Looking for something to watch this weekend? Take a look at our top picks:
Upgrade
Having very recently made its reappearance onto Netflix. ‘Upgrade’ is a film that story or plot-wise doesn’t provide anything new that similar films before haven’t already covered. But what it does do is know where it exists and does what it does extremely well. After an accident leaves our protagonist a quadriplegic and kills his wife. Grey (Logan Marshall-Green) is offered the chance to have a chip implanted named “Stem” that would give him control of his limbs again. As to be expected once he gets the implant he begins trying to research into what exactly lead to the death of his wife, but he soon finds that Stem can talk directly through him and (with his permission) even take over his body, making him much more adept at fighting or maneuvers. Upgrade still manages a certain level of self-awareness to make it enjoyable, although as said before it’s anti-tech message and visuals aren’t anything we haven’t seen before from earlier films like The Terminator or Robocop, but Upgrade still provides a fun ride and premise nevertheless.
The Imitation Game
The 2014 historical drama starring Benedict Cumberbatch is recently making another resurgence across on-demand services. Cumberbatch plays the role of Alan Turing in a shocking and exposing retelling of how he helped develop essential codebreaking technology during the Second World War, but was treated horrifically because of being a homosexual. The Imitation Game focuses less on the tragedy and more of a celebration of Turing’s achievements whilst also drawing attention to historical attitudes at the time. Turing, who was posthumously pardoned and acknowledged for his contributions is a figure people may know very little about, and The Imitation Game provides a poignant experience that is interesting and engaging throughout.
Knives Out
Modern takes mimicking the style of Agatha Christie’s mysteries are always an interesting beast, as most of the tropes, she established have almost become genre clichés nowadays. But Knives Out presents the ‘Whodunnit’ formula with an interesting and engaging cast of characters. When 85-year-old crime writer Harlan Thrombey is found dead, his ‘suicide’ is soon questioned when gentleman detective Benoit Blanc (expertly played by Daniel Craig) soon realizes that almost every member of the family could possess a motive for murder, and even some of the house staff could have axes to grind. His appearance at the house is also shrouded in mystery as nobody admits to hiring him. Knives Out present a fun and engaging mystery with each twist or reveal cleverly foreshadowed but well hidden that only a second viewing could reveal what may have been initially missed, with a good cast of characters and renowned actors to boot as well.
Available at Amazon Prime
Life
Life released in 2017 initially and spends most of its runtime trying to believe that it is a new feature, but the “space station crew get killed off by a hungry alien” format can’t be done without drawing the obvious links to…every film that has done it before, but especially Alien (1979). Life definitely has some interesting visuals, especially when the crew are outside of the space station itself. The crew also has some big name actors, including Jake Gyllenhaal and Ryan Reynolds. But simply haven’t big names attached can’t make Life perfect. With pacing issues (especially midway through) and an alien that isn’t as interesting as any that have come before Life could be recommended for those that know they enjoy similar films, but want to see more from the genre they like.
Available at Amazon Prime
Good Boys
Films like Superbad have already covered the “Awkward coming of age story about teenagers” and certainly have been divisive with fans over the years. Good Boys asks the question of what if we make the kids younger and change their moments around that and does a surprising job of NOT just becoming as one-note as I anticipated. When the three friends, known as the “Bean Bag Boys” get invited to a Spin the Bottle party, the boys soon find the situation leading up to it getting rapidly out of control. The boys in question are only around 11 and so a lot of the comedy draws from their lack of knowledge around the world and how things work, but it also hits some deeper and existential points, like when the boys start to wonder why they’re friends when they are all so different and how long their friendship will last. Good Boys walks a bit of a shaky path but has a good mix of childhood naivety and wonder mixed with vulgar and shocking humor.
Now on TV
