Photo-Illustration: Vulture; Photos: Everett Collection (Warner Bros., Netflix), Steve Swisher/FX, Ben Symons/Peacock via Getty Images
It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s the film looking to dominate movie theaters this weekend, and Warner Bros. Discovery’s hope for a rebooted DC Universe, Superman. Takes that are hurting my brain are already raging across the internet (including some by Fox News, who are apparently clueless about Superman’s origins). And speaking of takes, there’s the finale of Love Island USA to talk about and a new Lena Dunham show out that’ll have TikTok sleuths buzzing as they try to put together the real-life comparisons. I’ll just be admiring how hot Will Sharpe looks. A spicy weekend indeed.
Featured Presentations
Superman
DC desperately needed a win, and I’d say James Gunn’s Superman qualifies. David Corenswet’s portrayal as the hero from Krypton is a much-needed dose of dorky and sweet. Supported by players like Rachel Brosnahan (in a real cool version of Lois Lane), Edi Gathegi, Nathan Fillion, Isabela Merced, and Skyler Gisondo, Superman may be a tad overstuffed, but its characters are never boring. Here, they all help Corenswet’s Superman (and his precious, poorly behaved superdog, Krypto) battle an envious Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) as he tries to take down the super-strengthened hero.
In theaters now
➽ James Gunn, if you’re reading this between checking box-office receipts and Rotten Tomatoes scores, I demand more Daily Planet in the sequel.
Too Much
A Lena Dunham comedy with Megan Stalter in the Hannah Horvath role and cast members including Emily Ratajkowski and Richard E. Grant, this series is a rom-commy story about that character moving to London, hooking up with a laid-back musician played by Will Sharpe, and being both aspirational and a complete mess. People will talk. —Kathryn VanArendonk
Streaming on Netflix
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia season 17
In addition to a probably less wholesome version of the show’s crossover episode with Abbott Elementary, this season will focus on Mac, Dennis, Dee, Charlie, and Frank once again scheming to make money and hanging out at their crappy bar, Paddy’s. They’re an acquired taste, but this is now the longest-running live-action comedy on TV. —Roxana Hadadi
Streaming on Hulu
Dexter: Resurrection
Dexter rises again, again, and again. Michael C. Hall is back as the titular serial killer, who wakes up from a coma determined to mend his relationship with his troubled son, who tried to kill him at the end of New Blood. The two end up in New York, where Dexter will reunite with his old colleague Detective Angel Batista. —R.H.
Streaming on Paramount+
Ballard
Michael Connelly’s books about L.A. police are a little adaptation empire, and this is the latest entry. Maggie Q plays Detective Renée Ballard, who gets shoved into cold cases after speaking up about the LAPD’s toxic masculinity. But the joke’s on those dudes, as Ballard works best when she’s doubted. The show seems to be starting mid–book series with 2022’s Desert Star, about a serial killer targeting women; that means Titus Welliver is back as her sort-of mentor Harry Bosch. —R.H.
Streaming on Prime Video
Genre Fare
Foundation season 3
Apple TV+’s vibe-iest science-fiction show has by now almost completely abandoned the general shape of Isaac Asimov’s original work and rededicated itself to creating opportunities for Lee Pace’s emperor clone to walk around and display that he does not have a belly button. —K.V.A.
Streaming on Apple TV+
Love Island USA ’s finale
“There is, in fact, a great deal of drama on Love Island USA this season — it’s just not on TV.”
Critic Kathyrn VanArendonk reviewed this season of Love Island USA, which may not be as entertaining, onscreen, as last season, but has brought up a lot of online controversy to dig into as season seven comes to a close.
Streaming on Peacock
➽ Bachelor in Paradise is trying to capture Love Island’s vibe over on Hulu.
Animation Station
Superman ’41
Among the most influential film serials of all time (in animation history, action cinema, and for the character himself) Max Fleischer’s Superman shorts are punchy and ecstatically animated. Each of the thrilling 10-minute shorts economically sets up a threat of the day — be it Nazis, mad scientists, killer robots — and points the Man of Steel in its direction. Today, they’re in the public domain and their streaming quality can vary, but both Fleischer Studios and Warner Bros. have rolled out recent restorations. If you can’t find one of those, the best versions to watch are the “Mild-Mannered Edition” fan releases on YouTube. —Eric Vilas-Boas
Streaming on YouTube
Finally Streaming
The Phoenician Scheme
Benicio del Toro reteams with Wes Anderson to star in The Phoenician Scheme as an obsessive businessman constantly dodging assassination attempts. After the latest close call, he reaches out to his estranged daughter, Liesl (Mia Threapleton), a soon-to-be nun, for a mission to see if she’d be a good fit to become his heir. Michael Cera joins the duo as their bug tutor Bjørn, in such a delightful performance that it makes you wonder why he couldn’t have been in ten more Anderson films. At least you can watch that now, at home, along with these other new films.
Drop
Drop didn’t really pop in theaters, but it belongs in the bad-first-date canon, and its fun conceit may be enough to be a hit on streaming. Modern courtship is already a nightmare, but director Christopher Landon (of Happy Death Day) ups the stakes when a woman (Meghann Fahy) receives a series of mysterious and threatening AirDrops during her date.
Streaming on Peacock
➽ Plus, David Cronenberg’s The Shrouds is on Criterion, and the “John Malkovich as a Lady Gaga/David Bowie–esque pop star and cult leader” movie, Opus, is on Max.
Leaving Streaming Soon
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
It may not be Fury Road, but it’s at least on par with Beyond Thunderdome, if not better. The latest (and we pray not the last) Mad Max–universe film stars Anya Taylor-Joy as a youthful Furiosa. “Everything in this movie is always on the verge of running out and dying out,” wrote critic Bilge Ebiri in his review of Furiosa. That’s what makes its weirdness, brutality, and hope cut through. Watch it before it leaves Netflix. —Eric Vilas-Boas
Leaving Netflix July 16
Want more? Read our recommendations from the weekend of July 3.
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