the long walk

It isn’t very often that it can be claimed that a film is created with the very best instincts of all the creatives involved merging into a masterpiece. Yet, that is precisely the magic involved in Francis Lawrence’s The Long Walk adapted from Stephen King’s first novel (which was published after Carrie) adapted by JT Mollner. Put Stephen King’s aptitude for humanism in horror together with Francis Lawrence’s skill for dystopias (The Hunger Games series), and JT Mollner’s streamlined script and we are given a masterpiece. The Long Walk is bound for immediate status as a classic of the dystopian genre. A rare and unforgettable film.

Reviews

THE LONG WALK – Review by T. J. Callahan

September 10, 2025September 11, 2025 T. J. Callahan Cooper Hoffman, David Jonsson, Frances Lawrence, Judy Greer, Mark Hamill, stephen king, the long walk

Welcome to Walk or Die. Just how far would you walk in order to win anything you want in the world? That’s the carrot on the end of the stick for 50 boys selected by lottery to take part in The Long Walk, an annual contest in which the young men must maintain a pace of at least 3 mph or risk execution on the spot. The competition ends when one walker remains alive. The Long Walk is one of the most unconventional films you’ll see all year, but also the deepest…deeply disturbing, deeply intense, deeply inhumane and deeply moving.

Reviews

THE LONG WALK – Review by Susan Kamyab

September 2, 2025September 3, 2025 Susan Kamyab Cooper Hoffman, David Jonsson, Francis Lawrence, Mark Hamill, stephen king, the long walk

Based on Stephen King’s first-written novel, the film is set in a dystopian future where a group of teenage boys compete to win a life-changing prize in an annual contest known as The Long Walk, where they must maintain a certain walking speed or get shot. It is as stressful as it sounds, pushing horror boundaries that are equally terrifying, thought-provoking and emotional.

Reviews

ALIEN: ROMULUS – Review by Nadine Whitney

August 14, 2024August 15, 2024 Nadine Whitney Alien: Romulus, Cailee Spaeny, David Jonsson, Fede Alvarez, Galo Olivares, Ian Holm, Naaman Marshall

Set between the events of Ridley Scott’s 1979 Alien and James Cameron’s 1986 sequel Aliens, (somewhere in the 57 years Ripley’s hypersleep) the full extent of the company’s bioengineering and military aspirations are known only to a few. Fede Álvarez’s film skews for a younger audience with only one of the main cast out of their twenties. Roger Ebert made note that Ridley Scott’s Alien worked because the cast felt like they were part of a long-haul crew on the Nostromo. Apart from Sigourney Weaver and Veronica Cartwright the cast was generally older than the average horror or thriller film. Álvarez banks on the opposite effect. The rebelliousness and desperation of the young who know their lives are screwed if they play by the rules, yet unprepared to deal with the sheer mendacity of Weyland-Yutani and the depraved scale of its corporate profiteering.

Reviews

ALIEN: ROMULUS – Review by Diane Carson

August 14, 2024August 17, 2024 Diane Carson Alien: Romulus, Cailee Spaeny, David Jonsson, Fede Alvarez, Galo Olivares, Ian Holm, Naaman Marshall

In its seventh Alien iteration, which means it has enjoyed success, Alien: Romulus includes all the required, expected fear-inducing shocks and effects. Uruguayan Director Fede Álvarez takes the reins with previous Alien director Ridley Scott in a producer chair, ensuring his monster mother and babies create extreme havoc. Chronologically, it occurs roughly twenty years after Alien, before Aliens.

Reviews

ALIEN: ROMULUS – Review by T. J. Callahan

August 14, 2024August 21, 2024 T. J. Callahan Alien: Romulus, Cailee Spaeny, David Jonsson, Fede Alvarez, Galo Olivares, Ian Holm, Naaman Marshall

Space is the final frontier in a galaxy far, far away where no one can hear you scream. Alien: Romulus covers all these cliches and more as the 7th installment of the face-sucking, chest busting franchise.

Festivals Reviews

RYE LANE (Sundance FF 2023) – Review by Leslie Combemale

February 2, 2023February 2, 2023 Leslie Combemale british films, David Jonsson, Peckham, Raine Allen-Miller, rom com, Rye Lane, Searchlight Pictures, Sundance FF 2023, Vivian Oparah

Searchlight Pictures is missing a great opportunity by waiting until March to release Brit rom-com Rye Lane. This film is perfect viewing for Valentine’s Day, and sadly those in search of a charming romance to watch on the 14th will not even know what they’re missing. First-time feature director Raine Allen-Miller centers Black love in this color-drenched, Peckham-centric charmer that makes the South London neighborhood as much a lead character as the two who fall for each other on its streets. There’s so much fun and joy to be had in Rye Lane, it makes me grateful not EVERYONE has kicked the rom-com genre to the curb.