A Liza Minnelli doc and an ’80s L.A. slasher for your weekend rotting

Welcome to Screen Gab, the newsletter for everyone just trying to find all that jazz.

In this week’s edition, we recommend two films that bring the comforts of nostalgia: “Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story,” a film that spotlights Liza Minnelli’s life in the 1970s, and “Out of the Dark,” a 1988 L.A. slasher that our film critic Amy Nicholson recently rediscovered.

Also in Screen Gab No. 176, we help refresh your memory on where “The Last of Us” left off and “Yellowjackets” star Sarah Desjardins stops by to unpack her character’s mommy issues.

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Recommendations from the film and TV experts at The Times

Liza Minnelli in “Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story.”

(Atlas Media Corp. / PBS)

“Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story” (PBS.org)

Bruce David Klein’s documentary on Liza Minnelli, presented under the umbrella of PBS’ “American Masters” series, will be catnip to (us) fans, but those not already in that club may be persuaded to join. “Liza,” which dutifully surveys the star’s professional and personal life — multiple marriages and miscarriages, stints in rehab — presents Minnelli as more than the sum of her influences, yet very much shaped by her associations with Kay Thompson, Charles Aznavour, Bob Fosse, Fred Ebb and Halston, not to mention the genetic inheritance from parents Judy Garland and Vincente Minnelli. Both enormously successful and somehow — at least in my mind — underrated, Minnelli’s stock in trade has been a particular, powerful combination of vulnerability and determination, of seeming like the strange yet compelling kid in the back of the class. The testimony of various friends and lovers and mentors (they all seem to blur together) including Ben Vereen, Michael Feinstein, makeup artist Christina Smith, Ebb and his songwriting partner, John Kander — who wrote the score for “Cabaret,” Minnelli’s breakthrough film, and “Liza with a Z,” her Emmy-winning television concert — paint a warm, unaffected person you might like to know and who would make you feel she was glad to know you. — Robert Lloyd

“Out of the Dark” (Shudder, Tubi)

This 1988 sleazy slasher flick is about a clown-masked serial killer who murders the actresses of a phone-sex hotline in downtown Los Angeles. There’s a lot of nudity, saxophones and electric guitars, with corpses dumped from MacArthur Park to Studio City’s El Royale Hotel. I can’t costume it as a classy noir even with a shot of a spiral staircase swirling into the 3rd Street Tunnel. But director Michael Schroeder delivers all the schlock you want while juicing this pulp into something weirder, like casting “Harold and Maude’s” Bud Cort as a lovelorn accountant and butching up the cult legend Divine into a mustachioed male LAPD detective. If you dig top-tier retro L.A. trash, make this a double feature with 1989’s “Death Spa” (Tubi). — Amy Nicholson

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Everything you need to know about the film or TV series everyone’s talking about

Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) in “The Last of Us.”

(Liane Hentscher / HBO)

After a two-year wait, everyone’s favorite fungal zombie apocalypse show is finally back: The second season of “The Last of Us” premieres Sunday.

Created by Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann, HBO’s acclaimed survival drama is set in a world that has been ravaged by the outbreak of a mysterious mutant cordyceps fungus that turns human hosts into horrific, mindless monsters. An adaptation of the hit video game of the same name, the nine-episode first season followed gruff smuggler-turned-surrogate father figure Joel (Pedro Pascal) and his teen charge Ellie (Bella Ramsey) on a cross-country journey to help find a way to save the world. Ellie’s immunity to the fungus potentially holds the key to a cure.

Check out the handy guide staff writer Tracy Brown, our trusty “The Last of Us” expert, assembled to help get you up to speed.

READ MORE >> ‘The Last of Us’ Season 2 is arriving soon. Here’s a Season 1 recap

Guest spot

A weekly chat with actors, writers, directors and more about what they’re working on — and what they’re watching

Melanie Lynskey, left, as Shauna and Sarah Desjardins as Callie in “Yellowjackets.”

(Paramount+)

Like mother, like daughter? It’s an all too valid observation with this week’s Season 3 finale of “Yellowjackets” including a stunning revelation about Callie, the moody teenage daughter of Shauna (Melanie Lynskey) played by Sarah Desjardins. No spoilers here. Let’s just say Callie’s curiosity about her mother’s time in the wildnerness has caught up with her. In this week’s Guest Spot, Desjardins discussed her character’s state of mind, what she’s watching and more. — Matt Brennan and Yvonne Villarreal

One of the key developments this season is the bond Callie forms with Lottie before her death. At one point, Lottie asks her how she would describe herself without embarrassment, shame or fear, and she deflects. What was the answer going through her head that she wasn’t ready to speak yet?

I personally think that Callie is feeling lost, confused and scared. Part of that fear is coming from this inner knowing she has that she is a very powerful person. She doesn’t know what to do. She doesn’t know what that means. I think she’s scared of what she’s capable of. I think Callie is also lonely. She wants love. She wants to be seen and heard. She knows she is very worthy of both those things, but like anyone would in her environment, she doubts herself. I love her very much.

“Yellowjackets” has become renowned for casting high-profile actors as the adult versions of the Yellowjackets, as well as recurring and guest stars. Who would you be most excited to see join for a Season 4 and why?

Can Sarah Snook join us? PLEASE. Need I explain why? She is a powerhouse and endlessly captivating.

What have you watched recently that you’re recommending to everyone you know?

“The Studio” [AppleTV+]. I am such a sucker for projects about our industry but, also, it is just so incredible. I love the way it’s shot, the performances; it’s such a fun, hilarious ride every episode.

What’s your go-to “comfort watch,” the film or TV show you return to again and again?

TV shows I am always going between [are] “Gilmore Girls” [Netflix], “The Office” [Peacock] and “Friends” [Max]. The two films that come to mind are “Crazy, Stupid, Love” [VOD] and “It’s Complicated” [Starz, VOD]. Truly can’t count how many times I’ve seen either.