Welcome to What to Watch This Weekendâ„¢, a weekly post in which I tell you what to watch this weekend! I will continue doing this post until you have watched everything you should watch.
The big movie this weekend is, of course, Jordan Peele's eagerly anticipated follow-up to Get Out, Us, which is at a billion theaters, and which Senior Editor Ciara Dolan calls it "the ultimate anxiety nightmare"—an "exceedingly great slasher movie" with a whole lot going on just beneath the surface.
Also out is a darkly charming Icelandic selection from the just-finished Portland International Film Festival, Woman at War, which opens at Living Room Theaters. Senior Editor Ned Lannamann calls it a "fun, funny movie" about a chorus teacher (Halldóra Geirharðsdóttir) who's "also Iceland’s most notorious eco-terrorist."
Another PIFF selection, Ash Is Purest White, gets a proper release too, at Fox Tower 10. Ned says this Japanese gangster epic is "far more poetic and surprising than that sounds—and it’s occasionally daffy, too, with a UFO showing up for a split-second."
Opening at a few different theaters is the Julianne Moore-led Gloria Bell, Sebastián Lelio's nearly shot-for-shot remake of his 2013 Chilean film Gloria. It isn't as good as the movie it's based on, but still, Ciara says, "Lelio’s film captures an internal tide change with unexpectedly transformative results."
And then there's Transit, opening at Cinema 21, which Ned says is "based on a World War II novel, but it’s set in the present day, without further explanation." Ned also really liked it, saying, "There’s paranoia and purgatory, but like the best of film noir, the twists and turns are elevated by an inescapable emotional undercurrent."
Wow, Ned and Ciara reviewed a ton of stuff this week! Meanwhile, I have a lot of opinions about the most recent Shark Tank, and I am happy to discuss those thoughts and impressions with you at any time.
There's even more, as always, in Things To Do: Movies & TV, and here are the Mercury's beloved and trusted movie times. Go see some stuff! And for real, what the fuck is Mr. Wonderful's problem?
