Hello, and welcome to the Geeky Brummie Film Roundup – bringing you the week’s biggest new cinema releases and running through why you should be excited for them. This week: Nobody punches people, a couple get Together, and Madame Web plays matchmaker…
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.
Nobody 2
The first Nobody turned Bob Odenkirk (best known as slimy lawyer Saul Goodman from Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul) into an action star. His Hutch Mansell is leading a quiet family life with his wife (Connie Nielsen), dad (Christopher Lloyd) and kids, when a burglary causes his previous life as an assassin for the US government to bubble back to the surface. It had some excellent fight scenes – especially a particularly memorable one on a bus – and ended with Hutch preparing to return to the life of a killer. That set the scene nicely for a sequel, and the movie was successful enough for this new one to get greenlit.
In Nobody 2, Hutch and his family (now all fully aware of his particular set of skills) go on holiday. But when defending his daughter from some local bullies, Hutch inadvertently gets on the wrong side of a criminal organisation led by Sharon Stone’s Lendina. Will he be able to relax in the sun and enjoy some quiet time with his family?
There is a lot about the Nobody films that is a little derivative – the idea of a retired hard-man forced back into his violent lifestyle when someone he loves is under threat has been done to death in the Taken and John Wick films. The trailer appears to be more of the same, with an elevator fight scene that will look very familiar to any Captain America fans. But that doesn’t mean it won’t be hugely entertaining. Odenkirk is a very likeable actor, comfortably selling both the action hero and the everyman that the film is named for. We only get glimpses of Sharon Stone in the trailers but it looks like she’s having a great time vamping it up as a villain here too. This won’t be winning any Oscars but it will be loads of fun.
- Nobody 2 on IMDB
- Nobody 2 on Rotten Tomatoes
Together
The last few weeks have been an excellent time for horror fans. First Bring Her Back crafted a harrowing tale of the lengths people can be driven to by grief. Then last week’s Weapons built an epic folktale out of a mysterious tragedy. And now Together rounds off the solid run of scares, this time leaning more into Cronenbergian body horror to warn against the pitfalls of co-dependency.
Real-life couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie star as Tim and Millie, a young couple who have been having some difficulties and decide to move to an isolated house in the countryside. But the move brings them closer in ways they weren’t expecting, when supernatural forces start to invade their relationship. There is some pretty gross imagery in the trailer and you get the impression that is just the tip of the iceberg as bits of the couple appear to be fusing together. When the electric carving knife comes out you know you’re in for a rough ride…
Ickyness aside, this looks like another effective and affecting horror, playing with some original concepts to supplement the occult weirdness that seems to be at the root of the trouble. Franco and Brie are solid actors and should have plenty of natural chemistry, which is just as well because it looks like they are the only ones on screen for most of the movie. If you enjoyed last year’s The Substance then you will probably want to see this.
- Together on IMDB
- Together on Rotten Tomatoes
Materialists
Lucy (Dakota Johnson) is a professional matchmaker in New York, proudly celebrating the fact that her arrangements have resulted in nine marriages. Her own love life is less successful, until she meets the seemingly perfect Harry (Pedro Pascal) just as her less perfect ex John (Chris Evans) resurfaces in her life. Who will she choose, and will it turn out to be the right choice?
There is a little irony in casting Dakota Johnson as a talented matchmaker – would you take dating advice from the woman in 50 Shades of Grey? And having to choose between Captain America and Oberyn Martell is hardly the sort of tragic dilemma that makes for a compelling drama. But there are actually a lot of promising signs here. It’s produced by A24, which is usually a safe bet for original, good-quality filmmaking. The writer and director is Celine Song, whose past work includes Past Lives which earned Oscar nominations for Best Picture and Original Screenplay. And Pascal and Evans are great casting, even though Pascal is in literally everything at the moment.
Will it be good enough to absolve Dakota Johnson of Madame Web and 50 Shades? You’ll have to see it and decide for yourself…
- Materialists on IMDB
- Materialists on Rotten Tomatoes
If you only see one film this week…
Rounding off a solid run of interesting new horrors, you have to bring it all Together.
Still in cinemas and worth a watch
- Weapons – Already doing very well at the box office and rightly so, Weapons is a hugely entertaining horror. Everything about this is great – it’s really creepy and quite gruesome in places but also darkly funny, well acted and cleverly written. The narrative is non-linear, jumping between several different characters to repeat the events of a few days from their individual perspectives. Each retelling interweaves with, and builds on, the others, gradually filling in the gaps to reveal the evil that has afflicted the town. Everything culminates in a deeply satisfying ending that is as funny and as bloody as anything else that happened in the film. To say any more would spoil it – try to go in knowing as little as possible, and you won’t be disappointed.
- Bring Her Back
- The Fantastic Four: First Steps
Trailer of the week
Directed by Josh Safdie – one half of the Safdie Brothers responsible for the brilliant Uncut Gems – Marty Supreme tells the story of fictional table tennis prodigy Marty (Timothée Chalamet) as he tries to champion the sport for American audiences more interested in baseball and basketball. It looks like a lot of fun, and is released in America over Christmas which could suggest some award hopes.
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