Hello, and welcome to the Geeky Brummie Film Roundup! Each week we take you through the biggest new cinema releases and why you should be excited for them. This week: a man killing his cousins, a mother torn from her daughter, a princess seeking revenge on her uncle, and a couple going through a divorce – maybe steer clear of the cinema if you’re having family troubles this weekend…
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.
And for more movie commentary, take a look at my Oscars predictions ahead of the ceremony on Sunday here.
How To Make a Killing
How To Make a Killing follows Becket Redfellow (Glen Powell), who was very nearly the heir to his grandfather’s (Ed Harris) multi-billion dollar fortune. But as his mother had refused to abort him, she and Becket were disinherited and he’s grown up with a relatively normal life. When he bumps into an old friend (Margaret Qualley), he has the idea of offing his various cousins until he is next in line again for the inheritance.
This is an intriguing concept, which sets up some potentially entertaining set pieces as Becket picks off his family. To work properly though, it also needs to address the morality of what he’s doing, either by making all of his family members so morally reprehensible that their deaths seem almost justified (which appears to be the angle the film is taking), or by having Becket become a bit of an anti-hero as his actions start to weigh on his soul. Glen Powell has been gradually establishing himself as a leading man over the last decade or so, but he comes across a little too smug for my liking in the trailer. Hopefully the film will give him some more warmth, because if it’s just him murdering his family then it’s going to be hard to root for him, especially if his sole motivation is money. Maybe he’s meant to be the bad guy all along?
Margaret Qualley’s star is equally on the rise, and she and Powell together will be a strong draw for audiences. Ed Harris always makes for a great baddie, and the cast also includes Jessica “The Iron Fist We Deserved” Henwick as another of Beckett’s love interests. The reviews haven’t been great – it currently has 44% on Rotten Tomatoes – but it looks like an entertaining enough way to spend a couple of hours provided they’ve given it more substance than the trailer suggests.
- How To Make a Killing on IMDB
- How To Make a Killing on Rotten Tomatoes
Reminders of Him
Kenna (Maika Monroe) is working in a shop when she is asked out by one of her regular customers, Scotty (Rudy Pankow). A whirlwind romance ensues, but is cut short when Scotty dies in a car crash and Kenna is blamed. After seven years in prison, she struggles to find work and to reconnect with her daughter, who has been raised by Scotty’s friends and family in her absence.
This is based on a novel by Colleen Hoover, who also wrote It Ends With Us, which was made into a film starring Blake Lively a couple of years ago. Both films are classic romantic tearjerkers, although it sounds like this one is ultimately a lot more hopeful. I last saw Maika Monroe in Longlegs, which I suspect was a very different film to this one but I thought she was excellent in it. Reminders of Him looks genuinely quite affecting – Kenna clearly has the universe against her, being punished for a tragedy that should have been punishment enough on its own, and it’s hard not to sympathise with a character who’s going through that. If you’ve read the book or if you enjoyed It Ends With Us, no doubt this will be right up your street.
- Reminders of Him on IMDB
- Reminders of Him on Rotten Tomatoes
Scarlet
Loosely based on Hamlet, Scarlet follows a Medieval princess who is poisoned to death by her uncle Claudius (who also killed her father). Waking up in a purgatory-esque world called the Otherworld, where the living and the dead from different times coexist, she learns that Claudius is also there and goes on a quest for revenge. She is aided by Hijiri, a modern day paramedic who tries to give her hope for the future.
Scarlet is directed by Mamoru Hosoda, the man behind such modern anime classics as Wolf Children, Mirai and Belle. It uses a combination of hand-drawn animation and CGI-rendered animation to draw a visual distinction between the living Medieval world and the Otherworld, similarly to how CGI was used to enhance Belle’s online scenes. I’m a big fan of different styles and mediums of animation being used to enhance the visual storytelling of a film, and judging by the trailer it looks pretty effective here. There’s also plenty of exciting action scenes to keep the momentum going.
The reviews for this have been pretty mixed, with most of the negativity seeming to come from its comparisons to Hamlet, which feels a little unfair given how deliberately loose an adaptation this clearly is. I think it looks like a lot of fun, and fans of Hosoda’s other work won’t want to miss it.
- Scarlet on IMDB
- Scarlet on Rotten Tomatoes
The Love That Remains
With one of the most magnificently casual trailers I’ve ever seen (“…You can also go see something else. It’s OK”), The Love That Remains follows an Icelandic family living a seemingly idyllic life as the parents go through a divorce. With no real narrative structure, the film instead focuses on vignettes of the small and large moments of their lives as they try to navigate their changing circumstances and reflect on the love that they had for each other.
Directed by Icelandic director Hlynur Pálmason, this looks beautiful – daft and quirky with a wonderfully deadpan humour and well-written, realistic characters (plus a very cute dog). As the trailer promises, there are no far-right extremists or murderers, just normal people with normal problems. This is getting excellent reviews and looks genuinely very sweet. The lack of a linear story may put some people off, but I think if you can get past that this will be a very rewarding experience.
- The Love That Remains on IMDB
- The Love That Remains on Rotten Tomatoes
If you only see one film this week…
I hadn’t honestly heard much about it before writing this piece, but the trailer has completely sold me – my Film of the Week is The Love That Remains.
Still in cinemas and worth a watch
- Hoppers – An absolutely delightful film and one of the best Pixar has done for a while. The animation is beautiful and will make you want to explore the American wilds, the characters are lovable, and some of the earlier scenes involving main character Mabel and her grandmother will stick with you for a long time. And as predicted, King George steals every scene he’s in – there’s a bit where he’s just disappointed and it’s one of the most heartbreaking scenes you’ll see at the cinema all year. The film is wonderfully funny too though. Well worth catching on the big screen.
- Scream 7
- Wuthering Heights
Trailer of the Week
It’s been a while since we’ve had a really good swords and sandals epic (and no I’m not counting the disappointing Gladiator II), but Desert Warrior is seeking to change that. Anthony Mackie stars as a mysterious rogue warrior who helps the fugitive Princess Hind (Aiysha Hart, presumably not cast because they needed someone with another deer name) escape from a ruthless emperor (Ben Kingsley) and his hunter (Sharlto Copley). It’s directed by Rupert Wyatt, the man behind Rise of the Planet of the Apes, who obviously has some experience at wrangling CGI animals. Which is good, because I have a long history of being seduced by the prospect of awesome CGI war animals (usually rhinos) popping up in trailers and then being let down when the actual film comes out (see 300 and the aforementioned Gladiator II). And this is promising not just war elephants, which have some serious Lord-of-the-Rings-Mumakil vibes in the trailer, but also battle hyenas. Battle hyenas! Surely they can’t mess up battle hyenas! Fingers crossed I won’t be disappointed this time when the film hits cinemas in the States next month and hopefully here around the same time.
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