This Weekend’s Must-Watch Streams: ‘Asteroid City,’ Lukas Nelson, ‘Quarterback’ and ‘Secrets of Playboy’
New television shows, movies, music, and games, including albums by Lukas Nelson and Kool & The Gang, as well as a Spanish-language version of “Bird Box,” are on their way to your device.
Featured offerings by Associated Press entertainment editors include the dinosaur-hunting video game Exoprimal and the new Netflix series “Quarterback,” which takes a never-before-seen look at the lives of popular QBs Patrick Mahomes, Kirk Cousins and Marcus. Mariota.
NEW MOVIES SUPPLIED
— Wes Anderson’s stylish and star-studded “Asteroid City” arrived on premium video (VOD) on Tuesday. This outing is an oddly constructed play within a play set in the mid-American Desert West at a convention of junior stargazers that brings together several child prodigies, their parents, including Scarlett Johansson’s Marilyn-esque movie star and Jason Schwartzman’s widowed war photographer. , scientists, military guys, singing cowboys and a very special cameo from Jeff Goldblum. I wrote in my review that it is very, very Wes Anderson and also a return to form. It’s also still available in theaters around the country for anyone still hoping to catch it on the big screen.
– Remember the Sandra Bullock-in-a-blindfold movie “Bird Box” that everyone with a Netflix account watched during the 2018 holidays? Well, the streamer made a spin-off in Spanish and debuted on Friday. Blindfolds are again paramount in “Bird Box Barcelona,” where a father played by Mario Casas tries to protect his daughter from monsters. Álex and David Pastor wrote and directed this installment based on the 2014 novel by Josh Malerman. Is it worth your time? See AP’s review here.
– Several other movies big and small also hit VOD this week, including 1994’s “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts,” starring Dominique Fishback and Anthony Ramos. There’s also the independent gem “The Starling Girl,” a coming-of-age story about a teenage girl (Eliza Scanlen) trying to find her identity while following the rules of her reclusive religious community. Her life becomes complicated when she falls in love with a handsome youth pastor (Lewis Pullman).
PERFORMING NEW MUSIC
– Country star Lukas Nelson calls his latest album “the perfect set list”. “Sticks and Stones,” the follow-up to his 2021 album “A Few Stars Apart,” features the first single “More Than Friends,” featuring Lainey Wilson. The second single, “Alcohallelujah,” touches on both the highs and lows of drinking, with Nelson singing, “Forgive me, father, for I’m inspired/I’ve got melodies and memories/May this spirit ever lift me higher.” Out on Friday, the new 12-track album sees Nelson backed by his longtime band Promise of the Real.
— Kool & The Gang and summer go together like peanut butter and jelly. The R&B, funk and soul icons, who celebrate their 60th birthday next year, have a new album, “People Just Wanna Have Fun.” The first single is catchy stuff, the happy, funky “Let’s Party” featuring vocals from Sha Sha Jones. The band is led by founding members Robert “Kool” Bell (bass) and George “Funky” Brown, the keyboardist, drummer and producer whose memoir, “Too Hot: Kool & The Gang & Me,” arrives Tuesday. In addition to Jones, the album also features Shawn McQuiller, Lavell Evans, Dominique Karan, Rick Marcel and Walt Anderson as well as rappers Ami Miller & Ole’.
— The 1998 video recording of the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical theater classic “Oklahoma!” – starring then-newcomer Hugh Jackman – hits theaters for much less than a Broadway ticket. Jackman played Curly alongside Maureen Lipman, Josefina Gabrielle, and Shuler Hensley during the show’s rave in London. The film will be screened in over 800 cinemas worldwide for two days only, on Sunday and Wednesday 19 July – including the US, UK, Canada, Ireland, Norway and Australia. It has some very heady songs like “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'”, “The Surrey with the Fringe on Top” and the cheerful title track.
– AP Entertainment writer Mark Kennedy
NEW SERIES to stream
– Just the name “Secrets of Playboy” inspires intrigue and the docu-series was a big hit for A&E because it takes an in-depth look at the alleged background of the brand and its founder, Hugh Hefner. The series returned for its second season on Monday with more interviews with former Playboy models, Playmates and archival footage that explores Playboy’s impact on pop culture and the company itself.
— Football fans: Would you like to know exactly what your favorite team’s quarterback is thinking during the season, from practices to wins and losses, and what they say and do in the dark? A new Netflix series called “Quarterback” takes a never-before-seen look at the lives of popular QBs Patrick Mahomes, Kirk Cousins and Marcus Mariota throughout the 2022 season. Players received a microphone for each game and monitored cameras. “Quarterback” premiered Wednesday.
– The fifth season of the silly, witty, Emmy-nominated comedy “What We Do in the Shadows” arrived Thursday on FX. The mockumentary-style show follows the adventures of a vampire roommate living in a dilapidated mansion. These hundreds of years old vampires go out into the world and interact with the population. If that sounds ridiculous, it is, and that’s the point.
– Alicia Rancilio
NEW VIDEO GAMES ARE PLAYING
— California indie developer Night School Studio charmed gamers in 2016 with Oxenfree, a tale of meddling teenagers who encounter a series of dimensional differences while exploring a mysterious island. Night School, which has since been acquired by Netflix, is finally returning to the story with the much-anticipated Oxenfree II: Lost Signals. The sequel revolves around Riley, an environmental scientist assigned to his Oregon hometown to investigate puzzling radio transmissions. Fans of the original – not to mention the supernatural Stranger Things – can now book a repeat visit on PlayStation 5/4, Nintendo Switch, PC and the Netflix mobile app.
— Most of us who think about what the year 2040 will look like are worried about things like war, climate change, and our new AI overlords, but Capcom’s Exoprimal suggests a different kind of existential threat: the outbreak of the dinosaurs! Your mission is to team up online with four other players and send the greedy beasts back into extinction. You’re armed with futuristic weapons and high-tech armor ‘exosuits’, but you also have to compete with other teams to collect the most rewards. Capcom has a lot of experience with scary creatures thanks to the popular Monster Hunter series, but even veterans of this series can be shocked when Exoprimal drops dozens of predators on them at once. Dinos arrived on PlayStation 5/4, Xbox X/S/One and PC on Friday.
