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A wacky true story of creating a new society away from the rest of the world, Ron Howard's Eden is a fascinating if flawed film.

Filmed right here in Australia, Eden is based on the small group of people who embarked upon creating a new life for themselves on the small island of Floreana in the Galapagos archipelago, off Ecuador.

First to arrive were Dr Friedrich Ritter (Jude Law with a German accent and no teeth) and his partner Dore Strauch (Vanessa Kirby, The Fantastic Four: First Steps). Their exploits alone on the island garnered press interest, which inspired three more settlers to arrive: Heinz (Daniel Bruhl), Margret (Sydney Sweeney) and child Harry (Jonathan Tittel) Wittmer. Finally, the 'Baroness' Eloise Bosquet de Wagner Wehrhorn (Ana de Armas, deliciously unhinged) arrives with several helpers, including Rudy (Felix Kammerer, All Quiet on the Western Front) and Robert (Aussie Toby Wallace, Finestkind).

Dr Ritter fancies himself something of a world-changing philosopher if he could just get his manifesto written. He doesn't take too kindly to others setting up shop on his island, and is as inhospitable as he can me, purposely leading the Wittmers to an area he believes can't be farmed, and later leading the Baroness to the Wittmers' water supply.

This group of inhabitants become a microcosm of society at large, and all the worst parts of human nature come to the fore. There's betrayal, theft, violence and manipulation at play as survival instincts leave politeness in the dust.

Anyone who's heard the story of Floreana before (perhaps on a true crime podcast) knows that there's far from a happy ending in store for these folks. Unfortunately, the narrative crafted for the film doesn't have quite the pacing and drive that really hooks you in for the big climax. It's all a little bit flat. The actors are doing their all, sometimes for the best and sometimes for the distractingly comical, but Eden just doesn't quite come together the way you'd hope.

It feels like the promotions for It: Welcome to Derry have been going on for years, but finally the first episode of the series, which serves as a prequel to the hit It films of 2017 and 2019, has arrived, full of deathly screams and blood.

Set, of course, in the town of Derry during the Cold War, we start the series following Matty (Miles Ekhardt), a young boy who has snuck into a screening of The Music Man without paying. Chased out of the theatre by the usher, he ends up walking home during the freezing night, looking to hitch a ride. And a ride does arrive in the form of a family. But they're not all they seem.

If you're not ready for things to get bloody, weird and gross almost immediately, then It: Welcome to Derry is not for you.