What to watch in theaters and at home this weekend May 17-19, 2024

Salt Lake City (KUTV) — Welcome to your weekend -- we'll make this quick and clean. I'm decidedly mixed on "IF," the new daddy-daughter date movie about a young girl who is tasked with finding abandoned imaginary friends new companions. Production value and performances are quite good, but the narrative lacks a real sense of tension and that keeps the story from reaching its potential. If you are the father of daughters between 10-13 years old, this film is made specifically for you.

This week also sees Sundance Film Festival alum "I Saw the TV Glow." My original reaction was that the film was too distant and disconnected for me to connect with the story. I wrote and scrapped a review. I'm starting from scratch and hope to have it posted this weekend. Sometimes I get in my own way. I wanted the film to be different, more reflective of my experiences as a teenage outcast. I can tell that story. I'm happy to have writer/director Jane Schoenbrunt telling theirs.

IF (theaters)

Synopsis: IF is about a girl who discovers that she can see everyone’s imaginary friends — and what she does with that superpower — as she embarks on a magical adventure to reconnect forgotten IFs with their kids. IF stars Cailey Fleming, Ryan Reynolds, John Krasinski, Fiona Shaw, and the voices of Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Louis Gossett Jr. and Steve Carell alongside many more as the wonderfully unique characters that reflect the incredible power of a child’s imagination.

I Saw the TV Glow (Theaters)

Synopsis: A classmate introduces teenage Owen to a mysterious late-night TV show -- a vision of a supernatural world beneath their own. In the pale glow of the television, Owen's view of reality begins to crack.

American Fiction (Prime)

Synopsis: A frustrated novelist, fed up with the establishment profiting from "Black" entertainment that relies on tired and offensive tropes, uses a pen name to write his own outlandish "Black" book and is suddenly swept up in the madness he claims to disdain.

Pillowcase Murders (Paramount+)

Synopsis: This three-part documentary series exposes one of the deadliest serial killers you’ve never heard of who preyed upon one of our most vulnerable populations: the elderly.

Brigerton: Season 3 (Netflix)

Synopsis: From Shondaland and new showrunner, Jess Brownell, Bridgerton is back for its third season and finds Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) has finally given up on her long-held crush on Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton) after hearing his disparaging words about her last season. She has, however, decided it’s time to take a husband, preferably one who will provide her with enough independence to continue her double life as Lady Whistledown, far away from her mother and sisters. But lacking in confidence, Penelope’s attempts on the marriage mart fail spectacularly. Meanwhile, Colin has returned from his summer travels with a new look and a serious sense of swagger. But he’s disheartened to realize that Penelope, the one person who always appreciated him as he was, is giving him the cold shoulder. Eager to win back her friendship, Colin offers to mentor Penelope in the ways of confidence to help her find a husband this season. But when his lessons start working a little too well, Colin must grapple with whether his feelings for Penelope are truly just friendly. Complicating matters for Penelope is her rift with Eloise (Claudia Jessie), who has found a new friend in a very unlikely place, while Penelope’s growing presence in the ton makes it all the more difficult to keep her Lady Whistledown alter ego a secret.

Caillou: Season 1 New Episodes (Peacock)

Synopsis: The home and social life of a sensitive and imaginative 4-year-old boy, and the supportive family and friends that help him navigate his big feelings.

I... for Icarus (Kino Film Collection)

Synopsis: From Henri Verneuil, the acclaimed director of The Sicilian Clan, The Body of My Enemy and Mille Milliards de Dollars, comes one of the most unique and compelling conspiracy thrillers of the ’70s. Following the assassination of President Marc Jarry, an investigation commission comes up with questionable conclusions about a lone gunman. The commission’s findings are not good enough for dogged State Attorney Henri Volney, played by screen great Yves Montand (The Wages of Fear, Z, Le Cercle Rouge). Volney reopens the case and unspools a tightly wound conspiracy plot in I for Icarus, Verneuil’s icy-cool and intelligent investigative thriller that will grip you like Oliver Stone’s JFK. Boasting a terrific performance by Montand and a riveting score by the maestro Ennio Morricone (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Le Professionnel).

Outer Range (Prime)

Synopsis: Outer Range centers on Royal Abbott (Josh Brolin), a rancher fighting for his land and family, who discovers an unfathomable phenomenon at the edge of Wyoming's wilderness, in the form of a dark void. The mystery surrounding the enigmatic void on the west pasture of the Abbott family ranch deepens in Season Two, as Royal and his wife Cecelia (Lili Taylor) struggle to keep their family together in the aftermath of their granddaughter’s sudden disappearance. The stakes have never been higher for the Abbotts, who now face threats on multiple fronts. Outer Range’s second season propels its characters deeper into the void with profound and unforeseen circumstances that could shake the very foundations of time itself.

The Big Cigar (Apple TV+)

Synopsis: Starring André Holland, and based on the monumental, eponymous magazine article of the same name by Joshuah Bearman (“Argo”), “The Big Cigar” is the incredible true story of Hollywood revolution meeting social revolution: it’s a wild caper of Black Panther founder Huey Newton escaping from the FBI to Cuba with the assistance of famed producer Bert Schneider in an impossibly elaborate plan – involving a fake movie production -- that goes wrong every way it possibly can. And somehow, it’s all true. Mostly.
New episodes every Friday through June 14

Mourning in Lod (Paramount+)

Synopsis: This film follows the fates of three Israeli and Palestinian families intertwined by an intense cycle of violence in the city of Lod, Israel while imagining a brighter dawn for the region.

RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars Season 9 (Paramount+)

Synopsis: RuPaul's royalty sashay back onto the runway for a chance at snatching the All Stars crown and nabbing a spot in the Drag Race Hall of Fame.

RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars: Untucked Season 6 (Paramount+)

Synopsis: From the catfights to the backstage battles, find out what happens behind the scenes of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars.

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