The It List: Nicki Minaj joins 'Drag Race' judging panel, Lisa Loeb drops 15th album, 'Knives Out' hits home entertainment and the best in pop culture the week of Feb. 24, 2020

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 Feb. 24 - March 1, including the best deals we could find for each. (Yahoo Entertainment may receive a share from purchases made via links on this page.)

WATCH IT: Everybody say love! RuPaul’s Drag Race is back

Shapeshifting queen of all media and three-time Emmy-winner RuPaul returns with his culture-shifting talent show — and this time, the queen of hip-hop, Nicki Minaj, is on board for the premiere, following in the high-heeled footsteps of other guest divas like Lady Gaga, Christina Aguilera and Miley Cyrus. This star-studded 12th season will also feature guest judges Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Chaka Khan, Robyn, Leslie Jones, Normani, Whoopi Goldberg, Daisy Ridley, Thandie Newton, Olivia Munn, Rachel Bloom... and even Jeff Goldblum. Halleloo! — Lyndsey Parker

RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 12 premieres Friday, Feb. 28 at 8 p.m. on VH1.

WATCH IT: The Invisible Man gets a fresh reboot you really need to see

Universal's Dark Universe monster-verse apparently suffered a quick death after the 2017 Tom Cruise bomb The Mummy. Don't hold that against The Invisible Man. This fresh and thrilling spin on the classic yarn is the rare reboot that's existence is fully justified. Our focus pivots from the mad scientist to the woman he torments, as Elisabeth Moss flees an abusive marriage with a tech scion (Oliver Jackson-Cohen), then gets haunted by him after his suicide. Writer-director Leigh Whannell pulls us in from the opening escape sequence, and the tension never lets up, so much so that it's incredibly easy to overlook a few gaping plot holes. The fact that Moss's Cecilia is constantly doubted and thought to be crazy the second she mentions "an Invisible Man" gives the film some extra vitality when you look at it as an allegory about believing women. Between helming 2018's Upgrade and now Invisible, Saw and Insidious writer-turned-director Leigh Whannell is quickly becoming one of the most exciting filmmakers working in the genre. — Kevin Polowy

The Invisible Man opens in theaters on Friday, Feb. 28; visit Fandango for showtime and ticket information.

WATCH IT: Happiness begins for The Voice

After Gwen Stefani stepped in last season to fill in for exiting coach Adam Levine, that big red chair will be occupied in Season 18 by a new cast member, Nick Jonas. Judging from the screams in the studio audience from adoring young fans, the Jonas Brother is likely to bring a new viewership to the show... and give hyper-competitive incumbent coach Blake Shelton a real run for his money. — L.P.

The Voice Season 18 premieres Monday, Feb. 24 at 8 p.m. on NBC.

WATCH IT: If you loved The End of the F***ing World, you’ll f***ing want to watch Netflix’s I Am Not Okay With This

Disney has Marvel, and Warner Bros. has DC, but only Netflix can boast to building out the Charles Forsman Cinematic Universe. After turning the comic book scribe’s 2008 graphic novel, The End of the F***ing World into a buzzy TV show, the streaming service adapts his 2017 book, I Am Not Okay With This, into a seven-episode series. Gretel & Hansel’s Sophia Lillis plays the central heroine, Sydney, a sullen 17-year-old high-school student who confides her troubles — including fits of anger and a recently deceased father — in her diary. Sofia Bryant plays her best friend Dina and Lillis’s It: Chapter One co-star, Wyatt Oleff, is the weird kid down the street, Stanley Barber. Speaking of weird, strange(r) things are afoot in Sydney’s small town when she finds her inner anger manifesting itself in telekinetic outbursts. Carrie meets The Breakfast Club? We’re totally okay with that. — Ethan Alter

I Am Not Okay With This premieres Wednesday, Feb. 26 on Netflix.

WATCH IT: Instant classic Knives Out lands on home entertainment

Yahoo Entertainment's No. 1 movie of 2019 is finally available for repeat viewings on home entertainment. (Maybe We shouldn't say "finally"... remember when movies took like six months to come out on DVD?) Rian Johnson's wickedly smart and deviously entertaining whodunit about a spoiled-rotten family of New Englanders (Chris Evans, Toni Collette, Jamie Lee Curtis, too many other perfectly cast actors to list) being investigated for the death of the patriarch they've leeched off of (Christopher Plummer) is sure to have some surprises in store that you didn't catch the first time, especially when viewing with the outcome already in mind. Bonus materials include multiple commentaries from Johnson, deleted scenes, viral ads and an eight-part documentary called Making a Murder. — K.P.

Buy Knives Out on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, DVD or digital on Amazon.

READ IT: Sadie Robertson reveals her secrets to life

Sadie Robertson, granddaughter of Phil Robertson, star of former A&E hit reality show Duck Dynasty, has penned a fifth book at just 22. In Live, she promises to tell people how to stop letting things just happen to them and start experiencing true joy. “When you truly learn to live the life God offers, your whole existence becomes a verb,” she said in promotion materials for her book. In fact, the subtitle of her book reads: “Remain alive, be alive at a specified time, have an exciting or fulfilling life.” — Raechal Shewfelt

Live is available on Tuesday, Feb. 25 from booksellers including Amazon and Walmart.

HEAR IT: Lisa Loeb is here to stay

The bespectacled singer-songwriter, who first came to fame 21 years ago via Reality Bites, brings us a healthy dose of Gen X reality via her 15th album, A Simple Trick to Happiness, which lyrically explores mature themes about marriage, motherhood, love and death. — L.P.

Download on iTunes; buy on CD at Amazon.

WATCH IT: Dispatches From Elsewhere brings the intrigue

AMC debuts another original drama, this one star-studded, with Sally Field, Richard E. Grant, Jason Segel and André Benjamin (better known as Outkast rapper André 3000). The 10-hour anthology series follows four bored people who “stumble onto a puzzle hiding just behind the veil of everyday life,” which is, of course, not easy to solve. The trailer’s packed with creepy, Stranger Things-esque music and visuals, including neon lights, a talking fish and Grant as a mysterious narrator. Segel, who created the show, has incorporated some obvious nods to other fan favorites, such as The Handmaid’s Tale and Westworld, too. The style, as well as the interesting premise, make this one worth checking out. — R.S.

Dispatches From Elsewhere premieres with a two-night event on Sunday, March 1 and Monday, March 2 at 10 p.m. on AMC.

WATCH IT: Get a taste of Romanian noir with the clever crime caper, The Whistlers

Parasite’s historic Best Picture win has turned the international spotlight on South Korean cinema, but there are other nations regularly turning out great films as well. Case in point: Romania, where the Romanian New Wave that kicked off in the mid-‘00s is still going strong. The Whistlers is the latest film from one of the founding directors of that movement, Corneliu Porumboiu, and it’s a delightful lark: a twisty crime yarn that unfolds in a surveillance state where peeping toms are everywhere. When a Romanian cop (Vlad Ivanov) is drafted into a criminal syndicate’s plan to free one of its own, he plays both sides against each other all the while trying to ensure that he and the story’s requisite femme fatale (Catrinel Marlon) will be the last two left standing. Boasting an intricately constructed time-shifting narrative that’s reminiscent of Out of Sight and plenty of allusions to classic Hollywood capers, The Whistlers is a great gateway for newcomers to Romanian filmmaking. — E.A.

The Whistlers opens in theaters on Friday, Feb. 28; visit Fandango for showtime and ticket information.

HEAR IT: James Taylor sets the Standard

The great American troubadour delves into the Great American Songbook with American Standard, crooning classics like “Moon River,” “Almost Like Being in Love,” “The Nearness of You,” “God Bless the Child” and “Pennies From Heaven.” — L.P.

Download on iTunes; buy on CD/vinyl at Amazon.

WATCH IT: Get lost in the Canadian mystery Disappearance at Clifton Hill

One of the unsung pleasures at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival arrives in theaters and VOD for American audiences to discover. The third feature film from writer/director Albert Shin is a mystery yarn set in and around Niagara Falls, the tourist attraction that’s also the hometown of troubled heroine, Abby (Tuppence Middleton). Returning after years away, Abby becomes obsessed with piecing together her fragmented memories of a kidnapping she may (or may not) have witnessed as a child. That quest brings her into contact with all sorts of eccentric characters, including a podcaster/scuba diver played by — and we’re not making this up — celebrated Canadian horror auteur, David Cronenberg. That casting alone is worth the price of a ticket or digital rental.
Disappearance at Clifton Hill opens in theaters on Feb. 28; visit Fandango for showtime and ticket information. The film is also available on VOD services.