Hello and welcome to the Geeky Brummie Film Roundup, taking you through the week’s biggest new cinema releases and why you should be excited for them! This week: Nic Cage catches some waves, Kelly Marie Tran walks the aisle, and Flatpack hits Birmingham!
Usual disclaimer: unless otherwise stated, I haven’t seen these movies yet so all of my opinions are based on trailers, early reviews and other rumours and buzz.
The Surfer
In The Surfer, Nicolas Cage plays a father returning to the Australian beachside town where he grew up so that he can teach his son to surf. But it turns out this is a local beach for local people – the men now living in the town won’t let any outsiders surf their waves. As they continue to bait him and the confrontations escalate, Cage gets angrier and eventually reaches breaking point.
As a sun-drenched cross between Point Break and the Wicker Man remake (“Eat the raaat” feels destined to achieve the same heights of meme royalty as “The beeees!”), The Surfer looks like a must-watch for any fans of Nic Cage in crazy mode. This film might as well have been custom-built for its star, and watching him get let off the reins is the big draw here. But there is a bit of depth to it too – the Aussie surfer bros trying to assert their dominance are there to present a comment on toxic masculinity and how unnatural and infuriating it can be. Everything is designed to amp up the intensity, from the oversaturated colours to the in-your-face close-ups. The catharsis of watching their inevitable comeuppance is only going to be amplified by the fact that it’s Cage bringing it to them. This looks like an intense but rewarding experience.
- The Surfer on IMDB
- The Surfer on Rotten Tomatoes
The Wedding Banquet
Remaking Ang Lee’s 1993 comedy, The Wedding Banquet follows four friends – gay couple Chris (Bowen Yang) and Min (Han Gi-Chan) and lesbian couple Lee (Lily Gladstone) and Angela (Kelly Marie Tran). When we meet them, Lee and Angela are desperate for a baby but can’t afford the IVF, and Min is facing up to deportation to Korea when his visa expires in a few months. So he suggests solving both problems with a marriage proposal – if Angela marries him to secure him his green card, Min will pay for Lee’s IVF treatment. But their plans for a quick, simple wedding go awry when Min’s grandmother (Oscar winner Youn Yuh-jung) arrives from Korea expecting a full traditional ceremony.
The cast here is excellent – I’m not familiar with Gi-Chan, but Lily Gladstone deservedly received a huge amount of acclaim for her measured performance in Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, and Yang and Tran have seen their stars rise in mega-blockbusters like Wicked and Star Wars, respectively. It looks like a sweet rom com, and its positive portrayals of LGBTQIA+ themes and immigrant cultures in America feel far more relevant and needed right now than they should do in this day and age. This has had some great reviews, building on the solid foundation of its Ang Lee pedigree, and is definitely the better choice if you’re craving something with a bit of humour and heart this week.
- The Wedding Banquet on IMDB
- The Wedding Banquet on Rotten Tomatoes
Flatpack Film Festival 2025
Birmingham’s biggest independent film festival is back this week! Running from 9-17 May, the 2025 Flatpack Film Festival is promising all sorts of cinematic treats from arthouse curios to big blockbusters. You can see the full lineup on their website, but some highlights include:
- The UK premiere of animated film Rock Bottom, charting the creation of Robert Wyatt’s iconic album, at Digbeth’s Mockingbird Cinema
- Cult Tim Curry comedy Clue, celebrating the board game’s invention in Birmingham by screening the movie in Highbury Hall – the building on which the Cluedo mansion was supposedly modelled
- Outdoor screenings of horror classics The Birds and Alien at the Botanical Gardens – because where better to watch a film about bird attacks than sat in an open field next to a large aviary?
- The world premiere of Joe Lycett’s short film Mark at the MAC, which will be followed by a live Q&A with Joe and the film’s star, Mark Silcox
- The Flatpack short film competition and awards – the contenders will be showcased throughout the week, culminating in an awards ceremony on the 17th at Pan-Pan, Floodgate Street, where the top prize winner will take away £1,000.
There are loads more events on for all ages and interests, so take a look at the programme and see what you fancy. This is a great way to support independent filmmaking and local talents, and to have a lot of fun at the same time.
If you only see one film this week…
The two big cinema releases couldn’t be more different this week – do you fancy the intense drama with machismo themes about a guy trying to move back to the place he grew up, or the sweet rom-com with LGBT themes about a guy trying to avoid moving back to the place he grew up? I can’t resist the prospect of Nic Cage getting nuts so I’m going for The Surfer, but it really comes down to what mood you’re in!
Still in cinemas and worth a watch
- Thunderbolts* – Braver, more original and more down-to-Earth than Captain America: Brave New World, Thunderbolts* is a deeper film than you might expect. Focusing less on the big action set pieces (although those are great when they arrive) and more on an examination of depression and mental health, especially among superhumans who are expected to carry the weight of their power and responsibilities, this is arguably the best Marvel movie since their hiatus. It’s not as fun or as fan-servicey as Deadpool & Wolverine but it has a lot more depth. Stay to the end of the credits for a fantastic final scene.
- Sinners
- The Accountant 2
Trailer of the week
Margaret Qualley, fresh from her star-making turn in The Substance, stars as a PI named Honey O’Donahue in HONEY DON’T!, investigating a series of murders linked to a mysterious church and its cult-leader-esque preacher Reverend Drew (Chris Evans). Directed by a Cohen Brother and also starring Aubrey Plaza, this has some serious talent behind and in front of the camera and looks like a lot of fun. The only trailer released so far is a red band one so you’ll have to go to YouTube to watch it.
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