What to Stream: ‘The Bear,' Lorde, ‘Smoke,' ‘A Minecraft Movie,' ‘Nosferatu' and Nelly and Ashanti

Hamilton Spectator

8 hours ago

The Jack Black-led movie phenomenon 'A Minecraft Movie' and Lorde's fourth studio album, 'Virgin,' are some of the new television, films, music and games headed to a device near you.
Also among the streaming offerings worth your time, as selected by The Associated Press'
entertainment journalists
: All 10 episodes of season four of FX's 'The Bear' drop Wednesday, Nelly and Ashanti get their own reality show and Bill Skarsgård leads an update of the 1922 silent vampire classic 'Nosferatu.'
New movies to stream from June 23-29
— The Porky Pig and Daffy Duck movie 'The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie' comes to HBO Max on Friday (it will also broadcast on HBO on June 28 at 8 p.m. ET). Reviews were a little mixed, but mostly positive for the full-length animated feature. Bob Strauss wrote in the San Francisco Chronicle that 'The laugh ratio is more hit-and-miss than in the tightly scripted shorts, but enough jokes land to satisfy most funny bones.' The film had a wild ride to end up where it was originally intended, including a theatrical release in December not from Warner Bros. but Ketchup Entertainment (who will also distribute the previously shelved
'Coyote vs. Acme'
).
—
Mariska Hargitay's documentary
about her mother Jayne Mansfield, 'My Mom Jayne,' will also be streaming on HBO Max on Friday. The Hollywood bombshell died in a car accident at 34, when Hargitay was only 3.
— La-la-la-lava, ch-ch-ch-chicken, Steve's lava chicken is now streaming on HBO Max, as is the rest of
'A Minecraft Movie.'
A box office phenomenon with over $950 million in worldwide ticket sales and counting, this movie adaptation of the popular game stars Jack Black and Jason Momoa. In his AP review, Mark Kennedy wrote that 'the Jared Hess-directed action-adventure artfully straddles the line between delighting preteen gamers and keeping their parents awake. It's an often-bananas adaptation, with bizarre digressions into turquoise blouses and tater tot pizzas. It has
Jennifer Coolidge
being very Jennifer Coolidge. Need we say more?'
— Nicholas Hoult, Lily-Rose Depp and Bill Skarsgård lead the Robert Eggers-directed update of the 1922 silent vampire classic
'Nosferatu,'
streaming on Prime Video starting Friday. Jocelyn Noveck wrote in her AP review that 'it will chill you to the bone' but that 'it may not terrify you.' Everything, she adds, in Eggers 'faithful, even adoring
remake
... looks great. But with its stylized, often stilted dialogue and overly dramatic storytelling, it feels more like everyone is living in a quaint period painting rather than a world populated by real humans (and, well, vampires) made of flesh and, er, blood.'
—
AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr
New music to stream from June 23-29
— What will the next era of Lorde look like? 'What Was That,' the singer's first new single in four years, recalls the clever synth-pop of her
2017 album 'Melodrama,'
casting aside the folk detour of
2021's 'Solar Power.'
The song that followed, 'Man of the Year,' is stripped and spare – just Lorde and a sorrowful bass. Who knows what will come next? Listeners will have to wait until Friday when she releases her fourth studio album, 'Virgin.'
(Read AP's review.)
—
The 'F1' movie,
starring Brad Pitt and
Damson Idris,
is quickly gearing up to be
a summer tentpole.
Naturally, the filmmakers knew its sound had to be massive, too. That arrives via a score by the many-time
Oscar winner Hans Zimmer
and a huge soundtrack releasing as 'F1 The Album' via Atlantic Records, the team behind
the award-winning 'Barbie' album —
with bespoke tracks from Chris Stapleton, Ed Sheeran, Myke Towers, Blackpink's Rosé, Tate McRae and many more. Learn all about how the soundtrack
came together here.
— On Friday, arty alt-rock legends Failure will receive documentary treatment in 'Every Time You Lose Your Mind: A Film about Failure,' available to stream on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+. The unorthodox and influential band finally gets their due in the project, directed by frontman Ken Andrews. And don't worry if Failure isn't a familiar name to you. Some of the featured voices in the documentary certainly will be:
Paramore's Hayley Williams,
actor Jason Schwartzman, comedian Margaret Cho, legendary producers
Steve Albini
and Butch Vig and many more participate.
—
AP Music Writer Maria Sherman
New series to stream from June 23-29
— All 10 episodes of season four of
FX's 'The Bear'
dropped Wednesday on Hulu. Viewers will find out if Michelin-starred chef Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) can successfully run an acclaimed and profitable fine dining restaurant in Chicago.
The series
has led to acting awards for White, Ayo Edebiri, Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Liza Colón-Zayas.
— Jensen Ackles ('Supernatural,' 'Tracker') stars in a new crime thriller series for Prime Video called
'Countdown.'
Ackles plays a LAPD detective assigned to a task force investigating the murder of a government official.
Eric Dane
of 'Grey's Anatomy' and 'Euphoria' also stars. It premiered Wednesday.
—
Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez's second shot at love
didn't work out but there's another celebrity couple who has rekindled a past flame. Recording artists
Nelly and Ashanti
were an item for more than 10 years before their breakup in 2013. They got back together in 2023 and are now married with a son. The pair are the subject of their own reality show called
'Nelly & Ashanti: We Belong Together.'
It debuted Thursday on Peacock.
— Taron Egerton and Jurnee Smollett star in the new thriller
'Smoke'
for Apple TV+ as investigators working together to catch two serial arsonists.
It's created by Dennis Lehane
and based on a true story where an arson investigator turned out to be a serial arsonist. 'Smoke' reunites Egerton and Lehane who worked on the Apple limited-series 'Blackbird.' John Leguizamo and Greg Kinnear also appear in 'Smoke,' out Friday.
—
'Nautilus,'
a reimagining of Jules Verne's novel 'Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas' comes to AMC+ Friday. It's an origin story of the character known as Captain Nemo and portrayed by Shazad Latif. Nemo is an Indian prince whose birthright was stolen from him and he's on a mission for revenge.
—
Alicia Rancilio
New video games to play from June 23-29
— In 2019's Death Stranding, a courier named Sam worked to reconnect survivors in a postapocalyptic America beset by 'beached things,' gooey monsters trapped between the worlds of the living and the dead. Sam is back in
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
, but now he faces a question we've all asked in the internet age: Was connecting everyone really such a good idea? The series is the brainchild of legendary 'Metal Gear Solid' mastermind Hideo Kojima, and fans know they can expect a complex story, flamboyant graphics and some off-the-wall gameplay ideas. (The original included a lot of walking and inventory management next to some mind-blowing boss battles.) Norman Reedus of 'The Walking Dead' returns as Sam, and yes, he's still carrying a baby who has psychic powers. Embrace the weirdness Thursday on PlayStation 5.
—
Lou Kesten