The It List: Princess Di's explosive 1995 interview examined in new doc, critical sensation 'Minari' opens in theaters, 'Idol' returns and the best in pop culture the week of Feb. 8, 2021
The It List is Yahoo’s weekly look at the best in pop culture, including movies, music, TV, streaming, games, books, podcasts and more. During the coronavirus pandemic, when most of us are staying at home, we’re going to spotlight things you can enjoy from your couch, whether solo or in small groups, and leave out the rest. With that in mind, here are our picks for Feb. 8-14, including the best deals we could find for each.(Yahoo Entertainment may receive a share from purchases made via links on this page.)
STREAM IT: Peek behind the scenes of Princess Diana’s most famous interview
One day, early in November 1995, Princess Diana’s butler Paul Burrell was told abruptly to go home, to take the day off to play with his children, he recalls in this documentary. Burrell explains that, the next morning, he noticed the furniture in the sitting room had been moved. It wasn’t until the Princess of Wales’s explosive interview with Martin Bashir on the show Panorama aired on Nov. 20 that it all clicked into place. Burrell and other key players in the revealing sit-down — in which Diana spoke candidly about the deep cracks in her marriage to Prince Charles — gather here to discuss how the interview came together.
When it was released in England last fall, the doc was nearly as controversial as the interview itself, because it alleges that Bashir faked documents in order to convince Diana that the palace staff were spying on her and out to get her. In December, the BBC launched an internal investigation into whether it acted improperly to obtain the princess’s cooperation. — Raechal Shewfelt
Diana: The Interview That Shocked the World is available Tuesday, Feb. 9 on BritBox.
WATCH IT: Mickey Rourke headlines eclectic Adverse cast
Mickey Rourke is one of those actors we’ll watch in anything, and he’s got some eclectic company in his latest film, Adverse. Thomas Ian Nicholas, Sean Astin, Penelope Anne Miller and Lou Diamond Phillips costar in this thriller about a ride-share driver (Nicholas) who goes on a revenge tear after his sister overdoses. Check out an exclusive clip from the film, written and directed by Brian A. Metcalf (Living Among Us), above. — Kevin Polowy
Adverse will be in select theaters on Friday, Feb. 12 (get tickets on Fandango or ADVERSEtheFilm.com) and available on VOD March 9.
WATCH IT: Revisit Elizabethtown with the Blu-ray debut of Cameron Crowe’s 2005 romance
Coming off acclaimed hits like Jerry Maguire and Almost Famous, Cameron Crowe was at the peak of his commercial powers heading into 2005’s Elizabethtown, the story of a young man who heads back to his hometown to attend his father’s funeral and finds new love (in the form of Kirsten Dusnt) along the way. But the movie was troubled from the start, as Crowe replaced his original leading man, Ashton Kutcher, with Orlando Bloom and then recut the film after a muted premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. When it eventually opened in October, critical reaction was mixed, and the domestic box office stalled out at $25 million — well behind Jerry Maguire's mighty $150 million gross. Paramount’s new Blu-ray release gives audiences the chance to revisit and reconsider Elizabethtown via deleted and extended scenes, an alternate ending and additional featurettes. Crowe himself candidly addresses the movie’s behind-the-scenes issues in this exclusive clip. “That’s a rough thing,” he says of the fateful TIFF screening that changed the course of the film. “The pendulum swung in the right direction, but maybe a little too far. [Now] you’ll see how the pendulum is getting close to what it should have been.” — Ethan Alter
Elizabethtown on Blu-ray is available Tuesday, Feb. 9 on Amazon.
WATCH IT: Freaky puts new horror twist on body-swapping comedy
And the best version of Freaky Friday is… a gory Blumhouse-produced horror movie starring Vince Vaughn as a serial killer who swaps bodies with Kathryn Newton’s high school teen? It’s at least right up there. Christopher Landon’s fresh and funny slasher twist on the subgenre was one of the most pleasant surprises of 2020. Now it lands on Blu-ray and DVD with deleted scenes, featurettes and a commentary from Landon (Happy Death Day, the Paranormal Activity series). Check out how Vaughn and Newton locked in the film’s cheerleading dance in an exclusive clip from the bonus features above. — K.P.
Freaky is available on DVD, Blu-ray or digital beginning Tuesday, Feb. 9 on Amazon.
STREAM IT: The mind-bending documentary A Glitch in the Matrix will make you go, 'Woah!'
One of the standout titles at this year’s virtual Sundance Film Festival, A Glitch in the Matrix takes a deep dive into a theory popularized by Lana and Lily Wachowski’s 1999 action classic, The Matrix: the idea that we’re all living in a computer simulation of our world. Director Rodney Ascher — whose previous documentaries include Room 237 and The Nightmare — assembles an eclectic mix of scientific experts, sci-fi fans and a cautionary tale to talk through the meanings and implications of simulation theory, alternating their interviews with a mixed-media assemblage of movie clips, computer animation and archival footage of pop culture figures like Philip K. Dick. The movie gives its subjects the room to air their thoughts, even when it leads them down rabbit holes that reveal more about their personalities than they perhaps anticipate. For example, this exclusive clip from the film features one armchair simulation theory enthusiast — whose face is hidden behind an elaborate digital avatar — remembering his childhood belief that people around him would “turn off” when nobody was watching. “I used to joke about that, but that idea ran with me a lot when I was older and it kind of became a little horrifying.” Woah, indeed. — E.A.
A Glitch in the Matrix is currently available in theaters and on VOD services including FandangoNOW and Redbox.
WATCH IT: Minari is one of the best movies you’ll see this year
There’s good reason why people were upset about over the Minari-Golden Globes controversy: The film, which originally premiered at Sundance a year ago, is one of the best of the year, and could potentially even upset the favorited Nomadland at the Oscars. Writer-director Lee Isaac Chung tells this deeply personal story of a Korean family who moves from California to rural Arkansas in the 1980s when the father (The Walking Dead’s Steven Yeun) sees affordable farmland and a trailer home as his best shot at realizing the American dream. Like life itself, the film is alternately sad, sweet and achingly funny (if Robert De Niro had The War With Grandpa call this The War With Grandma), not to mention gorgeously filmed, profound and deeply poignant. A truest gem. — K.P.
Minari opens in theaters Friday, Feb. 12 (get tickets on Fandango) and on demand Friday, Feb. 26.
WATCH IT: Love, American Idol-style
Last season of the long-running TV talent show was derailed by COVID-19, with the finalists forced to perform remotely from home and the winner, Just Sam, being crowned in her living room on the teleconferenced finale. But Kieran is undimming the lights and American Idol is back on the road for its 19th season, premiering on Valentine’s Day. Sharing the V-day love are returning judges Katy Perry, Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan, along with veteran host Ryan Seacrest and mentor Bobby Bones. And so, the search for the next America’s sweetheart continues. — Lyndsey Parker
American Idol Season 19 premieres Sunday, Feb. 14 at 8 p.m. on ABC.
WATCH IT: Let Stanley Tucci take you on a guided tour of Italy
While many of us are grounded for the foreseeable future, let the Big Night star and cookbook author do the traveling for you. This six-part docuseries takes him to Italy, where his grandparents were born and where he spent some time as a child. In his return, Tucci serves up some Italian history and some amazing looking food. He hops around the country, from Tuscany to Rome to the Amalfi Coast, to bite into and sip all it has to offer. Make that sip — or chug. At one point, he decides to go for a “good old fashioned pub crawl,” which he explains is a little different than what the audience is expecting. “When I say I old fashioned, I mean, like, the Renaissance.” — R.S.
Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy airs Sunday, Feb. 14 at 9 p.m. on CNN.
WATCH IT: Hip Hop Uncovered takes it to the streets
This six-part, decade-spanning docuseries, executive-produced by Empire’s Malcolm Spellman and Who Killed Tupac’s Stephen Neely, shares the “untold stories of rap’s notorious kingmakers”: Haitian Jack, Deb, King U, Trick Trick and Bimmy. Hip Hop Uncovered is a fascinating examination of the street culture that shaped hip-hop — and how, despite the criminalization of the genre, rap has become the most popular and dominant music in America. — L.P.
Hip Hop Uncovered airs Friday, Feb. 12 at 10 p.m. on FX.
WATCH IT: Take a guided tour of Scotland with those strapping Men In Kilts, Sam Heughan and Graham McTavish
Outlander may be on a pandemic-induced hiatus, but co-stars, best buddies and proud Scotsmen Sam Heughan and Graham McTavish have found a way to bring fans back to the Highlands. The new Starz travelogue series, Men in Kilts, features the duo road-tripping around Scotland sampling food, visiting historic sites and getting sporty with games like stone-lifting, hammer-throwing… and skinny-dipping? (Then again, it’s not an Outlander-adjacent program if Jamie Fraser doesn’t doff his clothes.) Each half-hour episode is filled with lots of lively banter between the always-charming leads, and plenty of chances to take in the lush Scottish scenery. Also kilts — lots and lots of kilts. — E.A.
Men in Kilts premieres Sunday, Feb. 14 at 9 p.m. on Starz.
PLAY IT: Transformers gets its Ghostbusters on with this Ecto-1 mashup
While Ghostbusters: Afterlife got stuck in COVID purgatory — the sequel to the seminal 1980s supernatural comedy was supposed to come out last July but got a pandemic postponement until Nov. 11 — the tie-in toys are here and they’re spook-tacular. Hasbro is leaning in on the film’s retro appeal, re-releasing its classic Kenner collection of Real Ghostbusters action figures and even the “Ghostpopper” blaster that shoots foam marshmallows (available at Walmart). But our hands-down favorite is the Ecto-1 Ectotron. This Ghostbusters-Transformers mashup features a robot in disguise as the iconic Ecto-1 ambulance introduced in the 1984 original and brought out of mothballs for Afterlife. Ectotron ain't afraid of no ghosts, either; this set comes with old-school favorite Slimer and Muncher, who figures in the plot of Afterlife. Also included: a copy of the crossover comic book Ghosts of Cybertron.
The Transformers: Generations Ecto-1 Ectotron set is available exclusively at Target.
HEAR IT: Florida Georgia Line keeps on truckin’
Following rumors that the superstar country duo was breaking up due to political differences between band members Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley — gossip only fueled by the news that Hubbard and Kelley were planning to release separate solo projects — FGL returns with the fittingly titled fifth album Life Rolls On. Considering that one of the album’s feel-good singles is titled “New Truck,” it seems little has changed in the bro-country twosome’s world. — L.P.
Life Rolls On by Florida Georgia Line is available Friday, Feb. 12 to download/stream on Apple Music.
BUY IT: Watch Raya and the Last Dragon with plush versions of the film’s cast
After the coronavirus pandemic scuttled its theatrical release, Raya and the Last Dragon — Disney’s latest animated adventure and the first to feature a Southeast Asian heroine — is arriving on Disney+ on March 5 as a “Premiere Access” title. And thanks to Just Play, kids can spend their living room premiere of Raya cuddling on the couch with plush versions of characters from the movie. The line includes the film’s titular dragon, Sisu (voiced by Awkwafina), as well as a trio of the half-monkey, half-catfish Ongis, Raya’s pill bug pal, Tuk Tuk (which, like an actual pill bug, can fold and roll) and, of course, Raya herself. — E.A.
Just Play’s Raya and the Last Dragon plushes are available at Walmart and Amazon.
HEAR IT: Taylor Momsen proves rock is alive and well
The former Gossip Girl star is thriving offscreen as a real-life rock star — as evidenced by Death by Rock and Roll, her fourth album with her band the Pretty Reckless, featuring a who’s who of ‘90s alternative like Soundgarden’s Kim Thayil and Matt Cameron and Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello. The album has already made chart history: When its title track went to No. 1 at Mainstream Rock last year, the Pretty Reckless became the first female-fronted band to top that Billboard chart five times. — L.P.
Death by Rock and Roll by The Pretty Reckless is available Friday, Feb. 12 to download/stream on Apple Music.
— Video produced by Jon San and edited by John Santo
