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 Oct. 24-30, 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: Wendell & Wild features a long-awaited Key & Peele reunion
Somewhere President Obama and his anger translator Luther are smiling. Seven years after bidding farewell to their eponymous Comedy Central series, the dynamic duo of Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele reunite for Wendell & Wild, a stop-motion extravaganza from master animator Henry Selick. And it’s a reunion that’s literally been years in the making — the pair started working on the film when Key & Peele was still on the air. The two stars voice the title characters, demon brothers who conspire to cross over into the human world with the reluctant help of orphan, Kat Elliot, voiced by Lyric Ross. (Watch their first meeting in the exclusive clip above.) Premiering at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, Wendell & Wild delighted audiences with Selick’s usual mixture of nimble storytelling and dazzlingly animated set-pieces.
“It is so epic, the amount of time it took to make this project,” Key remembered at a post-screening Q&A at TIFF, adding that he and Peele originally recorded most of their scenes together. “Having us in the booth together, especially for a long amount of time, for Henry it must have been akin to having 30 squirrels in a room together,” Peele joked. “Squirrels that bite and wrestle!” That sounds like a sketch that needs to be included in the inevitable Key & Peele revival. — Ethan Alter
Wendell & Wild is available on Friday, Oct. 28 on Netflix.
WATCH IT: Jennifer Coolidge checks back into The White Lotus
“Whenever I stay at a White Lotus, I always have a memorable time. Always,” Jennifer Coolidge’s character, Tanya McQuoid, says on the second season of HBO’s hit show about the well-to-do patrons of a picturesque resort. The first episodes of creator/writer/director Mike White’s Emmy-winning dramedy was set in Hawaii, but this time around, McQuoid is in Sicily, vacationing with her love interest from previous episodes, Greg (John Gries), as well as her assistant, Portia (Haley Lu Richardson). (He’s less than thrilled that Portia is there.) They’re all spending their days alongside two couples who are (supposedly) friends, an all-male trio of family members trying to reconnect and others, as Aubrey Plaza, Michael Imperioli, Tom Hollander and more join the cast. — Raechal Shewfelt
The White Lotus Season 2 premieres Sunday, Oct. 30 at 9 p.m. on HBO and HBO Max.
WATCH IT: This Is GWAR tells the true story of one of heavy metal’s most maniacal bands ever
The heavy metal world lost one of its realest icons when GWAR frontman Dave Brockie died in 2014 at age 50. Though GWAR, whose members famously dress as barbaric interplanetary warriors while rocking the stage, has carried on after the loss of Brockie, the man also known as Oderus Urungus is understandably still a major presence in This Is GWAR, Scott Barber’s lovingly crafted deconstruction of “the band from hell.” Check out a clip from Brockie’s last interview — featured on the deleted scenes from the documentary’s Blu-ray release this week — above. — Kevin Polowy
This Is GWAR releases Tuesday, Oct. 25 on VOD, digital, Blu-ray and DVD on Amazon.
STREAM IT: Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi sketches in the backstories of two major characters
The latest Star Wars animated series serves as a prequel to the prequels. Set in part before The Phantom Menace and The Clone Wars, the origin story of Ashoka Tano alternates with the fall of Jedi Master Dooku over a half-dozen 15-minute episodes. Featuring Miyazaki-inspired CGI animation and populated with such key characters as Qui-on Jinn (voiced by Liam Neeson), Palpatine/Darth Sidious (voiced by Ian McDiarmid), Mace Windu and Obi-Wan Kenobi (even the little-seen Yaddle has a major storyline) exploring new corners of that far, far away galaxy, Tales of the Jedi is a welcome expansion of the space saga. — Marcus Errico
Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi premieres Wednesday, Oct. 26 on Disney+.
STREAM IT: Venture inside Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities … if you dare
Guillermo del Toro isn’t just an Oscar-winning horror director — he’s also one of the genre’s biggest fans. And now he’s using both his fandom, and his prestige, to launch an all-new horror anthology series for Netflix. Premiering on Oct. 25, Cabinet of Curiosities corrals such acclaimed genre filmmakers around — including The Babadook’s Jennifer Kent, Cube‘s Vincenzo Natali and The Bad Batch‘s Ana Lily Amirpour — for a series of eight hour-long scary stories to watch in the dark. Here’s hoping this cabinet keeps opening every Halloween. — E.A.
Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities premieres Tuesday, Oct. 25 on Netflix.
WATCH IT: From Here to Eternity, Annie and more shine in Columbia Classics: Vol. 3 on 4K Ultra HD
Columbia Pictures has vaults of classics, and the 4K Ultra HD collections to prove it. For a third time, the studio upgrades a handful of their most prestigious titles — this time uniting Frank Capra’s screwball comedy It Happened One Night, the classic 1953 romance From Here to Eternity, the Sidney Poitier staple To Sir With Love, Peter Bogdanovich’s 1971 coming-of-ager The Last Picture Show, the sun-bringing musical Annie, and the 1997 Jack Nicholson favorite As Good as It Gets — for another monster box set. Includes an 80-page booklet and over 35 hours of bonus material. — K.P.
Columbia Classics: 4K Ultra HD Collection Vol. 3 releases Tuesday, Oct. 25 on Amazon.
PLAY IT: Build your own Jurassic Park in The Legacy of Isla Nublar tabletop game
The folks at Funko have delivered dino-powered delight with this hefty (it weighs in at 7 pounds!) board game. While it takes some time to get a hang of the mechanics, The Legacy of Isla Nublar admirably replicates the thrill-ride feel of the films as players take on characters from the movie franchise, including John Hammond, Alan Grant, Ellie Sattler, Ian Malcolm, Claire Dearing and Owen Grady, and play cooperatively through 12 separate, replayable adventures with the goal of building your own — hopefully chaos-free — theme park. The lovingly crafted set features retro comic book-style manuals and a quartet of mini dinosaurs. Hang on to your butts, game night just got more exciting. — M.E.
Jurassic World: The Legacy of Isla Nublar board game is available Friday, Oct. 28 on Amazon.
HEAR IT: Giles Martin puts a new spin on the Beatles’s Revolver
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After the late Sir George Martin’s son, Giles Martin, oversaw the boxed-set reissues of the Beatles’s Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, White Album, Abbey Road and Let It Be, it’s time for 1966’s watershed record Revolver to get the same treatment. This was an especially tricky project for the younger Martin, since his father once said in 1987 that it wouldn’t be possible to create a stereo remix of Revolver, but as the song says, tomorrow never knows: Due to new developments in recording technology, the impossible is finally possible. Along with Giles and engineer Sam Okell’s new stereo and Dolby Atmos mixes of the groundbreaking studio album’s 14 tracks (all sourced directly from the original four-track master tapes), the physical and digital Super Deluxe collections also feature the album’s original mono mix, 28 early takes from the sessions, three home demos and a four-track EP with new stereo mixes and remastered original mono mixes for “Paperback Writer” and “Rain.” But perhaps the most surprising previously unreleased gem among the box’s four discs and 68 tracks is a melancholy, acoustic “Yellow Submarine” with lead vocals by John Lennon. The whole package comes with a 100-page hardbound book detailing the sessions for each track as well… so turn off your mind, relax, float downstream and dive in. — Lyndsey Parker
Revolver (Super Deluxe) by the Beatles is available Friday, Oct. 28 to physically order from Amazon; it is also available to download/stream on Apple Music.
EXPERIENCE IT: Get lost in Harry Potter’s Forbidden Forest
This ain’t your ordinary walk in the woods. Harry Potter: A Forbidden Forest Experience is coming to a state park near you — starting with Westchester County, N.Y. and Leesburg, Va. — and bringing some of that Wizarding World magic. Stroll along forest paths dark and deep and encounter familiar fantastic beasts from the Harry Potter books and movies, including Buckbeak, Hedwig and Aragog and his many spider children. (Pro tip for that arachnid encounter: Don’t look up… and if you do, prepare to scream.) You can also summon a Patronus or engage in a wizard duel, all while scarfing Potter-themed snacks and quaffing Butterbeer by the bottle. Just don’t forget where you left your wand. — E.A.
Tickets for Harry Potter: A Forbidden Forest Experience are on sale now.
READ IT: Get spirited away in the kitchen courtesy of the Studio Ghibli Cookbook
From My Neighbor Totoro to Ponyo, animation legend Hayao Miyazaki knows the recipe for making beloved cartoon classics. The unofficial Studio Ghibli Cookbook — named for Miyazaki’s world famous animation studio — offers easy meals you can make for your next Ghibli marathon. Choose to assemble main dishes like Kiki’s Herring & Pumpkin Pie and Howl’s Bacon & Eggs or such sweet treats as Nausicaa-inspired Nut Cake or Spirited Away‘s red bean buns. Make sure to save some leftovers for your next trip in the Catbus. — E.A.
The Studio Ghibli Cookbook will be available Tuesday, Oct. 25 at most major booksellers, including Amazon.
WATCH IT: Jordan Peele does it again with Nope
Clearly not comfortable resting on his laurels as “The New Master of Suspense,” Jordan Peele veered away from the social horror of Get Out and Us for a full-blown Spielbergian sci-fi adventure (albeit one with just as much to say as those films mentioned) with his acclaimed third directorial effort, Nope. Peele’s films demand repeat viewings to decode them, which makes the Blu-ray releases of his films just as momentous as their theatrical bows. We’ll be watching this one at least 613 more times. (You’ll get that reference if you’ve seen the movie multiple times.) — K.P.
Nope releases Tuesday, Oct. 25 on 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray on Amazon.
PLAY IT: Get retro with two new tabletop games based on 8-bit NES classics
No need to dust off your old Nintendo Entertainment System to play these 8-bit favorites. The run-and-gun action game Contra and the beloved platformer Mega Man are getting tabletop editions courtesy of Kess Games. Both games preserve the nostalgia factor of the original NES cartridges with lovingly recreated character and board design and gameplay that’s a lot easier on the thumbs than the button-mashing originals. Can they do the same for Castlevania next? — E.A.
Contra and Mega Man Adventures are available now at Barnes & Noble.
WATCH IT: Discovery+’s Million Dollar Wheels speeds over to TNT
Executive produced by Jamie Foxx, this series gives a behind-the-scenes look at how celebrity car broker RD Whittington connects his mega rich clients — like Tom Holland and Kim Kardashian — with rare and exotic luxury vehicles. The reality show’s TNT premiere comes eight months after it debuted on the Discovery streaming service.
Million Dollar Wheels is available Monday, Oct. 24 on TNT.
STREAM IT: Fortune Feimster brings the laughs in Good Fortune
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The Last Comic Standing alum, who’s known for her appearances on The Mindy Project, The L Word: Generation Q and Kenan, drops a new standup special. Filmed at Chicago’s Shakespeare Theatre, Feimster spends her time onstage telling stories from her own life. A biggie from this set is how she fell in love with and then proposed to her now wife, Jacquelyn Smith, whom she wed in Oct. 2020. For instance, Feimster recalls requesting that a hotel prepare a room for them by making it look like something that viewers would see on The Bachelor, because women seem to like that. “Can we get some candles and rose petals? And how ’bout some champagne?” she requested. “Ooh, how ’bout some strawberries, but let’s dip ’em in chocolate. Otherwise, it’s fruit.” With her laid-back manner and North Carolina drawl, she makes the line truly funny. — R.S.
Fortune Feimster: Good Fortune premieres Tuesday, Oct. 25 on Netflix.
HANG IT: True Believers will trip out over Marvel Classic Black Light Collectible Poster Portfolio Volume 2
Get your super-powered vibe on with this collection of mind-blowing black-light Marvel poster art. The sequel to last year’s Volume 1, this new edition includes a dozen ready-to-frame 20-inch-by-30-inch works starring the likes of Spider-Man, Captain America, Thor, the Fantastic Four and Doctor Strange and illustrated by such legendary artists as Jack Kirby, John Romita Sr. and Gil Kane. Originally released in the heady days of 1971 in collaboration with psychedelic poster publisher Third Eye, the reproductions come in a protective slipcase that includes a groovy history lesson from former Marvel editor in chief Roy Thomas. — M.E.
Marvel Classic Black Light Collectible Poster Portfolio Volume 2 is now available on Amazon and other booksellers.
— Video produced by Kyle Moss and edited by Jason Fitzpatrick
