What to stream this week: Ariana Grande, ‘Wonka,’ Garth Brooks, animal queens and ‘Poor Things’
This week’s new streaming entertainment releases include a new album from pop princess Ariana Grande, a docuseries on National Geographic that follows female leaders of the animal kingdom and the Emma Stone-led “Poor Things” landing on Hulu, just in time for the Academy Awards. Also, Theo James stars in Guy Ritchie’s new Netflix series “The Gentlemen,” about an English duke who descends into the criminal underworld, and gamers this week will find out why some are calling Atlus’ Unicorn Overlord the early front-runner for video game title of the year.
A new album from Ariana Grande and Garth Brooks taking viewers behind the scenes to the opening of his bar in Nashville are some of the new television, movies, music and games headed to a device near you.
Also among the streaming offerings worth your time as selected by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists: John Cena starring in the film comedy “Ricky Stanicky,” the debut of the admired Atlus’ video game Unicorn Overlord, and Emma Stone’s “Poor Things” lands on Hulu.
NEW MOVIES TO STREAM
— Just in time for the Academy Awards, Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Poor Things” is landing on Hulu on Thursday. At the Oscars, it’s nominated for 11 awards, including best picture, best actress for Emma Stone and numerous nods for its fantastical craft. In the Victorian-set film, adapted from Alasdair Gray’s 1992 novel, Stone plays Bella Baxter, a woman brought to life by a mad scientist (Willem Dafoe) with a childlike brain and an adult body. In her review, AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr called “Poor Things” “among the year’s most sumptuous visual delights.”
— While he’s off wrestling sand worms in “Dune: Part 2,” in theaters, Timothée Chalamet’s last box-office hit, “Wonka,” is arriving Friday, March 8, on Max. Fashioned as a musical prequel to the Roald Dahl-scripted 1971 original, Paul King’s film stars Chalamet as a young, wide-eyed Wonka setting out to establish his candy empire. Though the film benefits greatly from Chalamet’s charisma and King’s “Paddington”-like designs, in my review I wrote that the film “is lively but too neutered to do Dahl justice.”
— In “Ricky Stanicky,” a trio of friends have long relied on a madeup pal named Ricky Stanicky for excuses to keep them out of trouble with their spouses. When their families get suspicious, the three friends (Zac Efron, Jermaine Fowler, Andrew Santino) hire a struggling actor known as “Rock Hard” Rod (John Cena) to impersonate the fictional Stanicky. The film, directed by Peter Farrelly, debuts Thursday on Prime Video.
— AP Film Writer Jake Coyle
NEW SHOWS TO STREAM
— All hail the queens. A new docuseries on National Geographic follows female leaders of the animal kingdom. Narrated by Oscar-winner Angela Bassett, the seven-episode series was filmed over four years in 12 countries by a female-led production team. Animal queendoms filmed include insects, orcas, hyenas and lions. The seventh episode focuses on those women who dedicate their lives to documenting wildlife and contributing to conservation efforts, as natural history is typically a male-dominated field. “Queens” premieres Monday on National Geographic and streams next day on Hulu and Disney+.
— Theo James stars in Guy Ritchie’s new TV series “The Gentlemen,” a spin-off of the 2019 film of the same name. James plays Eddie, whose late father has bequeathed him the title of Duke, along with a run-down country estate that he views as a money pit and a major burden. Eddie is thrown for a loop when he discovers his homestead has also operated a marijuana-growing business for years, and he’s inherited that, too. “The Gentlemen” drops Thursday on Netflix.