What to stream this week, from ‘Queens’ to ‘Gentlemen’
New movies to stream
■ Just in time for the Academy Awards, Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Poor Things” has landed on Hulu. 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,” arrived Friday 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 made-up 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, debuted 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” premiered Monday on National Geographic and streams 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” dropped Thursday on Netflix.
■ “Friends in Low Places” is arguably Garth Brooks’ best song, as it never fails to get people to smile, sing along and have a great time. That’s the vibe Brooks is hoping for when he opened the Friends in Low Places Bar and Honky-Tonk on Thursday in Nashville. That same day, a “Friends in Low Places” docuseries about the making of the bar premieres on Prime Video. Cameras rolled as Brooks, his wife, Tricia Yearwood (who has hosted a popular Food Network show and knows a thing or two about hospitality), and their team created this new business.
■ A critically acclaimed BBC dramedy called “Boarders” has come to the U.S. via Tubi. The show is about five Black teens from the inner city who receive scholarships to St. Gilberts, one of the oldest and most posh boarding schools in Britain. Adjusting to change is never easy and adjusting to St. Gilbert’s is even harder. All six episodes dropped Friday on Tubi.
— Alicia Rancilio New video games to play
■ Who is The Thaumaturge? Basically n a miracle worker, according to the dictionary. In this particular case, he’s Wiktor Szulski, and he has the power to detect “salutors” — supernatural creatures that prowl the streets of 1905 Warsaw. Wiktor can help some of the locals by exorcising their demons, but he can also summon salutors to help him fight the imperial Russian soldiers who control the city. Polish studio Fool’s Theory, led by veterans of the beloved Witcher series, describes The Thaumaturge as a role-playing game with “morally ambiguous choices,” and its blend of alternate history and metaphysical mystery looks intriguing. On PC.
■ Atlus’ Unicorn Overlord is the n early front-runner for title of the year. The protagonist is an exiled prince named Alain who’s fighting to reclaim his empire from the backstabbing General Valmore. Alain may have lost his throne, but he does have a magical ring that helps him recruit allies — humans and elves, angels and beasts — across a sprawling fantasy world called Fevrith. Unicorn Overload comes from Japan’s Vanillaware, the developer of 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim, and fans of that cult favorite will recognize the studio’s blend of colorful storytelling and real-time tactical battles. On PlayStation 5/4, Xbox X/S or Nintendo Switch.