The It List is Yahoo’s weekly look at the best in pop culture, including movies, music, TV, streaming, games, books, podcasts and more. Here are our picks for May 29 – June 4, including the best deals we could find for each.
WATCH IT: Brush up on The Curious Case of Natalia Grace
Here’s yet another example of how truth can so often be stranger than fiction. In 2010, Kristine and Michael Barnett adopted Natalia Grace, who they believed to be a 6-year-old Ukrainian orphan suffering from a rare bone disorder. But then the new parents started to suspect something more sinister was happening with their adopted child… starting with the fact that she might not be a child. (And if this sounds like the horror movie Orphan, just remember that film came out the year before Natalia Grace’s adoption.) The three-part ID series, The Curious Case of Natalia Grace, re-opens the case with new interviews with the Barnetts and the people that knew them and Natalia. This exclusive clip from the series features one of the family’s neighbors remembering just when they figured out that something strange was going on next door. — Ethan Alter
The Curious Case of Natalia Grace premieres Monday, May 29 at 9 p.m. on ID and will air across three consecutive nights.
WATCH IT: Past Lives is a romance for the ages — all of them
Assuming you didn’t marry your best friend from childhood, have you ever considered what your life would be like if you had? In this movie, being released during Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, Nora (Greta Lee) and Hae Sung (Teo Yoo) both face that question when they reconnect as adults. The two were pulled apart when her family left South Korea and emigrated to America. Now they have one week to say and do all the things they’ve thought about for so long. The audience will see them not only as the adults they are today, but as the kids they once were, which makes their reunion all the more meaningful, not to mention beautiful. The film has received rave reviews on the festival circuit — Harper’s Bazaar called it “the most singularly exquisite film of this year’s Sundance,” while IndieWire described it as “crushingly beautiful” — with critics pointing out the “incredible” and “utterly assured” feature debut of writer/director Celine Song. — Raechal Shewfelt
Past Lives premieres Friday, June 2 in theaters; visit Fandango for ticket and showtime information.
STREAM IT: Sydney Sweeney isn’t euphoric in the HBO drama Reality
Euphoria star Sydney Sweeney leaves high school behind for Reality — a screen adaptation of a 2019 off-Broadway play based on the true story of Reality Winner: the US Air Force enlistee who leaked a classified intelligence report about Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. That election, of course, resulted in Donald Trump winning the presidency over Hillary Clinton, and rumors of Russia’s role behind the scenes dogged him throughout his stint in the White House. Arrested by authorities in 2017, Winner received a five-year prison sentence and was released in 2021. Sweeney speaks Winner’s actual words in the film, as the script uses the real interrogation transcript that preceded her imprisonment. — E.A.
Reality premieres Monday, May 29 at 10 p.m. on HBO, and will stream on Max.
WATCH IT: Lynch/Oz explores the Eraserhead auteur’s fascination with the Land of Oz
David Lynch may be Wild at Heart, but he’s also a total Oz-head. Inspired by the iconoclastic director’s admission that he’s constantly thinking about the 1939 Judy Garland classic, director Alexandre O. Philippe dives deep into Lynch’s filmography, looking for the echoes of the Emerald City’s resident wizard in all of his work, from Eraserhead to Twin Peaks. This definitely isn’t a Straight Story, but it’s catnip for Lynch’s devoted fans. — E.A.
Lynch/Oz premieres Friday, June 2 in theaters; visit Fandango for ticket and showtime information.
WATCH IT: Thelma and Louise ride onto The Criterion Collection
“You get what you settle for,” one of our heroines famously says in Thelma and Louise, Ridley Scott’s 1991 classic about two women (Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon) who hit the road after serving a would-be-rapist some vigilante justice. Maybe it took 32 years of settling, but the film finally gets the optimum treatment on home entertainment with a new release on Criterion. Scott supervised a new 4K resolution for the release, which also includes two audio commentaries, new interviews with Scott and screenwriter Callie Khouri, storyboards, deleted and extended scenes, and more. — Kevin Polowy
Thelma and Louise: The Criterion Collection releases Tuesday, May 30 on Amazon.
WATCH IT: Toast to immigrants — and their delicious food — in Lidia Celebrates America: Flavors That Define Us
Emmy-winning TV chef and cookbook author Lidia Bastianich’s new special follows her across the country as she discovers the inspiring stories of a handful of the 46 million immigrants who are sharing their heritage in their adopted home through food. “Whether coming for safety, opportunity or a better way of life,” says Bastianich, who came here from Italy, “immigrants like me have added to America’s rich and diverse tapestry of culture, religion and foods. I feel lucky that my family was welcomed in the United States, a place where I have been able to become an American and share my Italian heritage.” She talks to some of the country’s newer arrivals about their reasons for coming here, their challenges, triumphs and, of course, their eats. — R.S.
Lidia Celebrates America: Flavors that Define Us premieres Tuesday, May 30 at 9 p.m. on PBS.
WATCH IT: Under-appreciated Sylvester Stallone thriller Cliffhanger gets new life on 4K Ultra HD
Sylvester Stallone will always be best known for the Rocky, Rambo and Expendables movies, but is there any doubt that Cliffhanger is one of his most accomplished works ever, franchise entry or not? Stallone starred as a mountain climber who gets caught up in the search for stolen cash in the Rocky Mountains (OK so hey, it’s kind of a Rocky movie), with John Lithgow delivering a simmering turn as the Big Bad, in this edge-of-your-cliff thriller. The film celebrates its 30th anniversary with a 4K Ultra HD release this week that has extras including commentary from Stallone and director Renny Harlin, deleted scenes and more. — K.P.
Cliffhanger releases on 4K Ultra HD Tuesday, May 30 on Amazon.
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