Well, in a strange twist of fate I watched nothing at the theaters this weekend! A travesty! Instead, I watched four pretty dang good movies off of some different streaming platforms!
Honor Society – I went with the weeklong trial of Paramount+ to get in some movies that have looked appealing over the last couple of months. With that, came this quirky comedy starring one of my favorite Aussie actors, Angourie Rice, and Stranger Things’ very own Gatan Matarazzo! Rice plays the titular Honor, who is willing to do anything to knock the other seniors at her high school out of the top academic spot so she can secure an interview (and hopefully an in) to Harvard. She’s not only desperate to leave her hometown, but she’s even more desperate to never come back. At the start of this movie I thought she was kind of a terrible person, and even when that’s proven to not be the case, her actions still kind of left a sour taste in my mouth. She does get a heavy dose of karma, but I think she comes away better for it. It’s no The DUFF, but it was an enjoyable young adult flick.
Jerry & Marge Go Large – Bryan Cranston and Annette Benning figure out how to beat the local lottery?! Sounds like an awesome comedy! In reality, it played more like a mediocre comedy-drama. The pair play couple Jerry and Marge, and after being forced into retirement, Jerry takes an interest in the local lottery while also getting to put his math genius to the test! They walk away winners almost every week and instead of greedily keeping all the funds to themselves, they use the winnings to help build there town back up. That’s really heart-warming, so of course some annoying college kid tries to ruin their good time. Overall, I thought this movie was kind of boring, but the story was neat. Too bad I couldn’t have learned about this back then!
Secret Headquarters – Oh boy, I should have known this was going to be disappointing. Now, I say that, but really it wasn’t bad. Just like many other movies featuring younger kids and meant for families to enjoy, this really did have a lot of surface level laughs. It just didn’t totally land for me. At the start of the film, Jack gets chosen by some alien entity to fight crime, which eventually causes a rift between him and his son, Charlie. One evening, Charlie and his friends find Jack’s secret lair and immediately get sucked into the action. Nothing really new here.
Spin Me Round – Well, well, well. This movie was delightful! As I sit here and think about it more, it’s likely to be in my top ten films of 2022. Keep an eye out. All that praise, but be warned. This was an extremely awkward but hilarious comedy. I cackled too many times to count! Amber is one of a handful of Tuscan Garden (think Olive Garden) managers to get chosen for an all expenses paid trip to Italy to learn more about the company. Amber thinks she’s going to find love, and for a minute it seems like she does, but then things take a turn for the cringe and shit hits the fan in every facet of the trip! That’s all I’m willing to say for fear of ruining its greatness. But, know that this movie has an amazing cast with the likes of Allison Brie, Aubrey Plaza, Alessandro Nivola, Molly Shannon, and Zach Woods, among many others. Seriously, go check this out on AMC+!