Brian Truitt, USA TODAY
Updated ·4 min read
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Hello from Norway! Or as 106 days of Duolingo lessons have taught me: Hallo fra Norge!
Being in Europe isn't keeping me from delivering the best entertainment recommendations that you need to know for ultimate Watch Party pleasure. For example, a motorcycle-filled period flick with Tom Hardy channeling Marlon Brando? Yes, please! (Fun fact: "Movie theater" in Norwegian is "kino." TV? That's just TV. Same.) There are plenty of new films to be had right now, though it's also a good time to catch up on some shows – especially if you've been meaning to check out Emmy-winning series about Chicago eateries.
See Tom Hardy and Austin Butler as 1960s sons of anarchy in 'The Bikeriders'
Austin Butler follows up playing Elvis in Baz Luhrmann's biopic and a sad*stic villain in "Dune: Part Two" with a wild-at-heart young troublemaker in "The Bikeriders," Jeff Nichols' gripping crime drama about a Midwestern motorcycle club full of like-minded outsiders that slowly goes down a seriously bad path as new blood comes in. Butler plays a member of the Vandals who's a fan of breaking traffic laws and getting in fistfights, Jodie Comer is his girlfriend who gets too close to the chaos, but Hardy is by far the scenery-chewing highlight, going full Brando as the club's mercurial leader.
Hardy told my colleague Marco della Cava that he came to the set with his "tribe" of actors "ready to try and fail. You fall off the horse, and you get up. The reward for taking a chance sometimes is humiliation, but you can get pure gold, too."
Check out June Squibb, unlikely action hero, in 'Thelma'
June Squibb proved it's never too late to have your Hollywood breakthrough, getting an Oscar supporting actress nomination at age 84 for "Nebraska." Now 94, she's proving it's never too late to become an action hero, either: In the breezy comedy "Thelma," Squibb plays a "Mission: Impossible"-loving elderly woman who gets scammed out of $10,000 by someone on the phone pretending to be her grandson and goes on an epic adventure – via electric scooter! – to get her money back.
"Thelma" marks the first lead film role of Squibb's 70-year career. (She also plays the new emotion Nostalgia in Pixar's "Inside Out 2.") My colleague Patrick Ryan talked with the actress, who admits that "it’s unusual to be 94 and still working; to still be doing anything, let alone this job! And I’m pleased that I can do what I do physically."
Catch up on 'The Bear,' 'Letterkenny' on streaming
Are we ready for the season premiere of "The Bear" next week? Say it with me: YES, CHEF! Me personally, I'm dying to know how Carmy gets out of that walk-in fridge. Maybe Season 3 is all in his mind while he's trapped? (I grew up at a time when an entire medical show was revealed to have taken place in a snow globe so anything's possible.) All you need to know is "The Bear" is one of the best shows on TV: Critic Kelly Lawler said in her Season 2 review that "the high-strung series has the ability to stress you out faster than a line cook could sear a duck breast" and she's not wrong. So now's the time for newcomers to catch up on the first two seasons via Hulu.
While I'm doling out homework assignments, here's one more to put on your summer list. The new third season of the Canadian comedy "Shoresy" is streaming now on Hulu, with Jared Keeso as the trash-talking title hockey player, though what you really need to watch if you're unfamiliar is its cult parent show: "Letterkenny" centers on the hilarious shenanigans in and around a rural Ontario community and stars show creator Keeso as tough-guy farmer Wayne (as well as Shoresy).
Even more goodness to check out!
The world of Westeros has finally gone too far, Kelly Lawler says. This brutal "House of the Dragon" murder was unforgivable.
The new "I Am: Celine Dion" documentary gives a shocking and scary glimpse at the devastating reality of stiff person syndrome. Patrick Ryan was there when the singer tearfully unveiled it at Tribeca Film Festival.
In honor of word-of-mouth Netflix hit "Under Paris," I ranked the 10 best shark movies.
Got thoughts, questions, ideas, concerns, compliments or maybe even some recs for me? Email btruitt@usatoday.com and follow me on the socials: I'm @briantruitt onTwitter(not calling it X!),InstagramandThreads
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: What to watch: 'The Bikeriders,' 'Thelma' and 'The Bear' on streaming
