The It List: Kourtney Kardashian cameos in '90s reboot 'He's All That,' Halsey drops most ambitious album yet, John Cena makes life tough for Lil Rel Howery in 'Vacation Friends' and the best in pop culture the week of Aug. 23, 2021
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 Aug. 23-29, including the best deals we could find for each. (Yahoo Entertainment may receive a share from purchases made via links on this page.)
STREAM IT: Kourtney Kardashian makes a cameo appearance in He's All That
As if the remake of the 1999 movie featuring Rachael Leigh Cook in a (gasp!) ponytail and a choreographed crowd dance at the prom weren't buzzy enough on its own, it features Kourtney Kardashian in a cameo role, not as herself but as Jessica Miles Torres. The part is one of the Poosh mogul's first on-screen gigs since Keeping Up With the Kardashians concluded in June. She joins a cast that includes Cobra Kai's Tanner Buchanan (as the "he"), TikTok influencer Addison Rae as the classmate making him over and, yes, Cook. This time around, the latter plays the mother of Rae's character, the teen who sets out to transform Buchanan's uncool Cameron Kweller into high school royalty. Cook's She’s All That co-star (and '90s staple) Matthew Lillard pops up, too. As an extra bit of nostalgia, the film even features a new take of Sixpence None the Richer's "Kiss Me," a song forever associated with the OG version. — Raechal Shewfelt
He’s All That premieres Friday, Aug. 27 on Netflix.
WATCH IT: An F/X expert makes a freaky directorial debut with the new horror movie Behemoth
The force has been with F/X artist Peter Szewczyk ever since he got his start at George Lucas's legendary Skywalker Ranch in the early 2000s. After two decades working on such blockbuster franchises as Star Wars, Harry Potter and Avatar, he's striking out on his own with the self-financed creature feature Behemoth. The story is that, after blowing the whistle on the chemical company he previously worked for, Josh (played by Josh Eisenberg) goes on the lam… just as his grasp on reality starts to crumble. Made for only $65,000, Behemoth is a showcase for Szewczyk's digital wizardry, which allows for plenty of gnarly gore. This exclusive clip features a fast-paced car chase that heralds bigger thrills to come. — Ethan Alter
Behemoth premieres Friday, Aug. 27 on most VOD services, including Redbox.
WATCH IT: On Broadway assembles an A-list company of actors to tell the story of the Great White Way
As Broadway attempts to bounce back from the coronavirus pandemic, Oren Jacoby's documentary provides a sweeping visual history of how New York's theater district became the center of the musical theater universe. Originally filmed in 2019, ahead of the industry's pandemic shutdown, the movie quizzes such experienced stage performers as Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen, Helen Mirren and Christine Baranski on the shows that inspired them, as well as the science behind this specific art form. Meanwhile, a bevy of other Broadway babies, including writers, producers and historians, revisit notable moments in the neighborhood's history, and the musicals that made audiences dance in the aisles. This exclusive clip from On Broadway features Jackman — who is about to tread the boards again in a new production of The Music Man — and Mirren ruminating on the singular experience of performing in front of a live audience night after night. — E.A.
On Broadway premieres Friday, Aug. 27 in theaters; Tickets are available at Fandango.
STREAM IT: Vacation Friends will inspire you to travel solo
For Marcus and Emily (Get Out's Lil Rel Howery and Yvonne Orji of Insecure) what happens on vacation definitely does not stay on vacation in this Hulu comedy flick. The reason is that Ron and Kyla (played by John Cena and Search Party's Meredith Hagner), the couple who tricked them into sharing their raucous adventures while down in Mexico, won't let the party end — to the point that they show up uninvited to their wedding. Of course, in their real lives, Marcus and Emily just want to put those drunken, (unintentionally) drug-fueled wild nights behind them. The whole thing is enough to make you reconsider saying "see you later" just to be polite ever again. — R.S.
Vacation Friends premieres Friday, Aug. 27 on Hulu.
HEAR IT: Halsey releases the mother of all pop concept albums
New mom Halsey has described her fourth studio LP, If I Can't Have Love, I Want Power, as a "concept album about the joys and horrors of pregnancy and childbirth." The record, which was produced by Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, coincides with a Colin Tilley-directed theatrical film by the same audacious title, and will screen in select IMAX cinemas internationally on Aug. 25 and 26. In both cases, Ashley Nicolette Frangipane continues to push and refine the boundaries of pop music with her most ambitious and personal efforts yet. — Lyndsey Parker
If I Can't Have Love, I Want Power by Halsey is available Friday, Aug. 27 to download/stream on Apple Music.
STREAM IT: L.A.'s underground rap legends get some love in Where We're From
Not since Ava DuVernay's 2008 breakout film, This Is the Life, has a documentary shown as much love and reverence for the heroes of Los Angeles's independent rap scene as Where We're From: Rise of L.A. Underground Hip Hop. Co-directed by Club Elements founders DJ Bonds and DJ Breeze, this breezy 90-minute doc celebrates the bonds between famed crews like Jurassic 5, Dilated Peoples, Hieroglyphics and The Beat Junkies and the City of Angels. A must-see for any Hip-Hop Head or culture completist. – Kevin Polowy
Where We're From is available on all major on-demand platforms on Tuesday, Aug. 24.
BUY IT: Experience the first Harry Potter movie in new 'Magical Movie Mode'
While it's commonplace for beloved films to get home entertainment re-releases on a regular basis every five or 10 years, it's not all that often (4K UHD upgrades aside) they legitimately present a new type of viewing experience. Enter the Harry Potter "Magical Movie Mode," an interactive experience that allows fans to engage with various bells and whistles (Spells! Creatures! Artifacts! Trivia!) as they watch. First up is the inaugural movie adventure, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, naturally, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year (yeah, we're all old now), though something tells us a series is born. – K.P.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone: Magical Movie Mode is available on Blu-ray or DVD at Amazon.
HEAR IT: Diane Warren steps into the spotlight
Diane Warren is one of the most successful superstar songwriters of all time, responsible for massive hits by the likes of Beyoncé, Trisha Yearwood, Aerosmith, Cher, Gloria Estefan and Lady Gaga. But now, at age 64, she's finally releasing her first solo album. However, while Diane Warren: The Cave Sessions Vol. 1 bears her name, it is of course a star-studded affair, featuring collaborations with A-listers like Carlos Santana, G-Eazy, Pentatonix, Luis Fonsi, Maren Morris, John Legend, Darius Rucker, Leona Lewis and many more. — L.P.
Diane Warren: The Cave Sessions Vol. 1 by Diane Warren is available Friday, Aug. 27 to download/stream on Apple Music.
BUY IT: Explore the wide, wide world of film noir with Turner Classic Movie's latest tome, Dark City
The latest addition to the TCM Library transports cinephiles from sunny beaches to rainy alleyways. Noir Alley host, Eddie Muller, revises and expands his 1998 film noir appreciation guide, Dark City, with all-new material covering classics of the genre, like Laura and The Big Clock. Long out of print, this expanded version of the book has been fully redesigned and boasts dozens of new black-and-white images that'll make you eager to don a detective's fedora and hit the streets in search of the Maltese Falcon. — E.A.
Dark City: The Lost World of Film Noir is available on Amazon.
HEAR IT: CHVRCHES have the cure for 2021
Glaswegian electropop trio CHVRCHES explore a darker, doomier sound on their fourth album, Screen Violence — and who better to recruit for the task that godfather himself, Robert Smith? The Cure icon's ethereal, soundscapey duet with CHVRCHES frontwoman Lauren Mayberry, "How Not to Drown," is a highlight, but the entire album is a perfect beautiful-disaster soundtrack for 2021. — L.P.
Screen Violence by CHVRCHES is available Friday, Aug. 27 to download/stream on Apple Music.
BUY IT: Robert Altman's '70s classic Nashville is digitally remastered on Blu-ray
Long before Wes Anderson and Rian Johnson were stacking their film casts with lengthy lists of bold-faced names, Robert Altman was the godfather of the movie ensemble. First, that starts with writing a movie that has 24 main overlapping parts like he did with Nashville, his seminal 1975 comedy that, appropriately and hilariously, skewers the notion of celebrity and co-stars Keith Carradine, Karen Black, Ned Beatty, Lily Tomlin, Shelley Duvall, Scott Glenn and Jeff Goldblum, among many others. As part of the Paramount Presents series, Altman's classic gets newly remastered on Blu-ray and comes with a new featurette called "24 Tracks: Robert Altman's Nashville." Altman's previously released director's commentary is also included. – K.P.
Nashville is available on Blu-ray on Amazon.
BUY IT: Funko Games and Ravensburger add two Marvel-ous games to their tabletop offerings
Even with What If…? streaming on Disney+ and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings about to punch its way into theaters in September, it's safe to say that there's never enough MCU content to satisfy Marvel zombies. Thankfully, there are some new fan-friendly board game offerings in stores now. Funko Games is continuing their Marvel Battleworld line with Treachery at Twilight. The expandable adventure game features multiple game packs with different character combinations, plus a storage case to house all of them as your travel from tabletop to tabletop. Ravensburger continues to build out its own Marvel Villainous tabletop universe with the Loki-themed Mischief & Malice, which can be played as a standalone game or alongside the previously released titles. Both games provide enough fun to fill a whole multiverse. — E.A.
Marvel Battleworld: Treachery at Twilight is available at Amazon, and Marvel Villainous: Mischief & Malice is available at Target.
BUY IT: The fate of the future rests on your jet pack in Funko Games’s new Rocketeer tabletop game
Long before Iron Man, The Rocketeer soared through the skies as Disney’s premiere superhero. The 1991 comic book movie recently celebrated its 30th anniversary, and Funko Games is continuing the festivities with a tabletop adventure, The Rocketeer: Fate of the Future. Strap on Cliff Secord’s jet pack and hood ornament-esque helmet and fly into action to take down secret German spy, Neville Sinclair. The two-player strategy game comes with detailed mini-figs of the movie’s fan-favorite characters, as well as ‘30s-era artwork that looks like it just came off the big screen. For Rocketeer fans, it’s the closest you’ll ever get to heaven. — E.A.
The Rocketeer: Fate of the Future will be available for purchase in September at Gen Con and in the late fall at other retail outlets
— Video produced by Anne Lilburn and edited by Jimmie Rhee
