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: rowdy coconuts, rotting corpses and rose cuttings.
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.
Moana
The original Moana was a highlight in what was already one of Disney’s strongest eras. Nestled in the release schedule among such other instant classics as Frozen, Big Hero 6, Zootopia and Wreck-It Ralph, it combined gorgeous colourful animation, memorable characters, big Lin Manuel Miranda-penned showtunes and a beautiful story to become a huge hit with both audiences and critics. It was also released the same year as the live action(ish) Jungle Book – the success of which led Disney to start churning out live remakes of its other animated classics. That has been a much less successful run – a few have done well at the box office, mostly out of nostalgia, but none have really captured the magic of the originals. All of that has now led to, and caused difficulties for, this week’s new live action Moana. Not only does it have a particularly high bar to clear to live up to the original, but – released a mere decade after its predecessor – it has to do so without the built-up nostalgia that made the Lion King and Beauty and the Beast their 10-figure box office takings.
For those who don’t know the story, Moana (played this time round by Catherine Laga’aia) is the headstrong daughter of the village chief (John Tui) on the Polynesian island of Motunui. She dreams of sailing off into the horizon and exploring the ocean, but her father won’t risk anyone taking a boat beyond the dangerous reefs surrounding the island. When a mysterious blight ruins their crops and frightens their fish away, Moana manages to sneak away and escape the reef to seek out the demigod Maui (Dwayne Johnson) and order him to restore the heart of the goddess Tefiti, which he stole in the mythic past, and appease the gods into removing the blight. On the way she learns about her ancestors, discovers her calling, and confronts various monsters from Polynesian mythology.
In case it’s not already obvious, I am a huge fan of the original and I will be very surprised if the new version lives up to it. It’s great that the Rock is reprising his role as Maui, but a lot of that character’s appeal was in the way he was animated – a very stylised figure, with animated tattoos and the ability to shapeshift into different animals. Johnson certainly looks the part in the trailers, but it takes a lot of CGI and prosthetics to get him there. Jermaine Clement is also reprising his role as narcissistic giant crab Tamatoa, which I’m also very pleased about, but as a fully CG character it’s hard to see how the live action version is adding anything new.
That is the problem with many of these remakes – they need to be different enough to justify their own existence, but not so different that it will anger fans of the originals. Based on the trailer and the reviews, Moana seems to have steered on the safer side and pretty much remade the film shot for shot. It has suffered for that with critics, who have largely concluded that those shots looked better in animated form. But, if you have little kids who haven’t seen the original yet and won’t be making that comparison, it’s hard to go too wrong with Moana. The songs are still incredible, including the showstopping How Far I’ll Go, the infectiously catchy You’re Welcome, the Bowie-inspired Shiny and the Tokelauan lyrics of Logo Te Pate. And even the film’s biggest critics have been singing the praises of Laga’aia’s singing voice. It might not be a patch on the original, but this is an island I will gladly return to.
- Moana on IMDB
- Moana on Rotten Tomatoes
Evil Dead Burn
The original Evil Dead trilogy is a true cult classic, kicking off the careers of Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell and spawning some further soft reboots in 2013’s Evil Dead, 2023’s Evil Dead Rise, and now the latest offering Evil Dead Burn. The franchise has always had elements of both horror and comedy, but this one appears to lean much more into the horror, putting its cards on the table with its tense, terrifying teaser trailer.
This time round, the plot sees Alice (Souheila Yacoub) grieving the loss of her husband with his family, following a horrific car accident. But when one of them seeks solace by reading from the Book of the Dead, the in-laws start to turn into deadites and Alice finds herself in a fight for her own survival.
Despite missing the legendary Bruce Campbell, there is a lot for horror fans here – the gore and violence is by all accounts quite impressive, with scenes teased in the trailer involving car doors and dishwashers perhaps even rivalling Evil Dead Rise’s cheese grater scene for the ‘moment that will make you terrified of everyday objects’ award. The deadites themselves are as creepy as ever, like intelligent zombies that like to torture their victims. And for those who prefer elevated horror, there is plenty of subtext about dealing with grief and domestic violence to sink your teeth into.
- Evil Dead Burn on IMDB
- Evil Dead Burn on Rotten Tomatoes
Rosebush Pruning
You might be forgiven for thinking from the title that Rosebush Pruning is a sweet film that will appeal to elderly horticulturalists, but that is far from the truth (maybe – I don’t know what sorts of films elderly horticulturalists are into). A remake of the 1965 Italian drama Fists in the Pocket, this follows hedonistic siblings Ed (Callum Turner), Robert (Luke Gage), Jack (Jamie Bell) and Anna (Riley Keough) as they lounge their days away in a Catalonian villa. But when Jack announces he’s moving in with his girlfriend Martha (Elle Fanning), the family ties quickly unravel and long-buried secrets are dug up.
As a satire on the lives of the wealthy and on sibling bonds, Rosebush Pruning has shades of Saltburn, Triangle of Sadness and Dogtooth. It has a great central cast of so-hot-right-now actors, all capped off with a cameo from Pamela Anderson in flashbacks as their late mother and source of their inherited wealth. The trailer showcases some stylish use of colour, with the rosebush metaphor and occasional splash of blood throwing plenty of bright red into the greens and blues of its idyllic sun-drenched setting.
Unfortunately, the reviews seem to be saying that this is mostly style over substance. The film currently has 28% on Rotten Tomatoes. Still, it does look interesting and very tonally different to the other films on offer this week, so may well be worth a watch if you like your dark comedies.
- Rosebush Pruning on IMDB
- Rosebush Pruning on Rotten Tomatoes
If you only see one film this week…
Much as I would love to be able to say Moana, Evil Dead Burn has a higher Rotten Tomatoes rating than both the other films put together…
Still in cinemas and worth a watch
- The Invite – Awkward, sexy and very very funny, The Invite delves deep into its lead characters’ insecurities and the crumbling foundations of their relationship. Olivia Wilde and Seth Rogen make for a very likeable couple even when they’re at each others’ throats, and the odd moments where they find themselves on the same side (like when their curiosity over their neighbours’ love lives gets the better of them) feel like watching old friends reuniting. Ed Norton and Penelope Cruz are also on fine form, their charm and charisma occasionally tipping just enough into pretentiousness to justify Rogen’s animosity towards them (and to Norton’s Hawk in particular). I said in last week’s Roundup it could have a happy ending or a depressing one – somehow it manages both.
- Minions & Monsters – A kids’ film very much written by and for cinema nerds, Minions & Monsters is as much a love letter to the Golden Age of Hollywood as it is a film about chaotic yellow tic-tacs. It’s full of nods to classic films (including The Voyage to the Moon, Citizen Kane and The Day The Earth Stood Still) and Hollywood history itself, referencing the studio era and the move from silent movies to talkies. It is also, as it should be, a lot of fun for kids, with the Minions providing plenty of daftness and the monsters (including Trey Parker’s Cthulhu-lite Goomi) bringing the drama.
- Toy Story 5
Trailer of the Week
There has been a massive trailer for Dune: Part Three this week, which I absolutely recommend watching if you haven’t already. But I’ve had trailers for Dune featured here before so I’m instead going to channel my esteemed Geeky Brummie colleague and showcase the new teaser for the upcoming Godzilla Minus Zero. Following on a couple of years after the events of the excellent, Oscar-winning Godzilla Minus One, this film sees former kamikaze pilot Shikishima (Ryûnosuke Kamiki) trying to survive a new encounter with the big scaly beastie. Godzilla himself only appears briefly, but as with the previous film he has a real weight and presence that the animators of giant CGI monsters often struggle to create. Plus there are talks of thermonuclear blasts and shots of bombs falling from planes, suggesting more nuclear analogies to get all doom-stricken over. This trailer also comes with an announcement on the release date: Godzilla Minus Zero will be stomping into our cinemas on 6 November.
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