What to know:
Sony declares Uncharted a “new hit franchise”… Back in the day, successful movies got sequels. Now they get labeled as franchises. It also used to take a lot more than $50 million at the box office to become a “franchise,” but in these odd, eve-evolving times, that’s all it takes to become a big hit I guess. Tom Holland is clearly Sony’s golden-egg goose. 🎮
Aziz Ansari casts Bill Murray in feature directorial debut… The comedy-drama will be based on surgeon Atul Gawande's non-fiction book "Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End" about “death, quality of life for the infirm and elderly, and how to make the last weeks and months of a person's life dignified and full.” /Film speculates that Murray could be playing an older person who is going to die and reveals that Ansari will also act in the film. 🩺
All the Arthur characters grew up into adults in series finale… Arthur became a graphic novelist with a goatee and a full head of hair — which begs the question has Arthur been bald this whole time? 📕
Lin-Manuel Miranda says live-action Little Mermaid will give voiceless Ariel a song… Is she going to hum it? Not that it matters, it’s Lin so it’ll probably be catchy as hell and top the charts. 🧜♀️
Speaking of which, Encanto’s “Bruno” is now Disney’s biggest chart success ever… Are the TikTok kids still responsible for this? Have they discovered the Vivo soundtrack yet? It’s better. 🎼
Emmy Rossum, 35, to play mother to Tom Holland, 25, in new Apple series based on Billy Milligan… I don’t think that math checks out. 👩👦
Here’s your first look at Cillian Murphy as Nolan’s Oppenheimer… but more importantly: Here’s your first look at Daniel Radcliffe as Weird Al 🪗
Tom Welling teases potential Smallville animated series… I don’t think Allison Mack will be returning. 🦸🏻
Early buzz praises Pixar’s Turning Red… Maybe Disney will release more Pixar movies in theaters now? 🐼
Orthodontists keep DMing Alana Haim about fixing her teeth… Get out of here, creeps 🦷
What’s new this week:
Law & Order — Feb 24 | NBC revival series | 🍅
Cyrano — Feb 25 | Musical drama film in limited theaters | 🍅 88%
Studio 666 — Feb 25 | Horror comedy film in limited theaters | 🍅 83%
Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber — Feb 27 | Showtime miniseries | Metacritic
SAG Awards — Feb 27 | TNT and TBS awards show
For more pop culture news, discussion, and what-to-watch recommendations subscribe to my pals over on the Kickball Friends podcast. 🎙
What to watch:
Yellowjackets is bleak as hell. If you’ve watched the Showtime series’ first season, I’m sure the image above is making you queasy. But therein lies its power. This high-concept horror thriller about a girls soccer team stranded in the woods grabs you by the collar and refuses to let go for 10 episodes. Creators Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson are clearly drawing inspiration from early 2010s television, when shows like Lost and Breaking Bad used shock, mystery, and propulsive time-jumping storytelling to paint tapestries of hope and misery. Lyle and Nickerson paint over the blueprints of that bygone era, pushing characters into extreme situations and letting the sparks fly, with the intention of telling their story over what might be several seasons! Lo, this is no one-and-done miniseries. You’ll have no tidy answers to all of Yellowjackets’ questions by episode 10. We’re clearly going on this sinister ride for quite some time. Thankfully, we’ve got very game young actors and their older incarnations played with pulp by Melanie Lynskey, Tawny Cypress, Juliette Lewis, and in a real renaissance moment, Christina Ricci. Yellowjackets is brutal — but like its pre-peak TV predecessors, you’ll find enough engrossing mystery and character work to wade through or even come to appreciate the necessity in the brutality.
For all past ‘what to watch’ recommendations, see the full list here!