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: alien heroines, American idiots, investigative psychiatrists and delusional bank robbers…
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.
Supergirl
Kara Zor-El, aka Supergirl (Milly Alcock), sets off on a galaxy-spanning quest to find the antidote to the poison that is slowly killing her canine companion Krypto. She’s accompanied by orphan Ruthye (Eve Ridley), who has her own reasons for wanting revenge against the poisoner Krem of the Yellow Hills (Matthias Schoenaerts).
Kara and Krypto were of course introduced in last year’s Superman, where they both made an impact. Krypto is an adorable little scene-stealer who saved the Man of Steel on multiple occasions and quickly became a fan favourite from the trailer alone. With Superman having spent the film teasing that he was only looking after Krypto for someone else, Alcock’s entrance in the film’s closing scenes instantly contrasted her party-girl lifestyle with Clark’s straight man persona. It promised a punk-rock follow-up perfectly suited to James Gunn’s fondness for flawed heroes with a killer taste in music.
Based on the early reviews, it doesn’t sound like the finished product quite lives up to that promise, instead delivering a more run-of-the-mill superhero story. But it still looks perfectly enjoyable. Alcock was excellent in House of the Dragon, and her performance here captures that energy that Gunn introduced in the last film, even if the story doesn’t give her anything much to channel it into. And building the plot around a need to rescue everyone’s favourite good boy Krypto is a stroke of genius, guaranteed to get the audience rooting for the Girl of Tomorrow and baying for Krem’s blood. There’s also an appearance from Aquaman Lobo (Jason Momoa), another fan favourite from the comics and the character that Momoa always wanted to play in the DC Universe.
With Gunn’s revived version of that universe still in its infancy, expect to see some wider world-building here too that could tease future projects. If you’re a DC fan then you certainly won’t want to miss this, but even if you’re not it will still be a fun way to spend a couple of hours.
- Supergirl on IMDB
- Supergirl on Rotten Tomatoes
Jackass: Best and Last
The Jackass crew, including Johnny Knoxville, Steve-O, Spike Jonze, Wee Man, Preston Lacey and more, reunite for their last film.
If you’ve ever seen Jackass before, be it the TV show that ran for three seasons in the early-mid noughties or any of the four previous movies, you’ll have a good idea of what’s in store here. Expect a series of stunts ranging from dumb fun to dangerous, all egged on by a group of friends who have punched each other in the nuts so many times now that it’s a miracle any of them are still capable of bearing children.
The stunts featured in the trailer all look pretty entertaining, but the real appeal of Jackass (and the reason it’s remained so successful when other similar concepts have vanished into obscurity) is the camaraderie between the people involved. They have the kind of easy chemistry that only comes from years of pressing each other’s buttons and pushing the boundaries of what they’ll agree to do. The fact that they’re visibly older and not at all wiser makes it all the funnier, even if it adds another layer of danger every time they take a hit from a large farm animal/ robot/ giant hand/ wall of boxing gloves etc.
If you’re not a fan of Jackass then it’s unlikely this will win you over – it’s very much more of the same formula. But if you enjoy that formula then this will likely be their last new big screen outing, so enjoy it while you can.
- Jackass: Best and Last on IMDB
- Jackass: Best and Last on Rotten Tomatoes
A Private Life
Renowned psychiatrist Lilian Steiner (Jodie Foster) is convinced that there is foul play behind the recent death of one of her patients, and decides to investigate it for herself.
Jodie Foster has always been carefully selective with her films, which usually means that anything she appears in will be worth watching. This looks to be no different, using its thriller premise to build a comedic character study that showcases both Foster’s acting ability and her fluency in French. It’s getting good reviews, but doesn’t seem to be connecting with audiences quite so well – it currently has an 81% critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes but only a 65% audience rating and just 5.9 stars on IMDB. Most of the praise is focused on Foster’s performance, but the critics are also citing director Rebecca Zlotowski’s ability to build suspense and balance it with the humour.
The film also stars Mathieu Amalric (who seems to be a requirement in any French cinema at the moment, having also appeared in last week’s Nino), Daniel Auteuil and Virginie Efira.
- A Private Life on IMDB
- A Private Life on Rotten Tomatoes
The Last Viking
Anker (Nikolaj Lie Kaas) is released from prison after a bank robbery, and needs to recover his stolen loot which was buried in the woods by his brother Manfred (Mads Mikkelsen). The problem is that while Anker was in prison, Manfred developed dissociative identity disorder, making him lose all memory of where the loot was buried and making him believe that he is in fact John Lennon. To find his reward, Anker will have to help his brother remember who he really is.
A Danish comedy where Mads Mikkelsen thinks he’s John Lennon should be more than enough to make you want to see this film. Mikkelsen is always a joy to watch, and he looks like he’s having loads of fun here. In one scene at the start of the trailer, Anker asks him to eat a key and he does it so casually that you don’t realise that’s a weird thing to do without questioning until Anker himself points it out. I’m less familiar with Nikolaj Lee Kaas but he has a brilliantly expressive face, somehow managing to convey confusion, frustration and brotherly affection all at once.
This is getting great reviews, with 92% on Rotten Tomatoes at the time of writing and lots of praise for the two leads. The critical consensus seems to be that there is a lot going on in the film, but it just about manages to bring it all together. Sadly it doesn’t seem to be showing in many places in Birmingham, but if you can find it this should be well worth a watch.
- The Last Viking on IMDB
- The Last Viking on Rotten Tomatoes
If you only see one film this week…
Fly off with the Girl of Tomorrow.
Still in cinemas and worth a watch
- Toy Story 5 – A beautifully animated addition to the Toy Story series, which focuses on Jessie and fleshes out her backstory – if you shed a tear at her song in Toy Story 2, you might want to bring some tissues to this. Buzz and Woody get some fun moments too (Buzz’s horse selection in particular) and the new characters, especially Greta Lee’s Lily and Conan O’Brien’s Smarty Pants, are great additions – if there’s one criticism it’s that there are now so many characters that a lot of the old favourites like Hamm, Rex and Slinky get heavily sidelined. Stay to the end of the credits for a better understanding of why they bothered casting Bad Bunny.
- Disclosure Day
- Masters of the Universe
Trailer of the Week
Klara and the Sun hadn’t particularly been on my radar, but this is the sort of trailer that gets more and more intriguing as it goes on and reveals some of the names both in the film and behind the camera. The film follows the eponymous android Klara, a solar powered ‘artificial friend’ who is purchased by Amy Adams’ Chris as a companion for her lonely daughter Josie (Mia Tharia). Klara is played by Jenna Ortega, with the sort of appropriately sunny optimism and innocence that suggests her director’s note simply said ‘do the opposite of Wednesday Addams’. She’s sold by Natasha Lyonne, who’s a good reason to watch anything she appears in. All of that already sounds great, but the icing on the cake is that this is directed by Taika Waititi, who has shown in the likes of Jojo Rabbit and Next Goal Wins that he can balance humour with sentimentality, and this seems like the sort of quirky feel-good project that will suit him to a tee. It’s also based on a book by Kazuo Ishiguro, who has good form with cinematic dramas having also written Never Let Me Go. Klara and the Sun will shine onto our cinema screens in October.
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