Let’s be honest, Thor owns this weekend.
Thor: Love and Thunder already brought in $29 million on Thursday, July 7, making it the second-best preview number of the year behind its fellow MCU film Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which brought in $36M in May. We’ve been deep in Thor coverage all week, read our review here, and we expect most Marvel fans to hit the theaters solely to watch this film this weekend. It will go head to head with Minions: The Rise of Gru, but unless more people dressed in suits turn up to the theaters again this weekend, the Chris Hemsworth-led film should have nothing to worry about.
Not much else is hitting theaters this weekend, for obvious reasons, but streaming services have you covered if you need some entertainment. Apple TV+ is debuting their series Black Bird this week, and if you’ve been sleeping on the streamer, it’s time to pay attention. They have been slowly building up their original content arm and producing some of the best shows on TV.
It’s hard to believe but The Boys’ Season 3 finale is already here, and this season gave fans exactly what they wanted. Netflix’s teen drama Control Z’s final season has also hit the streaming service, so there is plenty for you to watch this weekend. So pull up a chair and find the remote, here is what you need to watch this week after you get home from experiencing Thor’s wild ride.
'Thor: Love and Thunder'
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When: Friday, July 8
Where: In theaters
Thor: Love and Thunder is finally here. After a long wait, fans will be reunited with Chris Hemsworth’s beloved character on the superhero’s fourth standalone film, and it does not disappoint. In this film, Thor was on the path to finding peace when he gets rudely interrupted by Gorr the God Butcher, played by the incomparable Christian Bale, who is on a pursuit to kill and destroy all the gods to avenge his daughter’s death. Thor comes out of retirement and links up with King Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), Korg (Taika Waititi), and ex-girlfriend Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), who now has control of Thor’s magical hammer, Mjolnir, and becomes Mighty Thor. The group’s adventure is somewhat all over the place, but the film is still exciting, over-the-top, hilarious, wacky and fun—exactly what you would expect from a Waititi film. The music used in the movie really takes things to the next level, and Bale’s performance as a villain is so incredible it almost leaves you wishing for more of his evilness, even if that means adding more time to the film’s already lengthy two-hour runtime. —Karla Rodriguez
'Black Bird'
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When: Friday, July 8
Where: Apple TV+
Apple TV+’s Black Bird is a crime drama developed by Dennis Lehane, based on the 2010 autobiographical novel In With The Devil: A Fallen Hero, A Serial Killer, and A Dangerous Bargain for Redemption by James Keene, who also serves as an executive producer on the show. Taron Egerton is playing Keene, an ex-convict who was recruited to try and get a confession out of alleged serial killer Larry Hall (Paul Walter Hauser). The limited series is inspired by real events from Keen’s life. He was sentenced to 10 years in a minimum-security prison and was then given the choice to enter a maximum-security prison for the criminally insane and befriend the suspected serial killer or serve his full sentence with no possibility of parole.
He must choose between the hope of freedom vs. risking his life while inside the prison. Talk about being stuck between a rock and a hard place. If that storyline isn’t enough to convince you, the late and great Ray Liotta plays Keene’s father on the show. This will be his first posthumous role since his passing in May and will be followed by his appearance on Cocaine Bear. The six-episode miniseries is now available on Apple TV+
‘The Boys’ Season 3, Episode 8
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When: Friday, July 8
Where: Prime Video
Spoilers for the first seven episodes of Season 3 of The Boys below.
For as many themes as The Boys’ third season has spent exploring, perhaps the one that’s come into sharpest form in the back few episodes is that of legacy. Hot off of last week’s reveal that Solider Boy (Jensen Ackles) is actually Homelander’s (Antony Starr) father, the finale rounds that more significant theme into a stark focus, detailing the fallout accordingly as the two spiral head first into the final confrontation Butcher (Karl Urban) has eagerly anticipated all season long.
To go into details about what unfolds would both ruin the (numerous) surprises in store and run afoul of the ‘do not reveal’ guidelines Amazon provided to critics, but know that the finale—while slightly rushed—manages to wrap up all of this season’s myriad plots in a satisfying way. Directed by Sarah Boyd, working off a script from Logan Ritchey and David Reed, “The Instant White-Hot Wild” will likely go down as one of The Boys’ very best—and that’s before a cliffhanger that further reinforces the show’s mirror-like status in the most chilling way possible. If you think you’ve seen it all—and if you’ve watched all of The Boys, you know there’s been a lot—you haven’t seen anything yet. —William Goodman
'Control Z' Season 3
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When: Wednesday, July 6
Where: Netflix
The third and final season of the Spanish-language series Control Z has hit Netflix right in time for those in need of a thrilling weekend binge. Think of this as the Spanish-language version of Gossip Girl, except perhaps a little more intense. The series kicked off when a hacker began releasing the secrets of a group of students to the entire high school, threatening to wreak havoc on their lives. The introverted and astute Sofía made it her mission to find out the hacker’s identity, and things only got crazier from there. Season 3 is going back to the beginning by kicking things off with yet another blackmail case which brings the drama, suspense, and stress that fans of the series know far too well. The show is fast-paced, hectic, exciting, stressful, and quick to get through. If you’re not familiar with it yet, get into it. And if you’ve been awaiting Season 3, there’s a lot more in store for you. Who doesn’t love a little teen drama? Yes, it’s in Spanish but subtitles are your best friend. —Karla Rodriguez
