I always thought this picture would make a funny WH39K edit with Caiaphas Cain after I started the Cain series.
Turns out the original pic is from a ********* book series called Flashman. Were the protagonist is a coward in the army, and whenever he gets scared his face gets red, making people think he’s pissed off, leading so shenanigans.
And so it turns out… like damn. You ever pick up a psychic vibe from of art and think “yeah these are the same character”
I know probably not many will see this but I’ve got no one else to share this with so I’m sharing it with all of you instead. After writing for what feels like a really long time, I’ve finally reached 100,000 words, so close to the end now. I’ve gone from doing pretty much nothing when I wake up, to writing nearly every day and actually having some fun.
Didn’t know where else to post about this but Our samsung electric range caught on fire near the knob control panel on the back last night. Almost burned our entire house down. I had to spray water on it and shut off the breaker so i could pull it out and unplug it. House was FILLED with toxic smoke. I have looked it up and apparently a lot of other people with the same model number have had the EXACT same issue with that control panel catching fire. I have never thought about being in a class action lawsuit but I’m pretty sure if this is a for real defect on this range then it could potentially take houses and lives. IDK honestly it’s been a rough 12 hours since then. My eyes and throat burn and we’ve been on the phone with insurance/samsung for hours. If any one here has experience with class action lawsuits or just lawsuits in general feel free to drop a comment or PM me some info because we almost died and lost our home and I want SAMSUNG to ******* pay. (S/N NE59J7630 in case anyone has this oven do not leave it alone) I would love to take those ******* to court. (I am located in Oklahoma in case state matters for lawyer stuff)
Four and half months after suddenly closing stores in Chicago, Texas, and Washington, D.C., Foxtrot will attempt a comeback by opening its first store this week. Outfox Hospitality, the company that ran those 33 stores filed for bankruptcy in May, leaving a wake of angry vendors, workers scrambling to find new jobs, and accusations of breaking federal labor law. Since then, a new entity has been formed by the chain’s co-founder who says he’ll return the company to its roots by showcasing cool snacks made by local artisans and avoid the pitfalls that lead to the chain’s failure.
The first store is scheduled to open on Thursday, September 5 at 23 W. Maple Street in Gold Coast, according to a news release. An Old Town location at the corner of North Avenue and Wells Street will follow, though an opening date hasn’t been announced. A few vendors Eater spoke with last week said one of the reasons they joined the comeback effort is Foxtrot isn’t rushing to reopen all the stores they closed. Mike LaVitola, who founded Foxtrot in 2013, and is now chairman of the newly named Foxtrot Cafe & Market. He was part of an effort that bought Foxtrot’s assets in an auction for $2.5 million. LaVitola told Eater he wanted to focus on “getting it right” at individual locations rather than opening multiple stores at once. The initial plan announced was to open about 15 stores scattered in Chicago and Texas, with the majority in Chicago. There are two new details from the company’s latest release: They’re not specifying the number of stores anymore (last week, LaVitola said they were negotiating leases in unannounced locations including Wicker Park and Willis Tower.) The other details might be bitter for those in Austin, Texas, as it appears Foxtrot is focusing on reopening in Dallas, at least in the interim. Austin was home to four locations.
The closures caused a nationwide commotion in April, with a combination of anger (a class-action lawsuit alleging Outfox violated federal law by failing to provide proper notice for a mass layoff is pending; October 1 is the next court date), sadness (customers who lived nearby grew attached, one famously bemoaned moving to their residence to be near a Foxtrot), and resentment (some South Siders who had never been to a Foxtrot wondered why folks were being so dramatic). Foxtrot had found a niche in North Side Chicago neighborhoods as a corner store with trendy snacks, a coffee bar, and a cafe space to get work done or to sip wine or beer. It was a kind of third place for former office workers who had transitioned into a hybrid work-from-home schedule during the pandemic. Foxtrot saw an opportunity to scale, and after merging with local Chicago grocer Dom’s Kitchen & Market — which also had its own ambitious expansion plans — in 2022, Foxtrot announced intentions to open as many as 100 locations by 2024. By that point, LaVitola was no longer chief executive officer. He says he was pushed out to an advisory role. Foxtrot began opening in neighborhoods with pricey real estate like Fulton Market and at Wrigley Field. They were spending in the hope of getting noticed.
That detail is important as vendors have been gunshy about joining Foxtrot 2.0 and worried the chain would repeat mistakes. LaVitola told them he wasn’t involved in a leadership role at Outfox. Some have accepted LaVitola’s reassurances, saying they need Foxtrot’s customer base. Others have picked other retail routes.
But, as LaVitola points out, Foxtrot is about more than gourmet gummies or hot dog-flavored potato chips. The coffee bar was “the biggest revenue driver” — it was so much that nearby coffee shops were losing business to Foxtrot. The previous interaction of Foxtrot made a big deal of partnering with Philadelphia’s La Colombe. That relationship will continue, but the new Foxtrot will also stock items from local roasters Metric and Kyoto Black. They’re also adding new food items to complement its morning breakfast tacos, which will remain. Look for new panini sandwiches, salads, lunch bowls, and cookies.
Expect to see growing pains. As of last week, LaVitola wasn’t sure if customers would need to create new profiles on the store’s app, which was vital to the chain’s business. Before it was a brick-and-mortar, Foxtrot used its app for liquor and beer delivery. Still, LaVitola says he’s committed to “delivering an awesome experience in the stores.” One way is making sure customers better connect with the stories behind the people who make their products. He feels the previous iteration of Foxtrot relied too much on its website to do that.
“There’s just going to be a lot more of that content — for lack of a better word — and storytelling happening in the store versus online,” LaVitola says. “Online is still really important, and it’s still there, but I think that gap is going to be bridged.”
The characters in Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba distinguish themselves through their extraordinary bravery. Tanjiro Kamado, for example, consistently pushes himself to the brink of death just so that he can save the people around him. Then there’s Murata.
The first time the show introduces him, Murata runs away from the battle only to get caught by a demon. This side character is so forgettable he doesn’t get fun-colored hair or even a second name. He has no special powers, and his superiors chastise him often. He’s just your run-of-the-mill guy who happens to be caught up in the ruckus of several major battles.
But none of that matters, because fans of the Demon Slayer anime have unofficially anointed Murata as the series’ favorite and unofficial strongest character.
Let’s be clear: Murata is not all that powerful in the world of Demon Slayer. He is a standard grunt in the Demon Slayer corps and doesn’t practice any special breathing techniques. But that hasn’t hindered his reputation.
If anything, the idea that he’s the only regular dude among loads of seasoned fighters helps bring out the inherent irony of the bit.
In one video, which has more than 1.9 million views on TikTok, the creator layers text over a clip where Murata falls into the Infinity Castle — a vast domain and home to the most powerful demon, Muzan. The text says, “muzan’s worst mistake was putting murata within the same radius as him.” In the comments, people voice support for the joke and a person replies, “Muzan only goes outside at night because Murata is sleeping.” It’s been liked more than 22,000 times.
TikTok is filled with videos making jokes more or less like the one above, but the gag has only snowballed. Another video, which has more than 3.6 million views, makes a crack about how the entire fandom agrees that Murata is the strongest.
Now, fans are building on the original joke, inventing a fake but super-powerful fighting technique that only Murata knows, called “galaxy breathing.” The idea has become so popular that it’s a suggested search term in the comments.
Greetings, Polygon readers! Each week, we round up the most notable new releases to streaming and VOD, highlighting the biggest and best new movies for you to watch at home.
This week, Abigail, the horror comedy from Scream directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, gnaws its way onto VOD. There’s plenty more than that to choose from, as a plethora of exciting releases make their way onto streaming this weekend. Jeymes Samuel’s The Book of Clarence is now streaming on Netflix, the psychological thriller Eileen is available to watch on Hulu, and The Iron Claw is on Max, not to mention all the other new releases available to rent and purchase on VOD.
Here’s everything new that’s available to watch this weekend!
New on Netflix
The Book of Clarence
Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix
Image: Legendary Entertainment/Moris Puccio
Genre: Historical comedy Run time: 2h 9m Director: Jeymes Samuel Cast: LaKeith Stanfield, Omar Sy, RJ Cyler, Anna Diop
Jeymes Samuel (The Harder They Fall) returns with a new film, this time a biblical comedy drama starring LaKeith Stanfield. The Book of Clarence follows the story of a down-on-his-luck man living in A.D. 33 Jerusalem who aspires to free himself from debt.
His plan? Take a page out of the book of a local preacher claiming to be the son of God and proclaim himself as the Messiah, performing “miracles” in a bid for fame and glory. When Clarence’s schemes run afoul of the Romans, he’ll be faced with not only the consequences of his deception, but a choice that will shape his life and the course of history.
Mother of the Bride
Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix
Photo: Sasidis Sasisakulporn/Netflix
Genre: Rom-com Run time: 1h 28m Director: Mark Waters Cast: Brooke Shields, Benjamin Bratt, Miranda Cosgrove
Brooke Shields stars in this new rom-com as Lan, the mother of a woman who is about to marry the man of her dreams. After traveling to Thailand for the wedding, Lana learns that her college ex Will (Benjamin Bratt) is in fact the father of her daughter’s husband-to-be. Can these two figure out how to make it through the wedding without being painfully awkward, and is there still a chance for them to fall in love again?
Genre: Psychological thriller Run time: 1h 38m Director: William Oldroyd Cast: Thomasin McKenzie, Anne Hathaway, Shea Whigham
Based on Ottessa Moshfegh’s 2015 novel, this psychological thriller stars Thomasin McKenzie (Last Night in Soho) as a young secretary who becomes infatuated with Rebecca (Anne Hathaway), the charismatic new psychologist at the juvenile detention facility where she works. As their friendship grows, Eileen finds herself exploring new aspects of her personality — to equally sinister and deadly effect.
In making Eileen’s character flesh, Thomasin McKenzie walks a dramatic tightrope: effortlessly showing how much effort her character puts into performing for others, while also not tipping her hand about what, if anything, resides in Eileen’s soul. Both Eileen’s script and McKenzie’s choices depict her character as someone who wants to be human, even a certain kind of human, but doesn’t know how, or even to what end. So she settles on voyeurism — the film’s opening scene depicts her sitting in her car on a lovers’ lane, surreptitiously watching a couple of strangers make out in a second car. She flirts with the idea of masturbation, only to abruptly stop and stuff filthy snow down her skirt instead.
Genre: Biographical sports drama Run time: 2h 12m Director: Sean Durkin Cast: Zac Efron, Jeremy Allen White, Harris Dickinson
Zac Efron (Hairspray), Jeremy Allen White (The Bear), and Harris Dickinson (Triangle of Sadness) star in this thrilling dramatization of the lives of the Von Erich brothers, a trio of professional wrestlers whose larger-than-life careers and success during the 1980s were marred by tragedy and struggle.
The biopicification of such a horrendous, personal series of tragedies will sound crass to some. But Durkin doesn’t dilute the Von Erich story into direct-to-cable fluff. He’s performing a balancing act, aware that a sad story is only useful if people have the desire (and fortitude) to stay until the credits.
New on AMC Plus
The Taste of Things
Where to watch: Available to stream on AMC Plus
Photo: Carole Bethuel/IFC Films
Genre: Romance drama Run time: 2h 16m Director: Tran Anh Hung Cast: Juliette Binoche, Benoît Magimel, Emmanuel Salinger
This historical romance follows the story of Eugenie (Juliette Binoche) and Dodin (Benoît Magimel), a cook and a gourmand who live in a French country estate in 1889. Though the two are in love, Eugenie refuses to marry Dodin, and wishes to keep their relationship as it is. Desperate to woo her, Dodin takes up cooking in order to prepare a meal that will sweep her off her feet. The film is as terrific as the food looks scrumptious.
New to rent
Abigail
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Image: Universal Pictures
Genre: Horror comedy Run time: 1h 49m Directors: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett Cast: Melissa Barrera, Dan Stevens, Kathryn Newton
The directors behind 2019’s Ready or Not and 2022’s Scream are back with another horror comedy, this time centered around a group of kidnappers who are tasked with abducting the daughter of a wealthy businessman in exchange for ransom money. Unfortunately, the kidnappers have bit off more than they can chew, as this the little girl in question harbors a deadly secret of her own.
Once Abigail reveals herself as a deadly supernatural creature, the movie transforms into more of an action slasher, rather than going for scares. In that way, Abigail feels more like Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett’s earlier movie Ready or Not than like any other vampire movie. Both movies are mostly set in heavily locked-down mansions where someone is viciously, comedically hunted down. And both feature a deep love for explosions of blood and guts. After Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett’s brief detour for two messy, chaotic, clumsy entries in the Scream franchise, Abigail proves they’re still excellent at creating tension in the hallways of massive houses, and flipping their horror into action at a moment’s notice.
Founders Day
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Photo: David Apuzzo/Mainframe Pictures
Genre: Slasher horror Run time: 1h 46m Director: Erik Bloomquist Cast: Naomi Grace, Devin Druid, William Russ
If you enjoyed Eli Roth’s Thanksgiving and are looking for more holiday-themed slashers, director-screenwriter duo Erik and Carson Bloomquist are here to oblige. Set in a small town on the eve of a major mayoral election, Founders Day follows a group of teens who are stalked by a vicious masked killer. It’s supposed to be a political satire, but even if you’re not in for that element, it sure to be a gorey good time.
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Image: Sony Pictures
Genre: Supernatural comedy Run time: 1h 56m Director: Gil Kenan Cast: Paul Rudd, Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard
The Ghostbusters have returned with an all-new movie, and this time Bill Murray is here! Three years after the events of Ghostbusters: Afterlife, the Spengler family must join forces with the veteran Ghostbusters to stop a wrathful demonic entity from freezing all of New York City. Oh, and Slimer is here too, because of course.
The Ghostbusters franchise doesn’t really seem to be aimed at anyone anymore. It isn’t funny. It isn’t scary. It’s mostly abandoned its new younger characters, and its older actors barely seem to care. Frozen Empire’s unintentional answer to the question seems to be that Ghostbusters is now corporate nostalgia-farming given cinematic form. Sure, it’s missing all the charm and goofiness that earned the original Ghostbusters so many fans — but if you stick around long enough, they filmmakers will show off the proton packs again, and there’s always a new person to slime. It’s a franchise reduced to nothing more than a parade of hollow, familiar images, lightly repackaged in hopes that we’ll buy another ticket and try to revisit the emotions we felt when we encountered this world for the first time.
La Chimera
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Image: Neon
Genre: Period comedy-drama Run time: 2h 13m Director: Alice Rohrwacher Cast: Josh O’Connor, Carol Duarte, Vincenzo Nemolato
The latest from masterful Italian filmmaker Alice Rohrwacher (Happy as Lazzaro, Le Pupille) stars one of the Challengersboys as a British archaeologist in a story of stolen historical artifacts. La Chimera was a Palme d’Or nominee at Cannes 2023.
Kim’s Video
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Genre: Documentary Run time: 1h 25m Directors: David Redmon, Ashley Sabin Cast: Isabel Gillies Robert Greene, Eric Hynes
Fans of unconventional mystery documentaries like 2018’s Shirkers will likely dig this new film chronicling the rise, fall, and legacy of one of New York City’s most infamous video stores. Featuring interviews with notable former employees like Alex Ross Perrry, Ashley Sabin and David Redmon’s documentary is filled with surprises and revelations aplenty.
The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Image: Black Bear Pictures/Jerry Bruckheimer Films
Genre: Spy action-comedy Run time: 2h Director: Guy Ritchie Cast: Henry Cavill, Eiza González, Alan Ritchson
Guy Ritchie’s been on a hot run as of late, with some of the best work of his career in Wrath of Man and The Covenant. This time, he turns his eye to historical action, with this larger-than-life true story about a British special ops team in World War II. The movie features a big cast and lots of big guns.
The barrage of TV — and great TV — continues apace in 2024, with plenty of intriguing new and returning shows launching their seasons this week.
The headline item: Ncuti Gatwa’s tenure as the Fifteenth Doctor starts in earnest this week, with two new episodes following up on the winter specials from late 2023. But that’s not all — Netflix has a new murder mystery set in Ireland starring Will Forte, Interview with a Vampire returns for its long-awaited second season on AMC, and Apple TV has their seemingly contractually required new sci-fi series of the month.
Here are the best new TV premieres and finales coming to TV this week.
New shows on Netflix
Bodkin
Genre: Murder journalism investigation mystery Release date: May 9, with all episodes Showrunner/creator: Jez Scharf Cast: Will Forte, Siobhán Cullen, Robyn Cara, and more
An American podcaster (Will Forte) hoping to reconnect with his Irish ancestry heads to a coastal town in Ireland, where he works with an investigative journalist (Siobhán Cullen) to dig into the sudden disappearance of three residents.
Genre: Time-tested time travel sci-fi Release date: May 11, with two episodes Showrunner/creator: Russell T. Davies Cast: Ncuti Gatwa, Millie Gibson, and more
Doctor Who is back! After a trio of 60th anniversary specials (and a Christmas special) teed up showrunner Russell T. Davies’ return to the show and Ncuti Gatwa’s introduction as the Fifteenth Doctor, their time together starts in earnest with two new episodes.
This three-part docuseries based on a WIRED article tells the story of how Black users on Twitter helped make the platform the powerhouse it was.
New shows on Max
Pretty Little Liars: Summer School
Genre: Teenage mischief (and murder) Release date: May 9 with two episodes Showrunner/creator: Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa & Lindsay Calhoon Bring Cast: Bailee Madison, Chandler Kinney, Zaria, Malia Pyles, Maia Reficco, and Mallory Bechtel
The second season of the fourth series in the Pretty Little Liars franchise is here. After the tragic events of the first season led to understandably poor grades, the girls have to go to summer school to advance to junior year. But another mystery — and potentially another killer — lurk around the corner.
New shows on Prime Video
The GOAT
Genre: Reality stars reality show competition Release date: May 9 Host: Daniel Tosh Cast: Reality show stars
14 reality stars compete in a variety of challenges in what looks like Prime Video’s answer to The Traitors.
New shows on AMC Plus
Interview with a Vampire season 2
Genre: Horror romance (ish) Release date: May 12, with one episode Showrunner/creator: Rolin Jones Cast: Jacob Anderson, Sam Reid, Bailey Bass, and more
Genre: Sci-fi Release date: May 8 with two episodes Created and based on the book by: Blake Crouch Cast: Joel Edgerton, Jennifer Connelly, and more
Apple TV Plus’s latest sci-fi series has a few things going for it: Joel Edgerton and Jennifer Connelly as leads; alternate dimension hijinks; Jimmi Simpson. But perhaps most intriguing is the fact that Dark Matter author Blake Crouch is writing the television adaptation as well, and serving as an executive producer on the project.
New shows on Crunchyroll
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Hashira Training Arc
Genre: Demon Slayer Release date: May 12 Based on the manga by: Koyoharu Gotouge Cast: Natsuki Hanae, Akari Kitō, and more
Demon Slayer is back! Per the official synopsis: To the Hashira Training… The members of the Demon Slayer Corps and their highest-ranking swordsmen, the Hashira. In preparation for the forthcoming final battle against Muzan Kibutsuji, the Hashira Training commences. While each carry faith and determination within their hearts, Tanjiro and the Hashira enter a new story.
Challengers is a movie obsessed with making sure you understand its chronology. Throughout its 131 minutes, Luca Guadagnino’s new ténnage à trois flick deploys a barrage of scene-resetting phrases like “THIRTEEN YEARS EARLIER,” “THE NEXT DAY,” and even “MIDNIGHT,” in all-caps, pink-text title cards. (Also: “SET BREAK,” shortly after a match official explains that they’re going to take a break between sets.) I’m not sure all of this is necessary: Even as the plot volleys across two decades, most shifts are easy to track. We know that it’s the mid-aughts because there’s a Motorola Razr on Zendaya’s nightstand; we know that it’s closer to the present day because Josh O’Connor is swiping through Tinder on a cracked iPhone. This isn’t exactly Lost Highway! (Though I would love to see what title cards Luca would’ve cooked up for Lynch’s neo-noir headfuck.)
This is, of course, a minor complaint—and I may be on an island here, considering the Letterboxd and Rotten Tomatoes loveChallengers is getting. But it’s relevant to a question I’m about to ask: Does Luca think I’m an idiot and that I wouldn’t notice he snuck a song from the wrong decade into a scene set in (roughly) 2006?
I’m specifically referring to THE scene, as in [insert “SPOILER” and “CONTENT WARNING” title cards here] the infamous threesome set piece that threatens to, uh, thrust the acronym “MMF” into the mainstream lexicon. [Another title card here: “DON’T GOOGLE MMF AT WORK.”] If you have a passing familiarity with Challengers, then you know what I’m referring to—Zendaya, O’Connor, and Mike Faist on a hotel bed, both men fawning over her, things getting hot and heavy as the two men try to show her their stroke (before playing a little doubles with themselves). The movie’s been out for less than 24 hours and it’s already one of the most talked-about scenes of the year. All of my attention should’ve been on this triples match. However, I was too busy losing my mind over one small detail: the song playing on the radio during this scene. Blood Orange’s “Uncle ACE”—ace, get it?—from his breakthrough Cupid Deluxe. A song that came out in 2013—as in six or seven years after this illicit almost-affair took place.
To be clear, “Uncle ACE” is an excellent song off Dev Hynes’s excellent album, and maybe a perfect choice, vibes-wise. It’s sexy, it’s propulsive, and it, uh, climaxes with an unbelievable sax solo. It’s also vaguely nostalgic, which should work in a movie that taps into nostalgia. The problem is that this song is supposed to be diegetic—the film nerd word meaning it exists in the world of the film, which, well, “Uncle ACE” certainly did not. (In fact, not only does Challengers imagine a world in which this song existed in 2006, but it also imagines a world in which a radio station would be conducting a lengthy interview with Dev Hynes.) If you’re a music nerd on top of being a film nerd, this is the exact kind of thing that will take you out of an experience. Instead of focusing on the Y tu Tennis También shit unfolding before your eyes, you’re desperately trying to make sense of why some dork-ass tennis prodigies in 2006 would be listening to a deep cut off of Pitchfork’s 21st-best record of 2013. It is all-caps, pink-text MADDENING!
A few weeks ago, before I had seen Challengers, a colleague of mine referred to it as “Saltburn-core.” If you’ve seen both, the descriptor fits. Even if Challengers’ threesome scene or churro-nibbling can’t come close to Saltburn’s spunk-slurping, grave-humping chaos, there’s a certain memeable soapiness to both. Both films also share an affinity for overexplaining things—I will never forgive Saltburn for the climactic montage, which gave the Usual Suspects plot-twist treatment to things that no half-awake viewer could have ever missed. (What do you mean the bad-guy liar lied about bad things?) And maybe most importantly, both Challengers and Saltburn mine the same era for nostalgia—with apparently little care for the finer details. Infamously, in Saltburn—which is also largely set in 2006 and 2007—there are a number of issues: characters playing MGMT songs a year before they could’ve known about them, karaoke versions of yet-to-be released Flo Rida hits, the family watching Superbad on DVD before the movie was even released in theaters! I know the rich have access to many things us plebes don’t, but I’m pretty sure Judd Apatow wasn’t sending the Catton family rough cuts of McLovin and friends. And it wasn’t just music and film nerds that noticed this stuff: The Saltburn anachronisms were so egregious that blogging about them became something of a cottageindustryaroundthe holidays.
As time goes on, it’s only natural that more and more movies will start looking back on the late 2000s and early 2010s. But if I’m going to be repeatedly confronted with the notion that my best days are now fodder for nostalgia, can’t they at least nail the details? Why bother setting the story in a not-really-that-bygone era in the first place if not? And if that doesn’t matter, then are these films being placed in the mid-aughts in service of the story or because it’s easy to tap into cheap sentimentality? Why didn’t the music supervisor for either movie step in and say, “Hey, shouldn’t these kids be listening to, like, “Daft Punk Is Playing at My House” instead? (Though if I’m being real, Art Donaldson seems more like a Band of Horses guy.) It’s not like Luca and his team didn’t focus on other small details: The product placement is self-aware, but avoids veering into Talladega Nights or Wayne’s World parody territory. The specific degradations of Josh O’Connor’s character—and the way they manifest through his court attire and the empty bottles clinking around the floor of his car—are subtly brilliant. Hell, this is a movie with an intricate understanding of the geography of Westchester County! I have my gripes with a handful of things about the film—let’s never talk about the stop-motion wind kiss under the giant “Game Changer” poster—but it’s clear some level of care went into this. (Though there is one other pedantic, also diegetic thing I have to speak my truth on: At one point, Zendaya’s kid asks to watch Spider-Verse, and while I admire the restraint shown in not referencing the mononymous star’s own role in that franchise, the winking reference doesn’t break the fourth wall so much as it splits its skull against it.)
Mistakes—or possibly just wanton flouting of chronology—like the “Uncle ACE” placement are head-scratching, but ultimately inconsequential. No one, aside from the most P4K-pilled, is going to truly care about the flattening of indie-music history. (And to be fair, during one scene, Challengers got the mid-aughts hipster catnip right with a needle drop of Spoon’s “I Turn My Camera On.”) Also, I get it: There are a trillion small things that go into making a movie, so it’s better to have some grace, especially with the man who made Call Me by Your Name. But my culture—my skinny jeans and iPod Nano and Sailor Jerry tattoos—is not a costume, so please have some respect. If you’re going to ask me to care that much about the timeline, you have to care about every part of it. That shouldn’t be hard to grasp. Maybe if I put it on a title card in all caps, they’ll understand.
Quick-serve Mediterranean restaurant chain Cava, a budding force in bowl-centric dining, will launch its first foray into the Midwest market this week in Wicker Park. The company, which is already teasing a second outpost in the suburbs, will make its Chicago debut on Friday, April 26 at 1484 N. Milwaukee Avenue.
Adored by fans for its wallet-friendly menu laden with nutritious and meat-free options, Cava seems an apt replacement for the location’s previous tenant, local vegetarian chain Native Foods. Its menu applies a familiar mix-and-match approach to its Eater Bowl Bowl-winning grain and vegetable bowls, weaving in Mediterranean-style ingredients like tzatziki, falafel, and spicy lamb meatballs. Cava also features pita wraps with options like Greek chicken with olives and feta.
Fast-casual restaurants have a reputation for fluorescent sterility, a quality that Cava seems intent on bucking with a design style it’s dubbed “Project Soul,” theSun-Times reports. The company tapped Chicago artist Alyssa Low to create a colorful mural featuring local elements like the city’s flag and Lake Michigan inside the 30-seat Wicker Park restaurant, where customers can also expect cushioned booths and soft lighting.
Cava insists that bowls don’t have to be boring.Cava
Cava’s second Illinois outpost is slated for a summer debut in Vernon Hills (coincidentally, also on a Milwaukee Avenue — at 890 N. Milwaukee Avenue in the suburb), co-founder Ted Xenohristos tells reporters. The short timeline between openings may signal that a cascade of Cava locations is headed to the Chicago area, as the brand is in the midst of a nationwide expansion, opening 72 locations last year. If all goes according to plan, it hopes to secure 1,000 restaurants by 2032.
Xenohristos, along with partners and childhood friends Ike Grigoropoulos and chef Dimitri Moshovitis, opened the first Cava nearly 20 years ago in Maryland. In the intervening years, Mediterranean food has gained significant prominence in the U.S. It seems that trajectory has served Cava well, as the company went public in 2023 and touts more than $700 million in annual revenue.
Cava Wicker Park, 1484 N. Milwaukee Avenue, Scheduled to open Friday, April 26. Cava Vernon Hills, 890 N. Milwaukee Avenue in Vernon Hills, scheduled to open this summer.
Had plenty of time to cook this weekend lads. Another banger. Normally I just season steak w salt and pepper but this time I added some cumin, cayenne and onion powder for some variety. Deglazed the steak pan with some fresh lime juice and a little stock, that’s what’s on the avocado
Greetings, Polygon readers! Each week, we round up the most notable new releases to streaming and VOD, highlighting the biggest and best new movies for you to watch at home.
This week, Wish, the latest musical fantasy from Walt Disney Animation Studios and starring Ariana DeBose and Chris Pine, finally comes to Disney Plus. There’s a lot of other exciting new releases on streaming, including the biographical drama Scoop on Netflix, Jonathan Glazer’s Oscar-winning film The Zone of Interest on Max, the supernatural horror film Talk to Me on Paramount Plus, and more. There’s also plenty of other new movies available on VOD, like Baby Assassins 2 and The American Society of Magical Negroes.
Here’s everything new that’s available to watch this weekend!
New on Netflix
Scoop
Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix
Image: Peter Mountain/Netflix
Genre: Biographical drama Run time: 1h 43m Director: Philip Martin Cast: Gillian Anderson, Rufus Sewell, Billie Piper
The latest film from director Philip Martin (The Crown) dramatizes the downfall of Prince Andrew in the wake of the infamous Newsnight interview following allegations of sexual assault. Things go from bad to worse when the prince’s connections to convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein are brought to light.
New on Disney Plus
Wish
Where to watch: Available to stream on Disney Plus
Image: Disney
Genre: Musical fantasy Run time: 1h 35m Directors: Chris Buck, Fawn Veerasunthorn Cast: Chris Pine, Ariana DeBose, Alan Tudyk
This fantasy adventure film created to celebrate the Walt Disney Company’s 100th anniversary follows Asha (Ariana DeBose), a young girl living in an island kingdom ruled by a powerful sorcerer named Magnifico (Chris Pine). After making a wish one night, Asha befriends a living magical star that falls from the sky and agrees to help her achieve her heart’s greatest desire.
The main problem with Wish is that the filmmakers lean so hard on Disney’s legacy and the nostalgic elements that they fail to actually add much new. Every single detail in Wish is a deliberate reminder of another movie that came before it — usually something better and more unique. That’s particularly true for all the characters, some of whom are literally just walking nods to previous Disney movies. They’re all vague ideas of what a Disney Character™ should be, from snarky talking goat Valentino (voiced by Wreck-It Ralph’s Alan Tudyk) to the heroine herself, without much to make them memorable.
Genre: Horror Run time: 1h 44m Director: William Brent Ball Cast: Ralph Ineson, Tuppence Middleton, Alexa Goodall
The director of the delightfully fun Orphan: First Killis back with another movie, this time starring the inimitable Ralph Ineson (The Witch, The Green Knight). After a minister (Tuppence Middleton) moves to a village in the English countryside, her daughter goes missing ahead of the annual harvest festival. I have a feeling those villagers are up to something sinister!
Genre: Historical drama Run time: 1h 46m Director: Jonathan Glazer Cast: Christian Friedel, Sandra Hüller, Johann Karthaus
Based on the novel by Martin Amis, Jonathan Glazer’s latest film follows the story of Rudolf Höss (Christian Friedel), the commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp who chose to build his family home just outside the camp’s walls.
The Zone of Interest may be the most powerful movie about complicity that’s ever been made, particularly about the Holocaust. The movie’s true warning isn’t that regular life can go on even amid atrocity, it’s that people are capable of pretending that atrocity isn’t happening. Glazer seems to suggest that people aren’t unaware of destructive historical events going on around them, but rather that they actively close their ears to it. The Höss family doesn’t drown out the camp, or begrudgingly ignore the roar of its furnaces or the gunshots from over the wall. They just keep going like it isn’t there at all. The effect of all their silence is one of the loudest and most unique views a film has ever taken on one of history’s most horrific atrocities.
Metalocalypse: Army of the Doomstar
Where to watch: Available to stream on Max on April 6
Image: Warner Bros. Discovery/Adult Swim
Genre: Apocalyptic musical comedy Run time: 1h 23m Director: Brendon Small Cast: Brendon Small, Tommy Blacha, Malcolm McDowell
Metalocalypse creator Brendon Small returns with a feature-length finale to his satirical Adult Swim original series. With the evil Tribunal preparing to instigate the Metalocalypse, the members of Dethklok must work together to compose the song of salvation and save the day.
“Epic” as a descriptor is thrown around too often as a hyperbolic compliment, but Metalocalypse: Army of the Doomstar rightfully warrants that description and then some. It’s a fitting final chapter in the long and outrageous saga of one of Adult Swim’s most surprising cult classics, and a rapturous encore dedicated to a passionate fan base who refused to let the series go quietly. The Metalocalypse may be over, but the music never dies.
New on Prime Video
Música
Where to watch: Available to stream on Prime Video
Internet personality turned writer-director Rudy Mancuso stars in his directorial debut as a fictionalized version of himself. Plagued by constant music in his head, Rudy struggles to navigate the challenges of life and love as he attempts to pursue a future marching to the beat of his own drum.
New on Paramount Plus
Talk to Me
Where to watch: Available to stream on Paramount Plus w/ Showtime
Image: A24
Genre: Supernatural horror Run time: 1h 35m Directors: Danny Philippou, Michael Philippou Cast: Sophie Wilde, Alexandra Jensen, Joe Bird
Talk to Me follows a group of Australian teenagers who discover how to conjure the spirits of the dead using an embalmed hand. Naturally, they start filming themselves messing around with it, but when one of them holds on to the hand for too long in order to communicate with a lost loved one, they open a door to a world of horrors. Praised as one of the scariest movies of 2023, Talk to Me is the directorial debut of YouTubers Danny Philippou and Michael Philippou and already has a sequel in production.
Wyatt Russell (Monarch: Legacy of Monsters) stars in this supernatural horror film as a professional baseball player who, after being forced into retirement, moves into a luxurious new home with his wife and children. When a malevolent force emerges from the waters of the house’s backyard pool, the family is forced to face a horror beyond their deepest fears.
All the strengths of its family story aside, it’s probably fair to want a little more horror out of a movie about a killer swimming pool. There are a few fun bits of pool horror in Night Swim, like seeing another world behind the flap of the skimmer or the spring of an empty diving board playing like a warning sign to run. Outside of its opening scene, though, Night Swim isn’t the scariest movie about hungry spirits and ancient gods. But hey, it’s January. Horror fans will take what we can get. Sometimes that just means a few good scares in an otherwise fascinating family movie about magic pools and baseball — which is more than enough to make Night Swim a worthy addition to the list of interesting, watchable January horror.
New on Apple TV Plus
Girls State
Where to watch: Available to stream on Apple TV Plus
Image: Apple TV Plus
Genre: Documentary Run time: 1h 35m Director: Jesse Moss
Who runs the world? That was a rhetorical question, but what if the answer was girls? This documentary follows 500 adolescent girls from Missouri who come together to take part in an immersive weeklong experiment: creating a Supreme Court designed to take on the nation’s most contentious issues.
New on Mubi
How to Have Sex
Where to watch: Available to stream on Mubi
Image: Mubi
Genre: Coming-of-age drama Run time: 1h 31m Director: Molly Manning Walker Cast: Mia McKenna-Bruce, Lara Peake, Samuel Bottomley
One of the best movies of 2024 so far, How to Have Sex isn’t quite what its title suggests. Rather than a rowdy teen comedy, it’s a tender coming-of-age story. As Oli Welsh puts it in his write-up in our list of the best 2024 movies, “It’s a quietly devastating movie about bad formative experiences, but also beautiful in its empathy and kindness, and funny, too.”
New to rent
Baby Assassins 2
Where to watch: Available to rent on YouTube, Apple, and Vudu
Image: Well Go USA Entertainment
Genre: Action comedy Run time: 1h 41m Director: Yugo Sakamoto Cast: Akari Takaishi, Saori Izawa, Oto Abe
The sequel to one of 2022’s most delightful movies, Baby Assassins 2 sees the two teenage assassin protagonists return with a new problem: They’re overdue on their gym payments, and there are two contractors gunning for their jobs and their lives.
That action is designed by Kensuke Sonomura, one of the best action directors and fight choreographers working today. He also happens to have a long history designing action for video games, like Devil May Cry 4, Vanquish, 2020’s Resident Evil 3, and multiple Metal Gear Solid games. His style of choreography nimbly shifts to meet the needs of each project, but it always excels in its fluidity of motion, use of environments, and legibility of action. You will never be lost watching a Kensuke Sonomura fight scene.
The American Society of Magical Negroes
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Photo: Tobin Yelland/Focus Features
Genre: Fantasy rom-com Run time: 1h 45m Director: Kobi Libii Cast: Justice Smith, David Alan Grier, An-Li Bogan
Kobi Libii’s directorial debut stars Justice Smith (Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves) as Aren, a young biracial artist who is recruited to join a clandestine group of magical Black people who secretly help white people in their mission to solve racism. You can probably guess about how well that goes.
Snack Shack
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Image: MRC Film/Republic Pictures
Genre: Coming-of-age comedy Run time: 1h 52m Director: Adam Carter Rehmeier Cast: Conor Sherry, Gabriel LaBelle, Mika Abdalla
Travel back to 1991 in this comedy that follows a pair of teenage boys who work at the snack shack of a local pool in Nebraska. When a new lifeguard shows up, both boys instantly fall for her, putting their friendship in question.
Knox Goes Away
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Image: FilmNation Entertainment/Saban Films
Genre: Crime thriller Run time: 1h 54m Director: Michael Keaton Cast: Michael Keaton, Al Pacino, James Marsden
Sixteen years ago, Michael Keaton made his directorial debut with The Merry Gentleman, about a hitman going through some hard times. Now he’s back with his second directed feature, also about a hitman going through some hard times. This time, the hitman is John Knox, a contract killer separated from his family who takes on one last job after a dementia diagnosis.
Phil Stefani has mellowed since the emotional ride of closing Tavern on Rush in October 2022, ending a 24-year run in Gold Coast. Stefani, along with his daughter Gina and son Anthony, are preparing to relaunch the celebrated restaurant around the corner from the original inside the Thompson Hotel. Crews have been busy gutting the former Nico Osteria.
The fabled Chicago restaurateur says he didn’t truly understand the meaning of “iconic” until he saw five TV stations doing live shots from inside his restaurant on the night it closed.
“What made Tavern — it wasn’t bricks and mortar,” Phil Stefani says. “Tavern was made by the people who frequented it and by the staff who worked there. And this is what we want to duplicate.”
The new Tavern on Rush, at the corner of Rush Street and Bellevue, will serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner. They’re targeting a June opening and will also provide room service for hotel guests. There will be more emphasis on brunch, so folks won’t have to wait in line at the Original Pancake House down the street for a morning option. Fortunately, Gina Stefani has plenty of brunch experience from Mad Social, a since-shuttered weekend brunch destination in West Loop. She is excited about offering breakfast and lunch options for those with early business meetings seven days a week.
“How many times do you just drive by a breakfast place and they have lines out the door — they’re longer than bars at night now,” she says.
A rendering of the staircase at Tavern on Rush.555 International
But that doesn’t mean the new Tavern is solely pandering to fans of Early Bird Specials. Anthony Stefani says they want to get back to the restaurant’s roots “where you can either come and enjoy the vibe” with a few libations or “have a full Chicago steakhouse experience.” Anthony Stefani doesn’t want the space to feel overly modern or flashy but sees this as an opportunity to establish Tavern on Rush as one of the city’s best steakhouses. He’s working with 555 International on the two-level, 16,000-square-foot space’s design. It will include a cocktail lounge, bar, outdoor patio, and multiple private event rooms.
While it’s important to tap into the new, Gina Stefani doesn’t want to run away from her family’s strengths: “Times change, but sticking to the classics, I feel you just can’t go wrong,” she says. “And I think that’s what we do best.”
Her father adds: “It’s unfortunate that places come and go and are hot and cold, but we want to be here for the next 25 years.”
Tavern on Rush wants to retain the lively bar element of the original.555 International
Phil Stefani and his team made Tavern a lively spot where celebrities, from Bon Jovi to Michael Jordan, felt comfortable. He calls the area the “heart of the city,” as it’s near Oak Street Beach and the Mag Mile. Pre-COVID, guests at downtown hotels were the ones who helped fill up Gold Coast restaurants. Tourism appears to be on the upswing and that prompted Phil Stefani to mention how he enjoys seeing the area bustle feeding off the energy of other restaurants like Gibsons and Maple & Ash. A new Carmine’s is also planned.
“If one place is completely full, they can go to the next place and have a cocktail, and vice versa,” Phil Stefani says.
Phil Stefani could read the tea leaves and had been preparing since 2020 for an exit. The landlord at Rush Street wanted to move in another direction and it was time for Stefani and company to pack up. It wasn’t a happy split, but Stefani says time has healed wounds. He’s been eating breakfast every Saturday at the new restaurant, Bellevue, for the past two months.
Many familiar faces from the original restaurant will work at the new one. That includes Benny Nadzaku, Tavern on Rush’s manager. Anthony Stefani says Nadzaku wields more power than his father. If a patron wants a prime patio table, they need to buddy up with Nadzaku.
Tavern on Rush, 1015 N. Rush Street, planned for a June opening
When Ukrainian couple Artur and Iryna Yuzvik opened their first U.S. coffee shop in late January in Lincoln Park, they tried to moderate their expectations. Their brand, Soloway Coffee, was a new entrant in Chicago’s dense and competitive coffee scene, and they weren’t sure if local caffeine aficionados would embrace their approach.
Whatever fears the couple — also behind roastery and cafe chain Karma Kava in their hometown of Ternopil, Ukraine — harbored were put to rest almost immediately after the doors swung open at 2275 N. Lincoln Avenue. “We learned about long lines in Ukraine, but that’s nothing like here,” says Artur Yuzvik. “It was crazy, six or seven hours of a nonstop line.”
Soloway Coffee owners Artur (left) and Iryna Yuzvik.Soloway Coffee
Chicagoans aren’t the only ones beating a path to Soloway. One woman drove to Lincoln Park from Pennsylvania to get her hands on a Dotyk dripper, a sculptural ceramic brewing device sold at the cafe that’s made with clay from the city of Slovyansk in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, an area decimated by Russian military actions over the past two years. Ukrainian Americans are visiting the cafe from states like Wisconsin, Connecticut, and New York, with some “driving for five or six hours to refresh their memories of home [in Ukraine],” Artur Yuzvik says.
The Chicago area is home to the second-largest Ukrainian American population in the U.S., with 54,000 people identifying as having Ukrainian ancestry. The community has dwelled in Chicago for more than a century, and recently, a fresh crop of Ukrainian American chefs has brought new attention to the country’s cuisine at spots like Anelya in Avondale and Pierogi Kitchen in Bucktown. On the East Coast, another Ukrainian coffee entrepreneur is putting down roots. Maks Isakov owned a coffee company in Vinnytsya, Ukraine, but was forced to abandon his business and flee the country when the Russian military invaded. He’s since founded Kavka Coffee in Camden, Maine.
In Chicago, the enormity of the response from customers has prompted the Yuzviks to accelerate their expansion. They plan to soon sign a lease for a second location but aren’t yet ready to announce the address or neighborhood, divulging only that it will be “nearby” the original. They also say that it will be an all-day affair that transitions from morning to evening and will feature a large selection of sweets.
Soloway now only allows computers at two tables near the windows.Soloway Coffee
At the original cafe, the couple has partnered with Chicago carb whiz Dan “the Baker” Koester on a menu of pastries like chewy cinnamon knots, flakey croissants (strawberry, lemon, and almond), and impossibly creamy burnt Basque cheesecake (“ugly outside but pretty inside,” Artur Yuzvik says). There’s also a selection of savory items including sandwiches and avocado burrata toast, though they plan to expand that lineup significantly and add more fresh produce. An outdoor patio, which the owners call “summer seating,” will open in May or June with more than two dozen seats. It’ll kick off with a borscht pop-up that aims to evoke memories of the traditional Ukrainian soup with a contemporary culinary flair. They’ve held numerous pop-ups in Ukraine and hope to continue that practice in Chicago.
The first few months have been instructive for the Yuzviks, who say they were surprised to discover that their American customers tend to avoid sugary treats in the morning, instead ordering croissants and cheesecake around 2 p.m. They also hadn’t expected demand for iced drinks in the winter, but say they’ve seen entire families order cold brew on some of the chilliest days of the year.
The cafe’s design is sleek and minimalistic. Soloway Coffee
Iryna Yuzvik designs and sells coffee-themed jewelry.Soloway Coffee
The most significant lesson since the cafe’s debut, however, emerged from a conversation the couple overheard among customers waiting in line. The group mentioned that employees at Chicago’s lauded Metric Coffee had praised Soloway and encouraged them to visit. The Yuzviks are friendly with Metric founders Xavier Alexander and Darko Arandjelovic and leaned on them for beans when they unexpectedly sold out weeks before the next shipment was due to arrive. Still, the idea of a coffee shop directing their customers elsewhere was entirely unexpected.
“We were shocked and surprised,” Iryna Yuzvik says in Ukrainian, which her husband translates into English. “In Ukraine, it’s a bit different. In the U.S., it’s more about good relations and more friendly business.”
Soloway Coffee, 2275 N. Lincoln Avenue, Open 7 a.m. to 5 p.m daily.
You may have heard that Jennifer Lopez made her own autobiographical version of Cloud Atlas where she journeys through time and space to heal her heart through the redemptive power of self-love and flower petals. You may have heard that her journey includes a steampunk Flashdance homage and a Ben Affleck jump scare and that Jane Fonda leads a sort of Greek-chorus-meets–Inside Out think tank of celestial beings. And those rumors (all true) may have stirred up some questions in your soul like: why, how, who, and huh? But perhaps most importantly: What on Jane Fonda’s green earth did we do to deserve such a thing?
Now, the tone with which you ask that last question might depend on how you typically respond to the artistic stylings of one Jennifer Lynn Lopez. Do you see her as a visionary? A Hollywood septuple threat? An artist constantly reinventing herself? A star who’s outkicked her talent coverage but continues to iterate on a public persona that’s never been particularly convincing as a contemporary auteur?
Nah, not that last one—this movie rules. It is singularly weird, and should be treated as such!
This Is Me … Now: A Love Story (huge win for punctuation) makes not a lick of narrative sense, and yet it is a masterpiece—as long as the barometer for what constitutes a masterpiece is “being extremely Jennifer Lopez.” One thing I’ve always respected about J.Lo is that she is going to sell you J.Lo, whether you meant to walk into the J.Lo shop or not. Was anyone expecting a sequel to her 2002 album This Is Me … Then 22 years later? Certainly not. (Except maybe J.Lo—why else would she name her album that in the first place?) Was anyone demanding that J.Lo make a visual album? I don’t think so. (Except, again, J.Lo, who is never not saying, “I guess I’ll just have to DO IT myself,” about an artistic endeavor that is entirely and wholly about … herself.) But then Jennifer Lopez reunited with Ben Affleck, the man she dedicated This Is Me … Then to in 2002, called things off with three days before their planned wedding, then got back together with and ultimately married 20 years later. Such a reunion deserved something more than just a sequel album.
Screenshots via Prime Video
So, from the heart/soul/dreams of Jennifer Lopez comes a 55-minute-long narrative musical that Amazon paid to distribute, once again dedicated to the epic love she and Ben Affleck share. In one sense, This Is Me … Now: A Love Story is a visual album for This Is Me … Now, which also dropped on February 16. In every other sense, however, J.Lo has made a 55-minute movie about a Leo learning to love herself while singing and dancing her way through two decades of romantic misadventures. It is the most Jennifer Lopez thing Jennifer Lopez has ever done in a career that has always been fully devoted to performing at max Jennifer Lopez. It is the ultimate continuation of J.Lo telling what she sees as her hero’s journey: a mission to be understood by a society that has been inaccurately consuming her artistry and personal life for nearly three decades …
Casting yourself as the underdog with a self-funded budget of $20 million? Iconic behavior. There is no other celebrity this insistent upon reminding us that she is an artist. To be fair, though, I’ve never seen art quite like This Is Me … Now: A Love Story. It is as if Michael Scott was given an eight-figure budget to make Threat Level Midnight, or if The Room was created by a legion of astrology-obsessed musical theater nerds instead of Tommy Wiseau. Like those films, This Is Me … Now is pure camp most especially because of its creator’s sincere belief in its artistic significance. J.Lo is the FUBU of pop stars—everything she makes is for Jennifer Lopez, by Jennifer Lopez—and this celestial steampunk odysseyis no different.
I believe that Jennifer Lopez loves these 55 minutes of musical cinema she’s created, and that’s enough for me. But for anyone who’s not Jennifer Lopez, you may have some questions about the facts and figures of This Is Me … Now: A Love Story. The movie will not tell you outright why Jennifer Lopez’s robot heart is powered by flower petals, or why her character exclusively resides in terrifying futuristic homes made entirely of glass—so I’m here today to answer some common questions that may arise regarding everyone’s favorite new movie featuring both ellipses and a colon in the title.
Is this a musical? A movie? A musical movie? A movie musical?
Stunningly, This Is Me … Now: A Love Story is yet another entry into this year’s canon of films that don’t fully spell out that they’re musicals in their trailers. Sure, the This Is Me … Now trailer was scored by Jennifer Lopez’s “This Is Me … Now” song. But I kind of just assumed the movie would be that: scored. But no, Jennifer Lopez is breaking into song and dance at all times in this movie. That makes it a musical.
From the trailer, I’d also assumed this would be a feature-length film. But, again, no! It is a 55-minute movie that according to J.Lo should not be classified as a music video, yet it also isn’t nearly long enough to be feature length. So what is it? The trailer tells us it’s a “new INTIMATE, CINEMATIC, MUSICAL experience,” and you know what? I agree: Jennifer Lopez’s first self-written, self-funded, and self-starring creation certainly is a “new … experience.”
Does J.Lo play herself in this musical movie?
Let’s be absolutely clear: This Is Me … Now is autofiction. In the opening scene, we see Jennifer Lopez on the back of a motorcycle with a man who looks a lot like Ben Affleck (played, in silhouette, by Ben Affleck), which then crashes while traversing a lake, signifying the greatest heartbreak of her life. In the narrative of the film, J.Lo is reunited with that man once more after 10 years, three divorces, and a journey through time and song to find love with the most important person in her life: herself. These are not the precise details of Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck’s sprawling love story, but they’re close …
And yet, Jennifer Lopez’s character isn’t called Jennifer Lopez. She’s called “the Artist.” We only actually learn that from the movie’s closed captioning (“[The Artist laughs]”), as the movie works very hard to never call the character by a name—y’know, like Fleabag, if Fleabag was always doing intricate chest choreography instead of speaking directly to camera.
There are certainly indicators that the Artist is supposed to be world famous like J.Lo, but we learn absolutely nothing beyond the fact that she is permanently unlucky in love. “I know what they say about me, about hopeless romantics, that we’re weak,” the Artist says in one of her many monologues to her therapist. “But I’m not weak. It takes strength to keep believing in something after you keep falling flat on your face.” Some might also say it takes strength to produce nine studio albums and over 30 feature films and co-headline the Super Bowl … but that’s a story for a different for-J.Lo-by-J.Lo production. (It’s called Halftime, and she already made it, obviously.)
This movie is about love and love only. Ultimately, the Artist’s monologue ends with the line, “I believe in soulmates and signs and hummingbirds.” Because her name is the Artist, not the Writer.
OK then, so is Ben Affleck in this movie?
Ben Affleck … is in this movie. The entire point of the movie, after all, is that every mistake J.Lo has ever made in her life—every liquor-swilling boyfriend who’s ever broken any one of her metaphorical and also quite literal (in this movie) glass houses—has been leading back to Ben Affleck. So, obviously … in this movie … Affleck plays a TV commentator named Rex Stone, wearing a Donald Trump wig and a Mrs. Doubtfire prosthetic nose, and also occasionally proselytizing the news in the background of scenes. This character makes exactly no sense, but in one scene he does manage to deliver the film’s entire thesis statement when he says, “In 2012, the no. 1 question people asked was, ‘What is love?’”
Sorry, what people? Asked who? Why is 2012 the reference point here? The answer to all of those questions is: It doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters in the world is love. And if you’re wondering what the “top questions” people ask now are, according to Rex Stone, they’re: “Where my refund? Why women kill? Will I get laid? Is Europe a country? How I screenshot a Mac? Am I preg-erant? And why my poop green?”
It’s the funniest sequence of the movie, and I would bet my On the J.Lo newsletter subscription that Ben Affleck wrote that little diddy himself.
So how does this movie communicate a complicated timeline that spans 20 years, three divorces, and multiple time jump dream sequences?
In a word: bangs. Anytime we cut to J.Lo and she has bangs, we are in the present. Anytime she doesn’t have bangs, she is either in the past, in a dream, or in some version of the present (recent past) that she’s relaying to her therapist.
J.Lo’s bangs are ascritical to the plot of This Is Me … Now as the robot heart that’s powering the Artist’s metaphysical world (more on that in a minute). But because J.Lo is eternally ageless, at times we also have to rely on a basset hound puppy aging into an elder basset hound to understand that J.Lo has spent the last decade or so growing, healing, and preparing her heart to love Ben Affleck again.
What inspired Jennifer Lopez to make this movie?
Other than Ben Affleck, I have several theories: moments that occurred throughout the film that made me think, “This line/scene/image has clearly been rattling around in Jennifer Lopez’s head for a decade, so she decided to create an entire $20 million passion project around it.” They are as follows:
When she says to one of her future ex-husbands (played by the famously blond adult male Derek Hough), “You feel like home to me … but I left home for a reason.” J.Lo loves this line, you can just tell.
The movie opens with a million AI-rendered images of Jennifer Lopez depicted within the Puerto Rican folktale of Alida and Taroo … and I just know that Jennifer Lopez got one look at herself as a Greek goddess or a space explorer in December 2022 and thought, “I HAVE to get this imagery to the people.”
J.Lo learned a lot about astrology at some point, it made her realize a bunch of stuff about herself (classic Leo), and she decided to spend $20 million relaying that information to the public.
J.Lo did inner child work with a therapist. Quite literally, there is a dream sequence in this movie in which J.Lo apologizes to her younger self on the dark and dirty streets of the Bronx, and once she does, the sun comes out, and both J.Los break into song. Of course, we know it’s a dream sequence because the Artist is relaying it to her therapist, Fat Joe.
Is Fat Joe a licensed therapist?
From what I can tell, no. But he does wear a full beige outfit with all the confidence and gravitas of your richest aunt, so he’s at least believable as a therapist. Also believable? That J.Lo would try to pry personal details out of her therapist in order to bond. (“You’re such a Taurus. What sign is your wife?”)
You said we’d get back to this: Why is Jennifer Lopez’s heart powered by flower petals?
Right. After the Artist crashes on the motorcycle, signaling the greatest heartbreak of her life, we’re taken inside the Heart Factory, where an oiled-up and tank-topped Jennifer Lopez is yelling, “It’s gonna break!” I don’t know how to convince you that I’m not lying to you about the events of a J.Lo musical, but I promise I am not. There is a giant metal heart pulsing above the factory workers which has apparently reached “critical petal levels.”
That’s right. Jennifer Lopez’s heart is powered by flower petals, and the only way to save it is for Jennifer Lopez to get in a jumpsuit, walk a gangplank out to the heart, journey inside its destructing valves, and start feeding rose petals to the dwindling fire that powers it while simultaneously breaking into the song “Hearts and Flowers” (get it???) with the rest of the workers down on the factory/dance floor.
It’s not until a little later in the movie that we learn this was a dream sequence (no bangs—I should have caught it), and much later in the movie, we see the petal levels stabilize enough to repair the broken heart. So yeah, Jennifer Lopez is basically just Being John Malkovich–ing inside her own heart for like 20 years (well … earth years, robot-heart years may be measured differently), trying to save herself so she can marry Ben Affleck.
You’re telling me Jennifer Lopez’s Ben Affleck movie stages an elaborate reference to Armageddon?
That’s exactly what I’m telling you.
Are there any other dream sequences in this movie?
I’m pretty sure that any scene that doesn’t happen directly in the presence of Fat Joe himself is a dream sequence, or at the very least a recounting of a dream or memory by the Artist to her therapist, which, again, is Fat Joe. These include, but are not limited to: the aforementioned heart factory, a love addiction intervention, the shattering of a glass home via physical abuse, watching a healing round of The Way We Were on a custom monogrammed Gucci-esque couch, and, of course, a Singin’ in the Rain homage. So you might be wondering …
Is there a wedding montage in this movie?
Oh yeah, you betcha. And it’s amazing. The Artist married three men across 10 years, one song (“To Be Yours”), and several wedding dresses. The first wedding dress features two heart-shaped mesh cutouts that perfectly frame J.Lo’s crotch. Romance!
Perhaps more unexpected, however, is the couples therapy montage, wherein all three husbands sit in front of Fat Joe alongside the Artist (this feels like a psychiatric moral gray area, Fat Joe). Dialogue selections include: “I’m a piece of art in her collection,” and, “I feel like I’m just another thing in her house.”
What I wouldn’t give to be a Gucci-monogrammed sectional in J.Lo’s house! But ultimately, the Artist grows tired of all of these uninspiring men, leaves them behind in their own futuristic houses, and starts fucking around with a bunch of dummies. Her friends are forced to give her an intervention, and Fat Joe recommends joining Love Addicts Anonymous …
Is Love Addicts Anonymous a real thing?
Technically it’s called “Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous,” but yes,it is indeed a real 12-step program (though J.Lo makes sure to clarify that she is not a sex addict in her autofictional musical movie). At J.Lo’sLove Addicts Anonymous meetings, you’re led by veteran character actor Paul Raci, and you express yourself exclusively through modern dance.
A particularly rich piece of dialogue comes when Paul Raci tells the Artist, after her impromptu performance of “Broken Like Me,” that “I know you feel like no one gets you.” To which Jennifer Lopez—a woman who is in the middle of making an hour-long music video about herself—responds: “I don’t even get me.”
But that was J.Lo … then. And this is J.Lo … now. And this J.Lo … has read her birth chart.
Do you need to have a casual understanding of astrology to understand this movie?
It would certainly help! Even though the movie starts with a Puerto Rican folk tale that continues to proliferate through the movie in the form of a hummingbird (bet you didn’t see a J.Lo neck tattoo coming!), we’re really expected to come in with our own knowledge of the zodiac.
Bare minimum, knowing at least a little about all 12 astrological signs will really help color in the Zodiacal Council when it shows up …
What is a Zodiacal Council?
Oh, well it’s a collection of humanoid representations of the 12 star signs who watch over the Artist from the heavens as she fumbles her love life. They are exposition machines who say things like, “She’s smart, she’s beautiful, and she seems so strong—why does she always need to be with somebody?!” But most importantly, they are played by the likes of Keke Palmer (Scorpio), Trevor Noah (Libra), Post Malone (Leo), Sofia Vergara (Cancer), Jenifer Lewis (Gemini), and Neil deGrasse Tyson (Taurus), and, as aforementioned, they are led by Jane Fonda the Sagittarius. (Congratulations to all Sagittariuses for this iconic Monster in Law representation—and apologies to Aquariuses and Capricorns, who are straight up not represented on the Cameo Council.)
If you’re otherwise not a huge Jennifer Lopez fan, the Zodiacal Council scenes are pretty much the main reason to watch This Is Me … Now. It feels like a Super Bowl commercial in that none of these people ever filmed in the same room together, the narrative structure remains extremely thin throughout, a new person pops up with each new scene (hey look, it’s Jay Shetty!), and Post Malone is there, always seeming like he’s on the verge of performatively eating a bag of Doritos.
So did Jennifer Lopez make an hour-long, $20 million music video about being a Leo?
According to everything I learned about astrology from This Is Me … Now: A Love Story—yeah, she did. Leos are confident and assertive. Leos are enthusiastic, creative, and more self-conscious than you think. Leos are, above all else, hopeless romantics (at least according to my favorite Leo, Jennifer Lopez). And not only is Jennifer Lopez a Leo … she reunited with another Leo at the end of this movie whom she will eventually fall back in love with, marry, write an album about, and create an hour-long, absolutely bonkers, beautiful, gorgeous, perfect musical movie to accompany that album about …
And in a few weeks, This Is Me … Now: A Love Story will be followed up with The Greatest Love Story Never Told, a documentary about the making of this musical movie.
To drop a documentary about the musical you created about the album you wrote about your love story that the world has been consuming for over two decades, and to then call it “The Greatest Love Story Never Told,” well, I’m just gonna say it: classic Leo. Never change, Jennifer Lopez. And if you do, please make a musical about it.
But did you cry during This Is Me … Now: A Love Story?
So kind of you to ask, and yes, of course I did. The Artist healed her own heart through the power of time and Flashdance. She learned to love herself first in order to truly love another. She went back in time and space and told her 8-year-old self that she’s sorry and she loves her. She found Ben Affleck again on a beach in front of a giant, unexplained sand statue straight out of Game of Thrones.
This week on Guilty Pleasures, Jodi and Juliet talk through their feelings about the whirlwind-like quality and the “genius and camp” of Jennifer Lopez’s new movie This Is Me … Now, based on her album of the same name, which tells the story of her journey to love through her own eyes.
Hosts: Juliet Litman and Jodi Walker Producer: Jade Whaley
I saw a post about a follow tubby getting ripped in two years. There was a debate in the comments on if he was using roids or not. This is me losing 43kg and 4 pant sizes in 6 months just following what I heard from a free audio book I got called bigger leaner stronger. 100% natural going to the gym 3 days a week. Not looking for thumbs just trying to help show natty vs not.
Greetings, Polygon readers! Each week, we round up the most notable new releases to streaming and VOD, highlighting the biggest and best new movies for you to watch at home. So quiet up and listen down; no, scratch that, reverse it!
This week, Wonka, the musical fantasy starring Timothée Chalamet as the irrepressibly whimsical chocolatier, is finally available to stream on VOD. There’s other exciting new releases available to rent as well, like David Ayer’s latest action thriller The Beekeeper starring Jason Statham and Makoto Shinkai’s fantasy romance anime Suzume. There are a ton of other new movies on streaming to watch as well, like Orion and the Dark on Netflix, Freelance on Hulu, Past Lives on Paramount Plus with Showtime, and more!
Here’s everything new to watch this weekend!
New on Netflix
Orion and the Dark
Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix
Image: DreamWorks Animation
Genre: Fantasy comedy Run time: 1h 30m Director: Sean Charmatz Cast: Jacob Tremblay, Paul Walter Hauser, Angela Bassett
Written by cerebral screenwriter-director Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich) and based on the children’s book by Emma Yarlett, this animated fantasy adventure follows the story of a child with an overactive imagination and a constant fear of the future who is befriended by the anthropomorphic personification of darkness. Together, the pair embark on an adventure to conquer Orion’s fear of the unknown and embrace the many wonders the world has to offer.
By the end, Orion and the Dark has boldly transformed into a delightfully eccentric story, taking on even more metatextual layers. But it never loses its heart: It’s still a bedtime story, a parent and child working together to assemble an ending that satisfies the both of them. Their voices combine in a convincing way, with zany, kid-fueled ideas on one hand, and the careful guiding hand of an adult on the other. But child and parent both learn something from the other, and that turns Orion and the Dark from a simple fairy tale into a beautifully bizarre ride, and finally into a movie with a message that hits deeply for both adults and kids.
The Greatest Night in Pop
Image: Netflix
Genre: Music documentary Run time: 1h 36m Director: Bao Nguyen Cast: The biggest music stars of the 1980s
A behind-the-scenes doc of the making of one of the most popular singles of all-time, The Greatest Night in Pop takes you behind the scenes of the star-studded lineup that recorded “We Are the World.”
It doesn’t quite reach the heights of documentary classics, falling short of the insight into the tortured circumstances and frustrated production of Original Cast Album: Company, or the pure musical excellence of Monterey Pop. But there’s something special about seeing these stars mingle that makes this movie a fascinating document on fame and the people behind it.
Shortcomings
Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix
Image: Sony Picture Classics
Genre: Romance comedy Run time: 1h 32m Director: Randall Park Cast: Justin H. Min, Sherry Cola, Ally Maki
Justin H. Min (The Umbrella Academy) stars in this new comedy from actor-director Randall Park (WandaVision). Shortcomings follows the misadventures of Ben, a struggling filmmaker living in Los Angeles. When his girlfriend, Miko, moves to New York for an internship, Ben is forced to assess his lifestyle choices up to this point in order to learn to grow as both a romantic partner and a person.
New on Prime Video
Fist of the Condor
Where to watch: Available to stream on Prime Video
Image: Well Go USA Entertainment
Genre: Martial arts drama Run time: 1h 20m Director: Ernesto Díaz Espinoza Cast: Marko Zaror, Eyal Meyer, Gina Aguad
One of my (Ed. note: PV) very favorite action movies of a stacked 2023, Fist of the Condor is at once a throwback to the Shaw Brothers era of old school Hong Kong martial arts filmmaking, and a new exciting step for Chilean martial arts cinema.
At the end of the day, Fist of the Condor is the Marko Zaror show. And boy, does he deliver. The movie is at its best when it is a series of jaw-dropping fights, one after another, leaning on his incredible star power. As an actor, Zaror brings life and deep pain to the star-crossed brothers, and as a fighter and acrobat, he is unmatched. He seems to be able to alternate from raw animalistic movements to robotic, hypnotic defense (he calls it an “electrical impulse” in the movie) and balletic, gravity-defying spinning kicks that are simply poetry in motion.
Genre: Action comedy Run time: 1h 48m Director: Pierre Morel Cast: John Cena, Alison Brie, Juan Pablo Raba
Taken director Pierre Morel moves to a more comedic mode in this movie about a former Special Forces officer (John Cena) and a journalist (Alison Brie) who travel to a fictional country together to interview the nation’s dictator.
Genre: Musical comedy Run time: 1h 26m Director: Larry Charles Cast: Josh Sharp, Aaron Jackson, Nathan Lane
This musical comedy follows two longtime business rivals who inadvertently discover they are identical twin brothers separated at birth. Concocting a scheme to get their divorced parents back together, they switch places in order to orchestrate a reunion. Think The Parent Trap, but with more musical numbers, dick jokes, and Megan Thee Stallion.
Dicks takes shots at different kinds of modern movies early on, starting with other A24 movies. A24’s logo is accompanied by grandiose music, and its signature elevated horror threatens to become a tongue-in-cheek thematic inspiration when Trevor and Craig wonder whether their predicament meets the qualifications for abuse and trauma. The film’s New York-set, American Psycho-esque corporate saga is clearly filmed in Los Angeles, with the seams of several sets and stages showing in the margins, while the stock footage it uses of NYC is all distinctly anachronistic.
Genre: Romantic drama Run time: 1h 46m Director: Celine Song Cast: Greta Lee, Teo Yoo, John Magaro
Greta Lee (Sisters) and Teo Yoo (Decision to Leave) star in director Celine Song’s romantic drama debut as Nora and Hae-sung, two childhood friends who are seperated when the former emigrates from South Korea to Toronto with her family.
Reunited 12 years later, the pair find themselves unmistakably drawn together. As their respective lives and obligations pull them further and farther apart, Nora and Hae-sung must confront their feelings about the life they might have shared together had their past choices been different, and what to do with those feelings now in the present.
Song spoke with Polygon about how the film is all about “the way that life reflects upon itself,” as well as her brief foray into The Sims 4 theater production.
Genre: Documentary Run time: 1h 13m Director: D. Smith Cast: Daniella Carter, Koko Da Doll, Liyah Mitchell
The first film from Grammy-nominated producer D. Smith follows the stories of four transgender sex workers living in New York and Georgia. Shot in black and white, the film offers insight into the embattled nature of not only their profession, but the cultural fault lines of gender and identity that intersect with their daily lives.
Genre: Action adventure Run time: 1h 24m Directors: Raman Hui, Yong Duk Jhun, Paul Watling Cast: Henry Golding, Brandon Soo Hoo, Lucy Liu
Based on Laurence Yep’s 2003 novel, this action fantasy movie follows the story of Tom (Brandon Soo Hoo), a Chinese American boy living in Los Angeles who inherits the responsibility of acting as the guardian of an ancient phoenix after the passing of his grandmother. Aided by a talking tiger named Mr. Hu (Henry Golding), Tom must learn to harness his new powers in order to prevent the phoenix from falling into the wrong hands.
This documentary unpacks the storied 58-plus-year career of Dario Argento, one of the most prolific directors behind Italian “giallo” horror and the acclaimed mind behind such films as Suspiria and Tenebrae. Featuring guest appearances from the likes of Guillermo del Toro, Nicolas Winding Refn, and Gaspar Noé, Panico also follows Argento as he writes the script for a new horror film.
New on Tubi
Sri Asih
Where to watch: Available to stream on Tubi
Image: Premiere Entertainment Group
Genre: Superhero action Run time: 2h 15m Director: Upi Avianto Cast: Pevita Pearce, Ario Bayu, Christine Hakim
The second entry in Indonesia’s Bumilangit Cinematic Universe, adapting comic book stories, is finally more widely available to watch in the US. The first, Gundala, was a very fun time, and director Joko Anwar returns as co-writer on this entry, which follows a young woman who learns she is the reincarnation of a goddess.
New to rent
The Beekeeper
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Image: Amazon MGM Studios
Genre: Action thriller Run time: 1h 45m Director: David Ayer Cast: Jason Statham, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Bobby Naderi
Jason Statham stars in David Ayer’s latest action film as Adam Clay, a retired “Beekeeper” (see: black ops secret agent) working as an actual beekeeper in Massachusetts. When Adam’s kindly employer loses her entire life savings to a nefarious phishing operation, he embarks on a one-man mission to avenge her and bring justice to those who wronged her.
Statham is his reliable self, mixing his effortless gruff charm with his comedy chops to help sell the ridiculous lines he has to deliver. And the movie looks great — Ayer and cinematographer Gabriel Beristain cleverly infuse the visuals with a yellow/amber color palette to match the title and the vibe, often making you feel like you’re watching the movie from inside a honeycomb.
Suzume
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Image: CoMix Wave Films/Crunchyroll
Genre: Coming-of-age fantasy adventure Run time: 2h 2m Director: Makoto Shinkai Cast: Nanoka Hara, Hokuto Matsumura, Eri Fukatsu
Makoto Shinkai (Your Name, Weathering with You) is back with another animated fantasy romance adventure about young people struggling with supernatural forces and the general ennui of youth. When high school student Suzume crosses paths with Souta Munakata, a mysterious wanderer on a quest to seal a series of magical doors around Japan to avert disaster, she joins him on his quest in an effort to save her home.
Also, Souta is transformed into a sentient chair by a malevolent cat. It’s complicated.
Suzume is about processing trauma and finally learning to live. Even after the movie’s turning point, Suzume is still recklessly throwing herself into danger to save others. Like Your Name and Weathering With You, Shinkai’s latest sees its young heroes racing against time to stop an impending disaster. But some key differences in Suzume make the final act cinch together in a way that soars above the previous two movies. Suzume has a personal connection to the looming catastrophe, one that snugly wraps around her entire character journey. The event itself feels vast and all-encompassing, but because the movie focuses on her instead of on the action, it gives the payoff more emotional impact. And when Suzume steps up to fight her battles, it’s less about making a dramatic choice or defying all odds. She simply reframes what she’s trying to do in a way that feels more personal than most action heroes’ journeys. She doesn’t want to give her life to save the world; she just wants to stay in it.
Wonka
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Image: Warner Bros. Pictures
Genre: Musical fantasy Run time: 1h 56m Director: Paul King Cast: Timothée Chalamet, Calah Lane, Keegan-Michael Key
Timothée Chalamet (Dune: Part One) stars in this new musical prequel to Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory as everyone’s soon-to-be-favorite chocolatier, now simply an aspiring magician looking to break into the candy business. He’ll have to find a way to overcome the nefarious chocolate cartel and build a factory of his own if he’ll any hope of achieving his dream, though.
Normally, I consider it unfair to compare two movies like this, but as I said, I’m a huge fan. Yet more importantly, Wonka directly invokes the previous film in ways big and small, going so far as to have Chalamet’s version of the character speak in the same diction as Wilder’s, complete with a “Scratch that, reverse it” line. As this is a story about a young Willy Wonka, the film must leave a little room to get from here to there, so Chalamet is granted the space to make the character his own. But this is a version of Willy that’s too sanded-down, too approachable to be truly memorable.
Juliet and Amanda kick off the week by breaking down their thoughts, feelings, and questions about the Jennifer Lopez documentary coming to Prime Video in February after watching the new trailer (1:00). Then they talk about the new Mean Girls musical movie remake with Reneé Rapp playing Regina George, as well as Reneé Rapp’s unfiltered public persona (14:00), Josh Radnor’s outdoor January wedding (29:53), the 21st Living Legends of Aviation Awards (37:19), and more!
Hosts: Juliet Litman and Amanda Dobbins Producers: Sasha Ashall and Jade Whaley
Often we come to you with these TV dispatches with a focus on the biggest premieres of the week — which we are now doing again. But this week also sees a whole host of finales, all of big shows that started in the tail end of 2023. While none of these three shows made our top 50 of the year, they’re all pretty big in their own way.
Noah Hawley’s Fargo is ending its fifth season this week, concluding yet another chapter of exploring American greed and the violence it spawns. There’s also Reacher, TV’s biggest guy, with what’s sure to be an action-packed finale for the second season (and hopefully teeing up the already greenlit season 3). And then there’s Found, the new splashy procedural following a woman who locates missing people (and with a few dark secrets of her own).
There’s more new and premiering TV to watch, of course — in addition to whatever ongoing shows you might be following, like True Detective: Night Country — but it’s a good reminder that there’s plenty of television worth catching up on, even without the urgency of the new episode.
Here’s the best of those new finales and premieres to watch on TV this week.
New shows on Netflix
Love on the Spectrum season 2
Genre: Finding romance reality show Release date: Jan. 19 Relationship coach: Jodi Rodgers Cast: A group of people on the spectrum looking for love
Netflix is back with another reality dating show, this time a second season of Love on the Spectrum, a show about exactly what it sounds like: people on the autism spectrum navigating the dating world. Season 2 of the show features some new cast members, alongside some folks from season 1.
New shows on Hulu
Death and Other Details
Genre: Murder mystery Release date: Jan. 16, with two episodes Showrunner/creator: Mike Weiss and Heidi Cole McAdams Cast: Mandy Patinkin, Violett Beane, and more
A locked-room murder mystery on a cruise ship, filled with plenty of staggeringly rich people who all have a motive. Also on board, conveniently: Rufus Cotesworth (Mandy Patinkin), a washed-up detective, who leaps into action — with the help of his also conveniently present former protege Imogene (Violett Beane). Very quickly, though, they learn there’s more to this murder — and its victim — than meets the eye.
Fargo season 5 finale
Photo: Michelle Faye/FX
Genre: Crime drama Release date: Jan. 16 Showrunner/creator: Noah Hawley Cast: Juno Temple, Jon Hamm, and more
It’s all coming to a close, as Dot (Juno Temple) hopes to reassert control over her life and rid herself of her megalomaniac ex-husband, Sheriff Roy Tillman (Jon Hamm). The body count has been rising, and the penultimate episode saw government forces gear up to raid Tillman Ranch, setting up what should be an action-packed, violent finale.
New shows on Prime Video
Hazbin Hotel
Genre: Animated goth theater kid musical Release date: Jan. 19, with four episodes Showrunner/creator: Vivienne Medrano Cast: Stephanie Beatriz, Kimiko Glenn, Keith David, and more
Charlie Morningstar (Erika Henningsen) is the princess of hell, and has her heart set on doing the impossible: rehabilitating sinners in her hotel so well that they’ll be accepted into heaven. It isn’t long before she finds this task is harder than she thinks — luckily, she has a cast of characters who are there to help her (if not fully believe in her mission). Also: It’s a musical!
Reacher season 2 finale
Photo: Brooke Palmer/Prime Video
Genre: Big guy spy action Release date: Jan. 19 Showrunner/creator: Nick Santora Cast: Alan Ritchson, Serinda Swan, Shaun Sipos, and more
The Big Man’s back for his final episode of the second season. The penultimate episode ended in quite the cliffhanger, with multiple team members held hostage by Robert Patrick’s Shane Langston. No big deal, though — Reacher is still Reacher, and last we saw him, he was sauntering through the front gate ready to dole out some punishment.
New shows on Paramount Plus
The Woman in the Wall
Genre: Broody detective story Release date: Jan. 19, with one episode Showrunner/creator: Joe Murtagh Cast: Ruth Wilson, Daryl McCormick, and more
When a woman wakes up to find a dead body in her house, she’s got two problems: The first — well, obviously, she has a dead body that is in her house. But the second is more important: She has no idea how it got there.
The Woman in the Wall picks up from there for what Showtime calls a “psychologically and emotionally compelling detective story shot through with dark humor,” using six episodes to reexamine one of Ireland’s biggest scandals, the Magdalene Laundries.
New shows on Peacock
Found season 1 finale
Photo: Steve Swisher/NBC
Genre: Dramatic procedural Release date: Jan. 16 Showrunner/creator: Nkechi Okoro Carroll Cast: Shanola Hampton, Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Kelli Williams, and more
Gabi (Shanola Hampton) has been finding people — and hiding the secret of having her own kidnapper in her basement — all season. And it’s been a pretty wild ride, with plenty of flair for the dramatic. So I’m guessing the season finale of Found will deliver a helluva cliffhanger, particularly since it’s already been greenlit for season 2.
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25435281/MotB_20230418_02957rv6.jpg_MotB_20230418_02957rv6.jpg)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25137938/12_Thomaisn_McKenzie_and_Anne_Hathaway_in_EILEEN_Photo_Credit_Jeong_Park_Courtesy_NEON.jpg)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25281472/THE_IRON_CLAW_101023_2_ce1367be96dc4d27b88613b3dda6df00.jpg)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25325335/THE_TASTE_OF_THINGS___Still_5.JPG)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25405452/2572_D040_00284Rv2_1920x1280_f45f32d.jpg)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25435251/Founders_Day_Still_1_Credit_David_Apuzzo_Mainframe_Pictures_copy.jpeg)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25346175/DF_03606_03589_03605_r_2000x1337_thumbnail.jpg)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25435289/La_Chimera_1600x900_c_default.jpg)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25436072/MOUGW_02541_R.jpg)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25090175/WISH_ONLINE_USE_mono_fullcomp.0043RGB_6K.jpg)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25365554/fc25d4b5c0d18ced911ab9528f9d4d12.jpeg)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25158756/zone_of_interest.jpg)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24856326/Dethklok_Visits_Song_Guru_In_New_Metalocalypse_Army_Of_The_Doomstar.jpg)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25365564/MUSICA_3000.jpg)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24809653/TalkToMe_Select_2.jpg)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25212692/Night_Swim_3.jpg)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25365594/Girls_State_Photo_0103.jpg)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25276735/HOW_TO_HAVE_SEX_Mia_McKenna_Bruce_and_Shaun_Thomas_Photo_Courtesy_of_MUBI_.jpg)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25337661/BabyAssassins2_1340x754_4.jpg)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25358144/079_4192_D004_01612_RC.jpg)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25365621/image_w1280.jpg)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25365618/Knox_Goes_Away.jpeg)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25346794/TOR3.png)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25329841/dsc04905_arw_dxo_deepprimexd_copy__1_.jpg)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25329854/dsc03979.jpg)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25329863/photo_jan_15_2024__9_48_38_pm.jpg)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25329855/dsc08803.jpg)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25330136/photo_jan_22_2024__12_09_45_am.jpg)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25329842/dsc09931.jpg)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25330152/photo_jan_21_2024__4_13_55_pm.jpg)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25329864/photo_jan_20_2024__2_18_33_pm.jpg)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25329852/dsc03937.jpg)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25329866/_____1_22_24__11_57_55___.jpg)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25294026/steampunk_jlo.png)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25294025/movie_musical.png)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25294023/ben_affleck_moto.png)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25294022/the_artist_laughs.png)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25294020/bangs.png)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25294017/basett_hound.png)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25294016/fat_joe.png)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25294015/heart.png)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25294014/heart_factory.png)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25294013/jlo_flashdance.jpg)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25294012/jumpsuit_jen.png)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25294009/wedding_montage.jpg)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25294006/wedding_dress.png)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25294005/LAA.png)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25294003/LAA_2.jpg)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25294002/this_is_me_now_zodiac.png)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25294001/zodiacal_council.png)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25294000/ben_affleck_reunited.png)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25293998/wedding_scene.png)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25248869/Greatest_Night_in_Pop_1.jpg)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25257618/full_SHORTCOMINGS_01_Clean_16x9.png)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24550160/FistOfTheCondor_MarkoZaror_WellGoUSA_IMG_1571.jpg)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25117518/freelance_john_cena_alison_brie_01.jpg)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25063077/dicks_the_musical_01.jpg)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24745330/Past_Lives_Final.jpg)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24849927/Kokomo_City_01.jpg)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25258770/TheTigersApprentice_0072_RT_H_2024.jpeg)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25261866/darioargentopanico.jpg)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25263107/sriasih.jpg)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25214110/the_beekeeper_BK_FP_00004__rgb.jpg)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24581477/Suzume_8.jpg)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25158421/rev_1_WON_FP_011_High_Res_JPEG.jpeg)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25065582/RCHR_S2_UT_203_221014_PALBRO_00152RC_3000.jpg)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25207015/NUP_200690_00579.jpg)