Year: 2024

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.

20. Spaceman (Netflix)

The Sandman is the Spaceman. Adam Sandler stars in Spaceman, a science-fiction drama from director Johan Renck (Chernobyl) about a lonely astronaut who realizes his wife (played by Carey Mulligan) might not be waiting for him when he returns to Earth. Desperate to fix things, he gets advice from a mysterious talking spider voiced by Paul Dano, as one does. Spaceman is very odd and very sad, and Sandler is very good in it.

Watch it on Netflix

19. Mr. and Mrs. Smith (Prime Video)

Did we really need a reimagining of the Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie movie? Watch the first few episodes, and you might agree that this effort was not wasted. Donald Glover and Maya Erskine pick up as assassins who happen to be paired together (and “married”), and you aren’t ready for the rollicking, madcap, action-packed set of missions that they must complete (or else?). Even better: John and Jane Smith’s onscreen relationship is as much of daredevil stunt as the action scenes.

Watch it on Prime Video

18. The Holdovers (Peacock)

Our official position on The Holdovers is twofold: one, we support anything where Paul Giamatti gets to be curmudgeonly; two, we love to see Paul Giamatti thrive. This movie checks both boxes.

Watch it on Peacock

17. Abbott Elementary (Hulu)

School’s back in session at Abbott Elementary and the show has made some big changes after the romantic cliffhanger that ended season two. Janine has a new job (and a new love interest), Gregory’s struggling to move on, Josh Segarra from The Other Two is auditing classrooms, and Ava Coleman is a Harvard (adjacent) graduate. Lord help Mrs. Howard. After a longer-than-expected hiatus it’s nice to see the Emmy-winning comedy reinventing itself instead of resting on its laurels, but don’t worry, there are still plenty of Janelle James one-liners and Tyler James Williams pans to camera to keep things comfortably familiar.

Watch it on Hulu

16. The Gentlemen (Netflix)

Netflix’s take on this Guy Ritchie banger takes the best part of the crime thriller – the wild accents, the aristocratic drug smuggling enterprise, the suits – and expands on them, trading the frenetic energy of his two hour movie for a more interesting character study disguised as a posh power play. Theo James’ Duke inherits his family’s land, title, and (unknowingly) their stake in a criminal underground filled with the nastiest of characters, all captained by Kaya Scodelario playing a well-dressed, dubiously motivated mob boss with some fantastic one-liners. Should Guy Ritchie have been doing TV all along?

Watch it on Netflix

15. The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live (AMC Plus)

Rick Grimes has been missing from TV screens for a handful of years and in The Walking Dead timeline for over a decade. Now, Michonne is about to save his ass and hopefully torch the CRM while she’s at it. Too much? Nah, this franchise went off the rails a long time ago, and that’s part of the fun. This spinoff ends up being a worthy love story within the parameters of this world, and existing viewers will adore it. Meanwhile, Daryl is still in France, now with added Carol, so they won’t be reinforcements for the “Save Rick” cause, but we can hope for a reunion.

Watch it on AMC Plus

14. Poor Things (Hulu)

What we have here:

• Emma Stone absolutely cooking in an awards-collecting movie about a lady who is brought back to life by a mad scientist and promptly starts skipping across continents on a journey of liberation
• Emma Stone working with director Yorgos Lanthimos again
• Did… you read those first two?

No time like the present, baby.

Watch it on Hulu

13. Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour (Disney Plus)

Taylor Swift’s record-breaking concert film is now available to watch whenever you want. But if you only have time for one song from every era, for some reason, make them: “Cruel Summer” (Lover), “Love Story” (Fearless), “Champagne Problems” (Evermore), “Look What You Made Me Do” (Reputation), “Enchanted” (Speak Now), “All Too Well (10 Minute Version)” (Red), “Illicit Affairs” (Folklore), “Style” (1989), and “Anti-Hero” (Midnights). Don’t blame me for the lack of songs from debut. That’s on Taylor.

Watch it on Disney Plus

12. The Regime (Max)

Kate Winslet as an unhinged autocrat in a problematic power struggle with her unpredictable mold-eradicating henchman that may or may not spark the downfall of an entire nation? Sign us up. As Elena Vernham, the chancellor of an authoritarian regime in fictional Europe, Winslet smooths over fascist ideals with maternal platitudes while insulating herself from the real problems of the world. It’s only when her home begins crumbling (literally) and her dead father begins haunting its halls (not so literally?) that her iron grip loosens enough for the vultures to sweep in.

Watch it on Max

11. Bottoms (Prime Video)

Bottoms is a screwball comedy about two gay teenage girls who start a high school fight club as a ploy to hook up with their cheerleader crushes. Ayo Edebiri is in it. So is Marshawn Lynch. There are acts of vandalism set to 80s bangers and football players in cages and none of it makes any sense but it’s absolutely worth just rolling with it.

This one is a blast. And it’s streaming on the same website you bought your coffee maker on. The future is kind of wild.

Watch it on Prime Video

10. Curb Your Enthusiasm (Max)

After 24 years, 12 seasons, and countless social assassinations; Curb Your Enthusiasm comes to an end this Sunday. It’s been a season filled with familiar faces (Ted Danson, the late Richard Lewis, Cheryl Hines, Vince Vaughn, JB Smoove) and misanthropic delights as Larry David walks off into the sunset so he can strangle more muppets or do whatever else he does when he isn’t kvetching about required niceties and other peccadilloes.

Watch it on Max

9. Oppenheimer (Peacock)

With this historical biopic, Christopher Nolan unknowingly created an atomic amuse-bouche for a double-feature blockbuster viewing experience that saved cinema last year. But, watching Cillian Murphy’s cheekbones cut glass as he chain-smokes his way to becoming Death, Destroyer of Worlds for three-plus hours is just as much fun at home as it was in a packed movie theater. Sporting a packed line-up of A-list talent (hello Oscar winner Robert Downey Jr.), a bone-rattling score, and some clever monochromatic cinematography to distinguish between its multiple timelines, Oppenheimer has more than earned its place on every nominations list this awards season. Now, go enjoy it in the way Nolan intended – streaming on Peacock.

Watch it on Peacock

8. Girls State (Apple TV)

I know. I know. The last thing you want to watch is a movie about politics. But make an exception for Girls State, a sequel of sorts to 2020’s Sundance-winning Boys State. Here’s what it’s about: “What would American democracy look like in the hands of teenage girls? A political coming-of-age story and a stirring reimagination of what it means to govern, Girls State follows young female leaders — from wildly different backgrounds across Missouri — as they navigate an immersive experiment to build a government from the ground up.”

Watch it on Apple TV+

7. X-Men ’97 (Disney Plus)

If you’re going to do nostalgia, at least make sure it’s as good as X-Men ‘97. The animated series is a continuation of X-Men: The Animated Series, which aired from 1992 to 1997, and follows the team of mutants as they do mutant-like things. Do we really need to explain what the X-Men show is about? It’s about the X-Men.

Watch it on Disney Plus

6. Lisa Frankenstein (Peacock)

Jennifer’s Body is considered a teen movie classic these days, but it was criminally underseen when it first came out. Don’t make the same mistake with writer Diablo Cody’s latest movie, Lisa Frankenstein. The comedy-horror stars the always-fun Kathryn Newton as a teen girl who falls in love with a corpse, played by Cole Sprouse. Fun fact: Lisa Frankenstein was directed by Robin Williams’ daughter, Zelda.

Watch it on Peacock

5. Sugar (Apple TV)

Colin Farrell is gearing up to appear in Max’s Penguin series, but for the moment, he’s starring as private detective John Sugar, who must track the disappearance of a powerful Hollywood producer’s granddaughter. In the process, Sugar also digs up family secrets that were buried for damn good reasons. Yes, this is a modern spin on film noir, but how could you resist a member of the the Irish renaissance portraying the newest gumshoe on streaming TV?

Watch it on Apple TV+

4. Girls5eva (Netflix)

Anyone who skips the opening credits for Girls5eva should be thrown in prison. Actually, anyone who doesn’t watch Girls5eva, a hilarious joke-a-second comedy about a reunited girl group played by Sara Bareilles, Busy Philipps, Paula Pell, and Renée Elise Goldsberry, deserves a five-year sentence behind bars. It’s harsh but fair.

Watch it on Netflix

3. 3 Body Problem (Netflix)

Netflix wanted a Game of Thrones-sized hit. It got one in 3 Body Problem, the first show from creators David Benioff and D. B. Weiss (working with Alexander Woo) since, well, Game of Thrones. The sci-fi mystery is about “a tight-knit group of brilliant scientists must join forces with an unflinching detective to stop humanity’s greatest threat.” The cast includes Liam Cunningham (a.k.a. the Onion Knight from Thrones) and Benedict Wong, which is reason enough to watch right there.

Watch it on Netflix

2. Shogun (Hulu)

Shogun really is that good. A historical epic set in feudal Japan that follows an English pilot (Cosmo Jarvis) who washes ashore during a time of political strife, it takes the kind of storytelling swings you just wouldn’t expect. Its most fascinating characters speak almost exclusively in subtitles (hello Hiroyuki Sanada, Anna Sawaii, and Moeka Hoshi), its action sneaks up on you, and its political intrigue is cutthroat. It’s Game of Thrones with samurais and it should be on everyone’s must-see list.

Watch it on Hulu

1. Ripley (Netflix)

Everybody remembers Matt Damon in The Talented Mr. Ripley, and Andrew Scott is fully shaking off his “Hot Priest” days to don Tom Ripley’s grifter duds, this time in a more visually-striking medium, from the looks of this trailer. This series is, of course, based upon Patricia Highsmith’s series of novels, and the title character takes a job in the 1960s that sets him on the deceit-filled path to murder. Whether this debut will lead to adapting more books in further seasons, we shall have to wait and see.

Watch it on Netflix

It has been two weeks since Shakira released Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran, her first album in seven years, but no promotional cycle is complete in 2024 without appearing on Hot Ones. And so, Shakira is Sean Evans’ guest for today’s (April 4) episode of Hot Ones.

Around the seven-minute mark, Shakira contemplated giving up but decided to press on after Evans told her that he’s “never had anyone quit” before finishing “the wings of death” in the show’s history. The next question was inspired by Shakira’s recent interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, in which she recounted hearing “an old Shakira song on the radio and telling your kids, ‘I used to suck,’” according to Evans.

Shakira laughed before detailing what makes her “cringe” about her older material. “Ugh, so many things,” she said. “I think I used to overdo the cries in my voice.” She added, “I noticed that after my pregnancies, my voice got thicker, more rounded, more full. Also, my choices are more mature. I have evolved as a woman, as a person. My intellect has evolved.”

Elsewhere in the 20-minute video, Shakira explained why “it takes so long” for her to produce albums and discussed reaching out to Seth MacFarlane because she’s a “huge Family Guy fan” while struggling to make it through the “masochistic” Hot Ones gauntlet.

Watch Shakira on Hot Ones below.

Earlier this week, a TikTok video went viral after a creator named Jahelis Castillo boldly claimed that Saturday Night Live doesn’t hire hot women. The video prompted reactions from SNL cast members, and now, The View is chiming in. However, it appears that the co-hosts actually agree with Castillo.

Essentially, Castillo argues that if a woman is too “hot,” it will override how funny she is “then it boils down to you just not being funny at all.” Joy Behar, who’s been a well-known comedian for decades, couldn’t agree more.

“First of all, it’s a comedy show, not a beauty pageant. It’s not for men to ogle women who are trying to get a laugh,” Behar said. “No one’s going to laugh at what you say if they’re too busy looking at your boobs.”

However, Behar eventually tempered her comments by applying the same rule to male SNL cast members and making it a point to note that the women on the show are still attractive.

Via Deadline:

“Belushi and Chris Farley were not my exact ideal dates. The men [on SNL] are not that hot – hot meaning sexy, because I think that’s what they mean, because the women are attractive, obviously. You don’t have to be a dog to be funny. But if you’re hugely, hugely model level, no one’s going to laugh. That’s why Gisele Bündchen is not funny.”

Alyssa Farah Griffin also agreed with the TikTok video’s premise by noting that the show doesn’t have any “Beyoncés or Brad Pitts.” She even brought up Jacob Elordi‘s recent episode, which ran into the issue of him being “one of the hottest guys on the planet.”

“He was funny but every skit was about how he’s attractive, because it can be a distraction,” Griffin said.

It should be noted that Whoopi Goldberg wanted nothing to do with the discussion, and once again, the co-hosts did not listen to her as predicted.

(Via Deadline)

More than ever, it is easier for fans of a celebrity to feel like they’re friends with that person. If the famed figure is active on social media, they can regularly share glimpses of what their daily lives are like, helping fans to feel close to them. Well, Billie Eilish made upwards of 100 million people feel really close to her on Instagram today (April 4).

For those unfamiliar with how Instagram Story posts work: Users can post an image or video to their Story, and anybody who would ordinarily have access to it would be able to see it. There’s also a “close friends” feature, where users can add other users to a list, and people on that list will be able to see Stories that are set to only be viewable by the limited accounts on that special list.

Well, Eilish shared a Story with her “close friends” today, but it appears all of Eilish’s 110 million followers were automatically added to the list: I was not following Eilish on Instagram (sorry, Billie!) and was unable to see the “close friends” Story, but after I followed her today, I immediately had access to it.

Not long after Eilish shared the post (a simple lo-fi photo of her hand in front of what looks like a night sky), she started trending on X (formerly Twitter). The post were mainly jokes about how joyous or triumphant it feels to be one of Eilish’s “close friends.” Check out some reactions below.

Ahead of New Music Friday tomorrow, Uproxx cover star Conan Gray is gearing up to drop his new album Found Heaven — nearly a year after dropping the lead single from it. Fans have been waiting a while and are excited to hear the full thing.

Over the past few months, he’s put out some early tracks like “Lonely Dancers,” “Winner,” “Alley Rose,” and more — proving that this will be an album not to miss as he shows off his songwriting skills.

If you have Spotify, here’s what to know about when you’ll be able to stream the full thing.

When Will Conan Gray’s New Album Found Heaven Be On Spotify?

Conan Gray’s new album Found Heaven will be available on Spotify starting at midnight ET. If you’re on the West Coast, you can listen at 9 p.m. there. All other time zones would follow the typical album release time in your location to know when you can hear it.

For those who have Apple Music or another streaming platform, Gray’s album should be out around the same time on there too.

A complete tracklist and details about Gray’s forthcoming tour tied to the album can be found here.

Found Heaven is out 4/5 via Republic Records. Find more information here.

The first time I heard about Hundreds of Beavers was in a tweet. “i met someone last night who loves movies (happens a lot here in los angeles) and when i asked him if he’d seen anything good lately he told me this movie,” @missmollymary tweeted, along with a Google screenshot of a movie called Hundreds of Beavers. I initially thought it was an early April Fool’s Day bit, but nope: “saw it today and it’s as great as everyone said it was. if you can, run don’t walk to Hundreds of Beavers,” she wrote in a follow-up tweet.

Hundreds of Beavers is very real, and apparently very good: the slapstick comedy, which reminds me a bit of Trey Parker’s pre-South Park movie Cannibal! The Musical, has a 95 percent “Fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Here’s the plot summary: “In this 19th century, supernatural winter epic, a drunken applejack salesman must go from zero to hero and become North America’s greatest fur trapper by defeating hundreds of beavers.” The film stars Ryland Brickson Cole Tews and Olivia Graves, and was co-written by Tews and Mike Cheslik in his feature directorial debut.

Hundreds of Beavers is still playing in select theaters, but it will also be available for rental and purchase on Prime Video and Apple TV beginning on April 15. You can watch the trailer below.

Even though America has come a long way in gender relations over the past few decades men are still far behind women when accepting domestic responsibilities.

A recent study from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ American Time Use Survey found that women aged 15 and over spend 5.7 hours daily on domestic tasks, whereas men spend 3.6 hours, a 37 percent difference. Women with a 35-hour week devote 4.9 hours daily to home chores and child care, compared to men’s 3.8 hours.

In a world where men still trail behind women when it comes to work on the homefront, a Texas UPS driver is going viral for a TikTok video where he urges men to reconsider how they think about domestic responsibilities.

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In a video with over 6 million views, J.R. Minton proudly says he doesn’t “help” his wife with jobs around the house. “I don’t help my wife cook. I don’t help her clean, do laundry, take care of the kids — none of that,” Minton, 32, began his clip.

Warning: Strong language.

@minton__jr

So, why does Minton refuse to help his wife?

“Because I do what I am supposed to do as a father and a husband. I cook. I clean. I do the laundry. I take care of the kids. I can’t help my wife do those things because they are my job, too,” he reveals.

He then urged men to change their perspectives on how they view their relationship to domestic responsibilities and their wives. “Change the way you speak, change the way you think, and grow the f*** up and be a man,” he added.

The video received raves from women in the comments. Sadly, many used the video to share that their husbands have fallen short of Minton’s level of understanding. “My husband sometimes doesn’t even flush the toilet,” Human Robot wrote. “I am sending this straight to my man he needs to see this,” JJsMom added.

“Yep! My husband and I recognize it’s BOTH our kids and BOTH our house, therefore BOTH our responsibility,” Sweetheart wrote.

Minton is an equal partner to his wife because he was raised much differently and wants to right the wrongs of his past. “Pretty much everything about my parenting style is in spite of what I saw when I was growing up,” he told Today.com

Minton knew that his philosophy on marriage was necessary when a woman at Target praised him for doing the “bare minimum.” “I was wearing the baby, and I had two kids in the cart, and this lady comes up to Brittany, and she’s like, ‘Oh my God. Is this your husband!? Look at him. You should take a picture of him,’” Minton said. “I get so much credit for doing nothing. How low is the bar?”

Minton responded to his viral video with a heartfelt follow-up to everyone who loved how he cared for his wife and family. “I’m truly humbled at how far my message has gone,” he said. “However, I’d like to take a second to say: I am not special. I am no ‘unicorn.’ I am normal.”

“Nothing about my parenting style or my commitment to my wife is unique. Although it may seem out of the ordinary, it is far from extraordinary,” he continued. “Every father and husband we know (that seems to come up short) is fully-capable — yet unwilling.” He added that there was one thing that separates dads who do their part and dads who don’t: “Effort.”

This article originally appeared on 10.16.23

Cheerleading is supposed to be a team activity. Most squads have anywhere from 10 to 20 cheerleaders and some have even more than that. But one squad in Nebraska had just four girls, and less than two weeks before the Nebraska State Cheer and Dance Championships, all but one cheerleader had quit.

Most kids would’ve followed suit so close to a big competition and without teammates, but Katrina Kohel, a senior at Morrill High School, decided she was still going to compete—even if it meant she would have to do it alone. Talk about being brave in the face of disappointment. This girl decided she was going to cheer in the competition and she did, without much care for what others thought.

The competition wasn’t just the next town over. It was five hours away, so Kohel and her coach, April Ott, really had to mull it over before committing to making that drive, according to Business Insider. In the end, the teen decided that she didn’t want to just sit in the crowd or stay home; she wanted to perform the routine she spent so much time learning. But the routine required the entire squad, so before they could make the trip, they had to figure out how to make it a one-person routine.

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“I’ve put a lot of time into cheer. It’s just always been a part of who I am, so I didn’t want to end on that note. I wanted to go out on a high one. For that to come true, I didn’t want to end it just by going to watch state. I wanted to compete.” Kohel told Business Insider. So the lone cheerleader and her coach got to work redoing the routine so it made sense with just one person cheering.

The pair told the Omaha World-Herald that they had to rework the whole performance in a week and a half. It was really a battle of sheer will since Kohel was determined to do her best on the mat without her team. Kohel admitted to the outlet that she was nervous, but no one would have known it.

“She was completely confident the whole week that we practiced,” Ott told Business Insider. “It was just 100% confidence, and she just owned it.”

This cheerleader was absolutely unstoppable and she had her family’s full support. Even Ott’s daughter, who was previously a cheerleader at the same high school, tagged along to cheer her on. Kohel’s grandparents stood in for her parents because her brother had a state wrestling tournament and her parents are the coaches. But don’t worry, they were able to see her cheer through Facebook Live.

Support didn’t only come from her family and coach, as other cheerleaders piled into her section and cheered for the brave solo cheerleader. Darin Boysen, executive director of the Nebraska Coaches Association, told the Omaha World-Herald that this was the first time a cheerleader competed alone.

But she didn’t just compete—she placed 8th out of 12 squads, which is the highest Morrill High School has placed in the last three years.

“It’s almost overwhelming, the amount of support I got from all of them,” Kohel explained to Business Insider. “The whole arena was cheering me on. It wasn’t just one little section—it was the whole arena.”

This article originally appeared on 3.2.23

‘Tis the season of reboots, revivals, and numerous spinoffs, so it’s only (super)natural that any show that has been over for at least five years gets thrown into the mix. Supernatural ended in 2020, meaning everyone is starting to miss it again and the fans are hoping for some more supernatural occurrences. We don’t really need to talk about the ill-fated spinoff, though.

Earlier this week, Padalecki told Collider that a reunion isn’t off the table, though it’s a complicated subject. “It’s not that I haven’t seriously considered doing it, my single answer is yes. It’s timing. It’s availability,” he said.

Padalecki explained that the timing has to be right, and the story has to be worthwhile, not just thrown together to appease the fans. “Jensen and I feel so strongly about our show that we had for 15 years together that we don’t wanna just do it, just to do it. We don’t wanna go, ‘Hey, I have two weeks off in June. Let’s go ahead and shoot 10 pages a day, just so we can have some more content.’”

Rumors have been swirling about a reunion for years, though they were quickly squashed when the on-screen brothers were publicly beefing over the aforementioned spinoff, which was canceled after one season. They seemed to have gotten over that, though.

“If and when Supernatural comes back, it’s going to be a labor of love, and we’re gonna put every hour in to make sure that it’s as true to the canon and to the fandom and to the story and to the characters as possible,” Padalecki concluded. “So, my short answer is it’s not a consideration, the answer is yes. I just don’t know when I’m available. I don’t know when he’s available. But again, my answer is yes,” he added. Until then, the former Gilmore Girls star is busy with his Western drama Walker. You can take the boy out of The CW but you can’t take The CW out of the boy, it seems.

(Via Collider)

Megan Thee Stallion knows her brand but that doesn’t mean she’s afraid to shake things up — so to speak. During a recent Live streaming session with fans on Instagram, the Houston Hottie debated losing some of the songs that have become her signature from her upcoming album.

“I just remember how y’all used to really whack me for making pop-that-ass music,” she joked. “I really wanted to get on y’all’s asses and show y’all how bad I can rap, so I really haven’t been in touch with my roots. I’m tryna see if y’all wanna pop that ass.”

She gave a little more insight into the progress of the album as well. “How many songs do y’all feel like y’all wanna hear on this album?” she asked. “In my mind, I was thinking 14, but I keep recording songs that’s so good! The first 20 songs I had, I’m just straight rapping. And then I started being in a better mood, so it’s like feel-good songs, and then I got in a ratchet mood ‘cuz you know it’s about to be summertime!”

So far, Meg’s dropped two songs that could be from the new album, “Cobra” and “Hiss,” both of which could fall under that first category. The latter debuted at No. 1 on the Hot 100, so it doesn’t seem fans mind too much hearing her just rap, but here’s hoping that she does manage to churn out some twerking anthems as befits the self-declared “Best Ass On Instagram.” Especially with her Hot Girl Summer Tour coming soon, she’s going to need something for the girls to pop those posteriors to, right?