Hello there, and welcome to the Geeky Brummie film roundup! Each week we take you through the newest cinema releases and talk about why you should be excited for them. This week is all about fast cars and fat cats…
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
Mad Max: Fury Road is one of the best blockbusters in modern cinema. It was epic in scale, vibrantly creative and utterly thrilling. The sight of armies of doom buggies, each uniquely decked out and armoured, driven by chrome-faced war boys maddened on exhaust fumes, charging across a post-apocalyptic desertscape in pursuit of Max Rotackansky was completely unlike anything that had come before – not even the earlier Mad Max films had got the pulse racing in quite the same way. It also gave us an incredible heroine in Charlize Theron’s Furiosa. Her determination to rescue her fellow wives from their despotic husband Immortan Joe gave her more drive and agency than the eponymous Max himself.
So it’s absolutely right and tremendously exciting that Furiosa now gets her own movie. This is the first film in the Mad Max Saga not to feature Mad Max, but it’s testament to the strength of her character that it doesn’t feel inappropriate to carry on without him. This is a prequel, showing the younger Furiosa, so Theron is out in favour of Anya Taylor Joy (fresh from her all too brief cameo in The Other Big Desert Movie). It’s excellent casting – Taylor Joy has proven herself both in character driven drama (Queen’s Gambit) and action-based genre films (Split, The New Mutants).
The film tells the story of Furiosa’s quest for revenge against Chris Hemsworth’s brilliantly named Dr Dementus. Judging by the trailers, Hemsworth is also on fine form in a rare villain role, dialling everything up (including the Aussie accent), chewing the scenery and having a great time in the process. In other films the performance might appear cartoonish, but in the mad world of Mad Max it’s a perfect fit.
And like the previous film, the world building on display here is incredible. The doom buggies and rigs are like spikey punk-rock pirate ships on wheels, each with so much character and energy that it’s hard to imagine them ever parking. The near-mythical Green Place, Furiosa’s intended destination in Fury Road, will show us how close this post-apocalyptic wasteland gets to paradise. And the action set pieces, largely told with real stunts and practical effects, look suitably epic. The early reviews are hugely promising, with overwhelming praise not just for the visual style but also for the acting and storytelling. This will be one to witness in IMAX if you can, because it’s not often that we get a film that operates on this sort of scale without sacrificing on story or character. What a lovely day…
- Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga on IMDB
- Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga on Rotten Tomatoes
The Garfield Movie
From fury to furry, next up we have a new CGI animated take on Garfield. The last couple of Garfield films blended CGI and live action, with the lasagne loving cat voiced perfectly by Bill Murray (even if he named it as his only regret in Zombieland). This time round it’s a fully CG cartoon, with Chris Pratt providing the voice – an interesting casting choice so soon after the controversy of his voicing Mario, but it does feel more appropriate than that role.
In this film, Garfield is plucked from his comfy life by his father, a streetwise alley cat named Vic (Samuel L Jackson). Garfield and Odie will have to help Vic in a daring heist, while avoiding the attentions of criminal kitty Jinx (Hannah Waddingham).
The animation style here appears to hew closely to the look of the cartoon strip on which the film is based, which comes across as slightly dated compared to a lot of the other animated films out this year. But it does the job – the scenes in the trailer of Garfield as a kitten are very cute, and it will clearly appeal to the younger target audience looking for some half term entertainment.
- The Garfield Movie on IMDB
- The Garfield Movie on Rotten Tomatoes
Hit Man
Next up, we have Hit Man – the latest film by Richard Linklater. Glen Powell (Top Gun: Maverick, Anyone But You) plays Gary Johnson, a teacher who moonlights as a fake hit man for the police. He adopts a disguise designed to appeal to a particular criminal and then records the criminal’s confessions when they meet to enlist his services. But his plans go awry one day when he falls for one of his marks – Madison, played by Adria Arjona (Andor, Morphius).
Powell, who also co-wrote the script with Linklater, is often typecast as a charming, overly-confident frat boy type – something he does very well. But it looks as though he gets to expand his range a little here, with Gary’s nerdy teacher taking on a number of different personas. The one that meets with Madison (which presumably he occupies for a lot of the film) does seem to place him in slightly more familiar territory, but it’s good to see him branching out. It’s hard to tell much about Adria Arjona’s character from the trailer but she seems to be more than just a standard love interest, and she clearly has some great chemistry with Glen Powell.
The early reviews for this comedy thriller have all been quite positive, and a new Richard Linklater film is always something to celebrate. It was produced by/for Netflix and will be released on the streaming service in a couple of weeks, but will get a limited cinema run first – usually a sign that Netflix has some confidence in their property and want to drum up some word of mouth before they start showing it. If you’re interested in seeing this, try and take the opportunity to see it on a big screen while you can.
- Hit Man on IMDB
- Hit Man on Rotten Tomatoes
Slow
Finally this week we have Lithuanian film Slow, which explores the romantic relationship between Dancer Elena and sign language interpreter Dovydas. When Dovydas reveals that he is asexual, the couple have to find different ways of expressing their intimacy towards each other.
This was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance last year, and won an award there for its director Marija Kavtaradze. The title comes from the fact that the couple have to learn to take their relationship slowly, but it looks like it also describes the pace of the film itself – this seems to be less about plot and more a study of romance and sexuality. It sounds like a sweet little film and might be worth a watch if you prefer something a bit gentler than the other films on the list this week.
- Slow on IMDB
- Slow on Rotten Tomatoes
If you only see one film this week…
Witness her! This week’s film of the week has to be Furiosa.
Still in cinemas and worth a watch
- IF
- Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
- The Fall Guy
Trailer of the week
Following a teaser released a few months back, we now have our first full trailer for Beetlejuice sequel Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (who will probably be getting summoned constantly all over the place if they ever make a third one). Everything from the stop motion sandworms to the Danny Elfman score screams Tim Burton at his Tim Burton-est, and the new cast (including Jenna Ortega and Willem Dafoe) look like they will fit perfectly with the returning cast (Catherine O’Hara, Winona Ryder and of course Michael Keaton).
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