See Stephen King's 'The Life of Chuck' in theaters, rent 'The Amateur,' stream 'Cleaner' on HBO Max, plus more movies to watch this weekend

Yahoo

2 days ago

Hello, Yahoo Entertainment readers! Brett Arnold here, and I'm back with another edition of Trust Me, I Watch Everything. This week I was on vacation and still managed to see a bunch of movies — that's real dedication to this service I provide. I liked a lot of what I watched and think you will too, including The Life of Chuck, a new Stephen King flick with Oscar ambitions hitting theaters nationwide and the action flick Diablo, which is available to rent or buy at home. There's also not just one but two new movies worth watching that are debuting on streaming services you may already have: Echo Valley on Apple TV+ and Deep Cover on Amazon Prime Video. But that's not all — keep reading for more recommendations because there's something for everyone.
What to watch in theaters
Movies newly available to rent or buy
Movies debuting on streaming services you may already have
Movies newly available on streaming services you may already have
My recommendation:
Why you should watch it: The Life of Chuck isn't your average Stephen King adaptation. Based on a short story in the 2020 collection If It Bleeds, the film is a perfect match of filmmaker and material. and Written and directed by Mike Flanagan, who previously adapted King's Gerald's Game and Shining sequel Doctor Sleep, his work — notably Netflix's popular The Haunting of Hill House and Bly Manor — often gets dinged for his saccharine approach and flowery dialogue. However, they feel like an asset here, honed to great effect.
The gimmick of the story is that it follows an ordinary man's life but in reverse order, from act three to act one. In the process, we learn about his life, as well as the life he didn't live but might have enjoyed more.
It may sound corny, but by the time act two hits, I was fully in the palm of the movie's hand and openly weeping, both in a sad way and in a revelatory, beautiful, life-affirming way. Saying any more would be a disservice to this very special and quietly powerful film, which is equally inspiring as it is deeply sad and depressing. It features Tom Hiddleston, Mark Hamill, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Karen Gillan and Jacob Tremblay.
🍿 What critics are saying: They (mostly) love it! Shirley Li at The Atlantic wrote, "I fell for the film's earnest insistence that each of us has access to an inner world no one else can ever fully know; that message, as trite as it may be, is particularly touching because of its pointed delivery." Even a detractor like Time's Stephanie Zacharek said of the film's best scene that when in motion, The Life of Chuck "really is transcendent."
👀 How to watch: The Life of Chuck is now in theaters nationwide.
Get tickets
🤔 If that's not for you...
Celine Song, in her sophomore effort following the critically acclaimed Past Lives, ups the star power with Dakota Johnson in a love triangle, of sorts, with Pedro Pascal and Chris Evans. The movie doesn't live up to the emotional highs of her debut film and the message sticks to standard rom-com platitudes. After a wild tonal shift in the second act, the movie never recovers. Also, I expected a subversive element or a twist, but it never came. However, the cast makes the cost of a movie ticket worth it. I enjoyed seeing Evans act in a real movie again after years of Marvel and streaming fare and Johnson turned in one of her best performances. Pascal, as per usual, is effortlessly good. Ultimately, the script lets the actors down. — Get tickets.
The trend of live-action remakes of animated classics continues, this time with Dreamworks's 15-year-old computer-animated How to Train Your Dragon, a franchise that is so successful it's spawned multiple sequels, a TV series and a section at Universal's new theme park. The main issue with this movie is that there's no real reason to do this particular story in live-action, save for the fact that it will make a boatload of money. It lacks the color and visual imagination on display in the animated version and looks way darker and murkier than it should. It's otherwise totally serviceable redux that's identical to the original storywise, yet somehow a full 30 minutes longer. Kids will love it. — Get tickets.
My recommendation:
Why you should watch it: If the names Scott Adkins or Marko Zaror mean anything to you, you're well-versed in direct-to-video action and martial arts movies, in which case I don't need to sell you on this. If you're not: keep reading. Diablo has brutal hand-to-hand combat in which you feel every blow, exciting camerawork, kick-ass fight choreography and just enough of an engaging (but generic) story upon which the action can hang its hat. This doesn't seem like it's going to be the kind of movie that features a guy with a giant metal fist that's also a knife, and yet, there he is, killing a ton of people. It's insanely violent and over-the-top in the best way, a throwback to '80s action flicks, though it may go too far for some.
🍿 What critics are saying: Reviews are pretty split. Travis Hopson agrees that "it does what it promises to do and that's deliver intense martial arts action from two of the best in the game." Robert Brian Taylor over at Collider pointed out that "it's surprisingly dark undertones stop it from rising much above" the baseline of fun you get from the fight scenes.
👀 How to watch: Diablo is now available to rent or purchase on digital and on-demand.
Rent or buy
🤔 If that's not for you...
: French filmmaker François Ozon, the man behind several notable films including 2003's Swimming Pool, directed this engrossing and darkly comedic thriller. It's quiet until it's not, packing quite a few surprises and sneaking up on you in the best way. — Rent or buy on Amazon Prime Video.
Bonjour Tristesse: This new adaptation of playwright and novelist Françoise Sagan's iconic 1954 novel, which was previously adapted in 1958, stars Lily McInerny and Chloë Sevigny. What else do you need to know?! — Rent or buy on Apple TV+.
My recommendation:
Why you should watch it: Julianne Moore and Sydney Sweeney elevate a script that, shockingly enough, isn't based on a mass-market paperback. The actresses play mother and daughter, with Moore's character exploring how far she'll go to protect her drug-addicted child. Their acting is quite emotionally affecting and tragic and the relationship dynamics on display are potent. The movie prioritizes lurid thrills over the stellar performances, including Domhnall Gleeson playing against type, yet it's still entertaining enough to recommend, even though it really fizzles out in the third act when it becomes a much dumber and different movie than what preceded it.
🍿 What critics are saying: It's an even split. Variety's Peter Debruge wrote, "In the well-cast if frequently illogical offering from Apple TV+, Moore slyly elevates what could have been a routine protective-mama drama." William Bibbiani at The Wrap said that "it adds up to a potpourri of general genre genericness, never making enough noise to rattle, or even produce an echo."
👀 How to watch: Echo Valley is now streaming on Apple TV+.
Stream on Apple TV+
➕ Bonus recommendation:
Why you should watch it: The premise of Deep Cover is "what if the CIA recruited comedians who specialize in improv instead of actual secret agents due to their unique set of skills?" It's a great set-up that provides plenty of fodder for comedy and the movie takes advantage of it, even if it lacks the energy and actual improvisational comedy you might expect from a movie about improv comedy.
Orlando Bloom is hilarious here and absolutely steals the show playing a method actor whose overzealousness gets him into deeper and deeper trouble. Bryce Dallas Howard and Ted Lasso's Nick Mohammed score their fair share of laughs, too. The action is less interesting than the comedy, which is often true of these types of flicks, but thankfully, it's funny enough not to be a problem at all.
🍿 What critics are saying: It's a rare unanimous 100% on Rotten Tomatoes as of publication time. Guy Lodge of Variety correctly noted that it's "shakiest, however, when it dips into straight-up action territory, often with a degree of violence that sits uneasily with the cheery comedy elsewhere." Peter Bradshaw at the Guardian said that "there are some laughs and it's always likable."
👀 How to watch: Deep Cover is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
Stream on Prime Video
My recommendation:
Why you should watch it: Cleaner is another great example of the Die Hard but on a ... phenomenon, which I pontificated in a past entry. It's, hilariously, just "Die Hard in a high-rise building, but from the perspective of somebody cleaning the windows outside."
As dumb as it sounds, the movie justifies these very silly circumstances well enough. Daisy Ridley in the lead really helps, as does Clive Owen in the Hans Gruber role. The stakes feel particularly high due to the bad guys' motivations, a group of environmental extremists taking matters into their own hands and there are some clever tricks deployed to maintain tension.
Veteran action filmmaker Martin Campbell, whose credits include Pierce Brosnan's Goldeneye and Daniel Craig's first foray as James Bond in Casino Royale, directs with workmanlike efficiency. It's a sturdy and entertaining action that uses the familiarity of its story to its advantage.
🍿 What critics are saying: It's a mixed bag. Tomris Laffly at Variety said that "the main attraction is Ridley, whose vigor and charisma are unmissable on a screen of any size. The force is strong with her." William Bibbiani at The Wrap gives it to us straight: "The long and short of it is, Cleaner is just OK. It's a three-star trip down 'Been There, Done That' lane, and it's reasonably entertaining."
👀 How to watch: Cleaner is now streaming on HBO Max.
Stream on HBO Max
🤔 If that's not for you...
There's some infectious energy and charm here, almost entirely thanks to star Rachel Zegler, who appears alongside many very ugly CGI creatures, hideous backgrounds and all the usual stuff you see in modern blockbusters. She does a ton to elevate the material and it's cute in its best moments. The CGI dwarves sounded like a bad idea on paper but work well in context and their lengthier rendition of 'Heigh-Ho' is a highlight. —Now streaming on Disney+.
Liam Neeson has been on autopilot as of late, churning out old-guy action flicks at the same frequent pace that he has since Taken changed his career trajectory, but on a smaller scale, with lower budgets. They're easy to formulate: Liam Neeson is an aging [insert CRIMINAL or COP here] dealing with [debilitating and terminal memory-based illness]. That descriptor absolutely describes Neeson's 2022 flick Memory and it also fits perfectly here. It's pretty forgettable stuff. —Now streaming on Hulu.
That's all for this week — see you next Friday at the movies!