Hello and welcome to the Geeky Brummie Film Roundup, where we take a look at the week’s biggest new cinema releases and run through why you should be excited for it. This week pits us against angry unicorns, zombies on chickens, and neighbours from hell…
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.
A Minecraft Movie
If you ever watched Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and thought to yourself: “I like the idea of a film with Jack Black and a famously muscular actor getting sucked into a videogame, but I wish everything had more corners”, then 1) you’re a strange person, and 2) you’ll probably enjoy A Minecraft Movie.
Given that the Minecraft games don’t present much of a plot for a movie to adapt, the filmmakers here have gone down the same road as fellow building game Lego and crafted a story around the power of creativity. Four people (Jason Momoa, Danielle Brooks, Emma Myers and Sebastian Hansen) are mysteriously pulled into a strange world where imagination powers everything, and when it’s threatened by a force that wants to wipe out all imagination, they team up with Jack Black’s master craftsman to defend it. In amongst all that, the setting of a world where you can create anything you can imagine is ripe for all sorts of crazy weirdness – there are square pandas, square pink sheep, square zombies riding square chickens in a boxing ring, and so on.
The cast here is a random assortment of people, but otherwise solid. Jack Black looks completely comfortable playing the sort of role he can do in his sleep (this is his third videogame adaptation in two years, after Super Mario Bros and Borderlands). Danielle Brooks is always excellent but I have absolutely no idea what she’s doing in this. Jason Momoa looks like someone interrupted his holiday around about the third cocktail in. Plus there’s an appearance from the White Lotus’s Jennifer Coolidge who looks like she’s going to steal the movie, the villain is voiced by Rachel House (from [insert Taika Waititi film]), and there’s even a Flight of the Conchords reunion with an appearance from Bret McKenzie and a character voiced by Jemaine Clement. The presence of House and the Conchords suggests a Kiwi sense of humour, and this was directed by Jared Hess (Napoleon Dynamite), so there should be some good gags.
I’ve never been a huge fan of the look of Minecraft, but it is undeniably distinctive and instantly recognisable, and the animators here seem to have done a good job of replicating that style faithfully. I would expect there are plenty of in-jokes for fans of the game too. If you or your kids are one of those fans, I’m sure you (or they) will enjoy this film. If you’re not into Minecraft, I’m not sure that it offers much that you won’t find elsewhere.
- A Minecraft Movie on IMDB
- A Minecraft Movie on Rotten Tomatoes
Death of a Unicorn
Elliott (Paul Rudd) and his daughter Ridley (Jenna Ortega) accidentally run over a unicorn, and bring it to the home of a wealthy owner of a pharmaceutical company who looks for ways to exploit the mythical beast’s magical properties. But there’s another unicorn out for revenge, and it turns out they’re not the glittery rainbow-loving friends of humanity that pop culture would have you believe…
I’ve been looking forward to this one for a while – it’s a daft concept with a great cast and lots of potential for a deeper message about mankind’s exploitation of natural resources. The early reviews haven’t been amazing, but it still (to my mind) has a lot more creativity behind it than Minecraft. As well as Rudd and Ortega, the cast includes Will Poulter, Téa Leoni, Jessica Hynes and Richard E. Grant, all looking like they’re having a great time. I like the creature design for the unicorns (or at least what we see of them in the trailer), although the close-up of its mouth does remind me a little of the bit in Venom 3 where Venom took over a horse. And A24 very rarely put a foot, or hoof, wrong.
- Death of a Unicorn on IMDB
- Death of a Unicorn on Rotten Tomatoes
Restless
In Restless, Lyndsey Marshall plays Nicky, a middle-aged mother living alone after her kids have flown the coop. Her life is upended when a group of rowdy young men move in next door and their constant late night partying threatens her sleep, safety and sanity.
I haven’t heard a lot about this one and the trailer doesn’t give too much away, but I get the impression it escalates rapidly as Nicky tries to get back at her new neighbours. It’s a really simple idea but there’s a lot of scope to have fun with it, and I would imagine there will be plenty of people in the audience living vicariously through Nicky as they remember their own neighbour disputes. Despite being a lot more grounded than Minecraft or Death of a Unicorn, this looks tense, disturbing and nightmarish, with moody lighting and surreal dream sequences building a real sense of delirious insomnia.
Restless, which is director Jed Hart’s feature film debut, currently has 95% on Rotten Tomatoes so the critics must have enjoyed it, and it’s always worth supporting fresh talent and British indie cinema. Try and catch it on the big screen while you can.
- Restless on IMDB
- Restless on Rotten Tomatoes
Last Swim
Another British indie from a first-time feature film director, Last Swim is a coming-of-age drama about a group of teens in London on the day they get their A-level results as they contemplate the next stages of their lives. In particular, it focuses on Ziba (Deba Hekmat) – a British Iranian girl with a big decision ahead of her.
There are moments in the trailer where this feels a little saccharine – the line asking what would you do if you only had 8 minutes to live is a bit of an open goal when it comes to deep, meaningful scriptwriting, and the response (“This. Us. That’s all that matters”) doesn’t exactly offer any insight that a hundred other films haven’t already given us. But when the music kicks in and the energy picks up, it does look like the film is going to put its money where its mouth is. The magic hour lighting, the joyous interactions between the friends, and the hints of melancholy under the surface that start to bubble up when Ziba is on her own, all work together to beautifully capture what it is to be a teenager with the world at your feet. There is a love of life here that really is all that matters, whether it lasts for 8 minutes or 80 years.
I think this has a lot of potential and it looks like it could be quite lovely.
- Last Swim on IMDB
- Last Swim on Rotten Tomatoes
If you only see one film this week…
There’s a couple of interesting looking indies out this week, but who can resist Richard E. Grant when he’s chewing mythical horns and the scenery? My film of the week is Death of a Unicorn.
Still in cinemas and worth a watch
Trailer of the week
The original Karate Kid is an ’80s classic, in which the venerable Mr Miyagi trained a young Ralph Machio in karate, using some unconventional techniques, to beat his bullies in a local martial arts tournament. While Machio has been honing his skills in the film’s sequels and the hugely popular Cobra Kai TV series, a soft reboot of the movie in 2010 saw the legendary Jackie Chan train a young Jaden Smith in kung fu, using some unconventional techniques, to beat his bullies in a local martial arts tournament. Now, Karate Kid: Legends brings Machio and Chan together to train young Li Fong (Ben Wang, American Born Chinese) in karate and kung fu to beat his bullies in a local martial arts tournament. Will they use some unconventional training techniques? We’ll find out when the new movie waxes onto the big screen in May.
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