The It List: 'The Hills: New Beginnings' returns, the TV adaptation of 'The Underground Railroad' debuts, Ryan Murphy's 'Halston' takes the runway and the best in pop culture the week of May 10, 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. During the coronavirus pandemic, when most of us are staying at home, we're going to spotlight things you can enjoy from your couch, whether solo or in small groups, and leave out the rest. With that in mind, here are our picks for May 10-16, 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: Kristin Cavallari heads to The Hills: New Beginnings
Get ready, Hills fans! The second season of this sequel of the MTV favorite features much of the cast from the first season — Spencer and Heidi Pratt, Audrina Patridge, Brody Jenner, Whitney Port and more — but a blast from the past, too, in the form of Kristin Cavallari. While Cavallari didn't appear on the first season because she had her own reality show, she's since been spotted filming scenes for an upcoming episode on a beach with Brody. She even popped up in the trailer, as she prepares to walk into a nightclub. (This is as big as when Lauren and Heidi argued at Les Deux; never forget, "You know what you did!") The new batch of episodes also chronicles Brody talking to his ex, Kaitlynn Carter, about their demise; Heidi and Spencer having an emotional conversation about the possibility of another baby; Jason Wahler struggling with his sobriety; and so much more drama. Other changes for this season are that Caroline D'Amore, the CEO of Pizza Girl Inc., is joining the cast, while The O.C. actress Mischa Barton reportedly won't be returning. — Raechal Shewfelt
The Hills: New Beginnings airs Wednesday, May 12 at 9 p.m. on MTV.
BUY IT: '80s comedy classic Fast Times at Ridgemont High gets Criterion upgrade
It's amazing to think now that there was once a time when Sean Penn and Forest Whitaker made comedies. And that Phoebe Cates made movies at all. So it's hard to imagine there will ever be a class reunion for Amy Heckerling's 1982 raunchy teen classic Fast Times at Ridgemont High, but we have been gifted the next best thing: a re-release from the tastemakers at the Criterion Collection. The comedy staple returns with a kickass new cover and a newly restored 4K digital transfer with bonus features, including audio commentary, a television version from the '80s that includes deleted scenes, a 1999 doc with cast interviews, and a brand new discussion with Heckerling and writer Cameron Crowe moderated by Booksmart director Olivia Wilde (which you can tell is new because it's captured on Zoom). Check out an exclusive clip from the convo above.
The Criterion Collection edition of Fast Times at Ridgemont High is available Tuesday, May 11 on Amazon.
STREAM IT: It's boy vs. poltergeist in the claustrophobic horror film The Djinn
In the tradition of The Babadook, David Charbonier and Justin Powell's sophomore horror feature brings a young boy's worst fears to life. Left home alone one evening by his widower father, mute 12-year-old Dylan (Ezra Dewey) stumbles upon an ancient tome of powerful spells and attempts it to regain his voice through magical means. But instead, he ends up summoning the titular demon, who stalks him throughout his small home, taking various forms — including that of his dead mother. In this exclusive (and largely silent) clip from the film, Dylan seeks refuge from this invading poltergeist underneath his bed… a ruse that almost succeeds until an inconvenient phone beep gives away his location. — Ethan Alter
The Djinn premieres Wednesday, May 14 in theaters and on most digital and on demand services.
WATCH IT: Laugh along with the funny women profiled in new Lifetime special, Variety's Power of Women The Comedians
As part of Variety's "Power of Women" issue, Hollywood's venerable trade publication teams up with Lifetime for a one-hour salute to the hilarious female actors, writers and directors who really know how to make 'em laugh. Mindy Kaling, Sofia Vergara, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Michaela Cole are among the honorees profiled in the special, which also pays tribute to dearly departed Saturday Night Live star Gilda Radner. Her legacy lives on amongst SNL's current cast, which includes another powerful comic voice, Kate McKinnon. In this clip from Power of Women, McKinnon and her fellow Not Ready for Primetime Player, Aidy Bryant, pick the five words that best describe her. One of them has to be "Bieberiffic," right? — E.A.
Variety's Power of Women The Comedians premieres Monday, May 10 at 8 p.m. on Lifetime.
STREAM IT: Former Lethal Weapon star Clayne Crawford returns to the screen in marital drama The Killing of Two Lovers
Three years after his unceremonious departure from the TV version of Lethal Weapon, Clayne Crawford has a new starring role in writer/director Robert Machoian's portrait of a small-town marriage in crisis. After marrying young and raising a family, David (Crawford) and Nikki (Sepideh Moafi) find themselves at a relationship crossroads and are taking time apart. But when Nikki starts seeing another man, David's jealousy bubbles up and threatens to explode. In this exclusive scene from the film, the estranged couple tries to adjust to their new normal, even as their kids recognize just how not "normal" the situation is. — E.A.
The Killing of Two Lovers premieres Wednesday, May 14 in theaters and on demand services, including FandangoNOW.
STREAM IT: Silo dramatizes the too-real dangers experienced by America's grain farmers
You'll never look at a grain silo the same way again after Marshall Burnette's debut feature, which is based on real stories of real tragedies affecting rural America. Silo depicts what happens when a 50-foot tower of corn becomes a pit of quicksand, a deadly event known as a grain entrapment. Danny Ramirez — most recently seen in the hit Disney+ series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier — stars as Lucha, who watches one such entrapment unfold in real-time, and desperately tries to aid in the rescue of his friends and co-workers. This exclusive clip sets up the life-or-death stakes, as the silo almost becomes a tomb. — E.A.
Silois currently playing in theaters and virtual cinemas.
STREAM IT: Fashion designer Halston gets the Ryan Murphy treatment
Halston, the late designer who came to worldwide fame after Jackie Kennedy wore one of his hats for her husband John F. Kennedy’s presidential inauguration, is played by Ewan McGregor in this new limited series. As Murphy explained to Vogue, McGregor was "the only choice," because he really understood the role. "One of the things that was repeatedly said to him was 'You're from Indiana. Why are you speaking like that?" Murphy said of Halston’s accent, which the Moulin Rouge stars plays as very formal. "In [Halston’s] mind, it was not affect — it was natural. I think Ewan got that. Ewan really connected with the pain of Halston and the longing of Halston, and how confusing it is to have to be an artist and a businessman at the same time. Other things as well — the power of a muse, for example." Indeed, Halston did have pain as he struggled with fame and success. The series depicts him partying at New York’s famed Studio 54 and struggling with drugs, AIDS and everything else that comes along with the kind of massive success that he experienced in the ‘70s and ‘80s. Look for some other familiar names, too, including late producer/director Joel Schumacher (played by Succession’s Kieran Culkin) and Liza Minnelli, who’s portrayed by Krysta Rodriguez (Smash). — R.S.
Halston premieres Friday, May 14 on Netflix.
STREAM IT: Barry Jenkins takes on Colson Whitehead's The Underground Railroad
That Oscar winner Barry Jenkins (Moonlight, If Beale Street Could Talk) has directed this limited series is enough to recommend it, but what's most extraordinary is the source material on which it's based: Colson Whitehead’s 2016 Pulitzer Prize-winning, historical fiction masterpiece. South African star Thuso Mbedu heads up a cast in this alternate history that depicts the Underground Railroad as an actual, physical, subterranean railway line transporting enslaved people to freedom with the help of abolitionists and safe houses. — Erin Donnelly
The Underground Railroad is available to stream Friday, May 14 on Amazon Prime.
HEAR IT: St. Vincent is a '70s daddy's girl
Annie Clark, avant pop's most fascinating shapeshifter, taps into the sepia-toned '70s for her latest high-concept album, the Jack Antonoff-co-produced Daddy's Home, evoking the funk of David Bowie's Young Americans and TV-detective-drama soundtracks on swanky, swaggy tracks like "Pay Your Way in Pain" and "The Melting of the Sun." But Clark's latest persona isn't just bellbottomed, Dorothy Hamill-wigged, butterfly-collared artifice: The title of album, her first since 2017's Masseduction, was inspired by her very real relationship with her father, who was released after a nine-year prison sentence shortly before she began writing.— Lyndsey Parker
Daddy's Home by St. Vincent is available to download/stream Friday, May 14 on Apple Music.
BUY IT: Shrek never looked better than in 20th anniversary 4K Ultra HD
Released 20 years ago this month, Shrek was Dreamworks' first computer-animated film, and the charming and hilarious tale of the green ogre looked far ahead of its time in raking in mega green and winning Oscar's inaugural Best Animated Film category. Of course, two decades later, its technology no longer looks sparkling new. But we can say it now looks better than ever in a new, 4K Ultra HD version. The look alone is worth it, but the release also comes with a bonus disc stacked with extras: 10 short films, 5 episodes from the Puss in Boots TV show, deleted scenes and a karaoke dance party. If you have a portable 4K player, these two discs alone could your kids through an entire coast-to-coast plane trip. — Kevin Polowy
Shrek is available on 4K Ultra HD Tuesday, May 11 on Amazon.
HEAR IT: Alan Jackson hasn't gone anywhere
After a six-year recording hiatus while he grieved the loss of his mother and son-in-law, the Grand Ole Opry and Songwriters Hall of Fame member finally returns with his 16th studio album, Where Have You Gone. One track, "Where Her Heart Has Always Been," was written for the funeral of his mom, Ruth Musick Jackson, and features an archival recording of her reading from the Bible; two other tunes, "You'll Always Be My Baby" and "I Do," were written for his daughters' weddings, the former less than a year before his daughter Mattie's husband, Ben Selecman, died in a boating accident. But Where Have You Gone also includes happy songs like "Beer:10," and "Livin' on Empty," and its title is less a reference to personal tragedies and more a commentary on the bygone classic country music era that has inspired the heart-on-sleeve country legend for decades. — L.P.
Where Have You Gone by Alan Jackson is available to download/stream Friday, May 14 on Apple Music.
STREAM IT: The Woman in the Window will (finally) see you now
File this one under Better Late Than Never: This film adaptation of A.J. Finn's Rear Window-ish 2018 bestseller was originally slated for an October 2019 release, then pushed back for new edits in response to test screening feedback. And then COVID-19 happened. More than a year and a half later, the movie is heading straight to the small screen. Still, there's something fitting about being at home watching an agoraphobic, house-bound Amy Adams suspect that her neighbor has fallen victim to foul play. With a cast that includes Gary Oldman, Julianne Moore and Anthony Mackie, a screenplay from Pulitzer Prize and Tony winner Tracy Letts and Atonement's Joe Wright directing, it stands to reason that this psychological thriller won't disappoint, delays aside. — E.D.
The Woman in the Window premieres Friday, May 14 on Netflix.
HEAR IT: The Black Keys pay tribute to the kream of the blues crop
Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney return to the classics that inspired their skronky, garage-rock sound on Delta Kream. The covers collection, the Akron duo's first album since 2019's Let's Rock, honors Mississippi blues greats like R. L. Burnside, Junior Kimbrough, John Lee Hooker, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Big Joe Williams and Ranie Burnette. — L.P.
Delta Kream by the Black Keys is available to download/stream Friday, May 14 on Apple Music.
STREAM IT: It's The British Invasion (for cinephiles)
There are many stateside obsessives of BBC and The Crown, but it's rare we recognize British film as a genre in itself. BFI Player Classics is looking to change that. The new streaming service from the British Film Institute launches this week with a collection of more than 200 British (or British co-production) films selected by BFI experts. Want a sampling? There are classics like Carol Reed's The Third Man and John Boulting's Brighton Rock, genre movies like (the original!) The Wicker Man, and period films (of course) like The Lion in Winter and The Three Musketeers. That's a bloody good haul. — K.P.
BFI Player Classics is available Friday, May 14. Get streaming options here.
BUY IT: Kickstart Wandering Planet Toys's new line of action figures inspired by cult spy series The Prisoner
By hook or by crook, Patrick McGoohan's The Prisoner remains one of the most bizarre — and brilliant — TV shows ever broadcast. And now the cult 1960s British series is getting its own action figures courtesy of Wandering Planet Toys. The company has launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund an entire toy line that includes four versions of McGoohan's nameless ex-spy Number 6, as well as other characters from the mysterious Village where he's been trapped by his former employers. The campaign is already fully funded, but you still have two weeks to pledge your support and Wandering Planet is adding different stretch goals to attract new backers. Be seeing you… over on Kickstarter. — E.A.
Back Wandering Planet Toys's The Prisoner retro action figures on Kickstarter.
HEAR IT: Juliana Hatfield is out for Blood
The '90s alt-rock icon returns with a vengeance, literally, with Blood, which like her Trump-era album Pussycat is billed as "a brutal and critical look at modern human psychology and behavior." Cathartic but catchy, the former Blake Babies member's 19th solo album, examines the "personal and societal sickness" of the past four years without sacrificing her signature pop smarts. — L.P.
Blood by Juliana Hatfield is available to download/stream Friday, May 14 on Apple Music.
PLAY IT: Blast off with Mass Effect Legendary Edition, the complete collection of BioWare's beloved video game franchise
BioWare's Mass Effect series serving up deep space action since 2007, and now remastered versions of the first three games — plus all the downloadable content — are collected in the all-new Legendary Edition. Available for PS4, Xbox One and PC, the compilation is perfect for gamers who want to relive the glory of campaigns past, or experience the series for the first time with updated textures, effects and character models. It's a massive upgrade for the Mass Effect franchise. — E.A.
Mass Effect Legendary Edition is available Friday, May 14 at most major retailers including Amazon.
—Video produced by Jon San and edited by John Santo
