Hi, and welcome to the Geeky Brummie Film Roundup! Each week we take you through the biggest new cinema releases and why you should be excited for them. This week: some children go missing, other children become their mother and step-grandmother…
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.
Freakier Friday
A sequel to the 2003 film Freaky Friday (which was itself a remake of the 1976 Jodie Foster movie) in which Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis swapped bodies courtesy of a magical fortune cookie, Freakier Friday ups the ante with a four-way body swap. Now an adult with her own teenage daughter Harper (Julia Butters), Lohan’s Anna is engaged to marry Eric (Manny Jacinto) and welcome his daughter Lily (Sophia Hammons) into the family. But thanks to a psychic at her bachelorette party, Anna and Harper find themselves in each other’s bodies, as do Lily and Jamie Lee Curtis’s Tess. As they try and figure out how to get back to their own lives, can they learn to understand each other better and grow closer as a family?
The 2003 film is generally regarded as a modern classic in the Disney live action oeuvre. Lohan and Curtis both made for very likeable leads, and regardless of which one you sympathised with the most (kids: “poor Anna, being trapped in the body of an old person!” – Adults: “poor Tess, having to navigate being a teenager again!”), there was something for everyone to enjoy. The two have just as much chemistry here, with Curtis having had a bit of a resurgence in recent years with the Halloween reboots and her Oscar for Everything Everywhere All At Once, while Lohan is riding the nostalgia train after her cameo appearance in the musical adaptation of Mean Girls. I’m less familiar with the two teenage leads, but they couldn’t ask for a better mentor than Curtis. Manny Jacinto is playing a Brit here, which feels a long way off his proudly Floridian Jason from The Good Place.
This looks like it captures the fun of the original, and should make for a very entertaining family film – definitely worth a watch if you need to entertain the kids for the summer holidays.
- Freakier Friday on IMDB
- Freakier Friday on Rotten Tomatoes
Weapons
Very much not one to bring the kids to, Weapons is the next in a run of promising horror films after last week’s excellent Bring Her Back. Directed by Zach Cregger (who, like Bring Her Back’s directors the Philippou brothers, is only on his second film following the excellent Barbarian a few years ago), it tells the story of a town where, one night, 17 children all mysteriously get out of bed at the exact same time and wander off into the night, never to be seen again. The one thing they have in common is that they are all from the same class at school, where they are taught by Julia Garner’s Justine, who instantly receives the brunt of the blame as a result. But judging by the trailer, she’s as clueless and distressed about it as the kids’ parents.
Solving the mystery appears to be a big part of the plot, which thankfully means the trailer doesn’t give away too much beyond the initial premise beyond the occasional hint of something scary. But it’s a wonderfully intriguing starting point, and I can’t wait to see how it plays out. Julia Garner is great, and should have more opportunity to shine here than she did in her (literally shiny) appearance as the Silver Surfer in Fantastic Four. The cast also includes fellow Marvel alumni Josh Brolin and Benedict Wong, as well as Alden Ehrenreich. This looks very creepy, but the reviews (which have been extremely positive – it currently has 93% on Rotten Tomatoes) have noted that it’s also surprisingly funny in places and escalates to what sounds like a thrilling conclusion. I’ve been looking forward to this for a while and it doesn’t look like it’s going to disappoint.
- Weapons on IMDB
- Weapons on Rotten Tomatoes
If you only see one film this week…
The 2025 summer horror run continues with Weapons.
Still in cinemas and worth a watch
- Bring Her Back – A moving study of grief that is also deeply, deeply disturbing. There are some difficult moments to watch, especially if you have any discomfort when it comes to watching people eating, but the story is nevertheless incredibly compelling and you won’t be looking away for long. Sally Hawkins is completely believable as an utterly awful person, but special mention goes to the three child actors who all give great performances in very different ways. You will feel sorry for all of them at one point or another.
- The Naked Gun – Much funnier than I expected it to be, The Naked Gun reboot matches the original for quick-fire gags and ridiculous humour. Every type of joke from puns to visual comedy to surreal diversions is thrown at the screen and most of it sticks. Liam Neeson can definitively add comedy to his particular set of skills, while Pamela Anderson also manages to find her silly side. The plot is so similar to that of the first Kingsman film that it feels like Eggsy should be calling his lawyers, but it doesn’t matter too much as the story is mostly just an excuse to get from one joke to the next.
- The Fantastic Four: First Steps
Trailer of the week
There’s been quite a few interesting trailers this week, but my pick is If I Had Legs I’d Kick You. In this A24 movie, Rose Byrne plays a mother who is trying to balance her various responsibilities when everything seems to go wrong at once and pushes her to breaking point. It looks quite intense, but in a grounded and relatable way, and Byrne is already getting some early awards buzz after this has done well on the festival circuit.
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