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Sometimes it feels as though A.I. is already here, given the number of films resembling Garden State that pop up on the festival circuit every year. Robert Schwartzman’s The Good Half is only the latest, and his attempt to out-emo Zach Braff’s legacy film falls disappointingly short, given that his last Tribeca appearance was with the surreal and underrated comedy The Argument (2020), which channeled Charlie Kaufman in the story of a couple whose obsession with a petty fight spirals into absurdity. The Good Half, however, mostly serves as a decent vehicle for Nick Jonas, who seems to making a play to be the new Adam Driver, which is not as far-fetched as it might sound.

It starts with a flashback, as our hero, Renn Wheeland (Jonas), recalls the traumatic moment in his childhood when his free-spirited mother Lily (Elisabeth Shue) absent-mindedly abandoned him during a trip to the shopping mall.

Their celebrity fans include Harry Styles, Dave Grohl, Haim and Jeff Lynne of Elo, who put it very simply when he said, “I love The Zombies.” Their 1968 album Odessey and Oracle is a psychedelic pop masterpiece, one of the most enduring records of the decade, yet by the time it was released, the band had already broken up, tired of being exploited by rogue promoters, and out of favour with Sixties pop pickers. When one of the singles from that album, “Time of the Season”, hit number three in the US Billboard charts in early 1969, the group’s singer Colin Blunstone, possessor of one of the most beautiful voices in rock’n’roll, had taken a job in an insurance company. “The first couple of days, there was a bit of pointing,” he recalls in the new Zombies documentary Hung Up on a Dream, “but that first day, I had...

The Zombies only released two albums during their initial run, but the hits keep them coming back. Director Robert Schwartzman’s documentary, Hung Up on a Dream, named after a song from their classic album Odessey and Oracle, premiered at the Zach Theater during SXSW on March 12. Cooking Vinyl Records will release Different Game on March 31.

The Zombies’ first full-length album since 2015’s Billboard-charting Still Got That Hunger features founding keyboardist Rod Argent and lead singer Colin Blunstone, along with drummer Steve Rodford, guitarist Tom Toomey, and bassist Søren Koch. It retains the variety of sounds the band has been cultivating since their formation in 1961.

In 1964, The Zombies won a recording contract with Decca Records, the same label as the Rolling Stones, as first prize in a contest sponsored by The London Evening Post. Their single, “She’s Not There,” hit the charts internationally, and the band was part of...