Stepping out on a movie date this weekend? Netflix and chillin? Whatever your entertainment needs, we got your back (and hopefully your mind) with Queerty’s weekly “Culture Club” column with some of the highlights of new releases, streaming shows, classics worth revisiting, and what to drink while you watch.
The Satanic Stream: The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Season 3
The cult series about the titular young woman who must choose between mortal life and a magical one returns. Last season saw Sabrina learn the truth behind her parentage and defeated Satan…by trapping him in the body of her boyfriend. Season 3 picks up not long after, with Sabrina & company journeying off to Hell to save Nick, who spends most of the opening episode writhing shirtless on the floor. Thus begins a truly bonkers new season that finds Sabrina squaring off with hellspawn nobility and a gang of pagans bent on (what else) world domination. Season 3 also includes a terrific queer storyline, wherein the transgender Theo (played by trans-nonbinary actor Lachlan Watson) finds love.
Streams on Netflix January 24.
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The Chic Stream: Next in Fashion
Tan France of Queer Eye channels in his inner—and outward—Tim Gunn in this new Netflix reality competition on the vein of Project Runway. A gaggle of designers from all over the world—many of them LGBTQ—compete for a quarter of a million dollars by inventing their own new fashion looks under France’s watchful queer eye. Unlike Runway, however, Next in Fashion focuses more on the actual creative and design elements rather than the backstage drama, which adds a level of sophistication to the proceedings. It’s reality TV at its best: competitive, creative and oh so very queer.
Streams on Netflix January 29.
The Shocker: True Life Crime – The Kedarie Johnson Case
MTV wades into the growing true crime genre with this tale of a genderfluid teen murdered in Burlington, Iowa (incidentally, Kedarie went by both “he” and “she”). True Life Crime reconstructs Kedarie’s life in Iowa, his family and social circles, and his evolving gender identity, as well as the events leading up to his death, told in first-hand account. The details here will sound all too familiar to those of us familiar with violence against the community, particularly against people of color. Yet “The Kedarie Johnson Case” has more than a few unexpected twists, including an unsolved mystery that could unlock the whole case. Was he murdered for his gender identity? Or was it a crime of passion? Watch and judge for yourself.
Airs on MTV January 22. Streams on MTV.com.
The Exclusive: Ester – Lock Me Up
The new single from Chicago-based band Ester gets the exclusive treatment here at Queerty, just ahead of the band’s debut album Turn Around. Ester is the pet project of nonbinary artist Anna Holmquist, and Turn Around reflects on their coming-of-age, facing adulthood and living as a queer person. “Lock Me Up,” the single obtained exclusively by Queerty, meditates on feelings of demonization and being the outcast, with a sound that channels the Riot Girrl rock sound of bands like Veruca Salt and the folky introspection of Liz Phair. A beautiful, pensive tune, it’s a marvelous palate cleanser for the overplayed bombardment of radio pop.
Streams exclusively here at Queerty.
The Revealing: “It Happened in Hollywood” with Harry Hamlin
Hollywood Reporter writer Seth Abramovitch and out-gay Emmy winning comic Chip Pope welcome actor Harry Hamlin to their showbiz insider podcast this week, and spill the T on the actor’s life as an early-80s Hollywood hunk. Hamlin talks about his work on Clash of the Titans, that time Steven Spielberg bugged his room…and the making of a seminal queer classic, Making Love. Hamlin doesn’t mince words: he says playing a gay character at that time ruined his movie career, though he also expresses gratitude over the film’s legacy and fandom. It’s a fascinating story of Hollywood life told by one who lived it.
Streams on Player FM, Apple Podcasts & Podbean.
The Sip: The Sidecar
In honor of the return of Sabrina, retro style and all, this week we offer up this classic 1920’s martini. Citrusy and potent (to say the least) it’ll have you trying to bewitched handsome gentlemen on a dating app…or just yelling at the fashion choices of Next in Fashion.
- 2 ounces cognac (or bourbon)
- 1 ounce orange liqueur
- 3/4 ounce lemon juice
Mix over ice in a martini shaker. Shake well. Serve in a martini glass. Garnish with a lemon for extra glamour.
Wheelerman
I will be watching The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina tomorrow. I just may have a Sidecar while watching. Give gay cousin Ambrose a storyline, and do not kill him!