The It List: The untold story of boy band Menudo told in HBO Max doc, new movie finds '90s icons Beavis and Butt-Head going to space and beyond, Lupe Fiasco drops new album and all the best in pop culture the week of June 20, 2022
The It List is Yahoo's weekly look at the best in pop culture, including movies, music, TV, streaming, games, books, podcasts and more. Here are our picks for June 20-26, including the best deals we could find for each. (Yahoo Entertainment may receive a share from purchases made via links on this page.)
STREAM IT: Menudo’s story is capture forever
The untold and often tragic story of long-running Puerto Rican boy band Menudo — whose members were ousted from the lineup upon turning 16 years old — is chronicled in the four-part HBO Max docuseries Menudo: Forever Young. While the group’s most successful breakout solo star, Ricky Martin, is not involved, directors ángel Manuel Soto (Charm City Kings) and Kristofer Ríos (Havana Skate Days) interview many former members to discuss Menudo’s legacy — from the global-sensation glitz, to sadly all-too-familiar stories of the physical, verbal and sexual abuse they allegedly suffered at the hands of their manager. — Lyndsey Parker
Menudo: Forever Young premieres Thursday, June 23 to on HBO Max.
STREAM IT: Beavis and Butt-Head go galactic (and 3D!) in new Paramount+ special
They've conquered America — time to take on the universe. Mike Judge's iconic animated duo make their streaming era debut with the new Paramount+ feature, Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe, which opens with our favorite nads-kicking idiots exploring the true final frontier: 3D animation. But the bulk of the 90-minute comedy find Beavis and Butt-Head in their classic 2D form, as an unexpected trip to space sends them rocketing from the late '90s to the 2020s after passing through a black hole. (Insert your own B&B snicker here.) Emerging in their future — and our present — the friends discover a brave new world that's populated by super-smart versions of... themselves? — Ethan Alter
Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe premieres Thursday, June 23 on Paramount+.
STREAM IT: Spoiled young adults get a crash course in adulthood on Snowflake Mountain
Remember Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie's The Simple Life and, later, Filthy Rich: Cattle Drive, which featured a pre-Keeping Up With the Kardashians star Kourtney? Like those early reality TV shows, Snowflake Mountain is based on the premise of spoiled, lazy young adults being dropped in an unlikely place — in this case, an outdoor survival retreat without running water or Wi-Fi — where they were tricked into going. (They were told that they were going to a 5-star resort to film a glamorous new reality show.) Once at their decidedly un-glamorous destination, the 10 contestants, who include an unemployed 26-year-old who drops $500 of his parents' money on beauty services every week, compete for cash under the guidance of two former members of the military. "It feels borderline abusive," one of the so-called snowflakes says in the first episode. Another adds that the experience is the "worst" of his entire life. Pass the popcorn, please, for this quick distraction from the real world. — Raechal Shewfelt
Snowflake Mountain premieres Wednesday, June 22 on Netflix.
WATCH IT: Penélope Cruz and Antonio Banderas engage in some Official Competition
Antonio Banderas and Penélope Cruz are acting royalty in Spain as well as America, but the two have only shared the screen intermittently over the their long careers. That changes in Official Competition, a savvy satire of the kind of art house movies both actors are familiar with. Cruz plays an acclaimed and respected director who accepts a wealthy cinephile's offer to turn an acclaimed book into an award-winning film. Enter Banderas's movie star, who brings commercial cred to the project, but has his own unique acting process. This exclusive clip from the film shows Banderas and Cruz in the midst of a rehearsal that takes a painful turn... literally. — E.A.
Official Competition premieres Friday, June 24 in theaters; visit Fandango for showtime and ticket information.
BUY IT: Funko Pop Albums may be toy giant’s coolest gizmo yet
It was cool enough when Funko expanded their gigantic collection of beloved movie and television characters to also include iconic musicians. But their Funko Pop Albums — which they started rolling out in 2020 — may be their coolest advancement yet. The collection, now up to at least 27, positions your typical Funko-style music figure in front of their most famous album covers. Among the best to drop recently: Jimi Hendrix’s Are You Experienced?, Queen’s Greatest Hits and Britney Spears’s Oops! I Did It Again… But nothing will ever beat the baby from Notorious B.I.G.’s Ready to Die album. — Kevin Polowy
Buy Funko Pop Albums on Amazon.
STREAM IT: Love and Gelato heaps on the romance
Netflix has adapted author Jenna Evans Welch's 2016 novel into a movie starring Susanna Skaggs (Halt and Catch Fire) as Lina, a college student who promises her dying mother that she will spend her summer before college in Rome, which her mom loved. In true romcom fashion, once Lina is there, she finds herself taking in the delectable eats and breathtaking sights — including two potential love interests — all while using her late mother's journal as a guide. As a friend sums up early on, "Pizza, cannolis, hot Italian boys, stat!” — R.S.
Love and Gelato premieres Wednesday, June 22 on Netflix.
WATCH IT: Shaft is still a bad mother in new Criterion Collection release
One of the great mysteries of our lifetime will be why 2019's Shaft, a sequel to the 2000 remake Shaft, was also called Shaft. But we digress. With all due respect to Samuel L. Jackson, the 1971 original starring Richard Roundtree will always be superior, no matter how movies they call Shaft from here to eternity. Arguably the gold standard in Blaxploitation cinema, the Gordon Parks-directed classic about everybody’s favorite private dick gets the Criterion Collection this week, with a 4K digital restoration, a new making-of documentary, archival interviews with cast and much, much more. — K.P.
Shaft: The Criterion Collection releases Tuesday, June 21 on Amazon.
HEAR IT: Lupe Fiasco drills down
Locking himself in a studio with longtime collaborator Soundtrakk in Aug. 2021, Lupe Fiasco challenged himself to create an album in just 24 hours. It took him slightly longer than that, but it’s still impressive that 72 hours later, the result was Drill Music in Zion. Fiasco has called it his “best album” (even comparing it to Nas’s Illmatic), and Grammy-winning engineer Craig Bauer (whose credits include Kanye West’s Late Registration and Graduation as well as Fiasco’s own Food & Liquor and The Cool) has hailed as “rap album of the decade” — further heightening expectations for the Chicago alternative rapper’s first album since 2018. — L.P.
Drill Music in Zion by Lupe Fiasco is available Friday, June 24 to download/stream on Apple Music.
WATCH IT: Nicolas Cage and Pedro Pascal bro out on Blu-ray in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent
Nicolas Cage got a lot of attention, and rightfully so, for his stellar (if not reaching) performance as, well, Nick Cage in April’s unbearably great The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. But let it also be known that the movie is also one of the best bromantic comedies to come from Hollywood in years thanks to the deliriously fun chemistry between Cage and co-star Pedro Pascal. Everyone around them chooses chaos; they just want to bro out and watch Paddington 2. Unbearable Weight hits Blu-ray this week with deleted scenes, featurettes and a director’s commentary. — K.P.
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent releases on Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD Tuesday, June 21 on Amazon.
STREAM IT: Brandi Glanville, Vicki Gunvalson, Dorinda Medley and more unite for RHUGT
Buckle up, Housewives fans. Your favorite pot-stirring, meme-generating ex-wives are back for Season 2 of Ultimate Girls Trip. Jill Zarin, Taylor Armstrong, Brandi Glanville, Vicki Gunvalson, Tamra Judge, Eva Marcille, Phaedra Parks and Jill Zarin get together at Dorinda Medley's Blue Stone Manor for an epic all-star season. It's 2012 all over again for former Real Housewives of Beverly Hills stars Armstrong and Glanville who get into it on episode 1. (Yes, there's a classic "Shut the f*** up" from Glanville at the dinner table.) The stage is also set for Medley and Gunvalson's feud, which has been playing out in the press in recent weeks. All of the ladies are clearly vying for spots back on their home show and it just might work out for a few of them. — Taryn Ryder
The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip: Ex-Wives Club drops Thursday, June 23 on Peacock.
HEAR IT: Jack Johnson shoots for the moon
Surfing singer-songwriter Jack Johnson hasn’t released a full-length album in five years, but he’s making up for lost time on Meet the Moonlight, his most ambitious project yet. The result of an intense one-on-one collaboration with renowned producer Blake Mills (Alabama Shakes, Perfume Genius, Jim James), the album is a departure from how Johnson usually records, and the result is what Mills calls “one of the most spiritually interesting things I’ve ever worked on.” — L.P.
Meet the Moonlight by Jack Johnson is available Friday, June 24 to download/stream on Apple Music.
WATCH IT: Groove to PBS's new music series, American Anthems
Music truly makes the people come together in American Anthems, PBS's new docuseries. Over the course of six episodes, watch some of the biggest country stars around — including Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush — make new songs based on the extraordinary experiences of ordinary Americans. The series premiere, for example, finds Nettles turning the story of a cancer survivor into an inspirational anthem, while a later installment features Bush and Lindsay Ell penning a rousing fight song for survivors of sexual assault. — E.A.
American Anthems premieres Friday, June 24 on PBS.
BUY IT: Sonic Origins takes Sega's beloved hedgehog back to his 16-bit roots
Gotta go fast! After speeding to box office glory on the big screen, Sonic the Hedgehog goes retro in Sonic Origins, which remasters his vintage video game adventures for next-gen consoles. This anthology collects the first three games, plus Sonic & Knuckles and Sonic CD, and features new opening and ending animations, plus freshly created content. Chili dogs not included. — E.A.
Sonic Origins is available Thursday, June 23 at most major retailers, including Amazon.
HEAR IT: Trixie Mattel shows all her colors
RuPaul’s Drag Race icon Trixie Mattel has established herself as a formidable Americana/powerpop singer-songwriter, and now this queen of all media is back with her fourth LP — and it’s a double-album, featuring collaborations with Shakey Graves and Michelle Branch. The skinny legend (real name: Brian Firkus) expands her palette on The Blonde & Pink Albums, led by the Nancy Sinatra-esque surf-rock of “Hello Hello,” the garage punk of “C'mon Loretta” and folksy, bittersweet Graves duet “This Town.” — L.P.
The Blonde & Pink Albums by Trixie Mattel is available Friday, June 24 to download/stream on Apple Music.
— Video produced by Anne Lilburn and edited by John Santo