NEW TO STREAM
Rundown of what’s arriving on entertainment platforms
MOVIES It can be hard to believe when corporate folks
make genuinely altruistic gestures, especially involving their fortunes, but neither Kris McDivitt Tompkins, the first CEO of Patagonia, nor her late husband, Doug Tompkins, the founder the North Face and Esprit, were ones to play by the rules. “Wild Life,” a new documentary from the Oscar-winning “Free Solo” filmmakers, tells the story of this couple, their love of the outdoors, their adventurous spirits and how they funneled their fortunes to “rewilding” conservation efforts by buying up roughly
2.2 million acres in Argentina and Chile. “Wild Life” starts streaming May 26 on Disney+ and Hulu.
It’s a robust week for Sundance documentaries
on streaming platforms as “Victim/Suspect” has debuted on Netflix. This film from director Nancy Schwartzman follows reporter Rae de Leon’s investigation into a disturbing pattern: That in the United States, women reporting sexual assaults often become suspects. The film delves into possible flaws and loopholes in the system that may be enabling the chilling trend.
For more escapism, Keanu Reeves’ tireless assassin
John Wick returns for a fourth film, “John Wick: Chapter 4,” which has now made its way to video on demand. This time, Wick goes to Paris. He’s still being hunted but has also gone on the offensive. Mark Kennedy of The Associated Press wrote in his review that this installment elevates and expands the franchise. “The fourth installment is more stylish, more elegant and more bonkers — kind of like Paris itself,” Kennedy said. It also serves as a bittersweet farewell to the Continental Hotel concierge Charon, played by Lance Reddick,
who died shortly before the film came out.
— Lindsey Bahr, Associated Press
MUSIC Pop-rockers Matchbox Twenty ends over
a decade away with a fifth studio album, “Where The Light Goes,” out May 26. It’s an upbeat collection, opening with a horn-drenched, singalong “Friends” — the chorus goes, “All my friends are here,” and the song features vocals from band member Paul Doucette’s son. Other highlights include singer-songwriter Amanda Shires’ duet with frontman Rob Thomas on the cheerful “No Other Love” and the single “Wild Dogs (Running in a Slow Dream),” which captures that time in your youth when you finally find your people.
Celebrate the end of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”
by singing along with an album of the fifth and final season’s music, now available. The album features songs like “Relax Max” by
Dinah Washington, “I Love The Way You Say Goodnight” by Doris Day with the Page Cavanaugh Trio, Barbra Streisand’s “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf ” and Tony Bennett’s “I Wanna Be Around.” Fans will appreciate actor Hank Azaria doing “Nancy (With The Laughing Face)” and the cast belting out “Everything Grows!”
— Mark Kennedy, Associated Press
TELEVISION Dinosaurs once again come to life in
the second season of “Prehistoric Planet” on Apple TV+. Executive produced by
Jon Favreau and the team behind “Planet Earth,” the docuseries uses the latest technology to not only create dinosaurs that look real, but also to immerse viewers into their habitat. Sir David Attenborough returns to narrate. “Prehistoric Planet” Season 2 is now streaming.
Each episode of the “SmartLess”podcast
— hosted by Jason Bateman,
Sean Hayes and Will Arnett — features an entertaining conversation with a guest, but one of the best parts about the trio is the actors’ banter with each other. These longtime friends bicker and rib one another like family. The guys took their show on the road in 2022 to six cities, hosting conversations in front of a live audience with surprise guests. If you weren’t one of the lucky ones to see them live, it turns out cameras were rolling. “SmartLess: On the Road” is now streaming on Max.
The new action-comedy series “American Born Chinese”
is based on the graphic novel by Gene Luen Yang. It stars Ben Wang as a high school student trying to survive the daily life as a first generation American in a Chinese family. He meets an exchange student from Taiwan and finds himself caught up in a war of ancient Chinese Gods. The series strikes a balance between a comingof-age story and mythology with the spirit of the
graphic novel. It also boasts a cast that includes Oscar winners Ke Huy Quan and Michele Yeoh, plus Chin Han and Daniel Wu. Recurring cast members include Stephanie Hsu, Ronnie Chieng and Jimmy O. Yang. “American Born Chinese” is now on Disney+.
VIDEO GAMES You’re off to visit MiddleEarth.
Which character do you want to be? Frodo? Gandalf ? Legolas? Daedalic Entertainment is betting on a more conflicted protagonist with The Lord of the Rings: Gollum. Instead of wielding cool weapons and flashy spells, Gollum has to rely on stealth and spiderlike climbing skills to survive. He also has to put up with kibitzing from his alter ego, Smeagol, the kindhearted hobbit Gollum was before being corrupted by his “precious” One
Ring. The German studio Daedalic is best known for story-heavy adventures like its Deponia series, so it could be interesting to see how it tackles a tale set in J.R.R. Tolkien’s sprawling world. Gollum’s journey begins May 26 on Xbox X/S/One, PlayStation 5/4 and PC.
In a typical post-apocalyptic video game
like Fallout or The Last of Us, there are still plenty of people wandering the planet. Private Division’s After Us isn’t messing around — in its future, human beings have been wiped off the face of the Earth. You play as Gaia, the “spirit of life,” and your mission is to gather the lost souls of all the species that have been driven to extinction. Oil-drenched monsters called Devourers are out to stop any hope of revival. Despite the grim setting, After Us looks gorgeous, evoking the haunted wasteland of the 2012 classic Journey. And Barcelonabased Piccolo Studio says it’s a story of “sacrifice and hope,” so Earth may not be done just yet. It has now arrived on Xbox X/S, PlayStation 5 and PC.