Apple announced this week that Season 2 of "Ted Lasso" will arrive on July 23. Here's the trailer. Agh, I can't wait. |
This weekend I have … a half-hour, and I want a comedy |
 | | Robin Thede in a scene from "A Black Lady Sketch Show."Ali Paige Goldstein/HBO |
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'A Black Lady Sketch Show' |
When to watch: Friday at 11 p.m., on HBO. |
Season 2 of "A Black Lady Sketch Show" is here, and it helps answer an essential question: What happens when a middle school game of MASH really does control your life, dooming you to indeed live in a shack? "Lady" has such a fun ear for specifics and lyricism, and the new season grows seamlessly into itself; the show's recurring characters are back, and Robin Thede, its star and creator, is as dynamic as ever. If you like sketch but want something beyond an "S.N.L." paradigm, watch this. |
…an hour, and I want something juicy |
 | | From left, Allius Barnes, Harley Quinn Smith and Chiara Aurelia in "Cruel Summer."Bill Matlock/Freeform |
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When to watch: Now, on Hulu. (New episodes air Tuesdays at 10 p.m., on Freeform.) |
This new teen thriller puts the split timeline device to jazzy, intriguing use: Each episode covers the same day in 1993, 1994 and 1995, with huge and awful differences year to year. Jeanette (Chiara Aurelia) is a dorky, peppy 15-year-old with frizz and braces and two B.F.F.s, but not for long — later she has straightened hair and a boyfriend, but also maybe she's involved in a bizarre kidnapping, and her world has collapsed. For better and worse, "Cruel" takes a lot of its cues from prestige crime dramas, so its performances are terrific and its central mysteries appropriately tantalizing. But way too many of its scenes take place in tedious, illegible darkness. |
… a few hours, and I want something humane |
 | | Wyatt Russell in a scene from "Lodge 49."Jackson Lee Davis/AMC |
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When to watch: Now, on Hulu. |
There are only two seasons of this oddball, lovely drama, but luckily they are full of emotion and imagination and magic. Dud (Wyatt Russell) is a sweet but vaguely lost pool cleaner who stumbles upon a fraternal order and finally feels that maybe he has found his place in our broken world. "Lodge 49" loves both fragility and frustration, and even though it depicts some of life's miserable grind, there's a radiance within the show, a sense of curious hope. If you're in the mood for a drama that's not horribly violent, or if the idea of re-engaging with the world is filling you with both happiness and trepidation, resulting in a paralyzed haze, watch this. |
Your newly available movies |
 | | A scene from "Red Moon Tide."Mubi |
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Video games have been notoriously difficult to translate into movies, and "Mortal Kombat," the latest Warner Bros. release on HBO Max, turns out to be no exception. Perhaps one day, a screenwriter will build an edifying structure around fighters yanking out each other's skeletons, but today is not that day. Our critic recommends the far more low-key pleasures of "Paris Calligrammes," Ulrike Ottinger's autobiographical documentary about her experience of the city. |
Some independent films are available via "virtual cinemas," which share the rental fees between distributors and theaters. Unless otherwise noted, other titles can generally be rented on the usual platforms, including Amazon, Apple TV, Google Play, Vudu and YouTube. SCOTT TOBIAS |
'The Marijuana Conspiracy' |
Set in Canada in 1972, and dramatizing an actual experiment designed to test the effects of cannabis on young women, this agonizingly gauche movie feels like a missed opportunity for a searing ethical investigation. — Jeannette Catsoulis (Read the full review here.) |
With so many characters, the movie spends too much time on discovery and not enough on showing those powers in action. Personally, I wanted more payoff from Sonya Blade (Jessica McNamee) dodging Kano (Josh Lawson) and his laser eye, but you can choose your fighters and feel shortchanged accordingly. — Ben Kenigsberg (Read the full review here.) |
Ottinger's account of a reading at the store by Walter Mehling is one of the movie's high points. The filmmaker has what seems like a torrent of anecdotes and attendant ideas to impart, but the movie never feels rushed. — Glenn Kenny (Read the full review here.) |
"Red Moon Tide," the enchanting second feature from the Spanish director Lois Patiño, is a portrait of a seaside village suspended in an extraordinary catatonia. Its transfixion is contagious. Indeed, I was hesitant to move during the experience for atavistic fear of disrupting the trance. — Natalia Winkelman (Read the full review here.) |
"Stowaway" pushes a crew of space explorers to moral and physical extremes when an unexpected passenger accidentally compromises their oxygen supply. Yet for all the empathy it expects of its viewers — every character cries onscreen at least once — the film is troublingly removed from human reality. — Lena Wilson (Read the full review here.) |
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