Movies

Moana
Disney’s Moana has proven remarkably enduring. The 2016 animated hit became the most-streamed film on Disney+, while its 2024 sequel sailed past US$1 billion at the box office. Now, the titular heroine makes the leap to live action.

Set in ancient Polynesia, the film follows Moana (Catherine Laga’aia), daughter of Chief Tui (John Tui), as she embarks on a perilous voyage to save her people from a mysterious darkness. Joining her is the larger-than-life demigod Maui, with Dwayne Johnson reprising his role from the animated films.

Directed by Hamilton helmer Thomas Kail, the film reunites him with songwriter Lin-Manuel Miranda. While Disney’s live-action remakes have received mixed reactions, the massive success of Lilo & Stitch suggests audiences are still eager to revisit these worlds.

Minions & Monsters
What happens when the Minions meet classic movie monsters? Universal’s latest animated romp answers that question with a love letter to old Hollywood.

Set in the 1920s, the film follows James, Henry, and Ed (all voiced by Pierre Coffin) as they accidentally become silent film stars. Determined to make movies of their own, the trio unleashes real monsters on Hollywood, creating mayhem along the way. Jesse Eisenberg, Zoey Deutch, Allison Janney, Christoph Waltz, and Jeff Bridges round out the voice cast. Star Wars creator George Lucas also lends his voice to the movie.

Beyond the usual Minion antics, film buffs may appreciate the homages to silent-era legends — including Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and Harold Lloyd — whose styles of physical comedy inspired the films.

The Odyssey
Following the Oscar-winning triumph of Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan tackles one of history’s greatest stories: Homer’s The Odyssey.

Matt Damon stars as Odysseus, the king of Ithaca, whose decade-long journey home after the Trojan War pits him against gods, monsters, and temptation. The star-studded cast includes Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, Zendaya, Charlize Theron, and Lupita Nyong’o.

Shot entirely on IMAX film, The Odyssey may be Nolan’s most ambitious undertaking yet. As the director told Time, large-scale cinematic adaptations of Homer’s epic are surprisingly rare. Trust Nolan to fill the gap in spectacular fashion.

TV

X-Men ’97 S2 
When we last left the X-Men in Season 1, they were scattered across time — half the group was stranded in ancient Egypt and the rest in the distant future. With Apocalypse (one of the most iconic villains in the X-Men universe) looming over both timelines, the mutants must find their way back home to their actual ’90s timeline, where Cable is assembling a new team, the X-Force, in the X-Men’s absence.

A direct continuation of the beloved 1990s animated series, X-Men ’97 proved itself a worthy successor, winning over fans and critics alike.

X-Men ’97 S2 is streaming on Disney+.

Silo S3 
Over 300 years ago, mankind’s best bet of survival was to go down into silos built to hold 10,000 humans each. They’ve never resurfaced since — and those that do exit the silos never live long. Until Juliette Nichols (Rebecca Ferguson), that is. She did the impossible: she survived the toxic world outside and returned to Silo 18 alive. But with memories clouded and powerful forces still manipulating the truth, her search for answers is far from over.

Season 3 finally reveals how the silos came to exist, with flashbacks exploring humanity’s desperate attempt to survive. Better yet, the cast and crew have shot Seasons 3 and 4 back-to-back, ensuring the story reaches a proper conclusion.

Silo S3 streams on Apple TV from 3 July.

The Bear S5 
The Bear returns for its final run, and its last service, picking up the morning after Sydney, Richie, and Natalie discover that Carmy has quit. He’s left a ticking-bomb of a restaurant in their hands: one with no money, under constant threat of its premises being sold, and with volatile personalities running its kitchen. And yet, against all odds, they still serve up amazing food. Maybe this season, they’ll finally learn what it truly takes to earn its Michelin star.

The Bear has been an Emmy juggernaut since the beginning, clocking 10 wins for its first season and then 11 for its second. Follow Jeremy Allen White, Ayo Edebiri, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as they lead the cast through one final, high-stakes service.

The Bear S5 is streaming on Disney+.

Music

Olivia Rodrigo — You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love
Olivia Rodrigo’s albums have always served as snapshots of her life. Her debut, Sour, chronicled the sting of teenage heartbreak, while Guts wrestled with the messiness and insecurities that came with early adulthood. Now, on her third album, You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love, the singer explores new territory: navigating the highs and lows of her first serious relationship. The juxtaposition in the album’s title is clearly reflected in the record’s structure, which splits the songs between those that embody the sorrow themes of “pretty sad” and lovesick tracks that lean into “girl so in love”. But they don’t entirely act as opposing moods — there’s a thread of melancholy that weaves throughout the 13 songs, blurring the lines between loving and longing, crushing and, well, crashing out. These intense emotions are all set against a more refined sonic palette that Rodrigo slips into seamlessly, marking a confident next step for the artist. Her earlier punk-rock bravado is replaced with quirky New Wave and melodic alt-rock, which draws from her musical heroes like Weezer, New Order, and The Cure. The pop star’s full-circle fan moment arrives on “What’s Wrong With Me”, where Robert Smith himself appears for her first-ever studio collab.