Hello, 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: Death goes on the hunt, the Weeknd goes on a trip, and Rosamund Pike goes for a drive…
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.
Final Destination: Bloodlines
Bloodlines is the sixth instalment in the Final Destination series. In the 1960s, Iris Campbell (Brec Bassinger) has a premonition that allows her to save a restaurant full of people from a grisly death. Decades later, Death is coming not just for her, but also for the family that she was never meant to have. Can any of them find a way to cheat Death’s design and break the cycle?
I saw this at a preview screening last week, which Cineworld screened as a double-bill with the original Final Destination movie. Generally speaking, the series as a whole is fun but formulaic – someone sees a vision of a massive disaster moments before it happens, saves some or all of the people involved, and then watches helplessly as they are picked off one by one in increasingly inventive ways. And although Bloodlines does still tick those boxes, I’m pleased to report that it still manages to breathe some life into the franchise. Watching it straight after the first film, which hasn’t aged especially well in places, really brought out how genuinely good the new one is – this is comfortably the best film in the series.
The opening premonition is brilliantly done. In a very short space of time we’re introduced to a range of characters ranging from very likeable (Iris and her date Paul) to immediately slappable (the kid – you will know him when you see him) and the film does a great job of making us care about them even though we know what’s coming. There are hints of the impending disaster everywhere – in the musical choices, the camera angles, the snippets of conversation – building the tension towards the inevitable moment when everything goes wrong all at once. When it does come, it’s spectacular to watch.
We then cut suddenly to the modern day to learn that this is not, as per the usual formula, Iris’s dream, but that of her granddaughter Stefani (Kaitlyn Santa Juana) who has been haunted by it every night for months. Desperate to get a proper night’s sleep and her life back on track, she visits her family to get in touch with her estranged grandmother and try to get some answers. The family tree element doesn’t represent a huge departure from the usual formula, but it’s enough to feel a little bit different to the other entries and it still allows for a rug twist or two. The franchise’s big USP of ridiculous Rube Goldberg assassinations is still one of the most entertaining elements of the film – one scene even directly references the daftness of Death’s designs for a particularly well-executed gag.
But the standout moment has to be the final scenes of the legendary Tony Todd’s recurring mortician William Bludworth. Todd was suffering from late stage stomach cancer when this was filmed and passed away shortly afterwards. He was reportedly determined to give the character he had played in three of the previous five Destination movies a proper send-off, and his last words on-screen feel like they are coming from Todd as much as they are from Bludworth. It’s a really poignant moment, especially if you know the context behind it, and credit is due to the writers (Guy Busick, Lori Evans Taylor and Jon Watts) and directors (Zach Lipovsky and Adam B Stein) for giving it the time and respect it needed and deserved. You wouldn’t expect a Final Destination film to bring a tear to your eye.
- Final Destination: Bloodlines on IMDB
- Final Destination: Bloodlines on Rotten Tomatoes
Hurry Up Tomorrow
In Hurry Up Tomorrow, Abel Tesfaye (better known as The Weeknd) plays a version of himself – an insomniac musician who meets a mysterious stranger, leading him on a journey that challenges everything he knows about himself.
I know very little about this and the trailer does a good job of not giving too much away. The Weeknd has a writing credit, and apparently the story goes behind the lyrics of some of his songs, so fans of his work can expect to see some insight into his creative process. Along for the ride are so-hot-right-now actors Jenna Ortega and Barry Keoghan – both are often a sign of a good film (and also of a weird film).
Going purely by the vibes of the trailer, this looks like a surreal and trippy drama, with hints of both physical and psychological threats to Tesfaye. It’s difficult to say much more about it than that, but it looks intriguing and has some good talent both behind and in front of the camera.
- Hurry Up Tomorrow on IMDB
- Hurry Up Tomorrow on Rotten Tomatoes
Hallow Road
Two parents (Rosamund Pike and Matthew Rhys) receive a phone call late at night from their daughter Alice (Megan McDonnell), who has just hit someone with her car. Trying to advise her on the phone while she waits for an ambulance, they race out to meet her. But as the night progresses, the situation gets steadily worse in some unexpected ways.
Rosamund Pike is one of those quietly brilliant actresses who is always a sign of something good and is very often the best thing in it. Her performance, alongside Matthew Rhys, is front and centre here – the film doesn’t show us the scene of Alice’s accident, where arguably the more cinematic drama is unfolding, but instead focuses on the confined space of the parents’ car as they hear and respond to their daughter’s distress. It’s an effective technique – very few of us can relate to hitting someone with a car, but everyone can relate to the pain and helplessness of trying to support someone from the other end of a phone line. But it also builds the suspense, as our only information about Alice’s predicament is what we hear on the phone, and as the trailer shows, not all of what we hear is what we might expect. There are hints of this building towards something strange and supernatural.
This is another one that I’ve not read much about before, but I’m very intrigued to see where it goes.
- Hallow Road on IMDB
- Hallow Road on Rotten Tomatoes
If you only see one film this week…
Gloriously entertaining horror with a perfect send-off for the late great Tony Todd – our film of the week is Final Destination: Bloodlines.
Still in cinemas and worth a watch
- Thunderbolts*
- Sinners
- The Surfer
Trailer of the Week
There are a few good contenders for Trailer of the Week this week, but since Superman has held that title before, and Nobody 2 is a red band trailer that I won’t be able to embed outside of Youtube, I’m going for the first trailer for the next Marvel Disney+ series, Ironheart. The series follows Dominique Thorne’s tech prodigy Riri Williams, who was introduced in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, as she sets out to follow in Iron Man’s gold titanium alloy boots. Black Panther director Ryan Coogler is also on board as an executive producer, and the cast includes Anthony Ramos and Alden Ehrenreich. With Daredevil: Born Again being one of the TV highlights of the year so far, and Coogler’s Sinners being a standout at the cinema, I have some high hopes for this. The trailer doesn’t show us a huge amount of super suit action, but there should be plenty to come when the series hits Disney+ on 24 June.
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