‘Roar’ Review: Apple TV+’s Dark Feminist Fables Anthology Series Offers Very Strange & Mixed Results

This week Apple TV+ released an inside-look trailer/featurette for their upcoming series “Shining Girls,” which began streaming on Friday, April 29. Based on the best-selling novel by Lauren Beukes, it follows Kirby Mazrachi (Elizabeth Moss), a newspaper archivist and wannabe journalist recovering from a traumatic assault.

EXCLUSIVE: Y’Lan Noel (The First Purge), Mikey Madison (Better Things) and Brett Gelman (Stranger Things) are set as leads opposite Natalie Portman and Lupita Nyong’o in Lady In The Lake, Apple TV+’s limited series adaptation of Laura Lippman’s book, created and directed by Alma Har’el (Honey Boy) and produced by Endeavor Content.

The Northman (★★★☆☆) unfolds like the sort of epic that Viking warriors might have passed down for generations, sharing over horns of ale around a roaring fire: the haunting Legend of Prince Amleth.The exiled prince’s trials and adventures appear to have been shot by firelight, too. Writer-director Robert Eggers and his Oscar-nominated Lighthouse cinematographer Jarin Blaschke opt for enveloping the action in shadows and mist, the natural darkness of a northern land where winter nights are long, and the days short.Even the film’s climactic showdown, a naked sword fight by a lake of lava and fire, is depicted as a brutal clash between silhouettes backlit by flames.Rivals dueling on an erupting volcano forms a gorgeous tableau, but audiences might, for various reasons, wish they could actually see more of the combatants swinging their swords — especially the ferocious Amleth, embodied heartily by Alexander Skarsgård.The erstwhile Tarzan delivers a gruelingly physical performance, fighting, running, lifting, swimming, hauling, speaking primarily and most clearly through Amleth’s vivid body language.

K.J. Yossman “Luther” star Idris Elba is set to star in and executive produce thriller series “Hijack” for Apple TV+.The seven-part drama will be the debut project to emerge from Elba’s first-look deal with Apple.

Roar, a new series on AppleTV+ made by the creators of and produced by Nicole Kidman answers this question. The show, out on AppleTV+ now, is an anthology series and each of the eight episodes stands alone, like a vivid short story. One episode starring and written by Janine Nabers is a chilling sci-fi thriller about racism in “nice” white liberal spaces.

Deadly secrets come to light in the trailer for “Now and Then”, released by Apple TV+ on Tuesday.

Prime Video, Hulu, Disney+, HBO Max, Paramount+, Netflix, Peacock, Discovery+ and even more streaming services, there’s no shortage of options when choosing what to binge-watch this weekend. However, sometimes the amount of great film and television available to stream can be overwhelming and lead to hours scrolling aimlessly — hoping to land on that perfect piece of content.  Scroll no more! To help you out, ET has rounded up the best movies and TV shows to stream this weekend, including new arrivals, nostalgia-filled favorites and titles you may have missed the (well-deserved) hype on that are worth circling back for.From the long-awaited streaming premiere of to a new star-studded anthology series, we’ve got your content covered this week. For even more recommendations, make sure to check out our guide for everything new on Prime Video, Hulu, Peacock, Apple TV+ and more this month.Starring fan favorites including Robert Pattinson, Nicole Kidman, Issa Rae, Pablo Schreiber, Rose Matafeo, Amy Schumer, Michael Cera, Jake Johnson, Zach Braff, Gabrielle Union, Jared Leto, Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried, Kate McKinnon and more, here are the best TV shows and movies to stream this week: +While Matt Reeves’ gothic take on the superhero is still playing in theaters across the country, you can now watch Robert Pattinson and Zoe Kravitz fight crime together in Gotham City from the comfort of your own couch.

Prime Video, Hulu, Disney+, HBO Max, Paramount+, Netflix, Peacock, Discovery+ and even more streaming services, there’s no shortage of options when choosing what to binge-watch this weekend. However, sometimes the amount of great film and television available to stream can be overwhelming and lead to hours scrolling aimlessly — hoping to land on that perfect piece of content.  Scroll no more! To help you out, ET has rounded up the best movies and TV shows to stream this weekend, including new arrivals, nostalgia-filled favorites and titles you may have missed the (well-deserved) hype on that are worth circling back for.From the long-awaited return of the Kardashian family to reality TV to a new star-studded anthology series, we’ve got your content covered this week. For even more recommendations, make sure to check out our guide for everything new on Prime Video, Hulu, Peacock, Apple TV+ and more this month.Starring fan favorites including Pablo Schreiber, Rose Matafeo, Amy Schumer, Michael Cera, Jake Johnson, Zach Braff, Gabrielle Union, Jared Leto, Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried, Kate McKinnon and more, here are the best TV shows and movies to stream this week: +This Apple TV+ anthology series explores the trials and tribulations of womanhood through wild and mystical avenues.

Another show to add to the queue. GLOW fans were devastated when the show’s fourth season was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic, but cocreators Liz Flahive and Carly Mensch are back.

premiering Friday, April 15) is based on a book of short stories by Cecelia Ahern, and created by Carly Mensch and Liz Flahive’s (“GLOW”). Each standalone episode features a big name — Nicole Kidman, Issa Rae, Alison Brie, Cynthia Erivo — in various tales that range in genres from magical realism to psychological horror. The end result is a mixed bag of vignettes that don’t always feel cogent, but are never boring.The first episode, “The Woman Who Disappeared,” stars Rae as a woman who has written a hit memoir that’s become a book club staple.

and, Cynthia Erivo is back with another prestige TV series,. The anthology series premieres April 15 on Apple TV+, as Erivo begins pre-production on the anticipated film adaptation of the hit Broadway musical,.

Caroline Framke Chief TV CriticThe worst part of “Roar” is also its most consistent. While every episode of Apple’s new anthology show tackles an entirely different story with a different cast to match, they each open with a neon graphic of a woman’s mouth screaming out of a blooming flower.

As floridly written and meticulously etched as they are, at their core the ornate period works of director Robert Eggers summon an elemental human conundrum: the constant clash between free will and the unexplainable in the construction of one’s fate. If there are forces beyond our control meddling in our mortal existences, must we surrender or can we fight back? In 2015’s “The Witch,” a young woman gives in to the preternatural entities that haunt her in part to go against a religious microcosm that demands her submissiveness.

AT&T summoned the big players from the worlds of media and advertising to a beachside resort in Santa Barbara. The company had finally closed its $85 billion acquisition of Time Warner, after a protracted fight with the Department of Justice, and wanted to celebrate — and to mark its place at the center of the media ecosystem.The three-day AT&T Relevance Conference, at the lavish Ritz-Carlton Bacara, featured appearances by Derek Jeter and Issa Rae, as well as AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson.

Christopher Vourlias Oscar-nominated Syrian filmmaker Talal Derki (“Of Fathers and Sons”) is developing an epic fantasy series set in ancient Mesopotamia that marks the acclaimed documentarian’s first foray into episodic content.“Shemesh Kingdom” takes place in the cradle of civilization five thousand years ago, where a prophecy foretells a great catastrophe that will wipe mankind from the face of the Earth. Only one nation will survive, led by a chosen man – the Master of the Crossing – who will usher them into the eternal Kingdom of Shemesh.Derki, who is planning four seasons of the English-language series, described “Shemesh Kingdom” as “new blood” for audiences, adding: “It’s a different point of view about this type of fantasy [series].” The series begins at a time of peace between the three kingdoms that rule over the ancient world: the kingdom of the East, Gergana; of the West, Lukiana; and of Middle Earth, Azaria.

EXCLUSIVE: Ana Ayora (Captain Marvel, In The Dark) has joined the cast of the Apple TV+ anthology series Truth Be Told in a recurring role.

Chris Willman Music WriterIf you had to pinpoint a moment at which it was completely clear that the Grammys would be a much happier experience than the Oscars a week ago, ironically, it was during the saddest moment of the show. That would be the traditional In Memoriam segment, which, at the Academy Awards, wound up being one of the most WTF moments on a pretty much WTF night.

EXCLUSIVE: Ricardo Chavira has landed a role in Season 3 of the Apple TV+ series Truth Be Told as a recurring guest star.

EXCLUSIVE: Ricardo Chavira has landed a role in Season 3 of the Apple TV+ series Truth Be Told as a recurring guest star.