It’s summer, baby! Vacation time is in the air. Three-day weekends are coming in hot and so are the temperatures — the three-digit temps are blinding. So while soaking up the sun is a great idea, you might want some time inside to relax and recharge. You might as well use that time wisely by catching up on pop culture. What was the movie that changed Andy’s life that people are meming heavily online? What’s Chris Hemsworth’s most dynamic role yet? Also, did we mention you could watch a music festival from your couch? There’s a lot to stream and watch this weekend, so let us fill you in.
Movies (in Theaters)
Lightyear
The summer of Keke Palmer starts now. Ahead of seeing her in Jordan Peele’s Nope, you can meet Palmer’s Izzy Hawthrone, a plucky, aspirational Space Ranger who crosses paths with Buzz Lightyear, the human (the character?) not the toy, voiced by Chris Evans.
Jurassic World Dominion
Is this movie good? Absolutely not. Do Laura Dern, Sam Neill, and Jeff Goldblum look phenomenal? Yes. And we all know they’re the main reason people are flocking to see this in theaters. Dinosaurs are running amok, Chris Pratt is still doing the damn hand thing, and yes, you’ll see countless callbacks to Jurassic Park because what else are these movies for?
Cha Cha Real Smooth
Cooper Raiff’s first film, Shithouse, was about a young man terrified of college, and now, Raiff’s second film, Cha Cha Real Smooth, is about a young graduate terrified of life. He’s a smol boy making films about and for smol boys. Now with a bigger budget and cast, Cha Cha Real Smooth co-stars Dakota Johnson as a single mother whom Raiff’s character starts to have feelings for.
Movies (Streaming)
Spiderhead
If you, like TikTok, can’t get enough of Miles Teller post–Top Gun: Maverick, Spiderhead is here for you. Also directed by Maverick director Joseph Kosinski, his latest film adapts a George Saunders’s short story in which scientists experiment on willing inmates in unusual ways. In Spiderhead, Teller plays an inmate, alongside Jurnee Smollett, that Chris Hemsworth’s eccentric tech bro (are there any other kinds of bros these days?) works on.
Good Luck to You, Leo Grande
You may have seen Emma Thompson donning heavy prosthetics and perfecting her weight-lifting skills in the new Matilda the Musical trailer, but in Good Luck to You, Leo Grande, Thompson literally and figuratively strips down. Thompson stars as a widow looking for a sexual awakening — a.k.a. her late husband never made her orgasm — as she meets sex worker Leo Grande (Daryl McCormack), who helps her open up — also literally and figuratively — a new side of her.
The Worst Person in the World
The Worst Person in the World was the belle of the film world in 2021 after its debut at Cannes. Now on Hulu, director Joachim Trier’s last film in his Oslo trilogy tells the life of Renate Reinsve’s Julie. Following her from job to job, relationship to relationship, Trier’s film explores a new kind of coming of age — the bridge between your wistful 20s to your 30s. Plus, in honor of Father’s Day, there are plenty of daddy issues to unpack for you here. Because why deal with your own when you can dissect Julie’s!
RRR
RRR has been gaining traction online and in theaters since it was released in March of this year. And why wouldn’t it? It’s got thrilling action, a fantastic dance sequence, and a great duo — Ram Charan and N. T. Rama Rao Jr. — at its center. The film is widely accessible on Netflix, but if you want the joy of a reactive audience, RRR is getting a rerelease in a few select theaters.
TV
Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival
Attending a music festival from the comforts of my couch sounds like a beautiful luxury. Not having to worry about COVID-19? Not having to stand all day? Or travel! So, for those of us not in Tennessee, Hulu is livestreaming select performances from the three-day music fest for subscribers. J. Cole, Machine Gun Kelly, Flume, 21 Savage, Wallows, and Arlo Parks are just a handful of artists you can see from your living room. Here’s the whole scheduling rundown.
Ms. Marvel
If you don’t like Ms. Marvel, I’d have to assume you hate joy. Sure, the teenage hero skews to a younger crowd, but the series is fun, vibrant, hilarious, and easily the best MCU television show to come through the Disney+ machine. Plus, Iman Vellani as Kamala Khan is a literal star in the making.
Queer As Folk
Do I wish Peacock’s reboot of Queer As Folk didn’t revolve around the tragedy of a club shooting? Yeah. It’s a bit of a bleak start for a queer show meant to inspire joy, but it’s the show’s commitment to properly exploring these vibrant characters that make Queer As Folk worthwhile.
The Summer I Turned Pretty
Adapted from Jenny Han’s novel of the same name (the author of To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before), Prime Video’s latest series is — yes, you guessed it — a teenage love story. Starring Lola Tung as Isabel “Belly,†The Summer I Turned Pretty follows Belly as she, her brother, and her mother visit her mother’s best friend Susannah and sons at Cousins Beach the summer Belly turns 16. A.k.a. she catches the attention of the two sons and is then caught in a love triangle between them. It’s a weird premise if you think about it harder than two seconds, but that’s YA for you.
Evil Seasons 1–3
Evil is probably the coolest show you may not be watching, so now is the perfect time to dive in. It’s spooky, weird, and sexy. Katja Herbers and Mike Colter star as a supernatural-finding duo — Herbers as the forensic psychologist and Colter as a researcher and assessor of exorcisms in the midst of training to be a priest. Season three premiered just this week with weekly Sunday releases for the continuation of its run.
Rutherford Falls Seasons 1–2
Peacock may not be a powerhouse streamer yet, but its comedies do really hit. Back with its second season, Rutherford Falls is only getting better. Ed Helms and Reagan Wells star as best friends. Helms plays Nathan Rutherford as he tries to unpack the full truth of his ancestors’ history while Wells’s character works to expand the city’s Minishonka Cultural Center. The show nicely weaves heavy topics of marginalization and privilege with big humor and heart.
Love, Victor Seasons 1–3
Back when Love, Victor was announced, the queer series was supposed to debut on Disney+, but it quickly got shifted onto Hulu — Disney’s edgier streaming sister. Now, in its final season, Disney+ is saying “Hi, gay!†by dropping all three seasons of Love, Victor on its platform. It’s an awfully weird strategy, but with that aside, if you want a syrupy-sweet queer show to binge through post-Heartstopper, the students at Creekwood High are a cute pairing.
The Wonder Years
Speaking of Hulu and Disney+, another gem just dropped on Disney+ is the ABC reboot of The Wonder Years. Don Cheadle narrates the series as he recounts his character Dean Williams’s younger years (played by Elisha Williams) coming-of-age in 1960s Montgomery, Alabama.
The Umbrella Academy Seasons 1–2
Why Netflix chose to drop the new season of The Umbrella Academy after the long weekend beats me. At least it gives fans or newbies the chance to catch up with the Elliot Page–leading show of extremely dysfunctional superheroes. Seriously, it is a wonder how the members of The Umbrella Academy are still standing season after season. The show itself isn’t quite as tightly made as MCU, DC, or even The Boys, but hey, at least it’s a different spin on the idea of super-powered people.
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