Hello, and welcome to this week’s film roundup! Every Thursday we take you through the upcoming cinema releases and why you should be excited for them. This week, we have Mr Tumnus with a temper, Rose taking photos, and Gandalf getting his hands dirty…
Usual disclaimer: unless otherwise stated, I haven’t seen these films. All of my opinions are based on trailers, early reviews and other rumours and buzz.
Speak No Evil
All of this week’s films are coming out tomorrow, which is Friday the 13th, so naturally we’re starting with a psychological thriller / horror. While on holiday in Italy, Ben and Louise (Scoot McNairy and Mackenzie Davis) and their young daughter Agnes meet another family (James McAvoy and Aisling Franciosi) with a young son, and immediately become friends. When McAvoy’s Paddy invites them to stay at his family’s picturesque country villa, they bite his hand off. But Paddy’s son Ant seems to be having trouble communicating, and Agnes can immediately tell that something is not quite right. It quickly becomes more and more apparent that Paddy is not the man they thought he was…
I’ve always been a fan of James McAvoy and he looks to be on good creepy form here. He flips easily between charming and chilling, with little micro-aggressions (like pushing a vegetarian to eat his chicken, or gaslighting his guests about his profession) escalating to angry outbursts (dance to Cotton-Eye Joe better!) to outright violence, all while casually laughing with an arm round his wife. You can see why people would want to be friends with him, but you can also see why they would want to get the hell out of his house.
This is an American remake of a 2022 Danish film (which I haven’t seen). Though that can be a bad sign – Hollywood often has a habit of missing the point of the original – it does show that the story clearly had enough of an impact on director James Watkins that he must have set out very quickly to make his own version. The trailer has a lot of promise, the cast is excellent, and the early reviews seem to be very positive. I think this could be a gripping watch.
- Speak No Evil on IMDB
- Speak No Evil on Rotten tomatoes
Lee
One of this year’s cinematic highlights so far has been Alex Garland’s Civil War, in which Kirsten Dunst played war photographer Lee in an alt-reality version of America. Our second film this week is a biopic of the real-life woman who was clearly her character’s inspiration: Lee Miller, a former fashion model who became a war correspondent for Vogue during World War Two.
As a period-set biopic about a woman fighting to succeed in an industry dominated by men, this one feels like it’s gunning for some little gold statues come awards season. Kate Winslet has always been a great actress, but here she is clearly getting stuck in and giving it her all. The scene glimpsed in the trailer of her reclining in a bath posing for a nude photograph for Andy Samberg’s David Scherman almost echoes her famous modelling scene in Titanic. But instead of frivolously wanting to be painted ‘like one of your French girls’, here she is very much her own person with her own agency – a collaborator in the art instead of just its subject – casually taking over what was in fact Hitler’s own bathroom. It’s a much more mature role that shows how much she’s progressed as an actress, making her a great fit for the hard-working and creative Miller.
The supporting cast is strong too. Samberg is best known for comedy, so it will be interesting to see him in a dramatic role. Alexander Skarsgård, as Miller’s husband, will be hoping to have a little more success than his brother’s latest cinema outing. And Andrea Riseborough and Marion Cotillard always add a touch of class to a cast.
If you like compelling stories about real people, this is definitely one to watch.
- Lee on IMDB
- Lee on Rotten Tomatoes
The Critic
In The Critic, Ian McKellen plays Jimmy Erskine – an influential theatre critic whose position is threatened when a new publisher, seeking to make the paper more family-friendly, takes issue with his overly negative reviews and decadent personal life. Deciding not to go down without a fight, he uses his power and influence to try to get some dirt on the publisher and maintain his place at the top of the food chain.
Ian McKellen’s portrayal of Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings films is so iconically good, it’s easy to forget how good he is at playing a bad guy. Nobody can sneer quite like Sir Ian. The most famous example of this is Magneto, but the performance that Jimmy Erskine particularly reminds me of is his con man in 2019 drama The Good Liar. More of an anti-hero in both films than an outright villain, he will do whatever it takes to manipulate the people around him for his own ends. And because it’s Ian McKellen, that will be a joy to watch.
Conversely, his victim here is Mark Strong, who is best known for playing baddies in the likes of Stardust, Shazam! and Kick Ass. Arguably he is the villain again here to McKellen’s anti-hero, but he seems a much more sympathetic and likeable character just trying to do the right thing. Also trapped in the web of deceit is Gemma Arterton, who makes a deal with the devil by agreeing to help Erskine in return for his critical favour and the success that could bring her – selling her soul for fame and fortune.
This looks far-fetched but fun, with a solid cast and a witty script.
- The Critic on IMDB
- The Critic on Rotten Tomatoes
If you only see one film this week…
…you should see and hear no film other than Speak No Evil.
Still in cinemas and worth a watch
- Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
- Alien: Romulus
- Blink Twice
Trailer of the week
With his take on the Invisible Man, director Leigh Whannell demonstrated that he could take a classic Universal villain and give it a fresh, modern take. The new teaser for his upcoming Wolf Man looks set to continue that approach, with a husband and father transforming into the titular terror during a secluded cabin retreat. With a gradual title reveal that evokes Alien and a range of disturbing imagery to set the tone, this looks like it could be a genuinely scary new adaptation.
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