John Cena and Idris Elba are the U.S. President and U.K. Prime Minister, taking on terrorists in the action-comedy Heads of State. An HBO documentary explores the history of trailblazing feminist magazine Ms. The honeymoon is over for the young Duke and Duchess of Tintagel in a pivotal episode of The Buccaneers. The second season of Nine Perfect Strangers ends with a trippy reckoning.
Prime Video
Heads of State
Used to be you’d have to go to the movies to see an action comedy on this scale (usually featuring Kevin Hart or one of his contemporaries). As a prelude to the holiday weekend, Prime Video pairs John Cena and Idris Elba as world leaders and rival frenemies — Cena is a former action-movie star turned U.S. President and Elba a former commando turned Prime Minister — who reluctantly work together to fight for their lives after their plane is shot down by a nefarious enemy. Priyanka Chopra Jonas is the MI6 agent trying to keep them alive — and from killing each other.
HBO
Dear Ms.: A Revolution in Print
More than 50 years ago, Gloria Steinem and her co-founders launched Ms. magazine, championing the feminist movement as the publication addressed still-relevant topics of politics, race, and sex. A three-part (in one night) documentary, each segment shaped by a different director, uses iconic cover stories to illustrate the issues — sexual harassment, domestic abuse, pornography — that Ms. addressed as the editors sought to reflect the diversity of the feminist movement.
Apple TV+
The Buccaneers
What is it with young women of the Gilded Age and European dukes? On HBO’s The Gilded Age, Gladys (Taissa Farmiga) is being forced by her social-climbing mother into marrying a duke she barely knows. And on this even frothier confection, another American lass, the illegitimate Nan (Kristine Froseth), has netted her own handsome nobleman, Theo the Duke of Tintagel (Guy Remmers), though her heart belongs to Guy (Matthew Broome), who fled to Italy with her sister Jinny (Imogen Waterhouse) in a chivalrous act to rescue her from an abusive husband. In a pivotal episode, Duke Theo reacts badly upon learning of Nan’s wedding-eve betrayal. The fallout threatens to ruin Lizzy’s (Aubri Ibrag) “Midsummer Night’s Dream”-themed birthday party and shake up the foundation of Tintagel altogether.
Disney / Reiner Bajo
Nine Perfect Strangers
It doesn’t get less perfect than this, a misbegotten sequel to the drama based on Liane Moriarty’s novel about a trippy wellness retreat. Wasting a stellar cast, Season 2 ends with Masha (Nicole Kidman in unconvincing wig and accent) gathering her motley assortment of guests at the Alpine retreat Zauberwald to reveal each of their unhappy connections with billionaire industrialist David Sharpe (Mark Strong). The heavy-handed reckoning is marred by the psychotic meltdown of Zauberwald co-director Martin (Lucas Englander), whose mushroom-induced visions of his late mother send him on a rampage as the series tries to generate horror-movie vibes. The real horror here is the writing and chaotic plotting.
Netflix
The Old Guard 2
Charlize Theron returns in the action-fantasy sequel as millennia-old warrior Andy, who faces a new challenge in her mission to protect humanity when a mysterious enemy named Discord (Uma Thurman) appears, threatening to undo thousands of years of good. Andy and her team of unkillable mercenaries turn for help to Tuah (Henry Golding), who may hold the key to unlocking the secrets of immortality.
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