Photo-Illustration: Vulture; Photos: Warner Bros./Courtesy Everett Collection, FX, Universal Pictures, No Ju-han/Netflix
New seasons of The Bear and Squid Game are out this week, and I feel like there’s been virtually no real noise for either. There’s more pressing current affairs to attend to right now, and hell, there’s a new Lorde album to bop to. If you do need some more escapism, there’s a variety of options from sequels and sequel seasons to Top Gun: Maverick director Joseph Kosinski tackling Formula 1, a Jules Verne adaptation, and the return of Netflix’s messiest dating show.
Featured Presentations
F1
Director Joseph Kosinski does for race cars what he did for fighter planes in this elaborate shot, transcendently exciting Formula 1 drama. It stars Brad Pitt as a has-been driver brought in to save a struggling racing team and teach a rookie, played by Damson Idris, all he knows. —Bilge Ebiri
In theaters now
➽ You couldn’t pay me enough Apple bucks to call this movie by its legal name, F1® The Movie.
M3GAN 2.0
M3GAN is the Terminator now. The killer doll is murdering for good after Gemma (Allison Williams) and Cady (Violet McGraw) become the targets of another killer android, AMELIA (Ivanna Sakhno). M3GAN, complete with an upgrade, kicks some ass, says some one-liners, and will probably try for another memeable dance.
In theaters now
The Bear season 4
Is it a comedy? Is it a drama? Is it Emmys-category fraud? Is it great? Is it insufferable? Has it lost its touch? Is it on the way to a comeback? Should Carmy just go back to making sandwiches? Should it really be a binge release? (Whatever else you think about The Bear, the answer to the last one is “no.”) —Kathryn VanArendonk
Streaming on Hulu
➽ So, is this the end of The Bear?
Squid Game season 3
More like part two of the last season, am I right? We’re really just continuing right from where we left off a few months ago. In season three, we’ll see Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) thrown back into the games after his failed attempt to ambush the Front Man (Lee Byung-hun). Maybe he’ll finally realize In-ho was really who he was after the whole time.
Streaming on Netflix
Smoke
Boston crime novelist Dennis Lehane’s Black Bird miniseries was a surprise hit in 2022, and now Lehane and that show’s star, Taron Egerton, are back with another gritty drama. It centers Egerton as Dave Gudsen, a well-respected investigator chasing two serial arsonists. Against his will, he’s paired with a police detective (Jurnee Smollett) who thinks she can aid his investigation—but starts to wonder whether fire is more than just a fascination for Gudsen. Lehane’s florid dialogue with lines like “fire waits,” will be a reason to watch. — Roxana Hadadi
Streaming on Apple TV+
Genre Fare
Nautilus
AMC+, also home to Interview With the Vampire, is really cornering the market on creatively wild novel adaptations. Shazad Latif stars in this adaptation of Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea as Captain Nemo, an Indian prince stripped of his title and riches and intent on getting revenge against the East India Mercantile Company. Anti-colonialism, but make it adventure! —Roxana Hadadi
Streaming on AMC+
Ironheart
It’s been three years since Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne) was introduced in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever to tease her series Ironheart. Hopefully, the long wait wasn’t a bad sign, because this series, executive-produced by Ryan Coogler, has a great cast: Thorne is joined by Alden Ehrenreich, Lyric Ross, Shea Couleé, and Eric André.
Streaming on Disney+
Reality Bites
Ultimatum: Queer Love season 2
The straight version of this reality show is so messy and upsetting that it’s hard to watch, even for die-hard reality fans otherwise inured to lifestyle reality disasters. But its first queer season was messy in a glorious way, both less grim and more dramatic. Season two is cued up perfectly for Fourth of July weekend. —K.V.A.
Streaming on Netflix
Finally Streaming
The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie
The first fully animated theatrical Looney Tunes movie in years is finally on streaming, and it’s great — a sci-fi action-comedy worthy of the legacy of the studio that gave us Bob Clampett and Chuck Jones. The focus is on Porky Pig and Daffy Duck, who have to save the world from an alien plot to take over the world using chewing gum. —Eric Vilas-Boas
Streaming on Max
➽ And the capital-T trauma horror movie The Woman in the Yard is on Peacock.
Want more? Read our recommendations from the weekend of June 19.
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