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: Regina George fights the patriarchy and a boar on a desert island, some strangers come to visit (again), and we’re holding out for 100 Nights of Hero…
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.
Send Help
I went to a secret screening at Cineworld earlier this week which turned out to be a preview of this very entertaining thriller from director Sam Raimi. Send Help follows Linda Liddle (Rachel McAdams) – a talented office worker who finds herself passed over for a promotion that was promised to her when her boss hands the business down to his son Bradley (Dylan O’Brien). She nevertheless agrees to join Bradley and his golf-loving frat-boy management team on a trip to Bangkok for a major deal, until the plane goes down somewhere in the Pacific and Linda and Bradley wash up on a desert island. Linda – a big fan of the TV show Survivor – is in her element, and the power dynamic quickly shifts as an injured Bradley starts to realise he has no authority and nothing to contribute. But given the opportunity, is Linda a better boss or just a different kind of monster?
Despite the grounded(ish) social commentary, this is very much a Sam Raimi film. There are moments of fantastically schlocky violence, verging on horror (a boar hunt changes the tone so suddenly and wildly that it feels like you’re watching a different film), and the occasional knowing glance at the camera that doesn’t quite break the fourth wall but certainly leaves a scratch on it. McAdams gives a brilliant performance, somehow coming across as a bit sad and mousey in the early office scenes (Regina George would be disgusted) but visibly coming into her own once she’s on the island. She just about manages to keep you on-side, even in some of her nastier moments (and they do get pretty nasty). O’Brien’s character is the opposite – he’s a completely unlikeable corporate nepo-baby at the beginning who seems to genuinely believe that the world revolves around him, and for every moment of sympathy or where it looks like he’s growing as a person, there’s a new act of selfishness that prevents you from ever warming to him completely.
This is a ridiculously over-the-top movie and it’s all the more fun for it – definitely recommended.
- Send Help on IMDB
- Send Help on Rotten Tomatoes
The Strangers: Chapter 3
“After all these years, you’re the only one who’s survived”, one of the masked strangers tells Maya (Madelaine Petsch) in the trailer for the third (and final) chapter of the Strangers story. But the sense of history that implies seems a little misplaced – it feels like only yesterday that I was writing up last September’s sequel to the 2024 remake of the original 2008 home invasion movie. This one does at least seem to have a different take on the franchise’s formula: in her final attempt to beat the Strangers once and for all, Maya decides to join them.
This becomes the setup for some serious moral quandaries, as Maya is forced to actively participate in acts of brutal and sadistic violence in order to keep herself alive. It begs the question of whether all of the masked murderers started out the same way – forced to join in until death became their way of life and they forgot their humanity. Can Maya survive her ordeal and return to her normal life? There aren’t many reviews out yet so it remains to be seen whether the franchise sticks the landing, but if you’ve followed the story this far you will want to see how it all ends. If not, this one picks up right where Chapter 2 left off so you’ll probably want to catch up on the earlier films before catching this one.
- The Strangers: Chapter 3 on IMDB
- The Strangers: Chapter 3 on Rotten Tomatoes
100 Nights of Hero
When Jerome (Amir El-Masry) goes on a trip, he makes a bet with his friend Manfred (Nicholas Galitzine) – that he will not be able to seduce his neglected wife Cherry (Maika Monroe) in the 100 days he is away. If successful, Manfred would win his castle and everything in it. To help her resist the temptation, Cherry’s servant Hero (Emma Corrin) starts telling her some stories.
This film has been described as a modern fairytale, a queer romance, and a love letter to the art of oral storytelling. Hero’s stories are shown in their own fantastical segments, allowing an expansion of the cast to include the likes of Charlie XCX and Richard E Grant. It’s always a bit of a risk to construct a film in this way, as the frequent diversions can distract from the main narrative, making it feel more like a framing device than a plot, but it also expands on the creative potential. The trailer doesn’t dip into the story segments much so it’s hard to tell how much they’ve made of that potential, but the glimpses we get look like fun. The main story should also be a good period drama – Monroe and Corrin make for likeable leads and Galitzine is quite believable as a would-be homewrecker.
The reviews for this have been fairly average (currently 68% on Rotten Tomatoes) but I’ve been looking forward to it, and I think it should be worth a watch.
- 100 Nights of Hero on IMDB
- 100 Nights of Hero on Rotten Tomatoes
Hamlet
Not to be confused with weepy Oscar-bait Hamnet, this is a modern take on Shakespeare’s classic play. Hamlet (Riz Ahmed) returns to London for the funeral of his father, a prominent Indian businessman. After the funeral, he is shocked to hear that his uncle Claudius (Art Malik) is marrying his widowed mother and taking over the family business. He is even more horrified when his father’s ghost tells him that Claudius murdered him, sending Hamlet on a mission of revenge and making him question his own sanity.
Also starring Morfydd Clark as Ophelia and Timothy Spall as Polonius, this looks like an authentic and exciting retelling. It uses dialogue from the play but transposes it into a more modern and relatable setting. The cinematography looks stunning and Riz Ahmed is a fantastic actor at the centre of it all. The story won’t be anything new to anyone who’s seen or read the play (or the Lion King) but one of the joys of Shakespeare is seeing how people put their own spin on his works, so there will be plenty here for Bard fans to enjoy. Plus if you can find a cinema that’s showing both of them, it would make for a fascinating double-feature with Hamnet – leaping straight from watching the conception of the play into a stylish adaptation.
- Hamlet on IMDB
- Hamlet on Rotten Tomatoes
My Father’s Shadow
Set in Lagos during the 1993 election crisis, My Father’s Shadow sees two young boys exploring the city with their estranged father (Sope Dirisu) as the civil unrest builds in the streets. Director Akinola Davies and writer Wale Davies (his brother) have been nominated for the BAFTA for Outstanding Debut for a British Writer, Director or Producer, and Akinola has already won Best Director at the British Independent Film Awards. This looks beautiful and potentially quite sad.
- My Father’s Shadow on IMDB
- My Father’s Shadow on Rotten Tomatoes
All That’s Left of You
Hanan (Cherien Dabis, who also wrote and directed the film) recounts the events that led to her teenage son being swept up in a life-changing protest in the West Bank during the 1980s and its aftermath on their family. With Javier Bardem and Mark Ruffalo among the executive producers and boasting a proud 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, this is getting some incredible reviews and looks absolutely beautiful (but also very sad).
- All That’s Left Of You on IMDB
- All That’s Left Of You on Rotten Tomatoes
If you only see one film this week…
…remember to Send Help.
Still in cinemas and worth a watch
Trailer of the Week
Robert Pattinson has not had the most successful on-screen love-life lately. In Mickey 17 his own clone tries to get between him and the girl he likes. In Die My Love, his relationship with Jennifer Lawrence spirals out of control. Now he appears in The Drama, where he seems to be happily engaged to Zendaya and preparing for their upcoming wedding. But when their friends talk them into revealing “the worst thing they’ve ever done”, Zendaya’s revelation (unheard in this new trailer) is so awful that it threatens to derail the whole relationship. With two great leads heading up the cast, this should be a very entertaining rom com/ disaster movie when it crashes into cinemas in April.
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