This weekend is packed with streaming content if you want to consume it all: a skateboard legend documentary, wild anime, an Apatow comedy, a Linklater nostalgia trip, an unusual baking competition, and a unique docuseries.
Picked by Digital Editor Mike Nam
Tony Hawk: Until the Wheels Fall Off - HBO Max
The world's most recognizable (sort of) skater, Tony Hawk, gets the documentary treatment from HBO with a look into the personal history of this legendary action sports star. Interviews with his family, friends, teammates, and rivals, along with the grainy film and video footage of his youth set to a classic punk soundtrack, tell the story of a skinny, shiftless kid from California who found a nearly obsessive purpose in the young sport of skateboarding. The two-hour-long film premiered on the HBO Max streaming service on Tuesday.
Thermae Romae Novae - Netflix
Netflix has been heavily investing in anime programming over the years, and this wacky series is a result. Based on the manga Thermae Romae by creator Mari Yamazaki, the story follows an architect of Roman baths named Lucius Modestus, who lived in the time of Emperor Hadrian. Lucius has a tendency to randomly time travel into 21st century Japan, usually into a bath, spa, or some other location pertinent to bathing. The astonished ancient Roman — who can't communicate with the hospitable, if confused, locals — takes some of the modern conveniences he sees back to the Empire to use in his own successful designs. And, as an added bonus, each episode ends with a live-action travelogue featuring the manga's original author taking a tour of Japanese bath culture. It's a weird, funny celebration of the need for relaxation, recuperation, and reinvigoration through the act of bathing.
The Bubble - Netflix
Picked by Sr. News Editor Dina Ross
I was both excited and afraid to find out why actor Pedro Pascal was trending on Twitter last week but was relieved to find out it was because The Bubble just dropped and people had thoughts. I tend to dig Judd Apatow movies, so I settled in to watch this goofy story of filmmaking during the pandemic. The Rotten Tomatoes crowd does not like this movie, but I did. Is it a high-minded critique of Hollywood and the global response to COVID-19? No, it is not. But, as one of those people who can only enjoy "short ass movies," I appreciated how quickly this moved and the heartiness-laugh-factor, by which I mean how hard I LOLd, not necessarily how often. The star-studded cast, including Leslie Mann and Iris Apatow — the director's wife and daughter — worked well together and had a take on the pandemic that didn't feel "too soon" to me.
Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood - Netflix
Picked by Reporter Alex Vuocolo
The bard of Austin, Texas, Richard Linklater, slipped a new film onto Netflix last month, and it's a psychedelic coming-of-age tale about a 10-year-old boy living in Houston circa 1969, who is enlisted by NASA to pilot a tiny rocket to the moon. Part fantasy, part nostalgic recollection, the film was shot in live-action and on green screens but appears animated through a technique called rotoscoping that Linklater used in his previous films Waking Life and A Scanner Darkly. Not every new movie from the prolific Linklater makes a splash, but they are almost always deeply humane and hilarious exercises in American indie-filmmaking. So don't miss it.
Is it Cake? - Netflix
Picked by Producer Lawrence Banton
This week, I am here to drive you crazy! Netflix's Is it Cake? is a take on a recent social media craze that just about drove users to the brink. In a nutshell, it's a cake baking competition with a twist. Contestants are tasked with creating cakes that resemble everyday items like shoes, bowling balls, or even other food items! I think the fact that sweet, delightful cakes are being made to mirror things like hearty, grease-filled burgers is what has people pulling their hair out. A crew of judges has to decide whether the items they're assessing are real or in fact, a cake. I would say the show is sort of interactive because when your guess is incorrect, I'm sure you'll be yelling at the screen.
How To With John Wilson - HBO Max
Picked by Producer Jack Gallop
People-watching meets comfort television in this comedy docuseries. The title character is behind the camera asking why things are the way they are before embarking on adventures that lead to utterly bizarre places. One episode’s premise is scaffolding. John Wilson dissects all of New York’s scaffolding, from the companies that put scaffolding on buildings, to the status symbol that scaffolding has become for New York City businesses. The scaffolding rabbit hole takes John and his camera all the way to New Orleans for a scaffolding conference. One amazing feature of documentary filmmaking is its ability to take viewers into a world they never otherwise would visit; How To With John Wilson takes you to the weirdest of worlds while drawing truly profound conclusions about life.
Looking for more to watch? Check out our recommendations from last week and the week before.
