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Finally, a birthday that really deserves all the usual fireworks.
This weekend, America turns 250, and while I wasn’t able to really partake in the Bicentennial – I was 5 months old when the USA hit 200 – we’re celebrating this one up right, y’all! Watch Party style, of course. We’ve got the best American movies and TV shows to put on your must-see list, a new “Minions” flick and some streaming fare to catch up on during the July 4 holiday weekend, plus the return of “Legally Blonde” Elle Woods in a TV prequel show.
Now on to the good stuff:
Film and television have been a cornerstone of America for especially the latter half of our country’s history. They chart our experience over several decades plus show us who we are, where we’ve been and who we can be. I rounded up a list of 50 great American movies that you really should see at least once, including classics like “The Godfather” and “Saving Private Ryan” as well as more recent standouts such as “Sinners” and “Barbie.” TV critic Kelly Lawler wrote a similar TV roundup, chronicling America’s small-screen phenoms from “The Ed Sullivan Show” to “The Pitt.”
It’s likely not easy stepping into Reese Witherspoon’s iconic high heels but Lexi Minetree is game for the job. The 25-year-old actress takes over as Elle Woods in the prequel series “Elle” (streaming now on Prime Video), playing the future legal eagle in her pre-Harvard days as she moves from Bel-Air to Seattle. My colleague Erin Jensen talked with Minetree about the role and the advice she got from Witherspoon: “Wherever you’re at, emotionally, physically, show up a hundred percent.” But Kelly found the show disappointing, writing in her review that the series aims to “both repeat and ruin the entire narrative, making ‘Legally Blonde’ make no sense in the process.”
The latest animated “Minions” movie is made for families (obviously) and also … snooty cinephiles? There are nods to everything from “Casablanca” and “Citizen Kane” to “Metropolis” and “Creature from the Black Lagoon” in “Minions & Monsters,” which finds the little yellow banana-loving weirdos trying to make a monster movie in 1920s Hollywood. My bud Patrick Ryan did a parent’s guide to the PG-rated movie, which definitely has youngsters in mind. And while you’ll have to wait for it to show up on Peacock, there are plenty of other new streaming movies out this Fourth of July weekend, including the Netflix mystery adventure “Enola Holmes 3” and Prime Video sci-fi movie “Project Hail Mary.”
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 on Bluesky, Instagram and Threads.
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