Happy Thursday everyone! It’s time for the Geeky Brummie film roundup, bringing you the best of the next week’s new cinema releases to help you decide what you want to see. We have a whole host of new films this week, so let’s get into it!
Usual disclaimer: unless otherwise stated, I haven’t seen these films. All of my opinions are based on trailers, early reviews and other rumours and buzz.
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire
Starting with a big one this week. The original Ghostbusters is a true cinema classic – endlessly quoted and referenced and almost universally loved. Its sequel is also held in very high regard in people’s hearts. Then the franchise went quiet for a while before resurfacing with the much-maligned female led 2016 reboot, which suffered for all the wrong reasons but also a fair few right ones. Finally, we then got Ghostbusters: Afterlife in 2021. Afterlife was everything a good sequel/ soft reboot/ requel should be. It was tonally true to the original film while glossing over the existence of the less popular 2016 one. It had respectful cameos and tributes for the original cast but also passed the torch to a new generation. It didn’t feel like it needed a sequel, but it laid the groundwork just in case someone wanted to keep the franchise alive a little longer.
Frozen Empire then, picking up Afterlife’s baton, has a lot to live up to. It needs to justify its existence both as a successor to the 1984 original and as a sequel to the 2021 revival. The early reviews would suggest it… doesn’t quite manage either, unfortunately. But it should still be worth a watch. The returning cast is solid – it looks as though the likes of Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd will have a bigger part to play here than they did in Afterlife; Annie Potts returns as original Ghostbusters receptionist Janine Melnitz; Paul Rudd, Carrie Coon and Finn Wolfhard are all in the sorts of roles that fit them like a glove at this point; and McKenna Grace was one of the highlights of the last film. The new cast includes such comedy heavyweights as Patton Oswalt, Kumail Nanjiani and James Acaster, the latter making his cinema debut (his minor role in the Camila Cabello Cinderella film doesn’t count because it was a) not in cinemas and b) awful).
The plot for this one involves the discovery of an ancient artefact releasing a new horror on the world with an army of ghosts at his disposal and the ability to literally scare people to death. The villain does look genuinely quite sinister, with his detachable horns and spindly silhouette. He also appears to have the power to freeze the world, and the heroes have to work together to prevent a ‘second ice age’ (there have been at least five major ice ages in Earth’s history but we’ll ignore that for now…).
This is one of the bigger films of the year so far, and there should be something for everyone to enjoy between the childish sense of humour and the adults’ sense of nostalgia.
- Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire on IMDB
- Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire on Rotten Tomatoes
The Persian Version
The Persian Version focuses on Leila, a young lesbian woman in a large Iranian-American family who gets pregnant from sleeping with a drag queen on Halloween, and her relationship with her successful, outgoing mother. That feels like the sort of sentence that will either immediately sell it or completely put you off, depending on your film tastes. To me, this looks like it will be a fun comedy in the mould of Bend It Like Beckham, with a lot of opportunities to go deeper on social issues such as LGBTQIA+ and women’s rights vs traditional religious values.
The trailer makes a point of saying it is ‘sort of’ based on a true story. I’ve not been able to find any reference to what story it’s based on, so I would assume it is loosely autobiographical drawing from the life of its writer-director Maryam Keshavarz (a bisexual Iranian-American). If so then that should give it an extra level of intimacy and make for some likeable and familiar characters. The trailer also has hints of magical realism, with Bollywood-style dance scenes and some fourth wall breaking from Leila.
- The Persian Version on IMDB
- The Persian Version on Rotten Tomatoes
Robot Dreams
The only nominee for Best Animated Feature at this year’s Oscars that I hadn’t been able to see before the ceremony, Robot Dreams is finally arriving in the UK to some huge acclaim. Despite being relatively unknown compared to heavy hitters like Miyazaki, Spider-Man and Pixar, the initial reviews would suggest that Robot Dreams has very much earned its nomination.
In an alternative New York populated by anthropomorphic animals, a lonely dog builds a robot companion and the two quickly become best friends. But when the robot rusts up and gets stuck on the beach at Coney Island, the dog has to look for a way to save him. The whole story is told without any dialogue, which is a brave choice but can make for a beautiful film when it’s done well – it’s the ultimate way to keep to the old film-writing adage of ‘show don’t tell’. And everything I’ve seen and read is indicating that it has been done well here. This should be at turns joyous, heartbreaking and life-affirming.
The 2D animation is designed to invoke the style of the graphic novel by Sara Varon (I’m not actually a huge fan of the aesthetic but I’m sure I’ll get used to it pretty quickly). The animal world appears to have lots of nice little details and mini-jokes that I think will warrant repeat viewing to fully appreciate. In fact, between the visual storytelling, the dog-and-his-best-friend plot, the traditional animation techniques and the rich background gags, this is giving me strong Wallace and Gromit vibes – I’m not sure I can give it much higher praise than that. This will definitely be one to watch.
- Robot Dreams on IMDB
- Robot Dreams on Rotten Tomatoes
Immaculate
Taking quite a hard turn towards horror now with Immaculate. This tells the story of Cecilia (played by Sydney Sweeney), a nun who moves into an Italian convent that turns out to be a lot more sinister than it had appeared and might be trying to get her to give birth to the antichrist. Sweeney was last seen in Madame Web, but don’t judge her too harshly for that – she was also in the brilliant White Lotus and Euphoria, and it looks like she has fully embraced the horror genre here. Immaculate looks creepy and unpleasant, with a bit of a supernatural element but more of a focus on the horrors that humans are capable of (especially when motivated by blind religious fervour), which always makes for a more unsettling watch. The red-masked nuns peering out of the abbey window look particularly sinister. If you’re into your horror movies then this should be a good use of your time, although it’s not the only option on the slate this week…
- Immaculate on IMDB
- Immaculate on Rotten Tomatoes
Late Night With The Devil
With a lower budget but potentially bigger scares than Immaculate, Late Night With The Devil is about a late night talk show host who decides to try and boost ratings by interviewing the devil on his show at midnight on Halloween, via an apparently possessed girl. It all goes horribly wrong. The little I’ve heard about this sounds very promising, with lots of surprises and some real frights. The trailer includes endorsements from Stephen King and Kevin Smith, which bodes well for a potential cult classic. It also stars the excellent David Dastmalchian in a rare lead role. It doesn’t look like it’s getting a very wide release, but if you’re looking for a horror fix I think this is the one I would recommend over Immaculate, if you can find somewhere showing it.
- Late Night With The Devil on IMDB
- Late Night With The Devil on Rotten Tomatoes
The Delinquents
Finally this week we have Argentinian film The Delinquents. Morán, a clerk who is fed up of his monotonous job, decides to steal several thousand dollars from the bank where he works and stash it with his friend Román. The plan is to confess to the crime (but not the location of the cash) and serve his jail sentence, and then split the money 50:50 when he gets out. Can Román protect the money from the investigators and resist the urge to spend it for that long?
I knew very little about this film before writing this post, but having seen the trailer I really like the look of it. It feels like it has a similar silly, sweet, existential but down-to-Earth tone to the Holdovers (I can imagine Paul Giamatti playing Morán if it ever gets an English language remake). I’m not sure it will be on in many cinemas but if you want something a bit more gentle-paced than the other releases this week, this is definitely one to look out for.
- The Delinquents on IMDB
- The Delinquents on Rotten Tomatoes
If you only see one film this week…
Who ya gonna call? That’s right, ya gonna call the guy who delivers a build-it-yourself robot friend so you can have a lovely time at the beach. Ghostbusters is a close second, but for the amount of praise it seems to be getting from everyone who sees it, my film of the week this week is Robot Dreams.
Still in cinemas and worth a watch
- Dune: Part Two
- Monster
- Drive-Away Dolls
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