Zac Efron and Jeremy Allen White starring in the family wrestling dynasty in “The Iron Claw” and Brooke Shields playing the unwitting title role in the romantic comedy “Mother of the Bride” on Netflix are some of the new television, movies, music and games headed to a device near you.
Also among the streaming offerings worth your time as selected by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists: Colombian musician Ryan Castro’s new album “El Cantante Del Ghetto,” the series “Pretty Little Liars” returns on Max and a new documentary details the Indigo Girls’ rise and subsequent marginalization.
NEW MOVIES TO STREAM
— Whether or not you know anything about the tragedies that befell the Von Erich family wrestling dynasty, “The Iron Claw” is well worth a watch. Zac Efron stars as one of the brothers, Kevin, in an ensemble cast that includes Harris Dickinson and Jeremy Allen White as his brothers, Lily James as his wife, and Holt McCallany and Maura Tierney as his parents. In her AP review, Jocelyn Noveck wrote that “Efron, with his rock-hard physique and ’70s mullet, turns in some of the most affecting work of his career. White, too, is excellent if more inscrutable as Kerry, initially the golden boy until his own brush with disaster sends him into a downward spiral.” It’s available on MAX on Friday.
— Brooke Shields is the titular mother of the bride in a new romantic comedy coming to Netflix on Thursday. The conceit here is that her daughter (Miranda Cosgrove) is getting married and she doesn’t find out until she arrives at the island resort where it’s happening that the groom is the son of the guy who broke her heart in college, played by Benjamin Bratt. “Mother of the Bride” was directed by Mark Waters (“Mean Girls” and “Just Like Heaven”). ( Read AP’s review here.)
— “The Idea of You” is good fun and Anne Hathaway looks incredible in it, but it’s on the lighter side. If you want to continue a Hatha-thon with something dark and moody, look no further than William Oldroyd’s “Eileen,” coming to Hulu on Friday. Hathaway is otherworldly as the glamourous, martini-swilling Rebecca Saint John, an endlessly quotable Hitchcock blonde with a doctorate from Harvard, in this stylish adaptation of Ottessa Moshfegh’s novel. She becomes an object of fascination for Thomasin McKenzie’s mousy Eileen when she glides into the dreary juvenile detention center where they both work one winter, in Massachusetts 1964. The deranged, noir cousin to “The Idea of You,” there is also some flirting and dancing and drinking in “Eileen,” but with a shocking twist looming.
NEW MUSIC TO STREAM
— One of the best alternative albums of the year may very well be the soundtrack to the A24 thriller about two teenagers watching a mysterious late-night television show, “I Saw the TV Glow.” The official trailer for the film arrived with a spooky rendition of the Broken Social Scene track “Anthems of a Seventeen-Year-Old Girl” as performed by Yeule — the perfect introduction to an ambitious compilation. Other highlights that may not get their shine next to big names like Boygenius’ Phoebe Bridgers and Caroline Polacheck but very much deserve the nod: Philly twangy-emo greats Sadurn, the ascendent power indie-pop of Jay Som, and the experimental compositions of L’rain.
— Colombian musician Ryan Castro might not be a household name yet — chances are, you’ve heard his “Mujeriego” on TikTok — but tastemakers would be wise to pay attention now. On the title track to his forthcoming album, “El Cantante Del Ghetto,” Castro pays homage to Puerto Rican salsa icon Héctor Lavoe, a.k.a. “El Cantante,” with his own spin — a rap break that manages to weave flawlessly into the classic production. (For those keeping track: Lavoe’s song entered the National Recording Registry earlier this month.) Elsewhere, Castro delivers a reggaetón hit with some help from regional Mexican starPeso Pluma on “Quema” and trap on “Rich Rappers” with Rich the Kid.
— It is the end of an era: ska punk, reggae rock heroes Sublime with Rome are officially calling it quits. They’re currently embarked on a farewell tour and a self-titled final album arrives Friday. It’s not all bad news: The group is calling it a day because Sublime (…without Rome) has reunited with late singer Bradley Nowell’s son Jakob fronting the band, but that means saying goodbye to singer Rome Ramirez. The album is a fitting coda. It’s all sunshine, California, and upstrokes on the downbeat.
— With work well-beyond a perfect sync in the “Barbie” blockbuster, where Margot Robbie’s Barbie and Ryan Gosling’s Ken scream-sing along to their hit “Closer to Fine” while exiting the paradise that is “Barbieland,” Indigo Girls have long been ahead of their time. “Indigo Girls: It’s Only Life After All” is a new documentary detailing the duo’s rise and subsequent marginalization by the press as a political group of queer performers. This doc, available via video on demand on Tuesday, tells their story in new, critical detail.
— In a new Paramount+ documentary produced by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, titled “Kiss the Future,” director and co-writer Nenad Cicin-Sain closely examines Sarajevo during the Bosnian War — particularly the ways in which music and art communities flourished as places of resilience and safety, and later, the role Irish band U2 played in drawing attention to the conflict in their concerts. It’s not a music documentary in the traditional sense — it is much larger.
— AP Music Writer Maria Sherman
NEW SHOWS TO STREAM
— Joel Edgerton and Jennifer Connelly star in the new limited series “Dark Matter.” Edgerton plays Jason, an unfulfilled physics teacher who is attacked one night by a masked man who also drugs him. When he comes to, Jason finds himself in an alternate timeline of his life where he’s a world-famous physicist. Jason’s wife Daniela (Jennifer Connelly) and son don’t exist in this alternate version, and he fights to return to them. “Dark Matter” is based on the book by Blake Crouch. It premiered Wednesday.
— The nearly unbelievable true crime story of freelancers looking for their big break in Hollywood who get duped by a long con is the subject of a new docuseries for Apple TV+. Dubbed the “Hollywood Con Queen” in an article for The Hollywood Reporter and a book by Scott C. Johnson, the three-part series of the same name details both his and an investigator’s work on the case, interviews victims, and features the actual con artist. It debuted Wednesday.
— “A People’s History of Black Twitter” examines both the rise and influence of Black Twitter on both culture and politics. It also addresses backlash to its prominent voices and commentary. The series is inspired by a three-part article for WIRED by Jason Parham. “Black Twitter” streams on Hulu.
— Sparks fly between two students at an elite school in “Maxton Hall: The World Between Us.” Ruby comes from a working-class family while James is wealthy, entitled with a big ego. The story is based on a YA German book series called “Save Me” by Mona Kasten. The series will be available in German with English subtitles or dubbed in English. All episodes dropped Thursday on Prime Video.
— If you’re counting down the days until school’s out for summer, the new “Pretty Little Liars” is now on Max. The teen slasher series picks up at the beginning of summer vacation where our five final girls have to attend summer school for falling behind while they were being targeted by a serial killer. The “Liars” do find time for summer jobs and summer romances. New cast members include Antonio Cipriano (“National Treasure: Edge of History”) as a love interest for Bailee Madison’s Imogen.
— In Netflix’s “Bodkin,” a podcaster, a journalist and her researcher team up to solve a decades-old murder in a small town in Ireland. Each has their own reason for needing to crack the case. As they get closer to the truth, the trio learns some people prefer to keep secrets buried in the past. The dark comedic mystery series is the first narrative project from the Obamas’ production company, Higher Ground.
— Fire up the TARDIS, Ncuti Gatwa is the 15th Doctor Who when the series makes its Disney+ debut Friday. Gatwa’s Doctor is accompanied on his time-traveling adventures with companion Ruby Sunday, portrayed by Millie Gibson.
— After bringing the world of Anne Rice to television with season one of “Interview with the Vampire” (and later, “Mayfair Witches.”) on AMC, the series returns Sunday. It’s about Louis de Pointe du Lac, who sits down for a second interview with a veteran journalist named Daniel, played by Eric Bogosian. Louis says he’s a vampire and had years prior given Daniel an interview that was off-the-record. Louis claims he was seduced and turned into a vampire in the early 1900s by Lestat de Lioncourt. Season two begins with Daniel viewing Louis as an unreliable narrator because his details from the two interviews don’t match. It also explores the love affair of Louis and vampire Armand, played by new cast member Assad Zaman, and how the vampire Lestat still has a hold on Louis. “Interview with the Vampire” also streams on AMC+.
NEW VIDEO GAMES TO PLAY
— Video Games 101 teaches us that if you have to go underground, you’re going to be attacked by all sorts of ghastly beasts. Animal Well, from indie publisher Bigmode, takes a different approach. This cave has some creatures you might not expect, like flamingos and kangaroos, and some of them are helpful rather than hostile. “It’s not that you’re not welcome,” says solo designer Billy Basso. “It’s just that they were here first.” The result is a combat-free but still tricky labyrinth with more than 250 puzzle-filled rooms. The graphics are refreshingly weird, coloring old-fashioned pixel art with an eerie bioluminescence, and the soundtrack is filled with spooky echoes. Start spelunking on PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch and PC.
