June 30, 2023

WIFF’S WEEKEND WATCH LIST — 6/30

Check out our recommendations of what to watch this weekend.

if you want comedy for canada day

meatballs

Vincent Georgie: Considered one of the funniest (and certainly one of the most financially successful and enduring) comedies that Canada has ever produced. Bill Murray is having the kind of fun that only existed in 80s R-rated comedies. Bring on the unnecessary nudity, ridiculous characters and quotable lines.

Synopsis: Tripper is the head counsellor at a budget summer camp called Camp Northstar. In truth, he’s young at heart and only marginally more mature than the campers themselves. Tripper befriends Rudy, a loner camper who has trouble fitting in. As Tripper inspires his young charges to defeat rival Camp Mohawk in the annual Olympiad competition, Rudy plays matchmaker between Tripper and Roxanne, a female counsellor at Northstar.

Available on iTunes and Amazon Prime. Watch for free on Plex.

if you want a terrific story

real women have curves

Vincent Georgie: Before her Emmy-Winning turn on “Ugly Betty”, America Ferrera turned heads for her nuanced and endearing starring role here. A terrific American Independent film that has stood the test of time.

Synopsis: The story of a first-generation Mexican-American girl and her passage to womanhood. Although she wants to go away to college, she must battle against the views of her parents, who think she should stay at home and provide for the family. As a compromise, she works with her mother in a sewing factory over the summer and learns some important lessons about life, helping her make a decision about her future.

Available on iTunes and Crave.

if you want aliens for the 4th of july

independence day

Vincent Georgie: They blew up the White House! Throw it on – it’s a perfectly bloated Summer blockbuster that remains in the cultural conscience for good reason. Perfect to watch after you have a bit of a sunburn and you just finished cleaning up after a BBQ.

Synopsis: In the epic adventure film `Independence Day,’ strange phenomena surface around the globe. The skies ignite. Terror races through the world’s major cities. As these extraordinary events unfold, it becomes increasingly clear that a force of incredible magnitude has arrived. Its mission: total annihilation over the Fourth of July weekend. The last hope to stop the destruction is an unlikely group of people united by fate and unimaginable circumstances.

Available on iTunes, YouTube, Disney+ and Amazon Prime.

DOUBLE FEATURE

the new king of horror – ari aster

Filmmaker Ari Aster is a one-man argument for the reinvention of horror. His two films here are unsettling, elegant, disturbing and…did I mention unsettling? And Toni Collette, in the first film, has a full two hours of “mike drop” moments to herself.

hereditary

When the matriarch of the Graham family passes away, her daughter and grandchildren begin to unravel cryptic and increasingly terrifying secrets about their ancestry, trying to outrun the sinister fate they have inherited.

Available on iTunes, YouTube and Amazon Prime.

midsommar

A couple travel to Sweden to visit their friend’s rural hometown for its fabled midsummer festival, but what begins as an idyllic retreat quickly devolves into an increasingly violent and bizarre competition at the hands of a pagan cult.