A nuclear missile launch has been detected and it’s heading straight for Chicago; there’s only 18 minutes to save the world in this new Netflix thriller, reports streaming columnist NICK OVERALL.

What if you only had 18 minutes to make a decision that could save or destroy the world?

The stakes are that high in Netflix’s new thriller flick A House of Dynamite.

This one features Mission Impossible star Rebecca Ferguson as Captain Olivia Walker, a senior officer in the White House situation room, on duty as a potential nuclear catastrophe begins to unfold.

The film opens when the US receives word a nuclear missile launch has been detected and it’s heading straight for Chicago.

They have only 18 minutes before impact. Making things even worse is who fired the missile is a mystery, creating an apocalyptic scramble to stop it landing.

The film plays out in real time over those 18 minutes then switches vantage point to give the audience a new perspective.

By the time all these character threads interweave like a spider web those watching at home get the full, frightening picture.

Idris Elba also stars in this as the president in this 100-minute thriller that’s just started streaming.

Behind the camera is director Katheryn Bigelow, who delivered more white knuckles with films such as The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty.

With A House of Dynamite though she’s put to screen her biggest ticking time bomb of a movie yet with a countdown that’s a thrill to watch.

IT’LL have to go up against Apple TV Plus’ newest blockbuster though with some big star power of its own.

Matthew McConaughey is the leading man in The Lost Bus, a film loosely based on a remarkable true story about a school bus driver named Kevin McKay.

In 2018, this otherwise ordinary California resident became a hero when the deadliest wildfire in the state’s history ripped through Butte County.

McKay, driving a bus with 22 kids and two teachers on board, had to get the group to safety, navigating extremely dangerous flames, blankets of smoke, blocked off roads, collapsing buildings and more.

McConaughey is the perfect choice here, able to capture that effortless charisma while believably selling this character as an ordinary man thrown into extraordinary circumstances.

Clocking in at just over two hours, this bus journey makes for one hell of a ride. Quite literally.

TWO years ago the Beckham family set the internet on fire with their Netflix documentary giving a behind-the-scenes look at their lavish lifestyle.

It was one scene in particular though that caused a flood of viral memes.

Victoria Beckham, worth hundreds of millions of dollars, attempted to candidly tell viewers that she had come from a “working-class” family, doing it rather tough growing up.

But her monologue was quickly interrupted by her husband who amusingly told her to “be honest”.

“What car did your dad drive you to school in?” He asked.

Victoria soon after revealed it was in a Rolls Royce.

This amusing bit of banter saw crowds flock to the documentary, which surprisingly also received high praise from critics.

Netflix couldn’t let that success go too easily.

The platform has now launched Victoria Beckham, another doco that doesn’t focus on the soccer star but instead his apparent poverty stricken wife who rose to fame as a member of the Spice Girls and model.

This three-episode series is full of all the fun facts that nobody ever asked for, such as the fact that Posh Spice has spent more than 70,000 British pounds ($140,000) on indoor plants and how she managed to insult none other than Donatella Versace herself by trying to redesign one of her dresses at a fashion show.

It’s far from my cup of tea, but the consensus from those who have watched it seems to be that it’s more boring than anything. Though well made, the show seems obstinately against drawing back the curtain on any real juicy details that people watch these documentaries for.

A skim of Victoria Beckham’s Wikipedia page will get fans close to the same amount of her story explored here so what’s the point?

On the back of the popularity of the last Beckham documentary this one felt like it was set up with a free kick, but misses the goal by a long shot.