Welcome to the BRAG’s weekly rundown of what’s hot in the coming seven days of cinematic releases. The critics are falling over themselves with delight this Easter, as not a single film on the holiday roster has fallen under a 70% Rotten Tomatoes rating!
Well, except for Begum Jaan, which is not yet known to RT’s (CLEARLY RACIST) mods. But Denial is also coming out this week, which we’ve already discussed because Australian release dates keep friggin’ lying to me.
Also, contrary to what I said last week, it seems it is literally impossible to get The Evil Within in Australia, even with a VPN installed. So… guess you can scratch that one off the list. I watched the excellent Under The Shadow instead, and was highly satisfied.
But enough about hard-to-reach horror. Let’s talk cars…
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THE FATE OF THE FURIOUS
RT: 80%
It’s absurd that this franchise is not only still going, but flourishing like never before. Ever thought the waves-of-zombies effect from World War Z would work well when applied to, say, all of the cars? Say hello to your new favourite film – the penultimate car boys are back.
READ our full review of The Fate Of The Furious here
Straight Outta Compton director F. Gary Gray takes the wheel of the most successful action franchise going, where family is everything… that is, until series protagonist Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel) is given an offer he can’t refuse by uber-hacker Cipher (Charlize Theron), and turns on the people he loves.
The rest is business as usual – dance jams, The Rock (Dwayne Johnson) doin’ punch, insane slo-mo stunts, a surprising number of straight-up murders, and cars as far as the eye can see. And much as I never thought I’d say it, it’s pretty great fun.
tl;dr F8: AKA
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COLOSSAL
RT: 73%
In-house writer Joseph Earp loved Colossal, so odds are you will, too. The man knows his business. This oddball gem follows a depressive Anne Hathaway as she discovers her actions control a giant monster decimating South Korea.
READ our full review of Colossal here.
Aside from the straight-up bizarro concept from Nacho Vigalondo (who opened the first ABCs Of Death film), Hathaway has been going from strength in recent years, and Colossal‘s big ol’ beastie is a unique creation that vaguely resembles a gormless version of Groot.
Bored by Kong: Skull Island? (Though why would you be, it’s rad as heck.) This may be the giant monster movie for you.
tl;dr There’s a monster inside us all.
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FRANTZ
RT: 87%
Another movie about Germany at the turn of the 20th century – well, at least this one has mad cinematography cred, having picked up the top camera gong at the 42nd César Awards last year.
This one follows Anna (Paula Beer) after her husband is killed in World War I, when she meets Adrian (Pierre Niney) as he lays flowers at her husband’s grave. The two bond over their shared connection to the dead, as an atmosphere of xenophobia and fear unfolds around them.
Shot in black and white, and appealing to every Euro-loving romantic in need of another period piece, Frantz could be a compelling view for anyone not yet exhausted by the swell of films set in the forties. This obsession with the past is boring me to death.
tl;dr Hazarding a guess at the subtext here re: Frantz and Adrian…
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PERSONAL SHOPPER
RT: 75%
Kristen Stewart‘s upward ascent from the dark days of Twilight continues with this intriguing new ghost story from French auteur Olivier Assayas (who you may know from his segment in Paris, je t’aime).
Maureen (Stewart) spends her life at the back and call of her wealthy clients, travelling where she is needed to buy clothes and accessories for those too famous to be seen in public. While her clients themselves are like ghosts, Maureen’s twin brother may actually be one, having recently passed away.
Through her powerful connection to her twin, Maureen begins to believe she can commune with the dead. This leads the audience into a “controlled burn” of a film, an aching and intriguing drama outside of the norm.
tl;dr Imagine A Ghost Story sans Cunty Affleck.
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BEGUM JAAN
Mining the same rich historical vein that spawned Salman Rushdie’s Booker of Bookers-winning Midnight’s Children, Indian thriller Begum Jaan takes place in 1947, when the last Viceroy divides the nation he oversees into two: India and Pakistan.
Begum Jaan herself (Vidya Balan) is the madam of a brothel which sits directly on the newly minted border. When she’s told that her girls will be evicted from the building, she refuses, threatening to kill anyone that tries to take their home from them.
And from the trailer, this looks amazing. Saturating the reds in a tonally rich colour spectrum, creator Srijit Mukherjee has given the whole film a vibrant, violent look that separates it from cleaner Bollywood fare. I’m psyched for this film.
tl;dr Also this is just ilke that episode of Firefly.
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And now for THE VERDICT – maybe you only get to see one of these flicks on the big screen, and you don’t wanna waste that night out. So, drum roll please…
Purely out of my own curiosity, I’m sending you off on a dangerous mission to a film I haven’t seen: Colossal has me hooked, even though The Fate Of The Furious is surefire fun and Begum Jaan is set to impress. Original IP is my jam, yo. Weird cinema forever!
