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The It List: Blink-182 drops reunion album, Scorsese's 'Killers of the Flower Moon' stars DiCaprio and De Niro, comedian Bill Burr makes directorial debut with 'Old Dads'
Plus Cher gifts us with first-ever Christmas album, 1973's "The Wicker Man" gets a Best Buy steelbook and all the best in pop culture the week of Oct. 16, 2023.
WATCH IT: Killers of the Flower Moon is Scorsese’s latest masterpiece
Marty and Leo have done it again (Wolf of Wall Street, The Departed, Gangs of New York). So have Marty and Bob (Goodfellas, Raging Bull, Taxi Driver). Martin Scorsese brings his two favorite collaborators, Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro, together for his 28th film, and the result belongs right up there with their greatest hits. A staggering adaptation of David Grann’s acclaimed 2017 true crime novel, the film stars DiCaprio as a World War I veteran who marries an Osage woman (the impressive Lily Gladstone) as he’s drawn into a murderous plot against her tribe in 1920s Oklahoma shepherded by De Niro’s wolf in sheep’s clothing. Don’t be intimidated by the film’s 206-minute runtime. Killers is a captivatingly tense experience from its opening minutes, and rarely lets up over the next three-and-a-half hours. A true masterpiece from a true master. — Kevin Polowy
Killers of the Flower Moon premieres Friday, Oct. 20 in theaters; visit Fandango for ticket and showtime information.
HEAR IT: Blink-182 are back together for the kids
Tom DeLonge left Blink-182 in 2015, and while the pop/punk trio’s Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker replaced him with Alkaline Trio’s Matt Skiba and released two albums, fans never stopped hoping for a reunion of the classic lineup. That reunion, prompted when DeLonge and Hoppus reconnected after Hoppus’s 2021 cancer diagnosis, officially became a reality when the O.G. trio made a last-minute surprise appearance at Coachella this year. Now Blink-182 are releasing One More Time…, their first album featuring co-frontman DeLonge since 2011. It’s an especially sweet and sentimental cause for celebration after 51-year-old Hoppus and 47-year-old Barker’s multiple health scares. I guess this is growing up, indeed. — Lyndsey Parker
One More Time… by Blink-182 is available Friday, Oct. 20 to download/stream on Apple Music.
STREAM IT: Bill Burr makes his directorial debut with Old Dads
Bill Burr is on a roll. He’s selling out baseball stadiums, he’s turning up in Star Wars (The Mandalorian), he’s showing he’s also got serious dramatic chops in otherwise comedic projects like The King of Staten Island and Reservation Dogs. And now he’s directing, too. The popular comic/actor makes his debut behind the camera with Old Dads, also costarring with Bobby Cannavale and Bokeem Woodbine as a trio of friends who all become fathers late in life and struggle to keep up with their millennial counterparts and their gender-neutral, carbon-neutral 21st century lifestyle brands. Check out an exclusive clip from the film above. — K.P.
Old Dads premieres Friday, Oct. 20 on Netflix.
HEAR IT: The Rolling Stones start it up again
Hackney Diamonds, the first album of original music in 18 years from the Rolling Stones, is an expectedly all-star affair — with Paul McCartney, Elton John, Stevie Wonder, Lady Gaga and Don Was all lending the Glimmer Twins’s comeback some extra glimmer. But even more notably, the album features Bill Wyman on “Live by the Sword” (the former Stones bassist’s first appearance on a Stones studio recording since 1989) and playing on two tracks by late Stones drummer Charlie Watts, who died in 2021. Shine on, guys. — L.P.
Hackney Diamonds by the Rolling Stones is available Friday, Oct. 20 to download/stream on Apple Music.
STREAM IT: Navajo Police: Class 57 follows a new class of reservation cops
Just as Hulu's remarkable Reservation Dogs ends its run, Max invites viewers to follow some reservation cops. The three-part docuseries chronicles a year in the life of new recruits at the Navajo Police Training Academy, located in the heart of Arizona's Navajo Nation — the largest indigenous reservation in the country. Many of the recruits come from the community and their conflicted feelings about policing their friends and family is one of the many challenges they confront as they train for their new careers, along with health issues and the societal problems impacting reservation life, from alcoholism to domestic abuse. This exclusive clip from the series addresses the difficulty the academy has had with keeping recruits until they can graduate as officers. — Ethan Alter
Navajo Nation: Class 57 premieres Tuesday, Oct. 17 on HBO and Max.
WATCH IT: Full Circle puts you on the slopes with inspirational skier Trevor Kennison
Ten years ago, 22-year-old Trevor Kennison was a rising star in the skiing world. But then a 2014 accident left him paralyzed from the waist down, seemingly putting an end to his career. But as the new documentary Full Circle reveals, Kennison is still hitting the slopes and providing inspiration to the disabled community. Filled with GoPro-enhanced skiing footage, the film also compares Kennison's experience with the life of Barry Corbett, another skier whose spine was damaged in an accident, but found a way to continue pursuing his passion. This exclusive clip from Full Circle shows you one of Kennison's epic runs. — E.A.
Full Circle premieres Friday, Oct. 20 in theaters.
WATCH IT: Viral YouTube character Onyx the Fortuitious arrives on the big-screen
Just like Pee-wee Herman and Elvira, Mistress of the Dark before him, Onyx the Fortuitous has parlayed cult fandom into a feature film. Andrew Bowser's YouTube alter ego — distinguished by a distinctive fashion sense and even more distinct voice — headlines the Sundance-approved horror comedy, Onyx the Fortuitous and the Talisman of Souls, in which our hero is invited to a (haunted) house party alongside a group of fellow eccentrics and discovers a plot of demonic origins. Fans of '80s creature features will enjoy the low-fi special effects, while the YouTube generation can celebrate one of their own taking over the big screen. Check out this exclusive clip where the motley crew is given their agenda for the day ahead. — E.A.
Onyx the Fortuitous and the Talisman of Souls premieres Thursday, Oct. 19; visit Fandango for showtime and ticket information.
HEAR IT: Have merry, Cher-y Christmas
Do you believe in holiday miracles? After six decades in the biz, the unstoppable Cher is finally releasing her first Christmas album, and she’s bringing good tidings of Cher with superstar Santa’s helpers like Michael Bublé, Tyga, Cyndi Lauper, the ubiquitous Stevie Wonder and even Christmas queen Darlene Love. Christmas will be the perfect dinner music when you’re enjoying your holiday dessert of Cherlato this season. — L.P.
Christmas by Cher is available Friday, Oct. 20 to download/stream on Apple Music.
OWN IT: Don’t Look Now and The Wicker Man are further proof 1973 was the golden era of horror
The Exorcist is undoubtedly the most iconic and influential (most copied) horror movie of 1973, but it was hardly the only classic horror movie of 1973. There was also Don’t Look Now, Nicholas Roeg’s spellbinding psychic thriller teaming Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie in Italy; and The Wicker Man, the deeply disturbing tale of a cop searching for a missing girl on a pagan Scottish island. Both celebrate their 50th anniversaries with new 4K Ultra HD releases this month; Don’t Look Now landing in The Criterion Collection with extras including interviews and a making-of doc while The Wicker Man gets a Best Buy Steelbook with featurettes, a look at locations and more. — K.P.
Don’t Look Now is now available from Criterion on Amazon; The Wicker Man releases Tuesday, Oct. 17 only at Best Buy.
WATCH IT: Once Within a Time is a trippy allegory with a surprise Mike Tyson cameo
Just when you think Godfrey Reggio's 50-minute delightfully strange fable can't get any stranger, Mike Tyson pops up as a Pied Piper-type figure who is followed everywhere by a group of happy kids. The rest of the film is filled with unexpected surprises as well, which is only to be expected from the filmmaker behind such landmark sensory experiences as 1982's Koyaanisqatsi. An invigorating blend of live action and animation scored, once again, to Philip Glass, Once Within a Time fuses fairy tales and Biblical allegories into another one of Reggio's uniquely specific visions. "I was sure I wanted [Tyson] because he was a felon," the director told Variety about casting the formerly incarcerated boxer. "He could speak in a manner of authority. He’s a brilliant person...And he did it all for nothing." — E.A.
Once Within a Time is playing in limited release in New York and opens Oct. 20 in Los Angeles; check Fandango for showtimes and ticket information
BUY IT: Shape-shifting Shashibo toys get some Turtle (and Squarepants) power
If your kid's a fidgeter, get some Shashibo blocks into their hands. These shape-shifting puzzle squares are the next step up from fidget cubes, packed with more than 70 possible shapes. Thanks to a new partnership with Paramount, a fresh wave of blocks is hitting the market bearing the faces of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, as well as Spongebob SquarePants and his under the sea pals. And remember — for the full Shashibo experience, you've gotta collect more than one brick. — E.A.
Shashibo's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Spongebob SquarePants toys are available Monday, Oct. 23 in Walmart stores.
HEAR IT: Dave Stewart conjures sweet dreams with ecstatic new rock opera
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame-indicted musician/producer/songwriter Dave Stewart was at the forefront of a visual music revolution when his band Eurythmics exploded onto MTV four decades ago, and now with a new creative collective called the Time Experience Project and its modern rock opera Who to Love, he’s doing it again. The film (starring Italian actress Greta Scarano and premiering Oct. 19 at the Rome Film Festival) and accompanying soundtrack “are centered around the elusive nature of time, how it seems to speed up or slow down depending on your mental state,” Stewart says in a statement. “Through the music and lyrics we try to interpret this feeling and how life’s journey can become serpentine and surreal as we wander through moments of sadness, melancholy, love addiction, and pure ecstasy.” — L.P.
Who to Love by Dave Stewart’s Time Experience Project is available Friday, Oct. 20 to download/stream on Apple Music.
HEAR IT: Mike Skinner is back on the Streets
When urban poet/lager lout/voice of a British generation Mike Skinner, aka the Streets, emerged with Original Pirate Material in 2002, his harrowing yet humorous chronicles of the inebriated misadventures of aimless, working-class British youth made that debut album perhaps as important in the U.K. as Pulp's Different Class or Blur's Parklife. Skinner was always a cult phenomenon in the States — even a collab with Coldplay’s Chris Martin didn’t quite translate here — but the rapper’s material remained high-quality and highly original. Now that he’s back with his first full-length release since the 2020 mixtape None of Us Are Getting Out of This Life Alive and first proper studio album since 2011, it’s time for a new generation to discover him. — L.P.
The Darker the Shadow the Brighter the Light by the Streets is available Friday, Oct. 20 to download/stream on Apple Music.