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What to watch: Wrestle mania is 'Unstoppable'

Brian Truitt   Paste BN
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I'm a wrestling addict.

If there's pro wrestling on TV, fueled by over-the-top characters with nicknames like "Stone Cold" and "The Rock," I have to watch it. (Much to my wife's dismay.) Arm wrestling? I adored "Over the Top" back in the day, still got that Kenny Loggins song stuck in my head. And I am totally down for a good story involving amateur wrestling, too, like the new Jennifer Lopez sports movie "Unstoppable," about one-legged national champion Anthony Robles. That's a rousing tale we're recommending this week, though don't sleep on Cameron Diaz's first movie in a decade or the return of Apple's way-weird work drama "Severance."

Now on to the good stuff:

Grapple with Jennifer Lopez's real-life wrestling drama 'Unstoppable'

The crowd-pleasing true-life tale "Unstoppable" (now streaming on Prime Video) is for all the "Rocky" fans and underdog lovers. Jharrel Jerome stars as Anthony Robles, an Arizona grappler born with only one leg who's a high school star but doesn't get into his dream school, wrestling powerhouse Iowa. He instead finds the coach and teammates he needs at Arizona State and gets support from single mom Judy (Jennifer Lopez) in a journey filled with self-discovery and wristlocks.

I talked with the real Robles, an affable sort who broke down fact vs. fiction in his biopic. He praises Lopez for doing "a very accurate job" capturing his mom's fiercely protective nature, especially in scenes where Judy's about to go mama bear on hecklers. “When I first started wrestling, I remember going out there and someone was laughing in the crowd, and my mom actually said something to them. She got in their face,” he says.

See Cameron Diaz's return to the screen with Netflix's 'Back in Action'

In the 1990s and 2000s, Cameron Diaz was everywhere, in movies as diverse as "Charlie's Angels" and "The Holiday." Then, following 2014's "Annie," she disappeared to focus on her family and launch a wine brand. So the title of "Back in Action," her new Netflix movie with friend Jamie Foxx, is extremely apropos.

"I felt like I had done it," Diaz tells my colleague Brendan Morrow about her Hollywood return, which finds Diaz and Foxx starring as a secret agent couple forced back into the espionage game when their covers are blown. As it turns out, Diaz didn't have too much rust to knock off: Acting again was "kind of like muscle memory," she says. "A chef doesn't forget about how to chop."

Stream the new season of Apple's very weird 'Severance'

Apple's sci-fi psychological thriller series "Severance" quickly became a word-of-mouth hit but also built a reputation for being very weird. (Being a show about employees who have their non-work memories separated from their work ones, this ain't "The Office.") Produced by Ben Stiller and starring Adam Scott, the show is back for a second psychedelic season, and while it balances "brilliance and buffoonery," TV critic Kelly Lawler points out in her ★★★ review that it may have crossed the line to being too weird. "Some scenes will make you scratch your head so hard you'll do amateur brain surgery."

And if you're like me and haven't had the pleasure of "Severance" yet – my TV to-watch list is very long! – our pal Bryan Alexander put together a recap of Season 1 to catch folks up (and explain "innies" vs. "outies").

Even more goodness to check out!

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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