When I'm not watching and writing about the best TV shows that you can binge in a single weekend on Apple TV+, I switch gears to movies and try to find some great choices for you to settle in to during the week.
Apple TV+ tends to focus more on quality than quantity whenit comes to movies, which bodes well because I've found these five top-shelf flicks for your work week.
5 Greatest Beer Run Ever
Release Year
2022
Runtime
2 hours 6 minutes
John "Chickie" Donohue (Zac Efron) is one damn good friend. The kind of friend who'd cross oceans and traverse jungles to bring you a beer. InThe Greatest Beer Run Ever, which is somehow based on a true story, that's exactly what Chickie does, to dramatic and hilarious effect.
While sitting in his local New York bar at the height of the Vietnam War in 1967, Chickie impulsively decides to honor his best friends risking their lives in the war by filling a duffle bag full of brewskis and hand-delivering them. While it sounds like such a bro movie, don't be fooled -- Chickie's patriotic and loyal display of affection for his friends and country shines through the film's comedy. Through Chickie's journey, as he quenched the thirst of his buddies, he's also served up a healthy dose of the realities of war.
4 Fly Me to the Moon
Release Year
2024
Runtime
2 hours 11 minutes
Was the moon landing filmed on a soundstage inside a giant NASA warehouse? Well, according toApple TV's Fly Me to the Moon, yes and no. But let's back up a little. This charming romantic comedy stars Scarlett Johansson as hot-shot marketing spin doctor Kelly Jones, who's hired by the space agency to hype up the Apollo 11 moon mission. Sparks fly when she meets the mission's head honcho, Cole David (Channing Tatum), but they're soon extinguished when they clash over what's most important -- the mission or the marketing.
With the space race in full effect, and failure not an option, a shadowy government operative (Woody Harrelson) recruits Jones to meticulously fake the landing in case the real one goes bust. Sure, it's a bit off-brand for a romcom, but it makes for a fun and quirky ride with some genuine moments.
3 Wolfs
Release Year
2024
Runtime
1 hour 47 minutes
The first thing that came to mind when I heard about George Clooney and Brad Pitt's fixer film Wolfs was whether it was a nod to Harvey Keitel's iconic Winston Wolf from Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction. And while I would love to see a film that takes place in that world, Jon Watts' (Spider-Man: No Way Home) Wolfs is the next best thing.
Clooney and Pitt (together in a film again after 16 years) are Margaret's Man and Pam's Man, two nameless lone-wolf fixers forced to work together (they work alone) to clean up a mess involving murder, drugs, scandal, and gangs. Amid their competitive, egotistical, and often funny bickering, we tag along with the Wolfs as they unravel the mess, in this darkly comedic conspiracy thriller.
2 Beastie Boys Story
Release Year
2020
Runtime
1 hour 59 minutes
If you're a fan of the Beastie Boys like I am, or even if you're not, you really should give a couple of hours of your time to check out this unique documentary of the legendary hip-hop trio from Brooklyn. Beastie Boys Story is part chronicle of the band's rise up through the ranks of the music world and part love letter to their best friend and late bandmate Adam "MCA" Yauch, who died in 2012.
What makes Beastie Boys Story different, though, is how it's told. Filmed in front of a live audience at Brooklyn's Kings Theatre in 2019, surviving members Michael "Mike D" Diamond and Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz take the audience through their career, with archival footage, photos, and anecdotes. Directed by the band's old friend and collaborator Spike Jonze, this doc will have you in awe of some of the footage and stories, and missing MCA and the heyday of the Boys as much as I do.
1 Killers of the Flower Moon
Release Year
2023
Runtime
3 hours 26 minutes
Killers of the Flower Moon is one of Apple's most successful features, and was a triumph for director Martin Scorcese, with the film being nominated for 10 Academy Awards. That it didn't win a single one is a mystery. The gritty and tense historical crime drama set in 1920s Oklahoma is based on David Grann's nonfiction bestseller of the same name. It tells the true story of corruption and the exploitation of the Osage people at the hands of the wealthy white men who schemed and plotted to steal their land for its oil using marriage, violence, and murder.
At the forefront of Scorcese's film is William Hale (Robert De Niro), who uses his naive nephew Ernest (Leonardo DiCaprio) to get to wealthy Osage woman Mollie Burkhart (Lily Gladstone) by marrying her. The three actors are absolutely spellbinding in their roles, and the film has been widely praised for shedding light on the underexposed Reign of Terror period of Native American exploitation in the country's history.
Apple TV+ may not have the extensive film library of Netflix, Prime Video, or HBO Max, but the streamer has built a reputation for producing some of the best films in the world. While you may be more of a fan of its award-winning TV series like Severance or The Studio, don't let their lineup of films slip through your fingers.
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