Weekend Watchlist, 6/20: Action, comedy, horror
Some stellar genre far for your weekend
Happy Friday, PV Guide readers! I hope you have a great weekend ahead of you.
Every Friday, I’m recommending a few great things to watch that the algorithm might not be pushing at you right now, with a focus on variety, so every reader can find something they’re interested in. The Weekend Watchlist will always be 100% free.
Since last time, I watched A Colt is My Passport, The Blind Detective, The Accountant 2, PTU, the original Taking of Pelham 123, and Mirageman. It was a good week of movies, with Colt is My Passport, Blind Detective, and Pelham 123 as the stand-out highlights.
What I’m watching this weekend: I have a busy weekend ahead, including the start of running my first Blades in the Dark campaign, but we’ve been catching up on the anime Lazarus, and I’m hoping to watch more of Criterion’s Johnnie To Essentials collection.
The Fist of the Condor
If you like: Old-school martial arts flicks, gorgeous cinematography, international action movies
Watch at: Hi-Yah!, free with a library card on Hoopla, free with ads on Tubi and Pluto TV
Watch trailer here
The release of a new Ernesto Díaz Espinoza-Marko Zaror action joint, Diablo, makes for a great opportunity to watch a standout highlight of their many collaborations. 2023’s The Fist of the Condor is my favorite of their projects, about a mythical ancient martial art and a conflict between twin brothers (both played by Zaror) who seek its power. With gorgeous cinematography of the Chilean countryside and breathtaking fight scenes that make the most of Zaror’s incredible athleticism and kicking ability, it’s a loving throwback to old school Shaw Brothers kung fu movies.
The Intern
If you like: Nancy Meyers movies, generation gap comedies with heart
Watch at: On VOD now; coming to Netflix June 22
Watch trailer here
When a widower (Robert De Niro) bored with retirement becomes the newest “senior” intern at an online fashion publication, he strikes up an unlikely friendship with the site’s founder and CEO (Anne Hathaway). It would have been so, so easy for a movie with this concept to feel mean, poking fun at older generations’ uncomfortability with digital workplaces. Instead, Nancy Meyers’ The Intern is a heartfelt (and funny!) generation gap/fish-out-of-water comedy about the desire to connect with people who have different experiences than ours, and our ability to learn from each other.
Operation Undead
If you like: Zombie movies, historical horror fiction, genre movies with a message
Watch at: On VOD
Watch trailer here
With 28 Years Later out this weekend, I thought it was a good time to recommend the best zombie movie I’ve seen this year. From Thailand, Operation Undead follows a group of young Thai soldiers in 1941 dealing with both the invading Japanese army and an undead outbreak. While it is a fun genre movie with an over-the-top title and plenty of action and gore, Operation Undead is also surprisingly thoughtful about war and the atrocities we inflict on each other, adding a fresh new wrinkle to the long history of zombies serving as metaphor and taking some big storytelling swings in the process.