The It List: The Jonas Brothers chase their 'Olympic Dreams,' 'Ted Lasso' returns, the mask craze continues with 'Sexy Beasts' and the best in pop culture the week of July 19, 2021
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 July 19-25, 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: See the JoBros go for the gold on Olympic Dreams Featuring Jonas Brothers
In an alternate universe, Nick, Joe and Kevin would still be in the spotlight, but they'd be famous for their performances on the field or the mat, rather than the stage. It's something they aspired to as kids. And now they get a chance to feel out what that would be like in this lighthearted competition — well, lighthearted for some. "I'm going to destroy you both," Joe tells his brothers in the trailer. (We think he's kidding.) The guys have some help training from world-class athletes, including gymnast Laurie Hernandez, who won gold and silver medals at the 2016 Olympics in Rio; Sanya Richards-Ross, a four-time gold medalist, with wins dating back to the 2004 games in Athens; and Nastia Lukin, who, in 2008, took home the gold medal for the women's gymnastics all-around competition from Beijing. While the mentors in this situation are second to none in their fields, the Jonas Brothers are somewhat underqualified for this gig. Nick says the guys, "make complete fools of ourselves," but that doesn't stop them from competing fiercely. "The last time we were all this competitive, the band broke up," he says. — Raechal Shewfelt
Olympic Dreams Featuring Jonas Brothers premieres Wednesday, July 21 at 8 p.m. on NBC.
WATCH IT: Venture Behind the Attraction with the latest Disney+ documentary series
As Disney's theme parks roar back to life following their coronavirus-mandated closures, the new documentary series Behind the Attraction offers a deep dive into how some of those signature rides and experiences came to be. The 10-episode first season kicks off by inviting viewers to take a Jungle Cruise aboard the recently revamped attraction that first opened in 1955. Additional installments focus on the Haunted Mansion, the Hall of Presidents and, of course, It's a Small World. Hear from the Imagineers who design and maintain these attractions at the Most Magical Places on Earth and learn how they've evolved. — Ethan Alter
Behind the Attraction premieres Wednesday, July 21 on Disney+.
WATCH IT: Kate Beckinsale gets back in the action game with Jolt
It's been five years since the last Underworld movie, but Kate Beckinsale hasn't lost a step when it comes to kicking butt onscreen. The British actress — and Instagram superstar — partners with director Tanya Wexler for Jolt, which plays like the origin story for an all-new, all-different vigilante hero. Beckinsale stars as Lindy, whose unique brain chemistry makes her partial to near-homicidal rages. To try and keep her fists of fury under control, she wears a specially-made vest that shocks her with jolts of electricity whenever she feels the urge to take down one — or more — bad dudes and dudettes. When her new boyfriend (Jai Courtney) is killed by a crime kingpin, she goes on a one-woman revenge rampage, even as a pair of cops (Bobby Cannavale and Laverne Cox) nip at her heels. This exclusive clip shows Lindy paying a visit to the scientist (Stanley Tucci) who keeps the jolts coursing through her vest. — E.A.
Jolt premieres Friday, July 23 on Amazon Prime Video.
WATCH IT: Zoe Lister-Jones throws a party for the end of the world in How It Ends
Filmed in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic, real-life couple Zoe Lister-Jones and Daryl Wein use the deserted streets of Los Angeles as the backdrop for their apocalyptic coming-of-age (again) comedy. With only one day until the world ends, people-shy Liza (Lister-Jones) is encouraged by the personification of her younger self (Cailee Spaeny) to grow up and finally attend a raging party. Venturing outside, she has a series of socially distant oddball encounters with a variety of scene-stealing guest stars, including Olivia Wilde, Paul Scheer, Fred Armisen and Nick Kroll. "When have I steered you wrong?" the younger Liza insists in this exclusive clip from the film. Talk about listening to your inner child. — E.A.
How It Ends premieres Tuesday, July 20 in theaters and on digital services, including FandangoNow.
WATCH IT: The hilariously strange French comedy Mandibles is like Dumb and Dumber meets The Fly
Imagine if Harry Dunne and Lloyd Christmas somehow managed to find a giant fly during their road trip from Providence to Aspen, and you've got the general vibe of Mandibles — the latest film from Quentin Dupieux, France's answer to early Spike Jonze. When dumb and dumber best buds Jean-Gab and Manu (David Marsais and Grégoire Ludig) encounter an oversized insect in the trunk of the abandoned car they're trying to steal, their discovery kicks off a series of increasingly silly events that test their friendship… and their uncanny ability to escape from close scrapes. But the real star of the film is the fly, Dominique, a modern marvel of low-fi special effects. See her work her magic in this exclusive clip from the film, where the hapless duo tries to figure out what to do with their new pet. — E.A.
Mandibles premieres Friday, July 23 in theaters and on digital and on-demand services, including Redbox.
BUY IT: The game-changing third season of Star Trek: Discovery warp speeds onto Blu-ray
Season 3 of Star Trek: Discovery continued to boldly go to new frontiers of the Trek franchise extended universe, catapulting the crew of the titular vessel 900 years into the future. As fresh arrivals in this previously undiscovered country, Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) and the rest of her Starfleet-trained officers have to seek out new allies amid the new worlds and new civilizations they encounter. Those allies include the first transgender and non-binary characters in Trek history, a game-changing example of inclusive casting that awed Discovery cast member — and official Yahoo Game Changer —Wilson Cruz. The third season arrives on Blu-ray with a wealth of bonus features, including deleted scenes, featurettes and a gag reel. This exclusive clip from one of the behind-the-scenes docs finds showrunner Michelle Paradise palling around with Martin-Green on location during the production of the Season 3 premiere. — E.A.
Star Trek: Discovery Season 3 is available on Blu-ray and DVD on Tuesday, July 20 at most major retailers, including Amazon.
STREAM IT: Dive deep into the Ted Lasso-verse with Season 2 of the hit show
Fresh off its record-setting 20 Emmy nominations, Apple TV+'s big-hearted signature comedy series — starring Jason Sudeikis as the folksy American football coach exiled to helm a Bad News Bears-esque British soccer club — is back for a second go-round with no sign of a sophomore slump. While Sudeikis's title character remains the focus, Season 2 (of a planned three-season run) spends much more time developing and elevating the stellar supporting players, especially Brett Goldstein as the gruff has-been Roy Kent hysterically miscast as a U.K. soccer commentator. And be sure to break out the biscuits and binge Season 1 if you haven’t already. —Marcus Errico
Ted Lasso's second season premieres Friday, July 23 on Apple TV+.
WATCH IT: Blind dating lurches into Beast mode
If there's anything we've learned from five hit seasons of The Masked Singer, it's that everything is better when you're wearing a mask (especially in the age of COVID!). The early adopters at the Fox network capitalized on masking mania with their official spinoff The Masked Dancer, and now Netflix is premiering its own version of The Masklorette. ("Or as I like to call it, The Masked Swingers, Masked Singer judge Ken Jeong recently told us.) Actually, Netflix's new masked dating show is officially titled Sexy Beasts, and it stars bipedal, anthropomorphic beavers, baboons, devils, pandas, aliens and oxen searching for their interspecies soulmates. Apparently love truly is blind — and on this show, it's truly bonkers. — Lyndsey Parker
Sexy Beasts premieres Friday, July 23 on Netflix.
HEAR IT: Leon Bridges digs for '70s Gold
Inspired by Gold Diggers — the '70s-retro East Hollywood bar/hotel/recording studio where it was created over the course of two years — Americana-soul singer Leon Bridges's joyful third album, Gold-Diggers Sound, features Robert Glasper, Terrace Martin, and Ink, with Anderson .Paak directing the music video for "Motorbike." Bridges has described Gold-Diggers Sound as "sensual and confident," telling his Instagram followers: "The record truly came together when I immersed myself in everything @golddiggersla, making it my home, my escape, and the center of my creative world. The record features some remarkably talented friends, longtime collaborators and I believe it's my most personal album yet." — L.P.
Gold-Diggers Sound by Leon Bridges is available Friday, July 23 to download/stream on Apple Music.
READ IT: Sandcastle is the chilling graphic novel that inspired M. Night Shyamalan's Old
Before checking out the latest from Hollywood's twist-master (in theaters this Friday), read the new edition of the graphic novel that inspired Old. Featuring an introduction by writer Pierre Oscar Lévy, who offers some fresh insight into his inspiration behind the story, Sandcastle finds a disparate group of strangers whose sojourn to an idyllic beach devolves into horror as they suddenly, inexplicably begin to rapidly age with no means of escape. A meditation on life, death, religion, race, love and lost opportunity, the images from Levy and artist Frederik Peeters will haunt you long after the final panel. — M.E.
Sandcastle is available in hardcover and digital formats at Amazon and other booksellers.
BUY IT: Snatch makes for precious cargo on 4K Ultra HD
As that Irish, bare-knuckle boxing gypsy Mickey O'Neil might say, "[unintelligible!]." Guy Ritchie's beloved crime caper that featured Brad Pitt's most incoherent (and possibly most hilarious) performance and also starred Jason Statham, Benicio del Toro and Vinnie Jones gets the 4K UHD treatment 21 years after its initial release. In addition to its newly remastered resolution comes bonus features, including director and producer commentary, deleted scenes, a making-of featurette and storyboard comparisons. — Kevin Polowy
Snatch on 4K Ultra HD is available at Amazon.
BUY IT: Dinosaurs, Hot Wheels and He-Man, oh my! Mattel unleashes a wave of new Comic-Con toys
San Diego Comic-Con may be virtual again this year, but Mattel is showing why it's the Master of the Comic-Con@Home Universe. In between the star-powered lineup of virtual panels that run from July 23-25, Con-goers can drop by Mattel Creations and shop for multiple toy exclusives from such fan-friendly franchises as Jurassic Park, Masters of the Universe and Star Wars. The company's collection ranges from action figures, like the WWE Ultimate Edition Sgt. Slaughter and a Scare Glow ghost warrior from Netflix's highly-anticipated Masters of the Universe: Revelation series, to Hot Wheels cars to celebrated characters, like Deadpool, Batman and Darth Vader. There's also a playset based on a "deleted scene" from Steven Spielberg's 1993 dino-sized blockbuster and a replica of a classic character from the beloved Pixar cartoon Up. And here's the best part — virtual shopping doesn't require any lines. — E.A.
Mattel's Comic-Con@Home 2021 exclusives are available Thursday, July 22 on Mattel Creations.
BUY IT: Chris Rock is a horror star now as Spiral hits home video
That wasn't a fever dream. Chris Rock really did reinvent the Saw series earlier this year with the spin-off Spiral. Unsurprisingly, it becomes the funniest Saw movie within the film's first 10 minutes once Rock (a detective on the trail of a Jigsaw copycat killer taking out cops) first starts riffing — but thankfully the humor never comes at the expense of the horror. It's both highly entertaining and highly predictable, and well worth giving it a shot on 4K, Blu-ray, DVD or digital if you missed it the first time around. Bonus features include audio commentaries, a "Creating Spiral" featurette and illustrated trap breakdowns. — K.P.
Spiral on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and/or DVD is available on Amazon.
HEAR IT: Jackson Browne wages a Downhill battle
Renowned singer-songwriter and activist Jackson Browne is hardly running on empty. At age 72 and a half-century into his career, his first new album in nearly seven years, Downhill From Everywhere, is his most socially conscious long-player since 1986's Lives in the Balance. The stellar lyricist's record explores both the personal and political, with Browne inspired by current events (Black Lives Matter, the pandemic, the growing environmental crisis) as well as an exciting late-in-life romance. — L.P.
Downhill From Everywhere by Jackson Browne is available Friday, July 23 to download/stream on Apple Music.
BUY IT: Deep Cover finally gets its time to shine with Criterion release
There were so many great crime dramas released in the early '90s, but too often lost in the shadow of more celebrated titles, like Goodfellas and Juice, is Deep Cover. Bill Duke's biting and noirish War on Drugs-era thriller stars Laurence Fishburne as a Los Angeles cop who goes undercover as a partner to Jeff Goldblum's drug trafficker to bring down a West Coast cartel. (It's hard to imagine the increasingly eccentric Goldblum in such a role these days, but trust us, it works.) The film is also notable for introducing Snoop Dogg to the world; he is featured on the title 1992 single from Dr. Dre, Snoop's first studio cut. Deep Cover finally gets some more respect put on its name with a Criterion Collection release featuring a new 4K digital restoration, interviews and panel conversations with Duke and company, and much more. — K.P.
Deep Cover: The Criterion Collection is available on Amazon.
HEAR IT: David Crosby is a Free spirit
At nearly age 80 and after many brushes with death and the law, in recent years David Crosby has unexpectedly entered his most bustling and creatively energized period of his career. For Free is the Laurel Canyon legend's fifth album in seven years (following a gap in his solo discography between 1993 and 2014), and he's fine form alongside special guests Michael McDonald, Donald Fagen, and Sarah Jarosz, with production by his son and frequent collaborator James Raymond. — L.P.
For Free by David Crosby is available Friday, July 23 to download/stream on Apple Music.
BUY IT: Tiny TV Classics make it easy to collect your all-time favorite TV shows
Don't have time for a full South Park binge, but want to have yourselves a time? Tiny TV Classics is your gateway to that quiet little mountain town. Basic Fun's new line of collectibles is pint-sized working televisions that come loaded up with clips from your favorite shows, all easily accessed with a tiny remote. The first wave of Tiny TVs feature Must See TV classics like Batman and Friends, as well as movies like Back to the Future, all of which come with appropriately-themed mini-sets. These collectibles — some of which have already sold out — are small, but the entertainment value is mighty. — E.A.
Tiny TV Classics are available now at Walmart.
-Video produced by Anne Lilburn and edited by Jimmie Rhee
