Hello, and welcome to the Geeky Brummie Film Roundup! We take you through the week’s biggest new cinema releases and some of the reasons you should be excited for them. This week: Patrick Wilson takes on a demon while Margaret Qualley takes on a preacher…
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 Conjuring: Last Rites
The Conjuring has quietly become one of the biggest horror franchises running today. While the main series focuses on paranormal investigators Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine Warren (Vera Farmiga), based on the real Warrens’ case files, several of the evil entities introduced in those films have had their own spin-offs and origin stories. Last Rites is the tenth film set in a cinematic universe that now includes four Conjuring films, three Annabelle films, two The Nun films, and a partridge in a pear tree The Curse of La Llorona. Ostensibly this is the final Conjuring film, featuring callbacks to the earlier entries in the franchise, but don’t be surprised if a few more of the Warrens’ foes find they have a little more story to tell.
Last Rites sees the Warrens investigate the home of the Smurl family, who have all reported mysterious spooky sightings there. When they start looking around the house, Ed and Lorraine quickly realise that this is not the work of just any demon, but the one whose attack years ago dragged them into the world of the paranormal. Now it bears a grudge against them and is looking to finish what it started, and the Warrens’ daughter Judy (Mia Tomlinson) is at risk of getting caught in the crossfire. Can they confront their past and live to tell the tale?
This has been a great summer for horror, and Last Rites is a much more traditional fright-fest than the likes of the almost comedic Weapons and wince-inducing Bring Her Back. Fans of the series will know what to expect – jump scares, possessed dolls, creepy figures lurking in corners, etc. That’s not to say it won’t be scary – these are tried and tested recipes to send a chill down your spine – but don’t expect anything you haven’t seen before. If horror films were clothes, this would be the comfy dressing gown after the high fashion of the summer: familiar, dependable and not too flashy. Wilson and Farmiga have played these characters enough times to know them inside and out, and they’re both talented enough to draw the sympathy needed to make a hardened horror audience want them to survive. And the plot that’s been built around the demon they are facing this time around will expand the mythology of the franchise while staying personal to its lead characters.
This will be a great way to cap off both the Conjuring series and an excellent run of horror movies.
- The Conjuring: Last Rites on IMDB
- The Conjuring: Last Rites on Rotten Tomatoes
Honey Don’t!
Honey Don’t! (which I can’t help reading in the voice of Parker Posey in The White Lotus) follows Honey O’Donahue (Margaret Qualley), a private investigator in a small California town looking into a series of deaths linked to a church, which is led by the deeply corrupt Reverend Drew Devlin (Chris Evans).
There are a lot of good names both sides of the camera for this one. Aside from Qualley and Evans, the cast includes Aubrey Plaza as a possible love interest for Honey, and Charlie Day as a cheery police officer. The film is directed by Ethan Coen – one half of the legendary Coen Brothers. Unfortunately, like his last solo effort Drive Away Dolls, the reviews for this haven’t been great. It looks like it has the same off-beat tone as the classic Coen films, but the narrative is a bit of a tangled mess – that’s likely at least partly deliberate, given it’s a whodunnit and needs a few twists and turns, but apparently it doesn’t really seem to know where it’s going itself.
Still, anything with Margaret Qualley and Aubrey Plaza in has to be worth a try, and Chris Evans looks like he’s having a great time as a drug-dealing cult leader. And the reviews do say that there are elements that work well, even if they aren’t strung together in any meaningful or cohesive way. It might not change your life, but this should be an entertaining way to kill a couple of hours.
- Honey Don’t! on IMDB
- Honey Don’t! on Rotten Tomatoes
If you only see one film this week…
Say goodbye to Ed and Lorraine Warren with The Conjuring: Last Rites.
Still in cinemas and worth a watch
- The Roses – Not sure if this is a humorous drama or a depressing comedy, but it definitely strikes a balance between hilarious and heart-breaking. Coleman and Cumberbatch are a brilliant lead duo, and the supporting cast is great too – one highlight is Allison Janney’s intimidating lawyer. A lot of the film feels like you are one of the couple’s friends, sat awkwardly watching them bicker over dinner and hoping they can get through the rough patch.
- Caught Stealing – A very entertaining drama with a solid cast and some great baddies. Austin Butler continues to show his ability as a leading man, managing to stay sympathetic even as he transitions from a victim of circumstance to an active player in the world of criminal double-crossing that he’s fallen into. Aronofsky’s direction is very different to his usual fare but brings a slickness that would be lacking in other films along the same lines. Extra points for a very cute cat.
- Weapons
Trailer of the week
There have been several good trailers this week – honourable mentions go to the rapidly approaching return of Slow Horses, 28 Years Later sequel The Bone Temple, cartoon corpses in Marvel Zombies, and Ethan Hawke channelling Freddy Krueger in The Black Phone 2. But I’m going to highlight Bugonia, the next film from the brilliant Yorgos Lanthimos (The Favourite, Poor Things). Emma Stone plays a high-flying executive who is kidnapped by Jesse Plemons, who believes she is an alien intent on destroying the Earth. It’s a fun premise from the off, made more intriguing by a vague sense in the trailer that Plemons might be right. Emma Stone is a fantastic actress at the best of times but Lanthimos seems to have a knack for bringing out the best in her – this is their fourth film together, and she won an Oscar for Poor Things. It’s also the second Lanthimos-Stone film to co-star the brilliant Jesse Plemons, who is always a sign of something good. We’ll see what weirdness Lanthimos has cooked up when Bugonia arrives in cinemas on Halloween.
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