Spending a Friday or Saturday night scouring through each streaming service to find something to watch is not how you want to spend your days off. That’s why we have taken on the task of finding the best that the TV and movie worlds have to offer on a weekly basis so you don’t have to. We put together a list of the latest releases and it ranges from must-see TV shows the timeline won’t stop talking about like Atlanta and grown-ish to films you have to see in a theater, like The Lost City. During her promo run for the movie, out Friday, Mar. 25, Sandra Bullock said she was taking time off from acting to focus on her children and her family.
“I’m not retiring, just going to not spend time in front of the camera for a while,” she told People. “I have beautiful babies. I’d rather look at them.” I’m happy for her kids, I am, but what about the fans? Her films have been dominating on Netflix and she’s been killing it in the movie game for as long as I can remember, so I truly can’t imagine Hollywood without her. Thankfully, she has given us enough over the years to hold us over until she decides to return. Speaking of Hollywood, Tinseltown’s biggest night is going down this Sunday. The year’s most critically acclaimed movies will be battling it out for a golden statue at the 2022 Oscars, and we might just see Will Smith finally walk away with a trophy in hand for his role in King Richard. Check out what else is in store for this week below.
'Atlanta'
![When: Mar. 24
Where: FX and Hulu
We, as a people, have survived a hell of a lot these past few years. I’m not being dramatic when I say that one of those things has been overcoming how long we have had to wait for another season of FX’s critically acclaimed show Atlanta. I can’t even believe I’m finally writing this but Season 3 of the Donald Glover-created series arrived on Thursday, Mar. 24. Brian Tyree Henry, who plays Alfred “Paper Boi” Miles, stopped by Jimmy Kimmel Live earlier this week to promote the show and the late-night host joked that he was in junior high school the last time the show was on the air. And Kimmel was right, I don’t even remember the person I was in 2018. The pandemic, plus the booked-and-busy cast’s hectic schedules got in the way of production, causing a nearly four-year delay. Anyway, the first two episodes premiered last night on FX, and Episode 1 already made all these years without the show worth it. [Ed. Note: Do not continue reading if you haven’t watched this week’s episodes. Spoilers ahead.]
The season premiere, titled “Three Slaps,” is a standalone episode about a boy named Loquareeous, who gets thrown into the foster care system and ends up in a home with two white women as his caretakers. The story is a retelling of the tragic and viral story of a Black child named Devonte Hart. Hart and his adoptive parents were at a 2014 Ferguson protest in Portland, Ore. offering free hugs, and a photo of the crying 12-year-old embracing a white police officer went viral. The validity of the “feel good” photo was questioned, especially after his adoptive parents and his siblings were found near a crash site after their SUV drove off a cliff in California in a murder-suicide in March 2018. His body wasn’t found, but he was legally declared dead.
No one expected the first episode of the highly anticipated new season to focus on Loquareeous’ story, but coming from the show that gave us the “Teddy Perkins” episode, it all makes sense. The second episode “Sinterklaas is Coming to Town” transported viewers to Europe to join the show’s main characters—Earn (Donald Glover), Alfred ‘Paper Boi’ Miles (Brian Tyree Henry), Darius (LaKeith Stanfield), and Van (Zazie Beetz)—as they kicked off the European tour adventures the trailer promised. These two episodes already set the tone for what we should expect from the rest of the series going forward. Glover said Season 3 and 4 are gearing up to be “some of the best television ever made” that can only be rivaled by The Sopranos. That’s a hefty remark to make but Glover is standing behind it, and I wholeheartedly believe him.](https://img.youtube.com/vi/t72Pbqrkb28/mqdefault.jpg)
View this video on YouTube
When: Mar. 24
Where: FX and Hulu
We, as a people, have survived a hell of a lot these past few years. I’m not being dramatic when I say that one of those things has been overcoming how long we have had to wait for another season of FX’s critically acclaimed show Atlanta. I can’t even believe I’m finally writing this but Season 3 of the Donald Glover-created series arrived on Thursday, Mar. 24. Brian Tyree Henry, who plays Alfred “Paper Boi” Miles, stopped by Jimmy Kimmel Live earlier this week to promote the show and the late-night host joked that he was in junior high school the last time the show was on the air. And Kimmel was right, I don’t even remember the person I was in 2018. The pandemic, plus the booked-and-busy cast’s hectic schedules got in the way of production, causing a nearly four-year delay. Anyway, the first two episodes premiered last night on FX, and Episode 1 already made all these years without the show worth it. [Ed. Note: Do not continue reading if you haven’t watched this week’s episodes. Spoilers ahead.]
The season premiere, titled “Three Slaps,” is a standalone episode about a boy named Loquareeous, who gets thrown into the foster care system and ends up in a home with two white women as his caretakers. The story is a retelling of the tragic and viral story of a Black child named Devonte Hart. Hart and his adoptive parents were at a 2014 Ferguson protest in Portland, Ore. offering free hugs, and a photo of the crying 12-year-old embracing a white police officer went viral. The validity of the “feel good” photo was questioned, especially after his adoptive parents and his siblings were found near a crash site after their SUV drove off a cliff in California in a murder-suicide in March 2018. His body wasn’t found, but he was legally declared dead.
No one expected the first episode of the highly anticipated new season to focus on Loquareeous’ story, but coming from the show that gave us the “Teddy Perkins” episode, it all makes sense. The second episode “Sinterklaas is Coming to Town” transported viewers to Europe to join the show’s main characters—Earn (Donald Glover), Alfred ‘Paper Boi’ Miles (Brian Tyree Henry), Darius (LaKeith Stanfield), and Van (Zazie Beetz)—as they kicked off the European tour adventures the trailer promised. These two episodes already set the tone for what we should expect from the rest of the series going forward. Glover said Season 3 and 4 are gearing up to be “some of the best television ever made” that can only be rivaled by The Sopranos. That’s a hefty remark to make but Glover is standing behind it, and I wholeheartedly believe him.
'The Lost City'
View this video on YouTube
When: Mar. 25
Where: In theaters
Sandra Bullock can do no wrong in my eyes (She gave us Miss Congeniality and The Proposal!). You can pair her with anyone in any genre, and she’ll always deliver. We’ve gotten used to seeing the Oscar winner in more dramatic roles as of late, like Bird Box and The Unforgivable, but she’s straying away from that in this week’s The Lost City. The action-comedy is about an adventure novel writer named Loretta Sage who is kidnapped by a greedy billionaire named Abigail Fairfax (Daniel Radcliffe) so that she can help him find the lost treasure she wrote about in her latest story. Her book cover model, Alan (Channing Tatum), insists on being the one who rescues Loretta to prove to her that he is more than just a pretty face. But it’s really Brad Pitt’s character, Jack Trainer, who has the skills to save them all. Seeing two of Hollywood’s finest men battling it out to rescue Bullock’s character in this mindless action-flick might be just what you’re looking for after one hell of a long week.
'grown-ish' Season 4 Finale
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When: Mar. 24
Where: Hulu
Grown-ish aired its Season 4 finale, “Empire State of Mind,” on March 24. After a long season of watching the characters figure out their lives in their senior year, the latest episode features Zoey’s long-awaited college graduation from Cal U. As usual, each character is faced with major life decisions and choices they have to make as they forge their paths into adulthood. In the previous episode, Zoey decided to pack her bags and leave California behind, but instead of heading to South Africa with longtime boyfriend Aaron (Trevor Jackson) as planned, she’s headed to New York with her ex and artistic collaborator Luca (Luka Sabbat) to launch her career as a fashion designer. She may be young but the girl had enough sense to choose her career over love. Good for her.
Graduations and new adventures outside of Cal U don’t mean the Freeform show is over, though. The network announced that the series will return for a fifth season, and as its predecessor black-ish comes to an end, the ABC show’s cast member Marcus Scribner has been added to the grown-ish cast. Scribner has appeared on the spinoff previously as Andre Johnson Jr. visiting his sister Zoey (Yara Shahidi) in college, and now he will also be joining her as he embarks on his own journey to becoming a grown-up. The Season 4 finale was the last episode for original cast members Francia Raisa (Ana), Emily Arlook (Nomi), Chloe Bailey (Jazz), Luka Sabbat (Luca), Halle Bailey (Sky), and Jordan Buhat (Vivek). The chemistry between all of them is what made the show special, but Shahidi, Jackson, and Diggy Simons are set to return while welcoming in a new batch of characters in Season 5.
When: Mar. 27
Where: ABC
Will Will Smith get his first Oscar? Will Beyoncé be one step closer to an EGOT? Will a woman win Best Director for the second year in a row? All those questions will be answered at the 94th Academy Awards coming to ABC on Sunday night. Hollywood’s A-listers and filmmakers will be gathered at the Dolby Theatre in California to celebrate their contributions to film in the past year. But that’s not all, the award show is also promising plenty of entertainment. The Oscars will feature performances from the “Formation” singer, Billie Eilish, Finneas, Reba McEntire, and Sebastian Yatra, as well as the first live performance of Encanto’s “We Don’t Talk About Bruno.”
Wanda Sykes, Regina Hall, and Amy Schumer will share hosting duties so we should be anticipating some laughs at least. While you wait for the big night to arrive, catch up on this year’s Best Picture nominees like King Richard, Dune, West Side Story, Drive My Car, and Nightmare Alley on HBO Max, catch CODA on Apple TV+. and head to Netflix to watch Don’t Look Up and The Power of the Dog. Belfast and Licorice Pizza are showing in selected theaters.
