My Hero Academia returns this Saturday with the highly anticipated premiere of its seventh season. The latest season of the mega-popular superhero action anime is set to adapt the “Star and Stripe” arc of Kōhei Horikoshi’s original manga. That means the arrival of America’s No. 1 Hero, Star and Stripe, in Japan to aid Izuku Midoriya and his classmates in their battle against Tomura Shigaraki and the Paranormal Liberation Front.
Since its debut in 2016, My Hero Academia has grown to become one of the most popular shōnen anime in the world, inspiring a fandom arguably magnified by the pop culture shift instigated by the phenomenon of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the DCU. During this year’s Crunchyroll Anime Awards, Polygon had the opportunity to speak to multiple celebrity anime fans about their love of My Hero Academia, as well as ask what quirk they think they would have if they lived in the world of Horikoshi’s superhero epic.
Megan Thee Stallion
“If I could choose my own quirk, I would choose to be a part of the Todoroki family because I feel like those are already quirks that I would have. Because I’m Tina Snow; that’s my ice powers, and I’m the Hot Girl coach; that’s my fire power. I just feel like that’s where I would be.”
Iman Vellani
“Freezing time, but without me aging. I would like more sleep; I would like more time to watch TV and movies. Sometimes I feel like when I’m doing press and I get to travel, it’s just all press and I don’t have enough time to just go where I want. So freezing time, or teleportation, though I do like being on a plane.”
Yaeji
“I think [my quirk] would have to do something with time, which is a heavy burden to carry. But maybe there’s more specific rules to it, something that manipulates time that allows you to speed up or slow it down.”
Mercedes Varnado
Image: Bones/Crunchyroll
“Either flying or being invisible. Just because I love overseeing things, I love being part of the world, and I love traveling. So just to be able to travel faster would be awesome. I’d like to be invisible so I can escape from any situation; Like, if I don’t like something, I could just go.”
What quirk would you choose to have in the world of My Hero Academia?
My Hero Academia season 7 premieres Saturday, May 4 at 2:30 a.m PT on Crunchyroll.
A Blueyepisode originally released in 2020 everywhere except the United States finally gets the green light to be seen—with a catch: it’s only online (for now).
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“Dad Baby” was among a number of banned or altered episodes of the hit Ludo Studio global phenomenon that never made it onto Disney+ or the Disney cable channels when it was acquired by the streamer. It’s curious as to why because the official description on Bluey’s official YouTube channel is pretty straightforward: “When Dad shows the kids how to use their old baby-harness, a new game is born: Dad Baby! But dad is unprepared for the harsh realities of giving birth to a baby Bingo.”
It can be suggested that perhaps Disney initially didn’t want to include a very lightly sex-ed centered episode on the show aimed at their kid demographic. io9 watched the now-available episode and it’s not as much of a big deal as the banning was made out to be. “Dad Baby” is a relatable, hilarious depiction of a pregnancy—particularly from the point of view of kids who remember their younger siblings being born. Even the comedic bits—like when Bluey’s dad Bandit carries her sister Bingo as a baby in the “womb” and recalls what he witnessed with his wife Chili—are silly and inoffensive. And yes, he does go through it all down to “pushing” Bingo out, which leans more into the kids’ playacting aspect of Bluey wanting to know how babies come into the world. It’s cute, endearing, and a good emotional episode from the show that’s proved that it knows what it’s doing. If you wanna see if for yourself watch it below!
Dad Baby | Full Episode | Bluey
Mostepisodes of Bluey are now streaming on Disney+.
Crunchyroll, like many other streaming services recently, is raising its subscription prices. The anime streaming service has announced its first price hike since it was acquired by Funimation in 2020. Subscribers in Argentina, Colombia, France, Portugal, the United States and select additional countries will now have to pay $12 for the Mega Fan tier, up $2 from $10. Meanwhile, the Ultimate Fan tier will now be $1 more expensive at $16 a month.
Both options give subscribers access to offline viewing and the Crunchyroll Game Vault, which contains a library of mobile games. The Mega Fan tier allows streaming on up to four devices at a time, while the Ultimate Fan tier allows streaming on up to six. People subscribed to the most expensive option also get a swag bag if they keep paying for the service for 12 consecutive months. The basic Fan Tier doesn’t come with the perks these two have, but its price remains unchanged at $8 a month. Unfortunately, those who haven’t decided whether to pay for a subscription yet can now only test the service out for seven days instead of 14 like before. But if they don’t mind watching their anime with ads, they can still view more than 1,000 hours of content for free.
Sony’s Funimation purchased Crunchyroll from WarnerMedia for $1.175 billion back in 2020, but it took a while before they were able to complete their transformation into a unified anime subscription service under the latter’s name. Funimation didn’t shut down its old app and website until April 2 this year after it moved its available titles to Crunchyroll’s service.
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Iman Vellani is the kind of movie star whose enthusiasm, humor, and openness radiates off the screen and feels positively incandescent in person. The 21-year-old actress, best known for her role as Kamala Khan in 2022’s Ms. Marvel and 2023’s The Marvels,is unabashedly open in sharing her love of all things MCU-related, from playfully debating the finer points of canonical continuity with Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige to co-writing a Ms. Marvellimited series with Sabir Pirzada.
But Vellani has other passions beyond Marvel — her most recent being anime. Earlier this year at the Crunchyroll Anime Awards, Vellani shared with Polygon what convinced her to finally take the plunge into exploring Japanese animation.
“I was very intimidated by anime until very recently,” Vellani said. “I started watching anime about a year ago, so this is a new obsession for me, but I’m totally into it now. There’s just so much content, I didn’t know where to start. I mean, I can barely keep up with all the Marvel content that’s out there.”
Image: Wit Studio/Crunchyroll
Vellani attributes her nascent love of anime to Attack on Titan, which she was introduced to via family and friends and proudly names as her current favorite anime. “They just talk about it all the time,” Vellani said, “and Attack on Titan kept coming back up whenever they would talk about anime. I started watching it and was like, This is a story that seems like it’s about humanity. I think I can get into it.”
Of the entire ensemble of characters that appear in Attack on Titan, Vellani pointed out one in particular whose story resonated the most with her. “I love Mikasa Ackerman,” Vellani said. “The way that she kept Eren’s scarf at the end of the show, even though Eren told her to give it up and forget about him. Her being the only one who was able to kill Eren at the end to stop the Rumbling. That is a woman who — I don’t think I’ve seen many other female characters like her who have that authority, willpower, and determination to actually act on it. I recently cut my hair, and when I looked in the mirror, I was like, I know what my next cosplay is.”
Image: Wit Studio/Crunchyroll
Aside from Mikasa, Vellani also named one of the series’ other leading characters as one she especially enjoyed, going so far as to praise the voice actor responsible for their performance in Attack on Titan’s finale. “I like Armin because I always like to root for the nerdy characters,” Vellani said. “I watched the final half of the show with the English dub and, I don’t know who the actor who plays Armin is, but they deserve a raise because their performance in the final episode blew me away. He made me cry, his wailing and that flashback scene between him and Eren, it just hit me in all the right ways.”
After resisting anime for a while, Attack on Titan quickly became a show that stuck with her. “The ending was such a gut punch. It left me feeling so awful at the end, but it’s like one of those Succession-type endings where it’s not the ending you want, but it made sense. The ending made sense for the story, it made sense for the characters.
“I think they tied the knot so perfectly, and I can’t think of anything else I’ve watched recently that’s impacted me as much as that. I was crying in my bed watching it. My mom walked in on me and she was like, ‘It’s just an animation show!’ and I was like, ‘No, this is real!’”
Image: MAPPA/Crunchyroll
Shortly after finishing Attack on Titan, she dove into exploring other popular series suggested by her friends. “I finally started Jujutsu Kaisen and One Piece,” Vellani said. “One Piece was one that I did not want to get into initially because it’s like, what, a thousand episodes now, and that felt like too much. Grey’s Anatomy was more than enough for me, and I stopped at, like, season 10. But after the Netflix show came out I was so drawn to the characters, and after the heartbreak of Attack on Titan, I needed something lighter and funnier and that made me feel good. The characters are likable and I want to root for them all, so that’s a show I really like.”
And Vellani’s love for anime doesn’t stop at TV. “I watched Suzume just before coming to Japan and I loved it,” Vellani said. “That blew my mind. Truly a masterpiece. I also recently watched The Boy and the Heron and, as a 21-year-old, it really spoke to me and it reassured me that my inner child still exists.”
Image: Studio Ghibli via GKIDS/YouTube
When asked why she felt that her generation has embraced anime, and what it was about the medium that specifically spoke to her, Vellani cited the empowering roles and depictions of women and children, as well as the craftsmanship of studios like Studio Ghibli, as some of the reasons why anime is so popular among Gen Z audiences. “I just feel like anime feels so progressive with the way they depict women and children, especially in Studio Ghibli movies. All those movies are so good at showcasing youth and childhood and imagination in a way that’s encouraging children to keep that mindset.
“I feel like a lot of American cinema right now is just so depressing. It just wants to show the gritty real life of the world. I want to live in a world that makes me excited for the future, and I think anime does such a wonderful job in showcasing all the beauties of life. We went to the Ghibli Museum this morning and saw how they draw every single detail of the houses — the bricks, the walls, the windows — and you just realize how much people paid attention to these details when they drew it. Like, this is how they see the world, and that’s how I want to see the world, as something that’s full of life and joy.”
If you already hate ads on YouTube, then you’re going to have a bad time with Pause Ads. During its earnings calls on Thursday, Google crowed about the success of the tests it’s run on the ads, which could indicate the “feature” will roll out to even more watchers.
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As the name implies, Pause Ads are unskippable advertisements that play when you hit pause on a video. Google is trialing Pause Ads on TVs playing YouTube videos, and according to yesterday’s call, the company is happy with the results.
“In Q1, we saw strong traction from the introduction of a Pause Ads pilot on connected TVs, a new non-interruptive ad format that appears when users pause their organic content,” Philipp Schindler, senior vice president and chief business officer at Google, said in Thursday’s earnings call. “Initial results show that Pause ads are driving strong Brand Lift results and are commanding premium pricing from advertisers.”
Schindler didn’t say if Pause Ads will roll out to more YouTube users or if these unwanted advertisements will find their way to smaller screens like phones and desktops. YouTube first highlighted the feature last year in its Upfronts post saying how these ads were a great opportunity for brands to “drive awareness or action by owning that unique interactive moment when people pause a video.”
It’s no surprise that YouTube wants people to watch more of their ads because that’s where it gets a lot of its money. That and people who pay for YouTube Premium because they’re sick of the ads.
The video platform has been cracking down on ad blockers for the past year. This move appears to be helping Google’s bottom line as the company said in its earnings call that YouTube Ads revenue was up 21% over the same time last year.
Earlier in the week, we got our first look at Transformers One, and it probably didn’t look like what you were imagining. The animated movie, which is meant to serve as an origin story for Optimus Prime (Chris Hemsworth) and Megatron (Brian Tyree Henry)—here respectively known as Orion Pax and D-16—is sillier than expected, and predates the Autobot/Decepticon war that serves as the franchise’s foundation. If you’re on the fence after that trailer, director Josh Cooley’s here to assuage your concerns, and also give some more insight into how the movie will serve its characters.
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Talking to IGN, Cooley explained that the trailer’s comedy focus was in part to help audiences “fall in love with [Orion and D-16] as brothers and friends” before things hit the fan. “They’re from the same generation and have a very tight relationship,” he continued, “[and] something happens on their planet that they both have two different reactions to. By the end of this film, there’s some serious stakes.”
In D-16’s case, those stakes involve treating him like he’s not automatically booked to be a villain. Cooley described the future Megatron as someone who should be “very real and fully rounded. D-16 takes [things] to a place, just a lot of anger, but you understand why.” With Henry’s insight, the team ensured that audiences would relate to D-16 and get where he was coming from before an undescribed event changes his outlook on Cybertron in ways that lead to a “natural split” with Orion. Cooley hopes that before the credits roll, fans and newcomers will view D-16 and Orion’s conflict as a very real and tragic split between old friends.
As for Orion, he’s described by Cooley as someone who’s driven, but doesn’t always put the drive to its best use. He’ll have to discover how to earn the name Optimus Prime, and what being Optimus Prime really even means. “Like anybody else, there is a level of maturity that we don’t have unless we’ve gone through something. […] We’re really taking these characters to heart and treating them with the respect that they deserve and knowing where they’re going to end up. It’s just seeing how they get there.”
Transformers One comes to theaters on September 20.
Jesse Plemons is a brilliant actor. He’s also one of our most memeable stars. It’s not that he’s super expressive — quite the opposite, in fact. He’s usually quite placid, and almost hesitant in his line deliveries. He takes his time. But, whether he’s playing a timid everyman in The Power of the Dog or season 2 of Fargo or a stout lawman in Judas and the Black Messiah or Game Night, there’s always something going on behind his narrowed, watchful eyes. His stillness, his pauses, and his plain, unvarnished way of speaking act as a gravitational force, drawing the camera and other actors into his orbit. He’s also, in a low-key way, extremely funny.
A still image of Plemons in his ten-gallon Stetson in Killers of the Flower Moon, standing immovably in the doorway of Leonardo DiCaprio’s character’s house, has become internet shorthand for calmly and righteously calling bullshit. “I’ve been sent down from Washington D.C. to see about these murders.” “See what about ’em?” (A tiny pause, just long enough to be noticeable.) “See who’s doing it.”
That scene was used in the movie’s trailer, and Plemons’ masterful deadpan jolted it to life. Less than a year later, he was at it again in the first trailer for Alex Garland’s Civil War, with another pause, and another matter-of-fact line delivery, that lingered in the mind even longer than Garland’s stark, button-pushing imagery of America torn apart by war. Wearing military fatigues and a pair of bright red sunglasses with red lenses, and holding a rifle, Plemons is shown interrogating the film’s journalist heroes. “There’s some kind of misunderstanding here,” says Wagner Moura’s character, Joel. “We’re American, OK?”
“OK,” says Plemons, taking a second to scratch his stubbly cheek. “What kind of American are you?”
The full scene has much the same impact on the final movie, and the question posed by Plemons’ nameless character looms large over the whole enterprise long after the credits have rolled. For me, this was the moment Garland’s expertly made, thrilling, but somewhat withholding movie finally bared its teeth.
Civil War has come in for some criticism for not clearly articulating the root causes of the conflict it portrays, or for having its cake and eating it by marrying a fence-sitting political stance with deliberately provocative imagery. I’m not going to litigate the case for or against it here — Garland has laid out his reasoning for approaching the story this way very clearly in interviews, and the polarized reactions to the movie tend to say more about the viewers than the film.
Civil War is essentially a road movie that follows a team of journalists on a dangerous odyssey to meet America’s fascist president before he’s overthrown by an alliance of independent-minded states. As the ravaged landscape scrolls by, Garland stages a series of Apocalypse Now-style vignettes that underline the surreal horrors of war, and provoke questions about the role reporting plays in society: torture at a gas station, summary executions after an intense gun battle, a weirdly peaceful town ruled by a watchful militia. At every stage, he’s careful to avoid naming sides, or bringing any kind of political ideas into the mix.
That’s true for the Plemons scene too — up to a point. The scene occurs a little past the halfway mark; cub photojournalist Jessie (Cailee Spaeny) and Bohai, another reporter, have been separated from their friends and get captured by Plemons’ small militia team. The soldiers — it’s not clear which faction they belong to, if any — are dumping a truckful of bodies into a mass grave. Joel, Lee (Kirsten Dunst), and Tony (Nelson Lee) approach to try to negotiate their friends’ release. As an opener, Plemons’ character shoots Bohai dead. Then he poses his question.
Image: A24
On a simple level, the scene works so well because it gives us a clear bad guy — perhaps the only one in the movie — played by a great, charismatic actor. That’s always been one of cinema’s purest pleasures. Plemons, who was cast only a week before filming after a different actor dropped out, is extremely menacing without breaking the movie’s muted, realist tone. His red sunglasses — a true stroke of genius from the costume department — give him an iconic pop on the screen. The scene is shocking and suspenseful, and it moves an already gripping film up a gear. It’s also a dramatic fulcrum for most of the film’s characters, none of whom is quite the same afterward.
But this is also the first and perhaps only moment in Civil War when its troubling subtext about our current time comes searingly to the surface. “What kind of American are you?” Is Plemons asking which side of the conflict the reporters belong to, or something else? Sensing the danger in the question, Joel replies that he’s from Florida. “Hmm, a central American,” Plemons replies, dubiously. Lee and Jessie are from Midwestern states, so they get a pass. Not coincidentally, they’re also white. “Now, that’s American.” Tony, crying with fear, admits he’s from Hong Kong, and is immediately shot in the head.
It’s racism; it always comes back to racism. With the truck and ditch full of noticeably nonwhite bodies in the background, Garland is pointing out that the evil of ethnic cleansing almost always follows on the heels of war. But the implications of Plemons’ interrogation are even broader and more frightening than that. While accepting Lee and Jessie’s heritage, he also mocks them for their rootless detachment from it. When a terrified Jessie admits she doesn’t know why they call her home state of Missouri the “Show-Me State,” Plemons responds with a chilling bark of derisive laughter. (The question was improvised; Spaeny really is from Missouri, and really doesn’t know why people call it that.)
When he asks “what kind of American,” Plemons’ character isn’t just insinuating about race. He’s posing a fundamental question of identity: How do you perceive your Americanness, and how deeply are you rooted in it? A reply that has any less than total conviction won’t pass muster. In this scene and this scene only, Garland gets to the heart of the matter — the scary, polarized essentialism that can push a country to tear itself apart, and that is all too easy to recognize in the current moment. All its threat and horror are contained in one of Jesse Plemons’ little pauses.
In this installment of what we’re listening to, Reviews Editor Cherlynn Low dives into new releases from Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande, and explores what music means to us when songs are consumed more like books and journal entries.
Cherlynn Low, Deputy Editor, Reviews
April 19 should have been declared a global holiday. It was, after all, the release day of Taylor Swift’s highly anticipated album, The Tortured Poets Department (TTPD). How could we be expected to work on this most hyped of Fridays, when there were lyrics to overanalyze and melodies to emo-walk to?
Taylor Swift – The Tortured Poets Department
I’ll admit: I hate myself a bit for the eagerness with which I hit play on albums like TTPD and Ariana Grande’s Eternal Sunshine (ES). Both musicians had recently left long-term relationships and got together with new beaus, amid rabid press coverage and relentless speculation on Reddit. I usually prefer to hear from the people involved instead of reading tabloid articles based on what “friends close to” said, and for Swift and Grande, songs are usually as close as we’ll get to primary sources.
I saw these albums as opportunities to get their takes on what went down. Granted, it’s always wise to take their words with generous helpings of salt, the same way therapists tend to remember that their patients’ retelling of stories can be skewed or unreliable.
Both Grande and Swift have made their lives the subject of their music for years, and they often have an air of defensiveness. Titles like “Look What You Made Me Do” and “Yes, and?” make me think of people who blame others or don’t care about the consequences of their actions. Even songs like Swift’s “Anti-Hero” from her last album and Grande’s “Thank U, Next” seem at first glance to be about taking accountability, but really continue the theme of dodging real responsibility.
I’m not sure if music has always been rooted in scrutinizing the artist’s life, but it certainly seems to have become more popular in recent years. The level of interest and analysis around things as simple as word choice or order has probably never been as high, either. It’s also worth considering that these two much-hyped albums were released within two months of each other. Granted, Swift’s new music has only been out for about 40 hours, and there are 31 whole songs spanning a full 65 minutes and 8 seconds, so I will need to listen to it a few more times for it all to sink in.
Grande’s album, which dropped last month, was scrutinized by fans and critics alike. It was released shortly after her divorce from Dalton Gomez and her budding relationship (reportedly) with fellow Wicked cast member Ethan Slater.
When I first played through ES, I was mostly underwhelmed and annoyed. There was, as expected, no accountability for what her actions did to the mother of a newborn and a lot of romanticizing of her latest man. But even on just my second listening, I knew I had a few favorite tracks. Other Engadget staff members agree with me: ES is a solid album with quite a few bangers.
Ariana Grande – Eternal Sunshine
I may not endorse Grande’s behavior — and no one asked me to — but damn, I can’t help liking her music. And it’s probably because I’m hooked on the melodies and production, not the lyrical content.
Swift, on the other hand, seems more of an aspiring wordsmith. Much has been said about her lyricalabilities, and I have no desire to retread those waters. I’ll just say that as an occasional aspiring poet myself, I have to admire the laissez faire approach of rhyming “department” with “apartment.”
I’m more intrigued by what seems to me like the priority of a song’s words over its tune and sound. Like Billboard states, TTPD’s title alone “calls even more attention to her lyricism than usual.”
Swift’s music has always felt like journal entries meant for the public, chock-full of inside references, Easter eggs and thinly veiled digs at former lovers. Her earlier works were therefore highly relatable for scores of teenagers around the world. But as her success ballooned, so has she grown out of touch with the average person, and her songs have consequently become more like glimpses into a life that mere mortals can only dream about. While her pieces continue to feel like blogs or Tumblr posts, Swift controls the narrative by carefully orchestrating not just synths, guitars and lyrics, but also pap walks and delicately timed public appearances.
Unlike Grande, who has mostly avoided appearing with Slater at high-profile events and also hasn’t hidden as many Easter eggs in her songs, Swift has not been afraid to show off and show up for her new partner. She’s not publicity-averse; she seems to anticipate and almost courts it.
With the general strategy around TTPD, like announcing it at the Grammy’s and slow teases of lyrics and cover art, it certainly seems like these days, the billionaire with a private jet problem is more focused on her myth and financial value than the art of songwriting.
Swift surprised everyone at 2AM on April 19 by releasing a whole 15 more songs alongside the initial 16 people were expecting for TTPD. This meant that anyone who pre-ordered the original album would miss out on basically an entire second album worth of tracks and need to spend more. The Swift team also made several versions of the physical album available, like collectors’ editions — all blatant cash grabs designed to maximize revenue.
Grande is guilty of this too, making so many different iterations of “Yes, and?” when that single was released in what seemed like an attempt to place the song at the top of streaming charts. ES also has different versions of cover art for fans to spend their hard-earned money on.
Here’s the thing. Do I care deeply about either of these albums? Nope. Did I eagerly listen to them, hoping to glean insight on their seemingly messy and chaotic relationships? Yes. But despite Swift’s marketing and positioning herself as a poet — and TTPD offering more of a look at her fling with Matty Healy from The 1975 — I realized I just didn’t quite like her album musically. In fact, my favorite Swift songs like “Wildest Dreams” and “Delicate” are beautiful symphonies of atmospheric synths and instrumentation.
Maybe I’m just learning that I care more about music than lyrics. Or maybe I think good songs are a combination of the two and should speak for themselves without having to rely on hype, gossip and marketing tactics. To be fair, that’s true of all art, whether it’s film, photography or poetry. And while the irony of my being sucked into playing TTPD and ES due to the promise of learning about their lives isn’t lost on me, I guess I just wish I could listen to music (and read books and watch movies) without having to worry or be so concerned about the creator’s choices and actions. But in 2024 (and beyond), that seems no longer feasible.
Greetings, Polygon readers! Each week, we round up the most notable new releases to streaming and VOD, highlighting the biggest and best new movies for you to watch at home.
This week, Kung Fu Panda 4, the new animated action comedy starring Jack Black, arrives on VOD following its theatrical run last month. There’s tons of other exciting releases this week, too, like the satirical spy thriller Argylle on Apple TV Plus, a new action thriller starring Aaron Eckhart as a former CIA agent landing on Netflix, the new romantic fantasy film The Greatest Hits on Hulu, and much more. And then there’s Mayhem!, one of the best action movies of the year so far, now streaming on AMC Plus.
Here’s everything new that’s available to watch this weekend!
New on Netflix
Strange Way of Life
Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix
Image: El Deseo/Saint Laurent Productions
Genre: Western drama Run time: 31m Director: Pedro Almodóvar Cast: Ethan Hawke, Pedro Pascal
This Western short from legendary Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar (Volver, Pain and Glory) follows the story of two gunslingers (and former lovers) who reunite after 25 years apart.
The Bricklayer
Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix
Image: Millennium Media/Vertical Entertainment
Genre: Action thriller Run time: 1h 50m Director: Renny Harlin Cast: Aaron Eckhart, Nina Dobrev, Tim Blake Nelson
The latest in a long tradition of “action movies with odd profession titles,” The Bricklayer follows a former CIA agent (Aaron Eckhart) needed by his former agency when journalists start dying. The movie has a bit of pedigree behind it, as Renny Harlin (Cliffhanger, Die Hard 2) directs.
Genre: Musical romance Run time: 1h 34m Director: Ned Benson Cast: Lucy Boynton, Justin H. Min, David Corenswet
After suffering the loss of her boyfriend in a car accident, a young woman named Harriet (Lucy Boynton) inadvertently discovers that she has the power to go back in time to various points in their relationship by listening to his old record collection. When Harriet meets a new love interest named David (Justin H. Min), she struggles between her desire to correct the past to resurrect her boyfriend or pursue the possibility of newfound love in the present.
New on Prime Video
The Exorcist: Believer
Where to watch: Available to stream on Prime Video
Image: Universal Studios
Genre: Horror Run time: 1h 51m Director: David Gordon Green Cast: Leslie Odom Jr., Ellen Burstyn, Ann Dowd
David Gordon Green’s new entry in the Exorcist franchise arrives this week on streaming. It’s a bizarre twist on the franchise, per our review:
Up until this most recent movie, the title The Exorcist carried some weight. While its role as a representation of quality was up for debate, its mark as a sign of ambition was not. Since the original Exorcist, the series has provided some of American cinema’s best and most interesting artists with space to ruminate on faith and evil. Believer lacks the ambition that’s meant to define an Exorcist movie. This is the most profound statement the movie has to offer, seemingly by accident: If the result of moving past God is that everything in the world will feel as empty and pointless as The Exorcist: Believer, we should cling to faith forever.
New on Apple TV Plus
Argylle
Where to watch: Available to stream on Apple TV Plus
Photo: Peter Mountain/Universal Pictures/Apple Original Films/Marv
Genre: Action comedy Run time: 2h 19m Director: Matthew Vaughn Cast: Henry Cavill, Bryce Dallas Howard, Sam Rockwell
What happens when you take the meta-fictional irreverence of Stranger than Fiction and smash it together with a premise similar to Matthew Vaughn’s 2014 movie Kingsman: The Secret Service?
You get Argylle, an action satire of spy novels à la 1984’s Romancing the Stone that follows Elly Conway (Bryce Dallas Howard), an introverted novelist who is dragged kicking and screaming into a world of international espionage when it turns out that her popular spy novels are predicting the future. Who is the real agent Argylle? You’ll have to watch in order to find out.
Argylle is too winking, too keen to show that it’s in on its own joke, to admit any real romantic feeling or any excitement that runs deeper than the surface level of its flashy choreography. Vaughn, the impish ringmaster, delights in challenging the audience to figure out what’s real and what’s fictional within his stylized, nested worlds. It’s just that he never really answers the question: Why should we care? With Argylle, he mounts a playful, rollicking thriller with an all-star cast and some dazzling action — but then holds the audience at arm’s length from it, just to show how clever he’s been in putting it together. The truly clever thing would have been to let the dumb film be joyously dumb, and invite the audience to lose themselves in it instead.
Genre: Road comedy Run time: 1h 24m Director: Ethan Coen Cast: Margaret Qualley, Geraldine Viswanathan, Beanie Feldstein
Ethan Coen’s first narrative feature without his brother Joel is an offbeat crime comedy about a pair of young women who embark on an impromptu road trip. Things get dicey after the two cross paths with a group of incompetent criminals sent to retrieve a mysterious briefcase on behalf of their shady employer.
Drive-Away Dolls’ well-worn beats are buttressed by tremendous style, a deep care taken with the film’s production and costume design. All that attention to the era that isn’t fully present in the script comes out in the visuals instead. There isn’t much narrative texture to Marian and Jamie’s various stopovers — in particular, there isn’t much for Jamie or Marian to connect with. While the pair have frequent and funny interactions on their trip, the people they meet are more or less cartoon characters setting up a gag.
New on Paramount Plus
Bob Marley: One Love
Where to watch: Available to stream on Paramount Plus, MGM Plus
Image: Paramount Pictures
Genre: Biographical musical Run time: 1h 47m Director: Reinaldo Marcus Green Cast: Kingsley Ben-Adir, Lashana Lynch, James Norton
This biopic follows the story of cultural icon Bob Marley, portrayed by Kingsley Ben-Adir (One Night in Miami…). The film follows Marley from his rise to fame in the ’70s up until his death in 1981.
An early contender for one of this year’s best action films, Mayhem follows Samir (Nassim Lyes), an ex-con and martial artist, who flees from France to Thailand to escape his former gang. Struggling to build a new life, Samir finds himself once again dragged into a world of deceit and violence when a powerful real estate tycoon kidnaps a member of his family.
Mayhem’s action is brutal and kinetic, with inventive kills, strong location work, and realistic choreography that makes the most of Lyes’ kickboxing pedigree. It’s a true star-making performance for him, as he juggles the role’s demanding physical requirements with a deep well of sorrow that permeates the entire affair, even as he dispatches foe after foe.
New to rent
Ennio
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Image: Music Box Films
Genre: Documentary Run time: 2h 36m Director: Giuseppe Tornatore
Cinema Paradiso director Giuseppe Tornatore made a documentary on renowned film composer Ennio Morricone, one of the most accomplished people in that stacked field. The documentary includes Quentin Tarantino, Clint Eastwood, Bruce Springsteen, and many more luminaries from the entertainment world.
Glitter & Doom
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Image: SPEAK Productions/Music Box Films
Genre: Musical romance Run time: 1h 55m Director: Tom Gustafson Cast: Alex Diaz, Alan Cammish, Ming-Na Wen
A musical set to the songs of the Indigo Girls, Glitter & Doom follows a summer romance between a musician committed to this craft (Alan Cammish) and a “free-spirited circus kid” (Alex Diaz).
Io Capitano
Where to watch: Available to rent on Apple and Vudu
Image: Archimede/Cohen Media Group
Genre: Fantasy Run time: 2h 1m Director: Matteo Garrone Cast: Seydou Sarr, Moustapha Fall, Issaka Sawadogo
Desperate for an escape out of poverty, two cousins leave their hometown of Dakar, Senegal, to journey to Italy in search of a better life. Trekking across the hazards of the Sahara Desert and Mediterranean Ocean, the pair are met with sights and wonders beyond their wildest imaginations.
Kung Fu Panda 4
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Image: DreamWorks Animation
Genre: Martial arts comedy Run time: 1h 34m Director: Mike Mitchell Cast: Jack Black, Awkwafina, Bryan Cranston
The fourth entry in the Kung Fu Panda saga sees Po taking on a new apprentice to succeed him as the Dragon Warrior. When a mysterious sorceress plots to resurrect Po’s past adversaries, he’ll need to call upon all his strength and allies to save the day.
While the individual scenes and moments in Kung Fu Panda 4 are entertaining (and sometimes even great), it never quite gels as an enjoyable movie on its own. The message of change tying it together is flimsy, and the plot feels strung along, trying to get the characters in the right place to launch a few seconds of cool action. After four movies, it isn’t really a surprise that the Kung Fu Panda machine is running out of steam — thankfully, though, it has just enough power left to churn out some genuine laughs at the end.
One Life
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Photo: Peter Mountain/Bleecker Street
Genre: Biographical drama Run time: 1h 50m Director: James Hawes Cast: Anthony Hopkins, Helena Bonham Carter, Johnny Flynn
Anthony Hopkins stars in a dramatization of the life of Sir Nicholas “Nicky” Winton, a London broker and humanitarian who rescued the lives of 669 Jewish children in the months leading up to World War II. Hopkins portrays Winton in his late ’70s, while actor-musician Johnny Flynn portrays him during his youth in the late 1930s.
Sleeping Dogs
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Image: Nickel City Productions/The Avenue
Genre: Crime thriller Run time: 1h 50m Director: Adam Cooper Cast: Russell Crowe, Karen Gillan, Marton Csokas
After being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, retired homicide detective Roy Freeman (Russell Crowe) is motivated to reopen an investigation into the murder of a college professor when a mysterious new witness comes forward with a compelling piece of evidence. As he works to track down the true culprit, he’ll have to fight to convince those around him to trust his intuition and theories.
In 1985, the World Wrestling Federation launched WrestleMania, the Super Bowl of professional wrestling that helped WWF become the dominant force in sports entertainment. Nearly four decades later, the WWF is now the WWE, but WrestleMania remains the flagship event of the company, which it describes as “the showcase of the immortals.” This year, WrestleMania 40 is coming to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at Lincoln Financial Field. And it’s happening at a time when WWE is hotter than it’s been in ages.
The reason for WWE’s resurgence in popularity isn’t the return of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson or even the fall and disgrace of former owner Vince McMahon. It was the post-pandemic booking of Roman Reigns and the Bloodline that elevated that group and their rivals, including Cody Rhodes and Sami Zayn, into larger stars. The emergence of LA Knight, the return of CM Punk after a decade away, and other factors also played a large role. But the primary reason is that the booking of Paul “Triple H” Levesque delivered the compelling storylines and characters that were sorely lacking during McMahon’s final years in charge.
Staring in 2020 with WrestleMania 36, the event expanded into two nights. That’s why WrestleMania 40 will take place on April 6 and 7. Now, for the benefit of anyone who wants to know, we will tell you where you can watch both nights of WrestleMania 40.
The official start times are 4 p.m. PT/7 p.m. ET on Saturday, April 6 and 4 p.m. PT/7 p.m. ET on Sunday, April 7. However, there is a two-hour kick-off show on both days, beginning at 2 p.m. PT/5 p.m. ET on Peacock.
Where is WrestleMania 40 streaming?
WrestleMania 40 will be streamed on Peacock. Peacock is the exclusive home for WWE Premium Live Events. Only paying Peacock subscribers will be able to watch WrestleMania 40. So, if you aren’t currently on one of Peacock’s paid tiers, the monthly price for Peacock Premium is $6, which includes ads. For an ad-free experience, Peacock Premium Plus is $12. The annual rate for Peacock Premium is $60, while Peacock Premium Plus is $120.
What’s the lineup for WrestleMania 40?
WrestleMania 40 Night 2 will have the following matches on April 7.
World Heavyweight Championship: Seth Rollins (c) vs. Drew McIntyre
The Pride (Bobby Lashley, Angelo Dawkins, and Montez Ford) (with B-Fab) vs. The Final Testament (Karrion Kross, Akam, and Rezar) (with Scarlett and Paul Ellering)
LA Knight vs. AJ Styles
WWE United States Championship: Logan Paul (c) vs. Randy Orton vs. Kevin Owens
WWE Women’s Championship: Iyo Sky (c) vs. Bayley Undisputed WWE Universal Championship: Roman Reigns (c) vs. Cody Rhodes
Is The Rock really returning to WrestleMania after all these years?
Yes. In a highly publicized return to the ring, Dwayne Johnson will return to what he’s best known for: wrestling. At 51, he’s still in the best shape of his life, and he’s taking this return seriously. How seriously? ESPN published a whole article about his fitness regimen leading up to the event.
Watch the WrestleMania 40 livestream from abroad
Phil Nickinson / Digital Trends
If you’re trying to watch WrestleMania 40 on one of those streaming services from outside the United States, you’ll need a virtual private network (VPN). A VPN hides your IP address and connects you to a digital server in the US, which makes it look like–digitally, at least–you’re located there. This gets you past the location restrictions of these streaming services, allowing you to watch the match from abroad.
NordVPN is easily one of the best VPN services around. It doesn’t limit bandwidth speeds, is reliable, and has a number of features that make it really simple to use. Or, if you want some alternatives, you can also check out our rundown of the best VPN deals.
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