Every week, we take a look at what’s hitting cinemas and streaming to bring you our top picks.
We’ve got a pretty good mix this week, with The Naked Gun finally hitting cinemas, and a B movie gem that inexplicably skipped theatrical release last year finally on streaming. Elsewhere, Samara Weaving is driving for her life, John Cena is showing helmet, And recon take on more than they can reckon with in the jungles of Vietnam.
In Cinemas
The Naked Gun
You must be across this by now: Liam Neeson steps into Leslie Nielsen’s clown shows for this reboot/sequel to the legendary gag-a-minute comedy franchise. Pamela Anderson continues her Anderssaince in support, all early reports are it’s funny as all hell, and you’re gonna be waiting a while for another theatrical comedy release if you skip this one.
Relay
This nervy, cerebral little thriller sees Riz Ahmed as a freelance liaison who helps corporate whistleblowers negotiate with the companies they’re blowing the whistle on. Things get hairy when his latest gig puts him in the crosshairs of a couple of ruthless corporate mercenaries, and we proceed from there. This one’s a prickly, grim drama that vibes like a paranoid ’70s thriller. It’s not as good as The Conversation, because few films are, but you’d put it on the same shelf. On Disney+.
Primitive War
Vietnam: 1968. A recon unit is sent deep into the bush to rescue a missing Special Forces A-Team. Suddenly… dinosaurs! And that’s about when I stopped paying attention – I was sold. Australian genre specialist Luke Sparke (Red Billabong, Occupation) chucks Ryan Kwanten, Tricia Helfer, Nick Wechsler, Aaron Glenane, and Jeremy Piven into a jungle of dino-horror, with an obviously limited budget balanced by a massive surfeit of moxie. Based on the book by Ethan Pettus, this is B movie heaven.
Streaming
Peacemaker Season 2
John Cena returns as the titular fuck up superhero, this season grappling with the existence of a better dimension next door, where he and his family are well-adjusted and loving, and the incoming rain of pain represented by Frank Grillo‘s Rick Flag, Sr., whose son he murdered way back in The Suicide Squad. If you were worried that Superman indicated DC honcho James Gunn has shed his Troma tendencies, this will well and truly disabuse you of that notion. On HBO, Or HBO Max, or maybe just Max. Who can say?
Eenie Meanie
Samara Weaving is a former getaway driver dragged back into the criminal demimonde in this new Disney+ crime thriller. When her useless ex-boyfriend (Karl Glusman) on the hook to Andy Garcia’s avuncular crime boss, Weaving’s retired rev head has to get back behind the wheel for a major heist. Cue plenty of double-crosses, stand-offs and some blistering chase sequences.
Werewolves
Werewolves fell off the Australian theatrical release schedule shortly before it was due to hit cinemas last year, but now it’s on Prime Video for another bite of the pie. Frank Grillo, making a rare double appearance on the ol’ Weekend Watch List, is a military scientist struggling to fund a cure for lycanthropy (that’s being a werewolf, folks) one year after a rare supermoon turned absolutely everyone on earth into a ravening hairbag. It’s Night of the Living Dead with werewolves, basically, and it’s note perfect Friday night fodder.
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