Film Roundup 13/11/2025

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: sprinting, nazis, magic, demons, Christmas and sorcerers…

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 Running Man

Not so much an adaptation of the 1987 Arnie classic, as a new (and much more faithful) adaptation of the original source novel (making it the second Stephen-King-as-Richard-Bachman adaptation this year about people in a dystopian future perambulating across America to avoid being shot). The Running Man follows Ben Richards (Glen Powell), a struggling father and husband trying to afford medicine for his sick daughter after being rendered unemployable for standing up for union rights at his old job. In his desperation he turns to one of the many reality shows run by the Network – a sinister corporation that controls both the state media and the state itself – where life-threatening games could win you a big payout. The biggest show, with the biggest payout, is The Running Man – three contestants are released into the world, where they are hunted by professional hunters as well as civilians and the police, and have to last a month without being killed. Nobody has ever won, but the prize money would easily get the help his daughter needs so Richards agrees to compete. Can he survive when the whole world wants him dead?

I went to a preview of this last week and thoroughly enjoyed it. Powell is a great leading man – more than capable of handling the many stunts, but also conveying Richards’ sympathy for the downtrodden and simmering rage for the down-treaders. Josh Brolin’s Network executive Dan Killian is an arrogant, manipulative monster who’s every bit as unpleasant as his more famous big purple baddie role, and there are also fun supporting turns from flamboyant presenter Colman Domingo, revolutionary Michael Cera and fellow contestant Katie O’Brian. Edgar Wright’s direction is a lot more Hollywood-polished – and, as such, less memorable – than the Cornetto Trilogy, but his style still comes through, especially in the kinetic action scenes. Cera’s house (located in Derry, Maine – a place that will make the hairs stand up on the necks of any Stephen King fans) has a particularly fun Home Alone element

The film also has a lot to say about the pitfalls of modern culture, which is appropriate given that the original story (released in 1982) was actually set in the dystopian future of 2025. It’s a world where the media uses AI deepfakes to manipulate their narratives, the chasm between the rich and the poor is so wide you could drive a hijacked car through it, and state surveillance is so ubiquitous that even the lampposts can track your DNA. It’s so close to home that the film almost feels like a Black Mirror episode, just longer and with more running.

Whether you’re a fan of Edgar Wright, or Stephen King, or Glen Powell, or you enjoyed The Long Walk but just wished they’d move a bit faster, The Running Man is well worth a watch.

• Running Man on IMDB
• Running Man on Rotten Tomatoes

Now You See Me: Now You Don’t

The first Now You See Me film was a fun heist movie that didn’t particularly feel like it needed a sequel, but set one up anyway in its final scene. When Now You See Me 2 came along, it had a much more mixed critical reception but did well enough at the box office, so now, nearly a decade later, the series has become a trilogy.

The magicians known as the Four Horsemen – Daniel (Jesse Eisenberg), Merritt (Woody Harrelson), Jack (Dave Franco) and Henley (Isla Fisher, returning after her pregnancy took her out of the second film) are enlisted for a diamond heist, targeting some dangerous criminals led by Rosamund Pike’s Veronika Vanderberg. To pull it off, they’re joined by up-and-coming young magicians Charlie, Bosco and June, played by up-and-coming young actors Justice Smith (Dungeons & Dragons), Dominic Sessa (The Holdovers) and Ariana Greenblatt (Barbie), as well as a returning Morgan Freeman as Thaddeus Bradley.

One trait of the NYSM films is that it’s always left slightly vague as to whether the magic on display is meant to be clever tricks and illusions or actual supernatural magic. I’ve found that a little frustrating in the past, largely because it makes the Horsemen’s smugness that bit harder to tolerate. This third film seems to be blurring that line between illusion and reality more than ever, which puts me off a bit. But if you enjoyed the first two then everything you liked will be present and correct here too – lots of over-the-top magic to give the bad guys some comeuppance. And the cast is excellent – Eisenberg will be riding high from his many well-deserved awards for last year’s A Real Pain, Harrelson is always a joy to watch, and it’s good to see Sessa getting some blockbuster casting after the success of the Holdovers.

• Now You See Me: Now You Don’t on IMDB
• Now You See Me: Now You Don’t on Rotten Tomatoes

Nuremberg

Russell Crowe continues his tour of European accents – he’s done Italian (The Pope’s Exorcist), Russian (Kraven The Hunter), and now he tackles German as Nazi commander Hermann Göring. The film follows Rami Malek’s psychiatrist Douglas Kelley, who has been tasked with evaluating Göring and other high-ranking Nazi officials ahead of the Nuremberg trials after WW2. But despite some of the monstrous atrocities they committed, the prosecutors are struggling to pin any international laws on the Nazis that will lead to a successful trial. And Göring is too smart and too proud to go down easily. Can Kelley find a chink in his armour in time?

Despite Crowe’s slightly odd casting choice (surely there are some German actors who could have stepped in?), this is an intriguing premise for a film and should make for some good tense scenes. Göring is one of history’s true villains – a household name for all the wrong reasons – but cinematic renditions of the Nazis tend to skip past him in favour of his more recognisable boss with the silly moustache. This looks like it will be a deep character study of a monster, a la Silence of the Lambs, set against the backdrop of one of the most important courtroom dramas in history. And it also has a great supporting cast, including Michael Shannon, Richard E Grant and John Slattery. It should be well worth a watch, and potentially a contender for awards season.

• Nuremberg on IMDB
• Nuremberg on Rotten Tomatoes

Keeper

From director Osgood Perkins (Longlegs, The Monkey), Keeper is a horror starring Tatiana Maslany (She-Hulk) and Rossif Sutherland as a couple who decide to spend a romantic anniversary in a secluded cabin (seriously, why do people ever stay in a cabin in the woods – it never ends well). But a demonic presence forces them to confront the property’s haunted past.

This has a very intriguing trailer which focuses far more on setting the mood than revealing any of the plot. But that mood is creepy as anything, full of horrible creatures, dark corners and a gradual descent into madness. Maslany looks great – she has a very expressive face which lends itself well to horror. Perkins has already bashed out two great horror films in the last 18 months or so, both of which were great fun but this looks by far the scariest of the three. He is doing well to establish himself as a big name in the genre.

• Keeper on IMDB
• Keeper on Rotten Tomatoes

Christmas Karma

There are already approximately 584157241587431 adaptations of A Christmas Carol (including the Muppet one, which is The Greatest Christmas Movie and I will die on that hill), so it’s hard to find a way (or, one might argue, a reason) to make a new one and have it stand out from the pack. Director Gurinder Chadha (Bend It Like Beckham) has managed to find an original angle by giving the story a Hindu twist.

Expect this to hit all the same beats as the classic story – Scrooge (here called Eshaan Sood, played by Big Bang Theory’s Kunal Nayyar) is visited by the ghost of his old friend Jacob Marley (Hugh Bonneville) who heralds the coming of the Ghosts of Christmas Past (Eva Longoria), Present (Billy Porter) and Future (Boy George), who shame and terrify him into embracing the holiday spirit. Leo Suter and Pixie Lott play Mr and Mrs Cratchitt, Extraordinary’s Bilal Hasna plays Eddie Sood (presumably this version’s equivalent of Scrooge’s nephew Fred), and Danny Dyer also appears as a London cabbie. But there are also lashings of Bollywood elements – there’s a much brighter colour palette than the traditional Victorian London greys and browns, plus the occasional song and dance number.

This looks a little bit naff, which is not helped by the fact that it’s hard to get properly into the Christmas spirit in mid-November. But if you can get past that, there are some interesting ideas at play here. The idea of someone hating Christmas is a lot more understandable when you see it from the perspective of a non-Christian having it forced down their throats every year. And there is a side-story about Sood’s upbringing in Uganda and his escape from Idi Amin’s rule, which should tug at the heartstrings in a way Scrooge has never managed before. Chadha has a real talent for portraying the British Asian experience for a wider audience. And while this may be a bit cheesy, so are a lot of Christmas films that have gone on to become family favourites (Nativity, for example). There is every chance that this will do the same. But it still won’t be as good as the Muppets one…

• Christmas Karma on IMDB
• Christmas Karma on Rotten Tomatoes

Jujutsu Kaisen: Execution

Jujutsu Kaisen is an anime series following Yuji Itadori, who is cursed after swallowing the finger of a demon and enlists the help of a band of sorcerers to remove the curse before the demon is unleashed on the world. Execution serves as a precursor to season 3 of the anime, set to adapt the Culling Game story arc from the manga on which the series is based. When a veil descends over the district of Shibuya, trapping civilians inside, Yuji and his classmates and other sorcerers step in to battle the demons and curse-users responsible.

I’m not too familiar with the anime, but if you’re a fan then this will be a must-see. Like all cinematic adaptations of anime series, expect this to be very much geared towards fans of the show, with little to no backstory to set the scene for the uninitiated. But if the trailer tickles your fancy, with its slick fight scenes and cool animation, you could take this as an excuse to go back and watch the series on Crunchyroll before continuing the adventure on the big screen.

• Jujutsu Kaisen: Execution on IMDB
• Jujutsu Kaisen: Execution on Rotten Tomatoes

If you only see one film this week…

Race out to watch The Running Man.

Still in cinemas and worth a watch

• Bugonia
• Predator: Badlands – Taking the Predator franchise in a completely different direction, Badlands is still great fun. There is some lovely world-building, both on the Yautja home planet and the deadly planet where hero Dek goes on his hunt. Overall it plays out a bit like the excellent Scavengers Reign, but with a predator dropped in the middle. Plus, Elle Fanning’s perky synthetic is a wonderfully likeable character, and the film’s message around the importance of a found family is capped by the perfect sequel-baiting final line. Well worth catching on a big screen while you can.
• Die My Love – Arguably Jennifer Lawrence’s finest performance yet, Die My Love is quite intense in places but always compelling.

Trailer of the Week

Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die stars Sam Rockwell as a time-traveller trying to convince a group of cynics from the present to help him save the future from a rogue AI. Directed by Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Caribbean), this has some strong Everything, Everywhere, All At Once vibes (and not just because of how long it takes to type out their respective titles) – an energetic take on an existential crisis, which goes gradually from mad to surreal. Rockwell alone is always a good reason to watch a film, but the rest of the cast is also great, including Zazie Beetz, Michael Peña, Juno Temple and Asim Chaudhry.