The It List: 'Dead to Me,' Vampire Weekend, 'Long Shot' and the best in pop culture the week of April 29, 2019
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 April 29 to May 5, including the best deals we could find for each.
WATCH IT: Long Shot
Don’t buy that Charlize Theron and Seth Rogen would ever be a couple? By the end of Long Shot, you just might. Far from being Knocked Up 2.0, the romance between Theron’s presidential candidate and Rogen’s speechwriter takes its cues from glossy, sophisticated ’90s rom-coms like The American President and Pretty Woman. If anything, director Jonathan Levine seems scared of being too sophisticated, occasionally injecting Superbad-style raunch where it’s not needed. Writers Dan Sterling and Liz Hannah also struggle to use the characters’ backstory — Theron used to babysit Rogen when they were teenagers — as the launching pad for their present-day love story. But the two stars clear those hurdles by landing the movie’s big emotional and comic moments, ably assisted by an ace supporting cast that includes June Diane Raphael and O’Shea Jackson Jr. We wouldn’t be the kings of wishful thinking to hope we see Theron and Rogen paired together again.
Long Shot opens in theaters on May 3. Visit Fandango and Atom Tickets for showtime and ticket information.
WATCH IT: Dead to Me
A comedy series with both Christina Applegate and Linda Cardellini in it? Yes, please! Applegate has long established herself as a successful comic, and never forget her co-star’s work in Legally Blonde or the poignant Freaks and Geeks (R.I.P.!). Here, the actresses team up to play a grieving widow (Applegate) and a widow with a big secret — the cops are looking for her for some reason — in a show about female friendship. The network describes it as “an addictive dark comedy that dives into the painfully unfiltered, weirdly funny waters of grief, loss and forgiveness,” which is pretty much what you get from the fun trailer.
All 10 episodes of Dead to Me are available on Netflix beginning May 3.
HEAR IT: Vampire Weekend, Father of the Bride
The eagerly anticipated first studio album in six years from the bookish, quirky NYC indie-rockers features contributions from several other members of indie royalty, including Jenny Lewis, HAIM’s Danielle Haim, the Dirty Projectors’s David Longstreth, Chromeo’s P-Thugg and Beck multi-instrumentalist Justin Meldal-Johnsen.
Download on iTunes; buy on CD/vinyl at Amazon.
HEAR IT: Dooku: Jedi Lost
Star Wars is no stranger to audio — the Original Trilogy was adapted into radio dramas in the 1980s, with Mark Hamill reprising Luke Skywalker in the first two adaptations — but Dooku: Jedi Lost is the first wholly original audio drama set a long time ago since the 1983 story Rebel Mission to Ord Mantell. Written by Cavan Scott — an author who’s no stranger to the format having written a number of excellent Doctor Who audio dramas for Big Finish-- — Dooku: Jedi Lost gives us our first canonical insight into the backstory of the Sith Lord Darth Tyranus, better known as Count Dooku. Featuring a full-cast Dooku: Jedi Lost opens an exciting new avenue to explore a galaxy far, far away.
The Dooku: Jedi Lost audiobook is available on Audible. New subscribers will enjoy a free 30-day trial that includes one audiobook and two Audible Originals. Memberships are $14.95 per month after the trial.
STREAM IT: Suspiria
Luca Guadagnino didn’t so much remake Dario Argento’s cult horror favorite as he did remix it. The new film is a wild blend of genres and tones, merrily contorting itself from grounded drama to crazy fever dream. Guadagnino’s usual muse, Tilda Swinton, is reliably great, but it’s Dakota Johnson who delivers career-best work as a novice dancer who unexpectedly ends up in the company of a coven of witches.
Suspiria will be available to stream on May 3 on Amazon Prime.
WATCH IT: Power On
A quintet of five well-known actresses (Rosario Dawson, Julie Bowen, Nikki Reed, Lisa Edelstein and Ana Brenda Contreras) step behind the camera to direct short films aimed at inspiring young females to consider careers in the STEAM fields (science, technology, engineering, arts and math), where gender inequality remains vast. And the best thing? They're all available to watch free on YouTube. A perfect (educational!) alternative to offer your daughter in between Billie Eilish videos and She-Ra episodes.
Watch Power On shorts on YouTube.
HEAR IT: Little Steven & The Disciples of Soul, Summer of Sorcery
Steven Van Zandt — Springsteen musician, Sopranos actor, Little Steven’s Underground Garage radio guru and all-around New Jersey renaissance man — has finally found the time to release his first album of new material in 20 years. A limited-edition double-LP version of the ‘60s-inspired record will be available on 180-gram "Psychedelic Swirl" vinyl for SVZ completists.
Download on iTunes; buy on CD/vinyl at Amazon.
BUY IT: Jaws Funko Pops
Put a little bite into your Funko collection with these sharp-looking Jaws Pops. Amity Island shark hunters Brody, Hooper and Quint are beautifully preserved in plastic form — check out the Chief’s bucket of chum! — but the real prize here is their elusive Great White target. The 6” people eater comes in two versions: with or without combustible diving tank in his, uh, jaws.
Jaws Pops range from $10.99 to $19.99 and are available for pre-order on Entertainment Earth.
HEAR IT: L7, Scatter the Rats
Los Angeles’s pioneering all-girl grunge/punk band returns with their first album since 1999’s Slap-Happy, following up their critically hailed 2016 documentary L7: Pretend We're Dead. The comeback effort is out via fellow rock goddess Joan Jett’s label, Blackheart Records.
Download on iTunes; buy on CD/vinyl at Barnes & Noble.
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