The It List: 'Curb' returns with plenty of famous guest stars, Halsey drops 'Manic,' Jason Momoa stars in a new adult coloring book and the best in pop culture the week of Jan. 13, 2020
The It List is Yahoo’s weekly look at the best in pop culture, including movies, music, TV, streaming, games, books, podcasts and more. Here are our picks for Jan. 13-19, including the best deals we could find for each. (Yahoo Entertainment may receive a share from purchases made via links on this page.)
WATCH IT: Get enthused, because Larry David is bringing grumpy back in the star-studded 10th season of Curb Your Enthusiasm
Now that the holidays are in the rearview, we can put aside our goodwill and tidings of great joy and once again celebrate our natural hostility and grumpiness. And there’s no one more experienced at being hostile and grumpy than the Santa Claus of Misanthropy, Larry David. The Seinfeld co-creator is back with fresh episodes of his semi-improvised HBO series, Curb Your Enthusiasm, which aired its first season 20 years ago in 2000. Some things have changed for the Larry’s TV alter ego in the intervening decades — he’s gone through a divorce, reunited with Jerry and the gang and offended the normally unflappable Lin-Manuel Miranda — but through it all, the man himself has steadfastly refused to adapt to the times. The other thing that hasn’t changed is David’s ability to assemble an A-list cast for every new season of Curb. In addition to returning favorites like Jeff Garlin, Cheryl Hines and Richard Lewis, Season 10 features appearances by Laverne Cox, Isla Fisher, Jane Krakowski, Fred Armisen, Kaitlin Olson, Jon Hamm and Vince Vaughn, who will have a multi-episode arc that we can only hope involves a game of dodgeball. And you’d best believe they’ve all got multiple reasons to be angry with Larry, whose list of annoyances this time around includes shorts-wearing postal employees, slow-moving people on walkers and Newton’s immutable “law of sweats.” Larry may be a crank… but he’s our crank. — Ethan Alter
Curb Your Enthusiasm Season 10 premieres Sunday, Jan. 19 at 10:30 on HBO.
WATCH IT: Will Smith and Martin Lawrence suit up one more time in Bad Boys for Life
Twenty-five years after their wild first joyride — and 17 years after the even crazier sequel — Miami’s premiere bad boys, Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, are back for an all-new adventure. Unfortunately, the third member of the Bad Boys trio, director Michael Bay, opted not to return, surrendering the camera to Belgian filmmaking team Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah. But based on the trailers, everything else about the franchise remains intact, from the ultra-stylish clothes and cars to the ultra-glamorous locations and co-stars (Vanessa Hudgens and Charles Melton join the cast this time) to the ultra-violent showers of explosions and gunfire that regularly rock the screen. If that sounds like your jam, whatcha gonna do except buy your tickets now? — E.A.
Bad Boys for Life opens on Friday, Jan. 17; visit Fandango for showtime and ticket information.
HEAR IT: Halsey starts a Manic panic
The pop star’s highly anticipated third studio album boasts guest appearances by Suga of BTS, Dominic Fike and Midas-touched super-producer Greg Kurstin (Adele, Pink, Sia). But perhaps most excitingly, Manic features a true meeting of the feminist minds via the centerpiece track “Alanis’s Interlude,” starring the one and only Alanis Morissette herself. In a fan Q&A session, Halsey described these guests on her wide-ranging, genre-hopping record as “people who really represent different parts of my psyche and different parts of my personality in so many different ways.” — Lyndsey Parker
Download on iTunes; buy on CD/vinyl at Amazon.
WATCH IT: Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon share real-life immigrant stories in the Apple TV+ series Little America
With the Oscar-nominated The Big Sick, real-life couple Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon told the lightly fictionalized version of how they met and fell in love. The new Apple TV+ project, Little America — which was overseen by Nanjiani, Gordon, Lee Eisenberg and Alan Yang — passes the mic to other real people to share their stories; every episode in this anthology series is based on actual immigrant experiences that have been translated to the small screen, from a Nigerian man who learned the cowboy way when he attended university in Texas to a rebellious Latino teenager who discovers stability through her high school squash team. While some of the half-hour installments feature recognizable actors, including Zachary Quinto, Sherilyn Fenn and John Ortiz, the show admirably puts fresh faces front and center both in front of and behind the camera. Apple has already renewed Little America for a second season, which we’re assuming will feature an episode about how a Pakistani comic morphs into a totally ripped Hollywood superhero. — E.A.
Little America premieres Friday, Jan. 17 on Apple TV+.
BUY IT: Let Jason Momoa color your world with new adult coloring book
Fans of the Aquaman star can now spend hours staring at him in different poses, and they never even have to push play, thanks to this adult coloring book. Crush and Color: Jason Momoa: A Coloring Book of Fantasies With an Epic Dreamboat, drawn by Maurizio Campidelli, depicts the actor doing fantastical things that will make everyone swoon: scaling a cliff, sailing into the sunset, meditating and holding a bouquet of flowers. — Raechal Shewfelt
Crush and Color: Jason Momoa: A Coloring Book of Fantasies With an Epic Dreamboat is available at Amazon.
HEAR IT: Little Big Town brings Nightfall to Carnegie Hall
Just one day after Little Big Town’s historic Jan.16 performance at New York City's Carnegie Hall (the first time a mainstream country act has played there since 2013, and the kickoff to the quartet’s ambitious 2020 theater tour), they’ll drop their cinematic ninth studio album, Nightfall. Co-writers on the self-produced project include Foy Vance, Hillary Lindsey, Daniel Tashian and the Love Junkies. — L.P.
Download on iTunes; buy on CD/vinyl at Amazon.
READ IT: The graphic novel Bowie: Stardust, Rayguns and Moonage Daydreams is a must-read for all of the late singer’s starchildren
David Bowie’s colorful life and career provide the basis for this equally colorful graphic novel from Mike and Laura Allred and Steve Horton. While early pages reflect the rigidity of the ‘50s-era English society that young David Jones grew up in, once he discovers rock ’n’ roll — and, more importantly, his alter ego, Ziggy Stardust — Bowie blasts off into more impressionistic realms with panel-bursting artwork and hall of mirrors storytelling. Blending biography with meta-commentary about art and identity, the comic’s creative team embrace the Starman’s myth, without completely neglecting his humanity. Let all the children boogie. — E.A.
Bowie: Stardust, Rayguns and Moonage Daydreams is available now on Amazon and Walmart.
HEAR IT: Pull out your Hammer pants to celebrate ‘U Can’t Touch This’
It’s hard to overstate the phenomenal success of MC Hammer’s song, which was released 30 years ago this week, on Jan. 12, 1990. The track, which samples Rick James’s “Super Freak,” spawned a lawsuit, the catchphrase “Hammer time” and the trend of baggy pants, like the ones worn by Hammer himself in the music video. The track won two Grammys and was nominated for a third, landed in the top 10 of the Billboard charts and kicked off Hammer’s mainstream career in a big way. Give it a listen for old time’s sake, and see if you can stop yourself from cracking a smile... or trying the Hammer dance. — R.S.
“U Can’t Touch This” is available from Apple Music and Amazon.
WATCH IT: Brewster's Millions: Collector's Edition is worth spending money on
Sure, there's something innately appealing about watching the filthy rich Roy family drop lavish amounts of dough all over the Tri-state area in the HBO hit Succession. But you know what's always been more entertaining? Watching the un-wealthy suddenly strike it rich and go completely bananas with their newfound bucks. In what's probably Richard Pryor's best comedy not costarring Gene Wilder, the late comic great plays a minor league baseball player who learns he's about to inherit $300 from an uncle he didn't know he had — if he can first blow through $30 million in 30 days — without a thing to show for it. A reckless premise? Sure, but this '80s favorite from Walter Hill (The Warriors director's only comedy) costarring another late great comedy star in John Candy has excessive charm and laughs to make up for it. — Kevin Polowy
Buy Brewster's Millions: Collector's Edition on Amazon.
READ IT: Long Bright River promises to be this year’s Gone Girl
Just try to read the tagline for this story about sisters in Philadelphia coping with the opioid crisis, one as a cop and one as an addict, without wanting to devour it: “Two sisters travel the same streets, though their lives couldn't be more different. Then one of them goes missing.” Film rights have already been snapped up, and author Liz Moore's thriller is already sparking comparisons to pop culture gem Gone Girl. It’s endorsed by no less than The Girl on the Train writer Paula Hawkins and Oprah Winfrey. In other words, read it now before you come across a spoiler! — R.S.
Long Bright River is available at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.
HEAR IT: Of Montreal is so unusual
Electropop/glam cult figure Kevin Barnes’s ever-evolving collective/project returns with the autobiographical, self-produced opus, UR FUN. Inspired by nostalgic classics like Cyndi Lauper’s She’s So Unusual and Janet Jackson’s Control, it’s a very early indie contender for your FUN summer 2020 soundtrack. — L.P.
