This week in Screen Time, Jenna Ortega returns as Wednesday Addams in the highly anticipated Part 1 of the second season of Wednesday, and I simply cannot get enough of it. I also share what’s all over my FYP — like Tom Holland’s epic return as Spider-Man — and what we’ve got going on over on BuzzFeed Celeb’s YouTube channel, plus so much more. Listen, I even find time to share one of my favorite movie plot twists of all time. Thanks for joining me!
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Wednesday — watch for: Jenna Ortega’s always fun, deadpan Wednesday Addams
Jenna Ortega and the rest of the Wednesday cast return with the long-awaited first part of the second season this week, as Wednesday returns to Nevermore Academy, only to be thrust into a new mystery when bodies start to turn up. What’s even worse? She has a premonition that Enid (Emma Myers) is going to die, and it will be Wednesday’s fault. Alongside the returning cast, this season also boasts Steve Buscemi, Billie Piper, and more, who are all welcome additions to the wildness of Nevermore Academy.
Now, this new season is broken up into two parts, which I am personally not a fan of. I would rather have a weekly drop or all at once, so the first four episodes get the story started in a perfect fashion, but just when things start to get going, this part of the season ends. Ortega remains brilliant as deadpan Wednesday Addams, and now I’m going to be anxiously waiting for Part 2 to drop on Sept. 3.
Weapons — watch for: The most highly anticipated horror movie of the year
This is my most highly anticipated horror movie of the year. Directed and written by Zach Cregger, Weapons tells the story of one night when 17 children, all but one from the same classroom, mysteriously disappear. Now, their teacher, Justine (Julia Garner), and the rest of the community are left trying to piece together what happened. The hype for this movie started years ago, with a bidding war taking place for the distribution rights for the movie in 2023.
It even reportedly led to Jordan Peele parting ways with his long-time managers after they failed to secure the rights to Weapons for Monkeypaw, Peele’s production company. So, just that knowledge made me excited, and now that it’s sitting at 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, I am even more excited. Between Weapons and Sinners, it’s fun to see totally new stories get so much hype at the movies this year. Yes, there is still fun to be had with existing IPs and sequels, but man, original stories making a comeback feels so freakin’ good.
A lot of times, these nostalgia-fueled sequels are an absolute miss. See: the Enchanted sequel. They are often written for a Gen Z audience when they should be written for the audience that grew up with the original. So, my hopes were not that high for Freakier Friday. However, this movie proved me wrong in all the best ways. Lindsay Lohan is back in her Disney movie element with this movie, which follows Anna (Lohan), whose daughter (Julia Butters) is struggling to adjust to life with Anna’s boyfriend (Manny Jacinto) and his daughter (Sophia Hammons).
Of course, a good ol’ fashioned body swap between Anna, Harper, Lily, and Tess (Jamie Lee Curtis) sets this movie off on a hilarious course. I genuinely laughed during this movie, and I think it’s probably one of the best sequels in this genre. Plus, Pink Slip still rocks, and we FINALLY get Jacinto as a leading love interest in a rom-com, swooning over Lohan no less.
Here’s what you need to know about me: Outlander is one of my favorite shows and book series of all time. My best friend and I even traveled to Scotland together this year because of our love of the Highlands that stemmed from this show. So, when I tell you Outlander: Blood of My Blood is the best prequel series, I mean it. The show follows two parallel love stories: Jamie’s parents, Brian (Jamie Roy) and Ellen (Harriet Slater), and Claire’s parents, Julia (Hermione Corfield) and Henry (Jeremy Irvine).
It is such a beautifully crafted (and romantic) show, anchored by perfect performances by Roy, Slater, Corfield, and Irvine. It’s rare that lightning strikes twice, but somehow the Outlander casting department has managed to find some of the most outstanding chemistry between costars yet again. Also, as an Outlander fan, Easter eggs and details abound in Blood of My Blood, and connecting the dots and finding out new things that happened is half the fun.
It might be because I live in the cross section of “Film Twitter” and “Marvel Twitter,” but all my timelines are freaking out about this week is Tom Holland beginning filming on Spider-Man: Brand New Day, the long-awaited fourth Spidey film, which is directed by Destin Daniel Cretton.
There might be superhero fatigue at the box office, but I don’t think that EVER includes Spider-Man. People are hyped. I am hyped. I cannot wait.
We’re also now five episodes into Season 3 of The Summer I Turned Pretty, with this week’s episode being the long-awaited Conrad-focused episode. Everyone, like me, is freaking out, with scenes from the book translated word for word. From the peach scene to the “nail gun” quote, we got it all, and it was probably the best episode so far this season. Jenny Han wrote and directed this episode, and all I can say as a Conrad girl is THANK YOU!
This week, over on BuzzFeed Celeb, the Freakier Friday cast — Lindsay Lohan, Jamie Lee Curtis, Chad Michael Murray, Manny Jacinto, Julia Butters, and Sophia Hammons — took our “Which Freakier Friday Character Are You?” quiz to find out who they are most like in real life. Is Lindsay actually most like Anna? And which iconic TV character would they want to swap bodies with for a day? Plus, they reveal their go-to movie theater snacks, where they sit in a theater, and so much more. And they even find time to sing a song from The Lion King. You can watch it all now:
VIDEO HERE
Question: Which movie has your favorite plot twist ever?
Okay, there are a ton of classic movies that have epic plot twists that everyone always mentions, like The Sixth Sense, Se7en, and more, but for me I really think it’s the end of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest when Barbossa comes down the steps at the very end with Elizabeth, Will, and the crew of the Black Pearl wanting to go get Jack Sparrow back. I remember seeing it in the theater, and the energy that radiated through that small theater when it happened is something that is hard to replicate.
And we’re continuing the discussion over here: Tell me, which movie has YOUR favorite plot twist ever?
Well, that’s all I’ve got for this week’s edition of Screen Time. Come back every week to get more TV and movie recommendations, find out which celebs we’re working with, and so much more!
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