The It List: Charming 'Truffle Hunters' doc is for foodies and dog lovers, 'Raya and the Last Dragon' debuts, original 'Real World' cast reunites and the best in pop culture the week of March 1, 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 March 1-7, including the best deals we could find for each. (Yahoo Entertainment may receive a share from purchases made via links on this page.)
WATCH IT: Italophiles, foodies and dog lovers will savor the new documentary The Truffle Hunters
Many of us have seen restaurant menus boasting entrees with white truffle shavings. Here, we get the intriguing backstory: a group of men and their dogs in the forests of Piedmont, Italy, who make those dishes possible. After traveling the film festival circuit throughout 2020 — from Sundance to New York — Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw’s charming documentary arrives in general release. Filmed on location, the movie profiles the region’s veteran truffle hunters, and their furry, four-legged sidekicks, as they dig up the rugged countryside searching for the elusive white Alba truffle. Their race to find this valuable prize is also a race against time: The Truffle Hunters depicts the way that their once-lucrative trade is changing, from the increasing scarcity of gourmet fungus to the demanding economics of a now-global food industry. Fortunately, these guys can always rely on man’s best friend to lift their spirits. The movie’s adorable canine cast is filled with top-notch scene-stealers who are worth their weight in truffle treats. "The camera's literally mounted right above the eyes," Dweck told Variety in January. "But for us, it was also a way of capturing the exhilaration that the truffle hunters feel when they're going through the woods. There's a certain ecstasy that you experience when you're around them when they find a truffle. And really, I think that the dog's perspective brought you into their heads more than anything else." — Ethan Alter and Raechal Shewfelt
The Truffle Hunters opens in theaters Friday, March 5; visit Atom Tickets for showtimes and ticketing information.
STREAM IT: Get a dog’s eye view of the Istanbul streets courtesy of Stray
The Truffle Hunters isn’t the only dog-friendly documentary you can watch this week. Elizabeth Lo’s Stray transports viewers to Istanbul, Turkey, where local laws allow stray canines and felines to roam free without fear of being captured or killed. Out of the city’s thousands of homeless dogs, the filmmaker’s camera zeroes in on three specific characters: the tan loner Zeytin; the eager-for-attention, Nazar; and the sweet, shy puppy, Kartal. Lo allows each dog to be her guide, filming them as they criss-cross Istanbul looking for food, shelter and friendship. This exclusive clip from the movie shows Zeytin hunting for stray bones on a public sidewalk, as admiring humans look on. “The tan one is beautiful,” one of them says. Lo felt the same way about her star: “In Zeytin I saw a character who could fully envelop us within her own nonhuman will,” the first-time feature filmmaker writes in a moving director’s note. You might say she wins Best in Show… Business. — E.A.
Stray debuts Friday, March 5 in theaters (get tickets at Atom Tickets) and on VOD services including FandangoNOW and Redbox.
STREAM IT: Rave party turns deadly in horror-thriller Dreamcatcher
This Dreamcatcher won’t easily be confused with the Stephen King-based 2003 horror film of the same name that starred Morgan Freeman. We never really pictured King as the raver type, after all. A group of friends get caught up in a web of murder (from the looks of the trailer, via a lot of stabbing) after attending an underground dance party and befriending a masked (possibly psychotic) DJ. Written and directed by longtime Marvel visual development producer Jacob Johnston, the thriller stars Niki Koss, Zachary Gordon, Lou Ferrigno Jr. and Nazanin Mandi. Check out an exclusive clip above. — Kevin Polowy
Dreamcatcher premieres Friday, March 5 on digital and on-demand services including FandangoNOW.
STREAM IT: Relive your childhood with Crackle’s five-part Nintendo documentary, Playing With Power
Anyone who grew up in the 1880s, the 1980s and, inevitably, the 2080s will have their own Nintendo story. The Japanese toy giant has been around since the 19th century, but found its biggest success when it conquered the video game world on the back of a mushroom-chomping plumber named Mario. Playing With Power: The Nintendo Story distills the company’s past, present and future into five information-packed episodes, featuring interviews with industry executives and gaming experts and fans — including Sean Astin, who serves as the series’ narrator — as well as plenty of game footage from the NES to the Switch and every console in between. (‘90s kids will particularly enjoy the N64 portion of this Nintendo history lesson.) This exclusive clip provides a recap of how Nintendo scored its first major arcade success with a little game called Donkey Kong, starring characters who are still part of its various video game realms today. — E.A.
Playing With Power: The Nintendo Story premieres Monday, March 1 on Crackle.
STREAM IT: Raya and the Last Dragon is Disney's most action-packed animated film yet
There is a lot to love about Disney’s latest animated adventure. One, the barrier-breaking film is the studio’s first to introduce a Southeast Asian heroine, the eponymous warrior Raya, voiced by Star Wars alum Kelly Marie Tran. Two, the film might be the most action-stuffed Disney Animation entry to date, playing like an Indiana Jones adventure for families. And three, joining Tran’s Raya as the titular dragon is Awkwafina, who brings laughs by the caseload in a hilarious voice performance. Four — and we can keep going — it’s absolutely visually stunning, with gorgeous, almost hyper real animation. One Mouse House’s best in years. — K.P.
Raya and the Last Dragon premieres Friday, March 5 in theaters (get tickets at Fandango) and on Disney+ premier access.
WATCH IT: The Real World starts getting real, all over again
This is the true story of seven people — who aren’t exactly strangers — picked to return to a loft and resume getting real. Yes, nearly 30 years after Season 1 of MTV’s The Real World redefined television (and, for better or worse, defined the reality TV genre), all of the original cast members — Eric, Kevin, Julie, Heather, Norman, Becky and Andre — are moving back into the very same New York City loft where it all began. How long will it take for them to stop being polite? Will Eric and Julie rekindle their spark? Will Kevin and Julie revisit their infamous argument? Will Andre get Reigndance back together? Find out what happens on The Real World Homecoming: New York. — Lyndsey Parker
The Real World Homecoming: New York premieres Thursday, March 4 on Paramount+.
STREAM IT: Prince Akeem, Semmi and friends return 33 years later with Coming 2 America
Action fans have been clamoring for Black Widow, F9 and No Time to Die. But for classic '80s comedy lovers, it’s hard to imagine a more highly anticipated movie this year than Coming 2 America — Eddie Murphy’s follow-up to his 1988 classic about an African prince who looks to find his queen in… Queens, of course. Murphy and Arsenio Hall return as Akeem and Semmi, respectively, not to mention their various alter egos, with a new star-studded supporting cast that includes Wesley Snipes, Tracy Morgan, Leslie Jones and Jermaine Fowler as the American son Akeem never knew he had. — K.P.
Coming 2 America premieres Friday, March 5 on Amazon Prime.
WATCH IT: RGB takes you on a tour of her life
Late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died of metastatic breast cancer in September, speaks through court cases, interviews and speeches about the obstacles she faced in her career in this touching documentary, which was released in theaters earlier this month. In one scene, Ginsburg recounts to fifth-graders touring Washington, D.C., that, after earning her degree, she received zero invitations for job interviews in all of New York City, despite her impeccable work as a law student at two of the country’s top universities, Harvard and Columbia. "In those days, I had three strikes against me," she tells them. "One is, I was Jewish. Another, I was a woman. And then the one that I thought really did me in was I had a 4-year-old daughter." (That daughter, Jane Ginsburg, is now a professor at Columbia Law School.) The audience also sees her reflecting on some of her most significant cases, from even before she was a justice, and we hear heartwarming stories from people who've been affected by her work. Freida Lee-Mock, whose work includes the 2013 Anita Hill doc, Anita: Speaking Truth to Power, wrote, directed and produced. — R.S.
Ruth: Justice Ginsburg in Her Own Words premieres Monday, March 1 at 9 p.m. on Starz.
STREAM IT: After 35 years, there's still only one (good) Highlander movie
Only in the ‘80s could a movie about a centuries-old Scottish warrior who decapitates other immortals to stay alive become a cult sensation and spawn an ongoing franchise. Released on March 8, 1986, Russell Mulcahy’s Highlander endures not in spite of its kooky excesses, but because of them. From the ingenious casting of the recently-departed Sean Connery as a Scottish-accented Egyptian swordsman to star Christopher Lambert’s ever-changing hairstyles to repeatedly blasting Queen on the soundtrack, the film remains an eccentric delight 35 years later. In the ensuing decades, a wave of misbegotten sequels and TV shows have attempted to recapture the peculiar magic of the original, but the first Highlander will always be in a class by itself. Just ask Clancy Brown, who plays Lambert’s rival for ultimate immortality. When we caught up with the actor during a recent press day for the latest Spongebob Squarepants movie, we discussed his standout sword-fight with Connery, which enshrines him as one of the few actors who can boast to killing James Bond onscreen. “What can I say about Sean Connery? There can be only one!” Brown says, chuckling. “You’d follow him anywhere. It was fun to sword-fight him. We followed the script, so no Sean Connerys were actually hurt in the production of the film.” — E.A.
Highlander is currently streaming on Amazon.
WATCH IT: Black women tell their own story in (In) Visible Portraits
It was only this month that the pancake brand formerly known as Aunt Jemima, whose logo was once a caricature of the Black mammy stereotype, changed its name. But, of course, hurtful stereotypes still exist. In this powerful and timely documentary, Black women, many of them renowned scholars, reflect on how the preconceived notions about and the treatment of Black women for generations has affected them, alongside examples, such as vintage commercials that show a Black woman. We see Aunt Jemima, for example, happily caring for a white family, with no regards for her own welfare. “I mean, I have yet to meet a woman who loved being a Mammy,” author Patricia Hill Collins says. Black women also movingly and often upsettingly address issues including the sexualization of them, their fears of police brutality against their children and the lingering effects of slavery in the project, which is written and directed by Loving producer Oge Egbuonu. — R.S.
OWN Spotlight: (In) Visible Portraits airs Tuesday, March 2 at 9 p.m. on OWN.
HEAR IT: Kings of Leon reclaim their rock throne
The Followills finally are back with When You See Yourself, their first studio LP in almost five years — their longest gap between albums. As was the case with the Southern indie-rockers’ previous album, Walls, their eighth effort was produced by Markus Dravs (Arcade Fire, Coldplay, Bj?rk, Brian Eno, Mumford & Sons, Florence + the Machine). And when the band is able to resume touring again, resulting twangy anthems like “Echoing,” “The Bandit” and “100,000 People” are going to sound amazing in stadiums. — L.P.
When You See Yourself by Kings of Leon is available to download/stream Friday, March 5 on Apple Music.
WATCH IT: Wyonna Earp rides off into the sunset as the final six episodes arrive on Syfy
Take this clip as proof Friday night is gonna be wild. Join our #WynonnaWatchParty on Twitter for the mid-season premiere. We’ll watch, tweet, and go through all the emotions together. BYOWhiskey, #Earpers pic.twitter.com/e199a9g8fF
— Wynonna Earp (@WynonnaEarp) March 1, 2021
The wild saga of Wynonna Earp comes to a sad conclusion as the cult Syfy series prepares to sign off with the remaining six episodes of its COVID-interrupted final season. That delay followed a nearly two-year gap between Seasons 3 and 4, due to the production company’s behind-the-scenes financial problems. But you can bet that Wynonna (Melanie Scrofano) and her posse — including Tim Rozon’s Doc Holliday and Tumblr’s favorite couple, Waverly and Officer Haught aka “Wayhaught” (Dominique Provost-Chalkley and Katherine Barrell) — are going to go out with all guns blazing. And just like the Ghost River Triangle’s population of revenants, the series could easily be resurrected one day, as its fanbase has definitely proven itself to be ride or die. — E.A.
Wynonna Earp returns Friday, March 5 at 10 p.m. on Syfy.
WATCH IT: The Voice turns 10, gets a Jonas bonus
After Gwen Stefani stepped in last season — and finally had her first win as a coach on The Voice — she’s vacating that big red rotating chair for the return of Nick Jonas. Nick made his Voice debut last year, but his run was derailed when the show had to switch to remote filming mid-season due to COVID-19, so he’s definitely due for a do-over. Will he follow Gwen’s lead and score his first victory? Not if the hyper-competitive Blake Shelton — the only coach who’s appeared on all 20 Voice seasons, as the series celebrates its 10th anniversary — has anything to do with it. — L.P.
The Voice Season 20 premieres Monday, March 1 at 8 p.m. on NBC.
READ IT: Release the Snyder Cut reveals the story behind the (re)making of Zack Snyder’s Justice League
Is it real?
Does it exist?
Of course it does. The #ReleaseTheSnyderCut book used to be mine. Now it’s yours. pic.twitter.com/3cYQTB2GUG— Sean O'Connell (@Sean_OConnell) March 1, 2021
When Zack Snyder was replaced by Joss Whedon behind the camera of 2017’s Justice League, no one ever expected to see his original vision for DC’s all-star team-up movie make it to the screen — least of all Snyder himself. Jump ahead to 2021, and the four-hour #SnyderCut is set to hit HBO Max on Mach 19, with a wealth of new footage, and none of Whedon’s scenes from the theatrical version. Sean O’Connell’s comprehensive new tome, Release the Snyder Cut, tracks how we got from there to here, with new interviews from Snyder as well as the many die-hard fans who campaigned for Warner Bros. to… well, you saw the title of the book, right? — E.A.
Release the Snyder Cut: The Crazy True Story Behind the Fight That Saved Zack Snyder's Justice League is available Monday, March 1 on Amazon.
— Video produced by Jon San and edited by John Santo