July 14, 2023

WIFF’S WEEKEND WATCH LIST — 7/14

Check out our recommendations of what to watch this weekend.

if you need to get your groove back

how stella got her groove back

Vincent Georgie: Angela Bassett as an Oscar nominee for a Marvel film? Meh.

Angela Bassett as a should-have-been-Oscar-nominee for this incendiary performance? All day. She rips through the screen and owns every minute of her screen time.

Synopsis: Unlucky-in-love stockbroker Stella jets to Jamaica with her gal pal Delilah for some fun in the sun. There, the 40-year-old working woman has an island fling with Winston — a handsome 20-something. When it’s time to return to California, Stella realizes that she’s developed real feelings for her new man. But, with their distance from each other, not to mention their disparity in age, does a real relationship stand a chance?

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

if you want a summer mystery

my summer of love

Vincent Georgie: An elegant, mysterious and cerebral summer romantic mystery, delivering us a then-unknown star named Emily Blunt in a film directed by future Oscar Winner Pawel Pawlikowski (IDA). A high-end, moody and complex film.

Synopsis: When upper-class Tamsin meets working-class Mona they are immediately drawn to each other. Although coming from different worlds, the two find common ground in their dysfunctional family lives. To seal their friendship, Mona introduces Tamsin to her born-again Christian brother, and Mona helps Tamsin spy on her adulterous father. Bound together by their secrets, Tamsin and Mona see their friendship deepen and enter into dangerous waters.

Available on iTunes and Amazon Prime.

if you like your summers sweaty

body heat

Vincent Georgie: William Hurt and a pre-Jessica Rabbitt Kathleen Turner tore it up in this torrid and incredibly well-made thriller from Lawrence Kasdan. Bring a fan or a spritz bottle with you.

Synopsis: Shyster lawyer Ned Racine begins a passionate affair with Matty Walker, the wife of a wealthy Florida businessman. With the help of one of his criminal clients, bomb maker Teddy Lewis, Ned hatches a scheme to kill Matty’s husband so that they can run away together with his money. But complications build upon double-crosses, launching the hapless lawyer into a situation far more treacherous than he imagined.

Available on iTunes, YouTube and Amazon Prime.

DOUBLE FEATURE

summer classics

Kick back and enjoy two lighthearted, funny and authentically Summer comedies.

national lampoon’s vacation

Accompanied by their children, Clark Griswold and his wife, Ellen, are driving from Illinois to a California amusement park. As Clark increasingly fixates on a beautiful woman driving a sports car, the Griswolds deal with car problems and the death of a family member. They reach Los Angeles, but, when Clark worries that the trip is being derailed again, he acts impulsively to get his family to the park.

Available on iTunes, YouTube, Crave and Amazon Prime.

summer school

Apathetic gym teacher Freddy Shoop is ready to take the summer off in Hawaii, but he’s forced to either teach summer-school English or risk losing his tenure. Now he’s stuck teaching a group of unmotivated students as disappointed to be stuck in school over the summer as he is. But with the help of a friendly history teacher, Shoop is at least learning how to act the part of a supportive mentor and perhaps even learning something about himself.