Hello, and welcome to the Geeky Brummie Film Roundup! Each week we run through the biggest new cinema releases and why you should be excited for them. This week: Aliens! Heroes! Killers! Wigs! Volcanoes!
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.
Disclosure Day
It’s fair to say that Steven Spielberg has a good track record with alien movies. Two of his earliest and best-known features – ET and Close Encounters – are such seminal genre classics that they’re still frequently referenced to this day (in this year’s excellent Project Hail Mary, for example). His adaptation of The War of the Worlds didn’t quite hit the same heights as those earlier films, but it was a damn sight better than certain other adaptations of the story that have come out since. Even in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, widely regarded as the worst of the Indie films, the aliens worked a lot better than they should have done in the normally fantasy franchise. So Disclosure Day – his first alien movie since Crystal Skull in 2008 – promises to be a bit of a return to the legendary director’s sci fi roots.
The actual plot has been kept relatively vague in the promotion for the film. The trailers have been more about setting the mood than telling the story, and the official synopsis is simply: “If you found out we weren’t alone, if someone showed you, proved it to you, would that frighten you?” But there are hints of various sci fi shenanigans, with Emily Blunt’s weather reporter being hijacked to speak in an alien language, Colin Firth seemingly controlling people through some sort of psychic or technological connection, and Colman Domingo and Josh O’Connor promising to publicise government secrets that have been locked up since Roswell. There are also crop circles, flying saucers, animals acting strangely, and all the classic tropes of a big extra-terrestrial mystery.
If I have one concern about this one, it’s that it almost has too many classic tropes. Without knowing any more about the story, it’s hard to tell whether there is an original tale to be told here or whether Spielberg is simply coasting through familiar territory by chucking all his favourite ingredients in a bucket and hoping everyone likes it. But I have faith in the director, and I also have a lot of faith in the cast he’s assembled. Emily Blunt and Colman Domingo in particular are always a sign of a good film, Colin Firth is very watchable, and Josh O’Connor was impressive in Challengers and Wake Up Dead Man. The cast also includes Eve Hewson, who I’m not too familiar with but seems to have a major role here, and Wyatt Russell, who’s had a good run recently with Thunderbolts* and Monarch: Legacy of Monsters. Behind the camera is the Spielberg dream-team of writer David Koepp (Jurassic Park), cinematographer Janusz Kaminski (Schindler’s List) and composer John Williams. Frankly, the prospect of listening to a new John Williams soundtrack through the cinema surround-sound speakers alone should be enough to make the film worth watching.
I have very high hopes for this. There aren’t any reviews out yet at time of writing (the film is actually out next Wednesday, instead of the usual Friday release slot, so maybe it’s a little early for the press screenings). But the cinemas have been pushing the trailers for a while, which should mean that the studios have some confidence in the film, and a new Spielberg movie is always something to celebrate.
- Disclosure Day on IMDB
- Disclosure Day on Rotten Tomatoes
Masters of the Universe
In this latest adaptation of the He-Man franchise, Prince Adam (Nicholas Galitzine) was sent through a portal to Earth as a child to protect him from a particularly ruthless attack by Skeletor (Jared Leto). After losing his sword, he is unable to return – until he finds it by chance 15 years later and heads back to Eternia to contest Skeletor’s rule.
Director Travis Knight has shown he’s able to take a beloved 80s toy/cartoon franchise and use it to craft a story with fleshed out characters and plenty of heart, having done so in Bumblebee (probably the best Transformers movie since Michael Bay rebooted the series). Jared Leto aside – like him or not, he’ll never be as good a Skeletor as Mark Hamill in Kevin Smith’s Netflix cartoon – Knight has assembled a fantastic cast including Idris Elba as Man-at-Arms, Morena Baccarin as the Sorceress, Riverdale’s Camila Mendes as Teela, Alison Brie as Evil-Lyn, Kristen Wiig as the voice of Roboto, and James Purefoy as Adam’s father King Randor. Galitzine himself has bulked up impressively for the role and looks like he’s fully embraced the inherent campiness of the character.
Expect plenty of big action set-pieces and colourful fantasy settings, but you can also rely on Knight to ground it all in well-written characters and a solid story. This should be a good old fashioned family blockbuster that will appeal to anyone with nostalgia for He-Man as well as kids watching it for the first time.
- Masters of the Universe on IMDB
- Masters of the Universe on Rotten Tomatoes
Scary Movie
The first Scary Movie, which came out in 2000, poked fun at Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer as well as a number of other pillars of late 90s pop culture. It was dumb as anything, but kind of clever in the way it brought its targets down to its level. It spawned four sequels as well as a raft of other [Genre] Movies, each of which met with diminishing returns at the box office as the jokes became more and more stale (Scary Movie 5 made $100 million less than Scary Movie 4 and has a score of just 4% on Rotten Tomatoes). But 13 years have passed since then and there have been a lot of great horror movies, so the Wayans Brothers clearly thought it was time to bring it back.
The plot for this one is… not important – all the Scary Movie films’ stories are just a means of jumping from one parody to the next. There are plenty of parodies though, including Megan, Get Out, Longlegs, Weapons, Ghostbusters, Nope, Sinners, Wednesday, Smile, The Substance and Terrifier. Most of these don’t seem to be much more than “hey look, recognise this?”, which isn’t so much a parody as a cosplay parade. But where there is a glimmer of hope for some wit is in its central parody of Scream. One of the big movements in horror in the last decade or so has been towards ‘re-quels’, capitalising on fans’ nostalgia for the original film of a franchise by bringing back a bunch of returning characters and having them pass the torch to some new ones, and Scream (despite itself being a parody, albeit a subtler one, of other slashers like Halloween) is as guilty of that as any. Not only does Scary Movie 6 bring back its version of Ghostface from the original film, as well as other returning characters like Anna Faris’s Cindy, Regina Hall’s Brenda, Marlon Wayans’ Shorty and Shawn Wayans’ Ray, it also directly pokes fun at the idea of reuniting them after such a long time apart. In other words, it’s calling back to the original Scary Movie to lampoon a scary movie that calls back to its original movie to reference the trend in other scary movies to call back to their original movies to capitalise on fans’ nostalgia, and in doing so it’s capitalising on its own fans’ nostalgia for the original Scary Movie.
Will that be enough to elevate this to more than a collection of caricatures and weed jokes? The reviews would suggest not – this currently has 32% on Rotten Tomatoes (roughly on par with Scary Movie 4). But if this is your sort of humour then there are few people who commit to it more than the Wayans.
- Scary Movie on IMDB
- Scary Movie on Rotten Tomatoes
Savage House
Set in 18th Century England, Savage House follows Sir Chauncey Savage (Richard E Grant) and Lady Savage (Claire Foy) as they try to pursue a decadent lifestyle and improve their social status.
Richard E Grant is always a joy to watch and it looks like he’s having a whale of a time here, throwing flamboyant tantrums in a ridiculous powdered wig, while Claire Foy merrily drifts around spending money on clothes and gambling. I don’t know too much about the plot but it reminds me a lot of The Favourite, perhaps with a little Toad of Toad Hall thrown in. A period drama about rich people being entirely detached from reality is hardly a new idea, but this one looks so over-the-top and Grant and Foy look so fun in it that it stands out among the bigger blockbusters out this week. This should definitely be worth a watch.
- Savage House on IMDB
- Savage House on Rotten Tomatoes
Erupcja
Bethany (Charlie XCX) and Rob (Will Madden) go on holiday, where Rob intends to propose. But the idea doesn’t appeal to Bethany, who thinks Rob is a nice guy but he doesn’t excite her. Instead of Rob’s romantic suggestion of Paris, she persuades him to go to Warsaw, where she can meet up with an old friend, Nel (Lena Góra). The chemistry between Bethany and Nel is much more palpable, and as the eruption of Mount Etna forces them to extend their trip, the two grow closer and Rob drifts further away.
Charlie XCX has been gradually crossing from music to movies for a little while now, but this is her first starring role (not counting her tour mockumentary The Moment earlier this year). Judging by the reviews it sounds like she carries the movie well, managing a great chemistry with Góra and making her gradual split from Rob feel right, rather than cruel. The critics have been fond of the film overall, with 85% on Rotten Tomatoes. If you want an interesting little character-driven indie romance, this is the film for you this week.
- Erupcja on IMDB
- Erupcja on Rotten Tomatoes
If you only see one film this week…
…I’m putting it out there that it should be Disclosure Day (but maybe He-Man while you’re waiting).
Still in cinemas and worth a watch
- Backrooms – Backrooms feels like an original kind of horror, capitalising on the inherent creepiness of abandoned spaces to build a deeply unsettling atmosphere. But the filmmaking techniques it uses include a lot of classic horror tropes put to great effect. Its use of off-screen space is particularly gripping – every new (back)room has a number of doors or windows or corners and you constantly expect something horrible to come running out of all of them at any given second. It also makes excellent use of ambient sound and music, with the occasional thud that could be a distant footstep or flicker that could have been a voice. It’s at its creepiest in the middle section of the film when the Backrooms are being explored but the threat is largely unseen – once it hits the final act and starts explaining what the Backrooms and their denizens are it loses a little of its magic. But overall this is an excellent film from first time feature director Kane Parsons – expect to see a lot more from him in the future.
- Tuner – Another film with some powerful use of sound, Tuner is a very entertaining drama built around strong central performances from Leo Woodall and Havana Rose Liu. With sections of the film heard through his ears, Niki (Woodall)’s hyperacusis is portrayed as an ever-present threat that lends real sympathy to his character. A lesser film would have played it up as a kind of superpower when he starts using his sensitive hearing to open safes for bad guy Uri (Lior Raz), but the heists are never really glamorised in that way – instead, we’re never in any doubt that Niki would prefer to be anywhere else. It arguably doesn’t need the heist element at all, except that it sets the stage for a bittersweet final scene that leaves Niki’s future open to the audience’s interpretation.
- Obsession
Trailer of the week
2022’s Fall, in which two climbers were trapped at the top of a 2,000ft tower, was a gripping drama that gave everyone sweaty palms and made the most of good word of mouth to earn a huge box office on a tiny budget. It is a truth universally acknowledged that any film that successful will eventually get a sequel, and today has seen the first trailer drop (literally) for Fall 2: Deadpoint. In this one, the climbers (including Harriet Slater’s Jax, sister of the original film’s Shiloh) are trapped even higher – this time on a plank of wood 3,000ft up a sheer cliff ledge in Thailand. It’s a very brief teaser, but it’s already more than enough to make your bum clench, as Arsema Thomas’s Luce tries to walk across some thin poles jutting out of the mountainside. Fall 2 lands, hopefully not too heavily, in cinemas on 2 September.
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