* This is an excerpt from The Spinoff’s Friday pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up for regular Friday instalments here.
You wait for one blockbuster to show up, then three arrive all at once. Multiple big-screen adventures hit theatres this weekend, so take your pick. If you’re out on date night, the raunchy, Cameron Diaz-style rom-com No Hard Feelings seems like your best bet. Lawrence’s messy Maddie is hired to date nerdy kid Percy by his parents and mayhem ensues. Does it work? Most of the early reviews praise Lawrence and her “fearless” performance, with the New York Times calling her a “consistently incandescent screen presence”.
Elsewhere, Transformers finds its animal within in Rise of the Beasts, another noisy instalment of the toy bots film that pits Optimus Prime and co against a team of dinosaur-y villains. “Delivers on needless destruction and world-class stupidity,” quips the Observer. If that’s too much for your inner 13-year-old to cope with, Pixar’s quieter Elementalmight be more up your alley, even if reviews are mixed and box office predictions are dire. “Feels like a Pixar first draft,” says reviewer Josh Larsen.
On streaming, Class of 09 (Disney+) is a time-bending, AI-driven thriller based around an FBI crime fighting division and starring Bryan Tyree Henry. “Cerebral, ambitious but frustratingly paced,” says Time. Also on Disney+, Marvel’s Secret Invasion sees the return of Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury. If you’re still interested in the antics of the Sex and the City squad, season two of And Just Like That… returns on Neon tonight, and this time they’re promising the (very brief) return of Samantha.
Elsewhere, Walking Dead: Dead City (TVNZ+) is yet another zombie spinoff but this one sounds surprisingly good. “May just be some life to be found in this dead world,” says Collider. Boots Riley’s I’m a Virgo (Prime Video) is the week’s wild card as it follows a 13-foot teen. “Wonderfully weird,” says The AV Club. And yes, they made an entire series out of James Corden’s late night skit: Carpool Karaoke: The Series debuts on Apple TV+ from June 23.
Finally, for all you Netflix diehards, Glamorous is what Kim Cattrall really did next after Sex and the City, and animated series Skull Island makes its debut. If you’re after a movie and No Hard Feelings is too R-rated for you, rom-com The Perfect Find could be your own perfect find, a “fashion-forward Netflix swooner,” says Variety.
For more, check out our weekly New to Streaming guide.
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