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New Era’s OVO Collab With Drake Features Dodgers Hats That Couldn’t Be Worse Timed

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Major League Baseball and New Era are regularly putting out hat collaborations with different designers, brands, and stars from the world of music and entertainment. The process of ideating, designing, and producing these collaborations means they’re in the work for quite some time, months or years before their release.

I say all of this because sometimes, you put in all that work on a project that you think is going to be a big hit and then, a month or two beforehand, something happens outside of your control that puts you in a real pickle. That is the case with New Era and Major League Baseball’s new collaboration with Drake’s OVO, with a line of hats featuring the OVO owl on the side — including not one but two Los Angeles Dodgers hats.

As you have likely heard, Drake is not exactly a beloved figure in Los Angeles at the moment, as his beef with Kendrick Lamar quite literally united the city against him and led to Lamar’s “Not Like Us” becoming an instant-classic L.A. anthem and the song of the summer — not just in L.A.

As such, I have a very hard time coming up with a worse-timed collaboration than a line of Drake-themed Dodgers hats. I’m sure there will be plenty of Drake fans that purchase the hats of other teams, especially the two Blue Jays hats, but I truly cannot imagine anyone earnestly buying one of the Dodgers hats — although, I could see people buying them ironically, so maybe that’ll work out for them.

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Tom Cruise’s ‘Jack Reacher’ Movies Are Now Streaming On Netflix To Help Pass The Time Until ‘Reacher’ Season 3

tom cruise
Paramount Pictures

Tom Cruise is one of the most well-cast actors in Hollywood history. It’s hard to imagine the Mission: Impossible franchise continuing once he’s decided he’s hung from his last airplane; he’s incredible as a misogynist motivational speaker in Magnolia; and his villainous turn in Collateral deserved an Oscar. But one of the few exceptions to Cruise picking the right role is Jack Reacher. He was the wrong person — and the wrong height — to play the character in 2012’s Jack Reacher and in 2016’s Jack Reacher: Never Go Back.

Even Lee Child, the author of the Jack Reacher book series, has said as much.

“Cruise, for all his talent, didn’t have that physicality,” he shared in 2018 (Cruise is 5′ 7″; Reacher is 6′ 5″). “I really enjoyed working with Cruise. He’s a really, really nice guy… But ultimately the readers are right. The size of Reacher is really, really important and it’s a big component of who he is. The idea is that when Reacher walks into a room, you’re all a little nervous just for that first minute. And Cruise, for all his talent, didn’t have that physicality.”

That being said! The Reacher movies are pretty fun. If you’ve only seen Prime Video’s kick-ass Reacher series, starring height-appropriate Alan Ritchson, they’re worth a watch, especially since they’re now both streaming on Netflix.

You can watch Jack Reacher here and Jack Reacher: Never Go Back here. As for Reacher, season 3 (featuring the world’s tallest actor and bodybuilder) will premiere on Prime Video in 2025.

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The Black Businesses Making Their Mark On The Sneaker Game

The Black businesses making their mark on the sneaker game(1024x450)
Getty Image/Merle Cooper

Sneakers are big business these days. Everyone wears sneakers, from athletes to CEOs to Presidential candidates. What were once a specialized form of apparel designed specifically for sports are now a part of day-to-day life, with different sneakers not only for different games, but entirely different walks of life — no pun intended. There’s a lot of money to be made in footwear — and not just making from the shoes themselves. In honor of Black Business Month, here are some of the Black-owned brands making their mark on the sneaker game.

A Ma Maniére

A New York-based design house with retail locations all over the country, the brand expanded from its Atlanta origins courtesy of founder James Whitner’s commitment to quality, leading to collaborations with high-end luxury brands, Nike and Jordan, and even its own hotel. In 2020, he told Hypebeast, “I thought about the best way I could keep the conversation alive around racism and opportunities for the Black community, [and] the easy answer was to get active.”

Brandblack

Brandblack was founded in 2014 by veteran footwear designer David Raysse, who wanted to offer consumers an alternative basketball shoe in response to Nike’s then overwhelming chokehold over the hoops market. The initial designs were informed by a valuable asset and investor: NBA star Jamal Crawford, who endorsed the brand and wore it on-court until leaving for Adidas in 2016. The brand has since expanded to training, running, and casual offerings while maintaining the same ethos of offering something different from the rest.

Joe Freshgoods

Joe Robinson, the founder and creative director of Joe Freshgoods, hails from the north side of Chicago. After getting his start selling goods online and at pop-ups around his hometown, he’s since collaborated McDonald’s, Nike, Adidas, the Chicago Bears, and New Balance. However, as he put it on his Twitter feed recently, “It’s honestly kinda bigger than sneakers.” His goal, as he put it, “Is always how can I get a bunch of black and brown people a check.”

Katty Customs

In addition to hosting Uproxx’s Fresh Pair with hip-hop superproducer Just Blaze, the sneaker customizer has a customer base that includes superstar athletes and entertainers, and her technique involves making custom kicks look factory-made.

Laced

Owned by James “JB” Baker and former NBA player Eugene “Pooh” Jeter III, Laced is located in Los Angeles’ South Bay area, offering the latest from Nike, Adidas, and more. In addition to selling sneakers and apparel, thought, Laced also serves its community, with toy drives and turkey drives for the holidays. It also sponsors basketball and music events in the city.

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A sneaker store in Chicago, Illinois, it’s one of the longest-tenured shops of its kind. Owner Corey Gilkey is a community leader in his own right, and there’s even a docuseries in development describing the store’s history and impact on the both the local community and the sneakerhead community at large.

LØCI

With a mission to “combine fashion with sustainability,” LØCI uses recycled materials and ethically sourced cotton and rubber in its own factories to ensure production sticks close to its values. Co-founders Emmanuel Eribo, Frank Eribo, Philippe Homsy, and Mark Quaradeghini aim to make LØCI a “fashion powerhouse,” and made significant inroads in cross-marketing, partnering with hip-hop star Nicki Minaj for a full line of sneakers earlier this year.

Move Insoles

Developed and launched by sports marketing agent Nate Jones after years of working with NBA players and noticing the wear and tear of the 82-game season on their feet, Move Insoles was partially funded by some of the players themselves — including Damian Lillard, Chris Paul, and Jamal Crawford. The insoles are the first retail insoles designed specifically for basketball, and were developed after taken scans of hundreds of feet to ensure they could work for almost anybody. The brand makes insoles for both pros and everyday athletes, as well as casual insoles to use with ever-popular retros that provide little support for all-day wear.

NinetyNine Products

After working as a designer for Nike, Cole Haan, and more for nearly 15 years, Jeffrey Henderson started his brand by accident when he showed a factory owner a design while on a business trip to China and returned to find that the shoes had been produced to his specifications. “I had to come up with a brand that meant something because he basically called me out,” he told FootwearNews. “I had no plans of creating a brand.” And yet, NinetyNine appears to be thriving, with a slate of simple, casual shoes that push stylistic boundaries.

RSVP Gallery

Virgil Abloh and Don C established this store in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood back in 2009, and it remains a part of the late Abloh’s ongoing legacy. It isn’t just a sneaker store, either; it’s also a luxury boutique and art gallery.

Saysh

Founded by decorated track athlete Allyson Felix, Saysh was created after Felix left Nike over its refusal to guarantee salary protections for its pregnant athletes (a policy it has since updated). In 2021, Felix launched Saysh with the goal of “crafting sneakers truly shaped to the unique contours of a woman’s foot.” Noting that on average, women have significant differences in foot structure than men (not to mention gait, center of gravity, and so on), the company also works to address disparities in how women are treated in sports, championing pay equity and even offering free size upgrades as women’s feet change due to life changes like pregnancy.

Unrivaled

A new basketball league founded by the WNBA’s Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart, the 3-on-3 league will debut in January. In addition to providing the highest average salary in US women’s basketball (ranging from $130,000 to more than $500,000), the league will introduce — and potentially popularize — yet another new format for professional basketball in a burgeoning market. As such, it’ll likely also provide a huge platform for similarly rising sneaker brands, or established ones, as they make increased investments into the growth market of women’s sports. Additional investors include soccer star Alex Morgan and Carmelo Anthony.

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Suki Waterhouse Can’t Wait To Tell Someone Off For ‘All The Sh*tty Things’ They Did While ‘Blackout Drunk,’ Her Catchy New Song

By all accounts, Suki Waterhouse is happy with Robert Pattinson, her fiancé and the father of her first child. Waterhouse recently told British Vogue that Pattinson “couldn’t really give a sh*t” about Waterhouse writing songs inspired by her exes.

“Blackout Drunk” most likely falls under that umbrella.

Waterhouse’s newest single eviscerates a deadbeat, unfaithful partner. She doesn’t want to hear his excuses. “You ruin every night,” she sings. “You always start the fight / Oh, I don’t / I say that I love you / Sweet dreams, can’t sleep it off / Wait ’til I wake you up / ‘Cause I can hardly wait to tell you all the sh*tty things that you’ve done / When you’re blackout drunk.”

“Blackout Drunk” is from Memoir Of A Sparklemuffin, Waterhouse’s forthcoming 18-track double album due out on September 13. Waterhouse will support the album with The Sparklemuffin Tour, beginning on September 28 in Denver, Colorado.

Watch the Callum Scott-Dyson-created “Blackout Drunk” visualizer above, and learn more about Memoir Of A Sparklemuffin below.

Suki Waterhouse’s Memoir Of A Sparklemuffin Album Cover Artwork

Sub Pop

Suki Waterhouse’s Memoir Of A Sparklemuffin Tracklist

1. “Gateway Drug”
2. “Supersad”
3. “Blackout Drunk”
4. “Faded”
5. “Nonchalant”
6. “My Fun”
7. “Model, Actress, Whatever”
8. “To Get You”
9. “Lullaby”
10. “Big Love”
11. “Lawsuit”
12. “OMG”
13. “Think Twice”
14. “Could’ve Been A Star”
15. “Legendary”
16. “Everybody Breaks Up Anyway”
17. “Helpless”
18. “To Love”

Suki Waterhouse 2024 Tour Dates: The Sparklemuffin Tour

09/28 — Denver, CO @ Mission Ballroom
10/17 — Houston, TX @ House of Blues
10/18 — Austin, TX @ ACL Live at the Moody Theater
10/19 — Dallas, TX @ The Factory in Deep Ellum
10/21 — Phoenix, AZ @ The Van Buren
10/22 — San Diego, CA @ The Sound
10/23 — Los Angeles, CA @ Greek Theatre
10/25 — San Francisco, CA @ The Warfield
10/28 — Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom
10/30 — Portland, OR @ Roseland Theater
12/02 — Kansas City, MO @ The Truman
12/03 — St. Louis, MO @ The Factory
12/04 — Indianapolis, IN @ Egyptian Room at Old National Centre
12/06 — Cleveland, OH @ The Agora
12/07 — Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Paramount
12/10 — Philadelphia, PA @ Franklin Music Hall
12/11 — Washington, DC @ The Anthem
12/13 — Boston, MA @ Roadrunner
12/14 — Montreal, QC @ MTELUS
12/15 — Toronto, ON @ HISTORY
12/17 — Royal Oak, MI @ Royal Oak Music Theatre
12/18 — Chicago, IL @ The Salt Shed
12/19 — Nashville, TN @ Ryman Auditorium
12/21 — Atlanta, GA @ The Eastern

Memoir Of A Sparklemuffin is out 9/13 via Sub Pop. Find more information here.

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Cardi B Is Pregnant With Her Third Baby, She Confirms With New Baby Bump Photos On Instagram

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Today (August 1), Cardi B confirmed she is pregnant with her third baby.

Sharing an Instagram post featuring two photos showing off her baby bump, Cardi wrote, “With every ending comes a new beginning! I am so grateful to have shared this season with you, you have brought me more love, more life and most of all renewed my power! Reminded me that I can have it all! You’ve reminded me that I never have to choose between life, love, and my passion! I love you so much and can not wait for you to witness what you helped me accomplish, what you pushed me to do! It’s so much easier taking life’s twists, turns and test laying down, but you, your brother and your sister have shown me why it’s worth it to push through!”

The baby news quickly follows reports that Cardi has filed for divorce from Offset, the father of her two other children, son Wave Set (2.5 years old) and daughter Kulture Kiari (6).

In a May interview with Rolling Stone, Cardi spoke about her relationship with Offset, saying, “The part I love is that we really like each other, like a support system. We’re really both each other’s cheerleader. I don’t really like talking to people. I’m not as social. If I want something from somebody, he’ll be the one that will talk. Because I don’t like asking.”

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Will There Be A ‘Squid Game’ Season 3?

squidgame 2 netflix
Netflix

As fans prepare for Squid Game to return at the end of the year, the long-term planners are already trying to calculate how long it will be until a third season. Luckily, Netflix has taken the guesswork out. For once!

Season two of Squid Game was announced shortly after the first season, and this week, Netflix announced that it will premiere on December 26th, 2024. The second season will pick up after the first, following Player 456 as he attempts to get to the bottom of the dangerous games and put an end to it. In a newly-released synopsis, writer and EP Hwang Dong-hyuk confirmed that there will be a third season shortly after season two drops.

Seong Gi-hun who vowed revenge at the end of Season 1 returns and joins the game again. Will he succeed in getting his revenge? Front Man doesn’t seem to be an easy opponent this time either. The fierce clash between their two worlds will continue into the series finale with Season 3, which will be brought to you next year.

While no exact date has been given, Netflix has confirmed a 2025 release date following season two’s December premiere. It sure seems like 2025 is shaping up to be the Year of the Squid Game, which will be a nice follow up to 2024’s Olympic Games, though with very different outcomes.

The second season of of Squid Game will premiere on December 26th. Season three will land on Netflix sometime in 2025. Here is the season two teaser:

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How To Get Tickets To Shawn Mendes’ ‘Shawn’ Theater Shows

shawn mendes David Yurman Hosts Event With Shawn Mendes In Support Of The Shawn Mendes Foundation
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Shawn Mendes is back.

On July 27, 2022, the Canadian pop star canceled his Wonder tour and cited a need to “ground myself and come back stronger.” On Wednesday, July 31, Mendes was ready to come back stronger — announcing Shawn, his forthcoming album due out on October 18. “Why Why Why” and “Isn’t That Enough” will be released as singles on August 8.

In case there were any doubt that Mendes’ announcement faucet is fully flowing again, he revealed a slew of intimate theater concerts.

On Thursday, August 1, Mendes posted a video captioned, “For My Friends & Family. We’re back.” The 64-second visual shows Mendes’ silhouette as he performs an acoustic, emotional song. Eventually, the screen reads, “SHAWN MENDES Performing Shawn The Album Live For Friends And Family Only.”

“Wanted the first shows back to be special & to play this album live for you in the places we recorded it,” Mendes wrote on his Instagram Story. “I’ve never played an album top to bottom before, but it’s already one of my favorite shows I’ve ever rehearsed. I love you guys, the band and I can’t wait to see you.”

How To Get Tickets To Shawn Mendes’ Shawn Theater Shows

It’s billed as friends and family only, so Mendes must consider fans as friends. According to Mendes’ official website, “To help tickets get into the hands of fans — not scalpers and bots — a very limited number of tickets will be made available for purchase via a ticket request system powered by Seated.” Mendes’ first Shawn show is scheduled for Bearsville Theater in Woodstock, New York on August 8, and ticket requests close on Thursday, August 1, at 11:59 p.m. ET. Tickets start at $98 plus $21.50 in fees. The random selection will occur on Friday, August 2, at noon ET.

Rules differ for Mendes’ show at Theatre Royal Drury Lane in London on August 13. As per his website, UK fans will need to pre-order Shawn from his UK store before Monday, August 5, at 10 a.m. local time “to get exclusive access to a unique pre-sale link that will provide you a chance to buy tickets.”

Mendes’ subsequent Shawn concerts at Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee on October 14, Brooklyn Paramount Theater in Brooklyn, New York on October 18, The Ford in Los Angeles, California on October 22, and Paramount Theatre in Seattle, Washington on October 24 will follow the same guidelines as the initial Woodstock show, but the registration and random selection dates vary. Find all ticketing information here.

Shawn Mendes’ Shawn Album Cover Artwork

Anthony Wilson & Island Records

Shawn Mendes’ Shawn Tracklist

1. “Who I Am”
2. “Why Why Why”
3. “That’s The Dream”
4. “Nobody Knows”
5. “Isn’t That Enough”
6. “Heart Of Gold”
7. “Heavy”
8. “That’ll Be The Day”
9. “In Between”
10. “The Mountain”
11. “Rollin’ Right Along”
12. “Hallelujah”

Shawn is out 10/18 via Island Records. Find more information here.

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When Will ‘Squid Game’ Season 2 Premiere?

squidgame 2 netflix
Netflix

In 2021, Squid Game quickly became Netflix’s biggest hit, so of course they are pulling out all the stops for the second season. The only thing that would make it even more exciting is if they decided to actually hold a real competition, but we know how that would go down. So let’s just stick to the fictional show, shall we?!

Season two of Squid Game was announced shortly after the first season, and now Netflix has finally given a massive update for fans of the mega-popular series. The second season will debut on Netflix on December 26th, and a third and final season will drop in 2025. The streamer shared a heartfelt letter from writer and EP Hwang Dong-hyuk:

It’s been almost three years since Season 1 was met with incredible response around the world and many unimaginable events took place. I am beyond excited to be writing this letter to announce the date for Season 2 and share the news of Season 3, the final season. On the first day we began shooting Season 2, I remember thinking, “Wow, I can’t believe I’m back in the world of Squid Game.” It almost felt surreal. I wonder how it will feel for you to be back in Squid Game after three years, as well.

Seong Gi-hun who vowed revenge at the end of Season 1 returns and joins the game again.
Will he succeed in getting his revenge? Front Man doesn’t seem to be an easy opponent this time either.
The fierce clash between their two worlds will continue into the series finale with Season 3, which will be brought to you next year.

It’s unclear how many episodes will be in season two, but fans will have a third season to look forward to shortly after. This is an interested move for Netflix, who has previously been utilizing the two part release cycle in the hopes of keeping up the momentum.

Season two will pick up where season one left off after Gi-hun won the bloody violent games. But for season two, he is pulling a Jack Shepard move and looking to get back into the games in order to stop it. Here is the official synopsis:

Three years after winning Squid Game, Player 456 remains determined to find the people behind the game and put an end to their vicious sport. Using this fortune to fund his search, Gi-hun starts with the most obvious of places: look for the man in a sharp suit playing ddakji in the subway. But when his efforts finally yield results, the path toward taking down the organization proves to be deadlier than he imagined: to end the game, he needs to re-enter it

Along with the release date and plot, Netflix also dropped a new teaser for the season, featuring everyone’s favorite Red Light, Green Light girlie:

Season two of Squid Game premieres on December 26th.

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It Sure Sounds Like The ‘Cobra Kai’ Showrunners Are Setting Up Another ‘The Karate Kid’ Spin Off

Cobra Kai Season 5
Netflix

Netflix is doing the three-part release thing with the final Cobra Kai season, which will air its series finale shortly before the next The Karate Kid movie starring Ralph Macchio and Jackie Chan. The Netflix series’ showrunners (Jon Hurwitz, Hayden Schlossberg, and Josh Heald) are not involved with that film (at least, as far as any party has disclosed), but they do hope to extend more legs of the franchise with further series spin offs.

Of course, numerous hypotheticals exist for offshoots, including Robby and Miguel ^^^ opening a dojo together, Hawk opening a tattoo parlor or hair-styling salon, or perhaps Tory’s karate-adjacent story heading into true dramatic territory. Also, why did Cobra Kai‘s heightened reality head take a left turn with that suspiciously undiscovered box of Miyagi memorabilia surfacing out the blue? Yep, that box could be a clue, via Mr. Schlossberg:

“It opens up all these questions about Mr. Miyagi and what his life was like, and that’s been something we’ve been wanting to do for a while. We’ve talked to Robert Mark Kamen, the writer of the original Karate Kid who based this whole movie off his sensei who studied Okinawan karate; we’ve been talking about all this Miyagi backstory with him, which helped us with season six stuff. Now that we’re done, we can actually start getting into this stuff..

Man, casting a young Mr. Miyagi will be a tough process with generations of fans paying attention to results. Of course, Schlossberg was careful to express that this wasn’t a done deal yet, and they were currently focused on editing the final Cobra Kai episodes, but a few months ago, Heald did tell Collider that “[w]e talk about contemporary spin-offs, we talk about spin-offs that take place 80 or 90 years ago, and we continue to look to the future and the fandom and our partners at Sony and Netflix.”

In other words, Cobra Kai will truly never die, and it sounds like further announcements will eventually arrive, but first, the next karate-soap opera episodes are scheduled for November 15.

(Via Hollywood Reporter & Collider)

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What To Watch: Our Picks For The TV Shows And Movies We Think You Should Stream This Week

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20th Century Studios/Merle Cooper

Each week our staff of film and television experts surveys the entertainment landscape to select the ten best new/newish shows available for you to stream at home. We put a lot of thought into our selections, and our debates on what to include and what not to include can sometimes get a little heated and feelings may get hurt, but so be it, this is an important service for you, our readers. With that said, here are our selections for this week.

15. Presumed Innocent (Apple TV Plus)

Apple TV+

Presumed Innocent is guilty… of having an all-star collection of talent! Created by David E. Kelley and produced by Gracie Abrams‘ somewhat famous father, the legal thriller stars Jake Gyllenhaal as a chief deputy prosecutor who is suspected of murder. Per Apple TV Plus: “The series explores obsession, sex, politics, and the power and limits of love, as the accused fights to hold his family and marriage together.” Fun fact: Gyllenhaal’s character was played by Harrison Ford in the 1990 movie of the same name.

Watch it on Apple TV Plus

14. House of the Dragon (Max)

HBO/Max/WBD

Before House of the Dragon premiered, I was concerned that it would be nothing more than a shameless extension of the Game of Thrones brand. A DLC to check out but not engage with. Those fears have been unfounded. House of the Dragon quickly proved itself a worthy successor to Thrones (which, disappointing finale aside, is still one of the best shows of the 2010s). It exists on its own terms; it’s possible to enjoy the high-budget soap opera without prior knowledge of Westeros. House of the Dragon won’t be the monoculture behemoth that Game of Thrones was. No show will anymore. But it doesn’t need to be. House of the Dragon is doing just fine out of Game of Thrones’ dragon-shaped shadow (you can read our review here).

Watch it on Max

13. My Lady Jane (Prime Video)

prime video

Meet your summer TV obsession. My Lady Jane is a “radical retelling” of the life of Lady Jane Grey, who was the queen of England for nine days in 1553. She was executed soon after. But what if none of that happened? My Lady Jane, which stars Emily Bader in the title role, is “an epic tale of true love and high adventure, where the damsel in distress saves herself, her true love, and then the Kingdom.” Also, shape shifters (with some Buffy thrown in there, too).

Watch it on Prime Video

12. Sunny (Apple TV Plus)

apple tv plus

Vulture recently pointed out that Rashida Jones has never hosted Saturday Night Live despite a) being friends with a lot of SNL folks, and b) she has the comedic chops. The campaign to get Rashida Jones in Studio 8H (with musical guest Vampire Weekend?) begins… as soon as I finish watching Sunny. The Apple TV+ series stars the Parks and Rec actress as Suzie, an American living in Japan who is gifted a robot following the disappearance of her husband and son. Together, they attempt to find out what happened to her family.

Watch it on Apple TV Plus

11. Sausage Party: Foodtopia (Prime Video)

sony

Sausage Party, the 2016 movie that was the highest-grossing R-rated animated film of all-time until Demon Slayer: Mugen Train came along, has been reheated as a streaming series. Prime Video’s proudly vulgar Sausage Party: Foodtopia is set after the events of the movie, with Frank, Brenda, Barry, and Sammy, the characters voiced by Seth Rogen, Kristen Wiig, Michael Cera, and Edward Norton, respectively, attempting to build their own society. The rest of the voice cast includes Will Forte, Sam Richardson, Yassir Lester, and Natasha Rothwell. Expect lots of food puns and orgies.

Watch it on Prime Video

10. Abigail (Peacock)

Abigail Vampire
Universal Pictures

Longlegs this, Longlegs that. But don’t forget about another 2024 horror movie gem: Abigail. The film follows a group of kidnappers — played by Melissa Barrera, Dan Stevens, Kathryn Newton, Will Catlett, Kevin Durand, and Angus Cloud (in one of his final roles) — who are trapped in a house with a ballerina vampire, as one does. Abigail leans on the comedy more than the horror, and it’s a blast. Why isn’t Kathryn Newton in everything? She really should be.

Watch it on Peacock

9. Wicked Little Letters (Netflix)

StudioCanal

A British mystery-comedy starring Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley? Yeah, that’ll do. Wicked Little Letters is about an English seaside town in the 1920s that gets upended by scandalous mail (or whatever they call it there). A boisterous Irish migrant named Rose (Buckley) is charged with the crime, but as the townspeople, including buttoned-up local Edith (Colman) do their own investigation, “they suspect that something is amiss, and Rose may not be the culprit after all.” The trailer is very charming.

Watch it on Netflix

8. Love Lies Bleeding (Max)

Love Lies Bleeding
A24

Here’s one for the freaks (I’m one of you). Rose Glass’ Love Lies Bleeding can briefly be described as a love story between a gym manager (Kristen Stewart) and a bodybuilder (Katy O’Brian), but it’s much more than that. It’s also about organized crime, steroids, and Ed Harris in full creep mode. Love Lies Bleeding has a daring ending that needs to be seen to be believed.

Watch it on Max

7. Cobra Kai (Netflix)

netflix

What Netflix’s Cobra Kai has pulled off over the years is nothing less than magical. The underdog spin off (which revived a franchise that celebrates underdogs) has accomplished what few TV shows or movies could have ever hoped for: successfully rebooting a 1980s entity while appealing to Gen Z to an even greater degree than capturing the original The Karate Kid audience. (You can read the full review here.)

Watch it on Netflix

6. Time Bandits (Apple TV Plus)

apple tv plus

Based on the Terry Gilliam movie of the same name, Time Bandits is about a lonely 11-year-old boy who joins a group of time-traveling thieves played by, among others, Lisa Kudrow. The fantasy-adventure series is created by Jemaine Clement (Flight of the Conchords), Iain Morris (The Inbetweeners), and Taika Waititi, who tends to do his best work — What We Do in the Shadows and Reservation Dogs — in a behind-the-scenes capacity.

Watch it on Apple TV Plus

5. Women In Blue (Apple TV Plus)

apple tv plus

Apple TV Plus’s Women in Blue is set in 1971 and follows “four women who defy the ultraconservative norms of the time and join Mexico’s first female police force, only to discover that their squad is a publicity stunt to distract the media from a brutal serial killer.” Created by Fernando Rovzar and Pablo Aramendi, the unsettling 10-episode drama stars Bárbara Mori, Ximena Sariñana, Natalia Téllez, Amorita Rasgado, Miguel Rodarte, Leonardo Sbaraglia, Christian Tappan, and Horacio García Rojas.

Watch it on Apple TV Plus

4. The Decameron (Netflix)

netflix

Tony Hale has a pretty solid track record when it comes to comedies. Buster in Arrested Development, Gary in Veep, FORKY in Toy Story 4 (do not hold Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip against him). Next up is The Decameron, which is like if The White Lotus took place during the bubonic plague pandemic (or as actress Jessica Plummer described it, “Love Island, but back in the day”). The social satire is getting rave reviews for being “the best apocalyptic ensemble comedy since Clue.” Grab your juice and start watching.

Watch it on Netflix

3. Batman: Caped Crusader (Prime Video)

prime video

A Batman animated series? It’ll never work. Prime Video’s Batman: Caped Crusader comes from creator Bruce Timm, one of the creative minds behind arguably the best-ever screen adaptation of the Dark Knight: Batman: The Animated Series. The new series has been described as “everything that Bruce Timm wanted to do in the original series but because it ran on a kid’s channel, he wasn’t able to do it,” and stars Hamish Linklater as Batman, Jamie Chung as Harley Quinn, Diedrich Bader as Two-Face, Christina Ricci as Catwoman, and in a fun bit of casting, Minnie Driver as Penguin.

Watch it on Prime Video

2. Futurama (Hulu)

hulu

Last season on Futurama, Fry, Leela, Bender, & Co. took on an Amazon-like company formed by Mom; caught a rage virus; and got turned into toys (that was a weird one). In season 12 (which is technically the second half of season eight if you go by production order, but let’s stick with Hulu’s season designations for the sake of ease), the gang “embarks on mind-bending adventures involving birthday party games to the death, the secrets of Bender’s ancestral robot village, A.I. friends (and enemies), impossibly cute beanbags, and the true 5 million-year-old story behind the consciousness-altering substance known as coffee.” Guest stars include Danny Trejo, Cara Delevingne, and Kyle Maclachlan. (Read more about the new season here.)

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1. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (Hulu)

20th Century Studios

A while back, I remember seeing someone online make the case for Planet of the Apes as the most consistently good movie franchise. That’s overstating things (how soon we forget Ape Lincoln?), but there are more keepers than stinkers in the series, especially among the recent films. Surprise box office hit Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes needed to justify its existence following the strong conclusion to the Caesar trilogy — and it did. The 10th overall Planet of the Apes features typically CGI work and a stirring story about determination. You won’t hate every ape you see, from chimpan-A to chimpan-Z.

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