After the thrill that was TIFF last weekend, I didn’t know how motivated I’d be to watch stuff. Especially since the weekend felt like it came up on me way too quickly!
Bad Apples – For a Saorise Ronan vehicle, I kind of can’t believe this didn’t get a wider release. Also because it was really good! She plays a teacher who is at her wits end with disruptive and violent student, Danny. It’s clear he’s made a negative impact on both her professional and personal life. Though she insists he either needs specific aid or to be moved to a different class, her headmistress dismisses her repeatedly. One night she finds Danny about to smash her car, so she tackles him. Unconcious, she’s about to take him to hospital when he says he’s going to tell people she attacked him. Cue a long-term living situation in her basement. Yeah, on the surface that seems pretty dark, but it’s also pretty dang funny. It’s also clear that being able to give Danny some singled out attention allows her to learn what he needs to learn. It also does wonders for the rest of her class…and the school. The ending takes an unexpected turn, but this was such a fun watch!
Runner – As I was about to go see the new Resident Evil movie, I changed my mind last minute and decided to see this action film starring Owen Wilson and Alan Ritchson. The latter is a years sober “runner,” aka a transporter of all sorts of things. His latest job is to help a man transport a liver that’s tied to an extremely rare blood type. It’s clear almost straight away that something is weird with this transport. Pretty quickly they learn that the cartel is after this organ, seemingly trying to acquire it to sell on the black market for well over a million dollars. Since Wilson is in this, there are obviously laughs, but this movie was heavy on the action and fight scenes, and there were even some pretty bleak moments as it reached its climax. Do I think they went a littl overboard in the last fight scene? Absolutely. But, it still wasn’t enough to take away the enjoyment I had from the rest of this film.
Mountainhead – As I realize that fall is upon us, I also realized that my discounted HBO membership is nearing the end, so I decided to queue up this movie that’s been on my watch list for quite some time. From the mind of the man that brought us Succession, there is a lot here that I really didn’t understand, but I will try to lamen’s term it as best I can. Billionaire Venis Parish is the owner of social media platform, Traam, which is currently causing global chaos over a new AI that is creating unprecedented disinformation. People are dying in droves, but he’s not about to take responsibility for it. Instead, he meets up with three of his other ultra wealthy friends to try and get his buddy Jeff to join Traam so he can utilize his AI that’s aimed at fact checking. These men are repulsive in many ways, but gosh are they all so good at playing these ass wipes. Cory Michae Smith shines for me, as he always does.