F1: The Movie with Brad Pitt as a racer will make its streaming debut on Friday, December 12, following the film’s record-breaking theatrical run, Apple said Monday. And the announcement came with a surprise twist: Apple TV+ gets rebranded as simply “Apple TV” (no “+”) with what the company called a “vibrant new identity.”
It remains to be seen how vibrant the identity is, but it’s the same exact name as the Apple TV hardware and the Apple TV app. Maybe they meant “confusing new identity.”
Apple TV+ viewers have a new pulse-pounding watch to take in Friday — The Lost Bus movie. It tells the story of the Camp Fire laying waste to Paradise, California, as a lone school bus driver played by Matthew McConaughey tries to save nearly two dozen children from the inferno. Action maven Paul Greengrass directs. He’s best known for Bloody Sunday, two Jason Bourne movies and Captain Phillips.
The film scores an 86% Fresh critical rating and a 92% Fresh viewer rating on reviews site RottenTomatoes.com. “McConaughey, as a nervy reluctant hero, steers the searing, intense narrative about normal people living through the most hellish of circumstances,” wrote USA Today. “The Lost Bus traps us in that disorientating push and pull — it’s a little too real to entertain, and a little too entertaining to feel real,” noted The Independent. Generally, even those who criticized the film’sHollywood-ness praised its intense realism and almost unbearable, horror-movie-style tension.
Spike Lee’s crime drama starring Denzel Washington keeps pulling in a large audience, defying a possible second week drop off. Highest 2 Lowest earned a spot among the most popular films on streaming, according to two companies that track ratings. It’s a win for Apple TV+.
Plus, Apple TV+’s comedy The Studio had a comeback after winning lots of awards this week, and Apple’s adaptation of the sci-fi classic Foundation stayed popular even as its third season wrapped up.
Ready to face the end of the world as we know it? The new 10-episode season of Apple TV+’s epic alien onslaught series Invasion streams its first episode Friday. A new one follows each Friday through October 24.
And you can watch the recently released Invasion season three trailer below. It shows the evolving face of the alien menace. And it looks like the horrific inroads the extraterrestrials made in seasons one and two of Invasion, seemingly slowed by a determined but disconnected human effort, might be just a preview of much worse to come.
Viewers keep rallying behind the action-packed historical drama series Chief of War starring Jason Momoa. High ratings put it among the most popular series on streaming for a second week, according to two different ratings trackers.
And that’s not the only hit this week for Apple TV+. The second season of the comedy Platonic earns good ratings, too.
You didn’t miss your opportunity to see Apple’s blockbuster racing flick F1: The Movie in Imax. The movie starring Brad Pitt returns to the giant theater screens Friday, and should arrive on even more of them next week.
The film blends blazing-fast cars on the racetrack with clashing personalities off the track. Pitt plays an aging racer trying to prove he still has what it takes to be a Formula One driver, with the action playing out at 230 mph.
Apple TV+ crime drama Your Friends & Neighbors has held onto a large audience for two months now, appearing yet again on a weekly list of the top 10 most popular series, according to a company that tracks ratings. The show stars Jon Hamm as a very unusual thief.
Plus, the Apple TV+ sci-fi action comedy series Murderbot settled into steady popularity.
“It” girl actress Sydney Sweeney plays a drug addict and probable killer whose mom, played by Julianne Moore, will do anything to save her, according to a trailer Apple TV+ dropped recently for the new Echo Valley movie. It’s now streaming, as of Friday, and you can watch the trailer below.
Ridley Scott produces the thriller, which also stars Kyle MacLachlan and Domhall Gleeson.
Update: Echo Valley, now available to watch on Apple TV+, garners mixed reviews so far. Empire calls it a “superbly acted rural thriller.” Financial Times said it’s “delightedly twisty” with “dark dashes of Hitchcock.” But IGN calls it “hollow” and “dull,” and a New York Times review says: “A stellar cast led by Julianne Moore is unable to breathe life into this unsuccessful blend of maternal drama and crime caper.”
★★★★☆
It’s season finale time! In our Severance season 2 episode 10 recap of “Cold Harbor,” we find Mark S. carrying out a wild plan with his allies while his tattered team makes a dangerous last stand against Lumon Industries. At 75 minutes, the episode’s a long one, directed by Ben Stiller. And with the hit show just renewed for a third season, the Severance season two finale actually asks more questions than it answers — before delivering a twist at the end.
Last week’s penultimate episode gave us a slower burn than expected on the way to Friday’s climactic season finale, but it did its job. As the macrodata refiners scattered while Mark and his sister Devon teamed up with company soldier Harmony Cobel to fight Lumon, it felt more like everything was coming apart than coming to a frenzied boil. But that groundwork set the stage for Friday’s outstanding final episode.
Anya Taylor-Joy, perhaps best known for starring in The Queen’s Gambit, is coming to Apple TV+. She’ll star in an adaptation of the bestselling crime thriller Lucky by Marissa Stapley.
Ready for a cinematic experience that transports you to the heart of London during one of its darkest hours? Consider director Steve McQueen’s Blitz, a surprisingly moving period piece now streaming on Apple TV+. As you’ll see in our Blitz review, if you’ve got holiday downtime to spare, this makes a good diversion.
The gripping film offers a powerful glimpse into the resilience of the human spirit during World War II’s London Blitz. It was a relentless bombing campaign associated with Germany’s aggressive “blitzkrieg” strategy. Here are three reasons why you should watch Steve McQueen’s Blitz.
The Apple TV+ dramedy Shrinking stayed among the top 10 most popular streaming series for another week, according to two ratings companies. And the sexy drama Disclaimer continues to pull in a large audience, too.
Both have been among the most-watched series on streaming since they debuted.
Apple TV+ reportedly renewed its comedy/drama Shrinking for season three on Thursday, continuing the teamup between Jason Segel and Harrison Ford.
Season two is streaming now. And with the new announcement, fans can enjoy it without any worries it’ll end with a cliffhanger that never gets resolved.
Season two of the hit Apple TV+ comedy/drama Shrinking premieres in October, with Jason Segel and Harrison Ford once again starring as therapists with problems of their own. A trailer previews the new season, with Segel’s character making progress dealing with his daughter, his crusty mentor and all his other issues.
UPDATE: The wait is over for Shrinking Season 2. It started streaming Wednesday on Apple TV+. And critics like the new episodes even more than season one, with the sophomore season of the show earning a 94% approval rating from the review-aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes.
The acclaimed Emmy and BAFTA Award-winning spy drama series Slow Horses, starring Academy Award winner Gary Oldman, gallops toward a green-lighted sixth season even as season 4 just concluded October 9, Apple TV+ said Tuesday. This continues a trend. Season 5 won approval right after the season 3 finale — well before season 4 aired. And it also makes Slow Horses the streamer’s longest-running show by number of seasons. Though admittedly, at six episodes apiece, they’re not long seasons.
“Audiences around the world have fallen in love with the Slow Horses, and I’m delighted that Gary Oldman will be leading this star-studded cast on another acerbic and action-packed adventure,” said Jay Hunt, creative director, Europe, Apple TV+.
The Apple TV+ team-up between George Clooney and Brad Pitt hit number one on a ratings company’s popularity chart the first week the film is available to stream.
It’s not surprising: the two superstars could probably take the leads in Uncle Wiggly and the Runaway Cheese and it would be a hit.
The mystery that unfolded in the Apple TV+ series Sugar will continue with season two. The streaming service approved more episodes of the dark, gritty tale Wednesday. Highlights of the first season include a brilliant performance by Colin Farrell, as well as what was called “one of the greatest plot twists in recent TV history.”
“It has been incredibly exciting to see audiences around the world embrace Sugar, and we are thrilled to return for a second season,” said executive producers Audrey Chon and Simon Kinberg in a press release.
Season 4 of Slow Horses stayed at the top of a rating’s company’s popularity chart for the second week. This darkly funny espionage drama starring Gary Oldman follows a team of British intelligence agents who’ve all made career-ending mistakes yet are somehow always in the center of the action. New episodes stream each Wednesday on Apple TV+.
Plus, Apple’s crime comedy Bad Monkey starring Vince Vaughn held onto popularity, too.
As bombs rain down on London during World War II, a mother sends her young son to safety in the countryside — only to learn he’s actually lost in the city’s fiery mayhem. His journey and her frantic search unfold in a new trailer dropped Thursday for new Apple Original Film Blitz, written and directed by Academy Award winner Sir Steve McQueen.
Saoirse Ronan stars as the mother in desperate search for her son in the film, set to premiere in theaters November 1 and stream on Apple TV+ November 22. Watch the trailer below.
The Apple TV+ crime drama Presumed Innocent has been among the most watched shows on streaming since launching in mid-June, according to analysts. Season one of the series — which stars Jake Gyllenhaal as a man who might, or might not, have murdered the woman he’s having an affair with — recently wrapped up, and the opportunity to bingewatch all the episodes pushed the show to become the most viewed on any streaming platform, according to analysts.
Plus, the reimagining of Time Bandits found a big audience, and Natalie Portman’s Lady in the Lake had another strong week.
The crime drama Presumed Innocent is a big enough hit that Apple TV+ committed to season two before the initial season is even over.
The series starring Jake Gyllenhaal has been among the most watched shows on streaming since launching in mid-June, according to analysts.
Just as we thought when Apple put out a Severance teaser Tuesday in Morse code saying nothing but “tomorrow,” word of a season 2 air date arrived Wednesday, along with a spooky teaser trailer. But our wishful thinking that the air date would come in fall 2024 was just that. It’s actually slated for January 17, 2025. And in the meantime, the short trailer below is worth a watch. It brings eerie Severance vibes.
Apple TV+ dropped an odd Severance Morse code teaser video Tuesday that simply spells out “tomorrow,” suggesting news about the workplace thriller’s second season will arrive Wednesday. We expect an air date announcement for fall 2024, and perhaps more.
Apple offered a scant first look at the upcoming season of the hit show during the WWDC24 keynote in June. But other than that, fans of the funny and disturbing workplace thriller have had little to go on — until now (or until tomorrow, that is).
A revving engine drowns out the thunderous sound of Queen’s “We Will Rock You” in the first teaser trailer for F1, Brad Pitt’s upcoming Apple TV+ film about Formula One racing.
You’ll hear precious little dialogue in the trailer, released Sunday by Warner Bros. Pictures. Instead, the promo spot focuses on harrowing racetrack footage shot during actual Grand Prix weekends in collaboration with Formula One teams.
Sugar, Colin Farrell’s homage to classic film noir detective movies on Apple TV+, is well worth watching for anyone who enjoys top-notch acting, a mystery wrapped in an enigma, and a really huge twist.
But go in knowing that the drama series gets darker and darker as it goes along.