The Entertainment Forecast

May 10 – May 16

A ‘Partridge Family’ marathon, worlds collide for ‘Young Sheldon’ & Peyton Manning spotlights female hoopsters

Watch a marathon of ‘The Partridge Family’…and one of TV’s coolest moms!

All times Eastern.

FRIDAY, May 10
The Chi
The sixth season’s second half of the hit series begins tonight unfolds tonight, with the continuing saga about life in a dangerous neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side (Paramount+ with Showtime).

The Iron Claw
Acclaimed feature film about pro wrestling’s famous (and famously ill-fated) Von Erich family stars a beefed-up Zach Efron (below), plus Jeremy Allen White (from The Bear), Maura Tierney and Lily James, who swaps her British accent for a Texas twang (Max).

SATURDAY, May 11
The Partridge Family Mother’s Day Marathon
C’mon, get happy! And celebrate TV’s greatest pop-star mom (Shirley Jones as Shirley Partridge) with 16 classic episodes of the iconic musical sitcom of yesteryear, with guest appearances by Johnny Cash, Farrah Fawcett, Dick Clark, Mark Hamill and Jacyln Smith! (1 p.m., AXS).

Full Court Press
College-bound basketball queen Caitlin Clark (below) is among the hot hoopsters featured in this series produced by Peyton Manning and profiling women’s b-ball superstars (1 p.m., ABC).

Nikki Glaser: Someday You’ll Die
The comedian/actress fearlessly digs into a wide range of topics in this special recorded in Seattle, Wash., including why she doesn’t want kids, the realities of getting older and her plans for her death (10 p.m., HBO). 

SUNDAY, May 12
Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire
It doesn’t have Brad Pitt and Tom Hanks (who starred in the 1994 movie version), but season two of the fan-favorite hit streaming series (about an ancient vampire recounting his life story to a journalist) begins tonight, with Jacob Anderson and Delainey Hayles (AMC+).

Time100: The World’s Most Interesting People
Coverage of last month’s live gala honoring Dua Lipa, Taraji P. Henson, NFL QB Patrick Mahomes, Kylie Minougue, Michael J. Fox and more industry-spanning individuals honored by the venerable weekly publication (10 p.m., ABC).

MONDAY, May 13
Summer Baking Championship
Jesse Palmer hosts as bakers from around the world heat up the kitchen to prove their talents in summer-travel themed challenges, from tropical fruit to beach vacations (8 p.m., Food).

After the Flood
British thriller series set in a small town hit by a devastating deluge, exposing secrets and putting fortunes and reputations at stake. Starring Peaky BlindersSophie Russell (below, on BritBox).

TUESDAY, May 13
Pillowcase Murders
Three-night series sheds new light on the serial killer who preyed upon one of America’s most vulnerable populations—senior citizens in retirement communities (Paramount+).

WEDNESDAY, May 15
In the Kitchen with Harry Hamlin
Joined by his trained-chef niece Renee Guilbault, the actor welcomes celebrity guests (Ted Danson! Mary Steenburgen! Bobby Miynihan! Ed Begley Jr.!) to share favorite recipes, offer kitchen tips and set the table for some elegant Hollywood-worthy dinners (11 p.m., AMC+ and IFC).

Secrets in Your Data
Are you worried about how much info about you—name, address, phone number, workplace, family—is available online? This eye-opening doc reveals how easily our privacy is compromised and how we can better maintain it (9 p.m., PBS).

THURSDAY, May 16
Bridgerton
Season three of the hit Shondaland period drama dresses up new plotlines for Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan), Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton) and other characters with complicated lives in London’s high society (Netflix).

Young Sheldon
Worlds collide! Jim Parsons and Mayam Bialik reprise their roles from The Big Bang Theory on tonight’s finale about the young(er) life of brainiac Sheldon Cooper (above, 8 p.m., CBS).

READ ALL ABOUT IT

Ol’ Scratch has been around for centuries, but now journalist Randall Sullivan takes a new look at the figure of the Devil, and how humankind has “used” the satanic figure to help embody crime, violence and otherwise inexplicable unpleasantries. Engrossing, fascinating and full of detail, The Devil’s Best Trick (Grove Atlantic) is an eye-opening descent in the historical, religious and cultural concepts that have been funneled into our dark fascination with the Big D.

Tom Selleck tells all in You Never Know (Dey Street), in which the iconic TV and movie star relates his entertaining, engaging story of growing up, coming to Hollywood, finding superstar success and making friends with everyone from Frank Sinatra to Carol Burnett. How did he put his career on the line for Magnum P.I.? Or walk away from a show that could have easily continued for years to come? It’s all here, and more!

The movie industry has often portrayed motherhood as scary, and sometimes crazy, from Mommy Dearest and Carrie to Rosemary’s Baby and Hereditary, and beyond. In Hollywood’s Monstrous Moms (McFarland), author Kassia Krone turns a keen academic eye to a wide range of real-world mental illness, their depiction in the movies across time, how serious psychological disorders and disabilities often became horrifying film stereotypes.

BRING IT HOME


The gigantic sandworms are back in Dune: Part Two (Warner Bros. Home Entertainment), director Denis Villeneuve’s spectacular looking follow-up to his epic sci-fi 2021 film, starring Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Josh Brolin, Austin Butler, Florence Pugh and Rebecca Ferguson. And it’s loaded with bonus features, including how the cast learned to ride those massive sandworms!

MOVIE REVIEW: ‘Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes’

Ferociously entertaining reboot shines with dazzling effects, action and emotion

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
Starring Owen Teague, Freyda Allan & Kevin Durand
Directed by Wes Ball
Rated PG-13

In theaters Friday, May 10

In the newest installment of the durable film franchise about a world in which apes and humans coexist, a young chimpanzee squares off with a fearsome bonobo leader as all civilization hangs precariously in the balance. It’s a rip-roaring dystopian survival tale, a heroic journey, a parable about caring for our planet and an emotionally resonant tale about families, friends and the future.

But Curious George Goes to the Zoo, it isn’t. There’s some seriously muscular monkeyshine going on in this depiction of what happens when our young protagonist chimpanzee, Noa, sets out on a journey to find his clan, which has been subjugated into slavery by a cruel alpha-ape tyrant who calls himself Proximus Caesar. (All you Latin scholars will know that proximus means “next” or “nearest,” which is this monstrous monkey’s only relation to the late, great benevolent ape leader Caesar, who died at the end of the previous movie, 2017’s War for the Planet of the Apes.) And Noa soon finds out just how the new Caesar is totally, despotically different from the old Caesar.

The new movie—the ninth in the canon—plunks us again down on Earth hundreds of years from now when apes have supplanted humans. We learn that the cause was a mutated virus with a world-changing side effect: It led apes to become fluent in speech (we know they know at least one common curse word!) and civilized, and dethroned humans into bands of feral, mute scavenging pests. The apes call humans echoes, suggesting their distant, faint resemblance to mankind of yore.  

As you might suppose, most of the characters here are apes, played and voiced by actors underneath deep layers of motion-capture effects and CGI. Owen Teague is Noa, Kevin Durand is Proxiumus, and Peter Macon is Raga, a sagacious old orangutan. There’s also a host of talent behind the performances of Noa’s ape clan, Caesar’s merciless foot soldiers, and hundreds of supporting simians. There are only a couple of non-monkeys in the mix—William H. Macy is a human now ill-advisedly serving as a lackey for Proximus, and The Witcher’s Freyda Allan plays Mae, an uneasy female echo who becomes an ally of Noa and Raga—but with an agenda of her own that is revealed later.

It’s an ape-tastic epic, action-packed and full of feels that will touch your (human) heart, tapping back into the sci-fi soul of the original Planet of the Apes in 1968. (There’s a scene with apes on horseback, snatching up men and women with nets, that will definitely give you Charlton Heston vibes.) The tech is nothing short of amazing, showing just how much SFX has evolved and progressed—to make ape characters look, move and behave like apes, instead of human actors in monkey suits and prosthetics. With fully emotive CGI faces and bodies, these apes feel like they’re on the vanguard of the next movie-effects breakthrough, the same way Avatar set a new motion-capture standard more than a decade ago.   

A couple of vertiginous “climbing” sequences, with the apes swinging like trapeze artists from mountainous peaks and scaling a sheer rock coastal cliff, will really get your blood pumping. The ape-on-ape fighting scenes have a fierce intensity that “human” actors can’t realistically match, with teeth-baring, chest-thumping, body-slamming brawls that might leave you feeling a bit bruised yourself.

In addition to allusions to politics, Roman history and power run amok, there are other touchstones. Monstrously menacing apes snarl like mini Kongs, ruling a brutish “kingdom” that resembles Col. Kurtz’s compound in Apocalypse Now.  Even little Curious George gets a wink-wink shoutout, in a children’s book found by the apes. Some of the apes-on-horseback scenes, clopping along with conversational banter, reminded me of Butch Cassidy and the Sunday Kid. The abandoned shells of human civilization—from rusted ship hulls to hollowed-out shopping malls and observatories overtaken by ivy—are stark suggestions about where humanity might end up someday, marked by decayed relics of long-forgotten science, advancement and history.

This ferociously entertaining franchise reboot (from director Wes Ball, who also directed The Maze Runner trilogy) lets us revisit a planet still evolving, a place where apes and humans still haven’t fully worked things out. Will they ever, or will one or the other always get the upper hand? In a closing scene as humans and apes both look above, gazing at the same stars in the same night sky, we’re left to wonder what they’re thinking—and wait, perhaps, for the next return to the Planet of the Apes.

Neil Pond

The Entertainment Forecast

May 3 – May 9

Hugh Grant as Tony the Tiger, Otter love, Cajun music & a Brooke Shields wedding!

All times Eastern.

FRIDAY, May 3
Unfrosted
Jerry Seinfeld stars and makes his directorial debut in this comedy swirling around the 1960s rivalry between cereal giants Post and Kellogg’s in Battle Creek, Mich., and the race to create the Pop Tart. The all-star supporting cast includes Melissa McCarthy, Jim Gaffigan, Christian Slater, Bill Burr and Hugh Grant (above)…as Tony the Tiger. Grrrrrrrreat! (Netflix).

Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World
An overworked and underpaid production assistant is assigned to film workplace safety videos in this satirical film about life in our 21st century (Mubi).

SATURDAY, May 4
Maryland
Two estranged sisters reunite to find the truth about their late mother’s sudden death and her life on Britain’s Isle of Man (9 p.m., PBS).

SUNDAY, May 5
People Magazine Investigates: Surviving a Serial Killer
New six-part series presents harrowing but inspiring stories of people who escaped the clutches of a serial killer (9 p.m., ID).

MONDAY, May 6
Next Baking Master: Paris
Ten American bakers travel to France for this eight-episode culinary competition hosted by acclaimed pastry chef Stephanie Boswell and French restauranteur Ludo Lefebvre (9 p.m., Food).

Billy & Molly: An Otter Love Story
When a wild otter in desperate need to help washes ashore the Scottish island of Shetland, a local man finds a new sense of purpose in caring for his new friend. A big hit at SXSW, the documentary (above) has been hailed for its encouragement for viewers to connect with the greater world around them. (National Geographic)

TUESDAY, May 7
Kiss the Future
Ben Affleck and Matt Damon were among the producers of this documentary, which follows the resilience of a creative community during the Bosnian war in the 1990s—and the concert that supergroup U2 gave to honor them (Paramount+).

Roots of Fire
Musicians honor the rich heritage of cultural legacy of Cajun music in this new doc (above), featuring electrifying performances by many authentic artists and bands (AppleTV+ and Amazon).

Grizzy 399: Queen of the Tetons
Documentary about the most famous bear in Grand Teton National Park, with an exceptional litter of four cubs to raise. Find out about her life with other bears, a warming climate, human encroachment in bear country—plus legislation that might remove bears from Montana’s endangered species list, making it legal for people to hunt them (8 p.m, PBS)

WEDNESDAY, May 8
Dark Matter
Joel Edgerton and Jennifer Connelly star in this new ensemble-cast sci-fi thriller about a physicist “abducted” into an alternate version of his life, where his sense of wonder quickly turns into a nightmare (Apple TV+).

THURSDAY, May 9
Love Undercover
Follow a small group of international soccer players in this new reality series as they woo women who are unaware of their fame (Peacock).

The Goat
Daniel Tosh hosts more than a dozen reality TV stars as they face off to become the “Greatest of All Time” through a series of challenges, toward a prize of $200,000 (Prime Video and Amazon Freevee).

Mother of the Bride
Brooke Shields and Miranda Cosgrove star in romcom spinoff (above) about a mom and a daughter, a wedding in Thailand, and the re-discovery of a long-ago love (Netflix).

READ ALL ABOUT IT

It’s one of the classic gangster films of all time, and now you can delve into all the details about its making, its stars, how it barely avoided an X rating, and much more in Glenn Kenny’s richly detailed The World is Yours: The Story of Scarface (Harper Collins). Includes interviews with cast and crew members, and director Brian De Palma.

Movie Review: ‘The Fall Guy’

Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt put the heart in this slam-bang salute to Hollywood’s unsung heroes

The Fall Guy
Starring Ryan Gosling & Emily Blunt
Directed by David Leitch
Rated PG-13

In theaters Friday, May 3

Stunt professionals “take it on the chin” in nearly every movie, getting punched and pummeled, tumbling out of cars, plummeting off buildings and doing everything else deemed too dangerous for the stars. They’re the “fall guys,” like Colt Severs (Ryan Gosling), who’s found a steady gig as the slam-bang stunt double for a world-famous action hero, Tom Ryder (Alex Taylor Johnson).

But Colt’s career is interrupted when a stunt for Tom goes catastrophically wrong. Months later, when he’s recovered and returned to work, he’s reunited on another film with Ryder—and finds himself in the middle of a missing-person mystery and a conspiracy to connect him to a crime he didn’t commit. Will Colt “take the fall” in more ways than one?

It’s a lively, wildly entertaining ride into behind-the-scenes Hollywood, full of surprises, twists and turns, super-sized action, wink-wink comedy, hissable villains and standup good guys, and an eye-popping, ever-escalating cascade of sheer cinematic chutzpah. And there’s a soft, cuddly heart in the middle of all the explosions, car crashes and fisticuffs as Colt rekindles his old flame with a camera operator turned director (Emily Blunt) struggling to finish her first movie—a sprawling post-apocalyptic sci-fi epic—on location in Australia.

The many meta references to other movies and the film’s detailed immersion into the realm of professional stunt work comes from director David Leitch, himself a stunt performer before moving behind the camera for action-packed movies like John Wick, Atomic Blonde, Deadpool 2, Bullet Train and the Fast & Furious spinoff Hobbs & Shaw. Stay for the credits and you’ll get a look at the stunt pros who stepped in for popcorn-jostling scenes in which Reynold’s character dangles from a helicopter, gets set on fire (repeatedly), is thrown through a windshield and pilots a speedboat with his hands literally tied behind his back. (It’s a handy skill that Colt, we find out, learned to do in his first stunt job, for TV’s Miami Vice.

There are also knowing nods to the new, modern era of movie AI deepfake effects—at the roots of Hollywood’s recent acting strike—as well as prop guns (Alec Baldwin, anyone?) and the TV show on which the movie’s loosely based, the early ‘80s series starring Lee Majors as a stuntman who moonlights as a bounty hunter. (Again, stay for the credits—where you’ll also hear the theme song to the TV series, performed anew by country star Blake Shelton, and see a couple of surprise appearances.) The name of another recognizable actor pops up on a random Post-It note before the star himself later pops up on screen. Or is he a deepfake?

Ted Lasso’s Hannah Waddingham plays a pitbullish producer, Ben Knight is a bruising bad guy, and The Black Panther’s Winston Duke is one of Cole’s stunt colleagues. You’ll see the heavily tattooed Aussie actor Matuse Paz (he’s in the nightclub scene) again in Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga.

Gosling and Blunt make a wonderfully matched movie couple, firing up some feisty, old-school Hollywood romcom chemistry and cheeky quippery. The music is on point too, from the recurring theme (Yungblud’s cover of KISS’s “I Was Made for Lovin’ You”) to a karaoke version of Phil Collin’s “Against All Odds,” delightfully used as a backdrop for a bruising brawl in the back of a garbage truck careening crazily out of control. You’ll love how Taylor Swift’s “All Too Well” brings Colt to tears.

As things zip and zing along, you’ll see how unicorns, prosthetic alien hands, space cowboys and a dead body in a bathtub all fit into things. I love the attack dog that only takes commands in French, and there’s more than one reference to another Tom, a real-life action superstar who—like Tom Ryder—likes to boast about how he does so many of his own stunts.          

It’s an adroitly clever and finely crafted cinematic ode to the rough-and-tumble world of the “unsung heroes” who make action look so easy—and get consistently overlooked by the Oscars, as Colt dryly notes.   

If you’re looking for a gonzo good time, crackling with star charisma, spinning around a sweetly romantic core and driven by a genuine love for what makes movies tick, buckle up for The Fall Guy. And hold onto your popcorn!

—Neil Pond

The Entertainment Forecast

April 26 – May 2

Beyonce shakes up country music, the Bon Jovi story & how Walt Disney built an American empire

All times Eastern.

FRIDAY, April 26
Call Me Country: Beyonce and Nashville’s Renaissance
New doc (above) about the first Black woman to ever top Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart, and how her trailblazing success became the latest explosion in America’s culture wars (Max).

Broken Horses
Documentary follows New York Times reporters as they examine the systemic issues, questionable practices and urgent calls for change that have come to light in the sport of horse racing (10 p.m., FX).

Art Happens Here
Author, actor and former Monty Python funnyman John Lithgow joins students and teachers at four different California locations to discuss his passion for arts education (10 p.m., PBS).

Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story
Four-part, all-access docuseries chronicles four decades of the iconic working-class New Jersey-based rock band that gave the world hits including “You Give Love a Bad Name,” “Livin’ on a Prayer” and “Wanted Dead or Alive” (Hulu).

SATURDAY, April 27
My Husband Hired a Hitman
When a greedy husband seeks an assassin to get rid of his wife and get her money, she will stop at nothing to fight back and seek revenge. And you thought your relationship was a bit rocky! (Tubi).

SUNDAY, April 28
How It Really Happened
Host Jesse L. Martin investigates the most famous shipwreck of all time—the 1912 sinking of the Titanic—and how a more recent underwater voyage to its ruins turned into another tragedy (9 p.m., CNN).

How Disney Built America
Explore the history of Walt Disney, his groundbreaking movies and his iconic theme-park empire in this six-part docuseries (10 p.m., History).

MONDAY, April 29
Honeymoonish
Romantic comedy from Kuwait about a series of comical misunderstandings, surprises, mistaken identities and second chances as a couple embarks on their honeymoon (Netflix).

TUESDAY, April 30
The Veil
Elizabeth Moss stars in this new twisty international drama about a woman with a secret, and another on a mission to reveal it before thousands of lives are lost (Hulu).

The Green Veil
In this new drama/thriller/sci fi series (above) set in the 1950s, John Leguizamo stars as an immigrant pursuing the American dream, and Aram Rappaport plays a government agent tasked with unraveling a secret mission. Find out how their lives intersect (streaming on The Network).

WEDNESDAY, May 1
Dance Moms: The Reunion
Original “Moms” come together (below) to look back on the show that created a worldwide pop culture buzz 2011-2019 (8 p.m., Lifetime).

Behind the Music
New installments of the musical documentary series put the spotlight on country singer Trace Adkins, Eddie Van Halen’s son, Wolfgang, and Bell Biv DeVoe, an original member of New Edition who later went on to even more solo stardom (Paramount+).

Shardlake
Tudor murder mystery (below) set in 16th century English monastery stars Sean Bean, Arthur Hughes and Anthony Boyle. What are those monks hiding? (Hulu)

THURSDAY, May 2
The Tattooist of Auschwitz
Harvey Keitel stars in this new drama series as a Holocaust survivor who was made to ink identification numbers onto fellow prisoners’ arms. Decades later, he faces his dark past when he shares his story with the world. And there’s a song by Barbra Streisand! (Peacock).

The Contestant
Find out the true story of a Japanese reality TV contestant left naked in a room for more than a year, tasked with filling out magazine coupons to win his food, clothing and other amenities—eventually finding television fame and winning one million yen  (Hulu).

Chivalry
Steve Coogan and Sarah Solemari star in this workplace comedy (below) set in Hollywood, as an acclaimed female director steps in to save a wayward production helmed by a seasoned male producer (The Network).

BRING IT HOME

The latest Marvel adventure Madame Web is the origin story of a New York paramedic (Dakota Johnson) who may have clairvoyant abilities, joining forces with three young women destined for powerful futures. With Sydney Sweeney, Mike Epps and Emma Roberts (Sony Home Entertainment).

Geography class might teach you there’s more, but for movie fans, there are three Oceans—Oceans Eleven, Oceans Twelve and Oceans Thirteen. Now you can own all three in Oceans Trilogy collection (Warner Bros. Home Entertainment), with all the stars (George Clooney! Brad Pitt! Matt Damon! Andy Garcia! Elliot Gould! Julia Roberts!) and a heist-worthy load of bonus features.

The Entertainment Forecast

April 19 – April 25

A new ‘Spiderwick,’ Sly & Arnold face off & a docuseries about a couple of dope brothers

All sorts of creative people get the spotlight in ‘The Express Way with Dule Hill’ on PBS.

All times Eastern.

FRIDAY, April 19
The Spiderwick Chronicles
Christian Slater, Joy Bryant and Jack Dylan Grazer star in this fantasy flick (above) about two teen boys and their sister who discover that magic (and magical creatures) are real when they move with their mom into their ancestral home. Based on a popular sci-fi series of YA books, it was previously made in to a theatrical movie in 2008 with Freddie Highmore, Seth Rogen and Martin Short (Roku).

The Never Ever Meets
New relationship series takes online dating into the real world by “introducing” couples who’ve been “seeing each other” virtually, but never met in person, putting them in a house together for three weeks. Can their love survive?  (8 p.m., Own).

SATURDAY, April 20
High Hopes
All the stoners will dig the “4.20” premiere date of this new reality series (above) about a pair of Belarus-born brothers with “high hopes” of taking their California cannabis business to the next level (Hulu).

Predator v Prey
It’s like a very high-tech version of the old Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom, with a forensic look at the world’s most formidable apex predators (below), including lions, cheetahs and crocodiles and what makes them so good at what they do (8 p.m., BBC America).

SUNDAY, April 21
Secrets of the Octopus
Actor Paul Rudd narrates this new installment of the Emmy-winning “Secrets Of…” franchise, about one of the most unique creatures on the planet—the octopus, with three hearts, blue blood and the ability to squeeze through spaces the size of their eyeball (NatGeo, streaming tomorrow on Hulu and Disney+).

The Jinx—Part II
Documentary series continues the convoluted tale of the late real estate heir and convicted murderer Robert Durst, who became a suspect after the disappearance of his first wife, the murder of his longtime friend and the killing of his neighbor (10 p.m., HBO).

MONDAY, April 22
Poisoned Ground: The Tragedy of Love Canal
The true story of one of the nation’s most notorious environmental disasters and the women who fought the chemical industry and the government…and won! (9 p.m., PBS).

The Proof is Out There: Military Mysteries
Two combat veterans delve into weird and unexplainable things happening from World War I into present day (10 p.m., History).

Independent Lens:  One with the Whale
Find out why hunting whales is a matter of life or death for residents of a coastal Alaska community through the experience of a teen who becomes the youngest in his village to harpoon a whale, only for his family to face a barrage of online critics who fail to understand the importance of the hunt to the community (PBS You Tube channel).

TUESDAY, April 23
TMZ Presents Arnold & Sly
Hollywood’s two icon muscle men—Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone—sit down together for a first-time TV discussion of their once-fierce rivalry that turned into an equally fierce friendship (8 p.m., Fox).

The Express Way with Dulè Hill
The actor from TV’s rebooted The Wonder Years and Psyche embarks on a cross-country road trip in this new four-part series, exploring local visionaries, activists, changemakers and pioneers who are using their creative talents to bring change to their communities (9 p.m., PBS).

WEDNESDAY, April 24
A Brief History of the Future
Is the future bleak, or bright? This documentary, which weaves together history, science and other factors from an array of thinkers, developers and storytellers, leans toward the latter (9 p.m., PBS).

THURSDAY, April 25
My Mane Problem
Celebrity stylist Dr. Boogie gives advice to people on very personal “hair journeys” by examining their scalps and addressing what’s going on inside their heads. And who wouldn’t want to take advice from an expert named Dr. Boogie? (ALLBLK).

READ ALL ABOUT IT

Now available in paperback, Greg Melville’s engrossing Over My Dead Body (Abrams) is a fascinating dive into cemeteries, our traditions of commemorating and memorializing death, and how “final resting places” have shaped the work of poets, architecture and pop culture.

If you’re “of the age” to remember songwriter Jerry Jeff Walker’s “Mr. Bojangles,” you’ll enjoy Mr. Bojangles Dance (McFarland). Author Ryan B. Case traces the life of the song through the overlapping trajectories of the “down and out” man in a New Orleans jail cell who inspired it, former President Richard M. Nixon—who was moved to tears by it—and Sammy Davis Jr., who turned it into a pop hit. It’s a wide-ranging ride through the turbulent Sixties and Seventies, all sung to the tune of “Mr. Bojangles.”

BRING IT HOME

Jason Statham stars in the action-packed The Beekeeper (Warner Bros. Home Entertainment), about a man—yes, a beekeeper—whose violent past as part of a clandestine organization past puts him on a brutal path of vengeance. Watch out for his stinger! With Josh Hutcherson, Jeremy Irons, Phylicia Rashad and Minnie Driver.

The new remastered 4K re-release of director Martin Scorsese’s classic double-cross gangster tale The Departed (Warner Bros. Home Entertainment) comes loaded with extras, including deleted scenes, a making-of doc and the true story on which it’s based. The all-star cast includes Jack Nicholson, Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon and Mark Wahlberg.

Movie Review: “Abigail”

Slip on a tutu and sink your fangs into this feisty, freaky new vampire tale

Abigail
Starring Alisha Weir, Kathryn Newton, Melissa Barrera & Dan Stevens
Directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin & Tyler Gillet
Rated R

In theaters Friday, April 19

What’s scarier than a vampire? A kid vampire! In this ferociously entertaining fright flick, kidnappers get a big surprise after they nab the daughter of a bigshot millionaire, only to find themselves trapped in a spooky old house with a shrieking, bloodsucking monster tot who’s in no mood to play nice.

Young Alisha Weir, who starred in Netflix’s Matilda the Musical, is Abigail, a preteen ballerina (the code name for the abduction is “Tiny Dancer”) who loves doing the sauté to Swan Lake almost as much as slicing into a juicy jugular vein. The crew of kidnappers (Dan Stevens, Kathryn Newton, Will Catlett, Melissa Barrea, Angus Cloud and Kevin Durand) have all signed on for the snatch job, hoping to split a hefty ransom of $50 million. But Abigail has other plans.

The small ensemble cast is game, in more ways than one, as they find themselves on the defensive—and on the menu. “I like to play with my food,” Abigail admits. Blood gushes, bodies burst like viscera-filled balloons, and heads roll once she bares her mouthful of pointy teeth. It’s no coincidence that an Agatha Christie classic, “And Then There Were None,” is tucked away on the bookshelf.

And it turns out little vampires can have daddy issues, too.

Pint-sized terror is nothing new in Hollywood, from Children of the Corn, The Exorcist and The Omen to The Ring and Village of the Damned. And Dracula and Nosferatu may be the OGs of bloodsuckers, but could they twinkle-toe in a blood-smeared tutu along a balcony railing, doing a dainty pirouette before pouncing? Now there’s fresh blood, a new kid in town. And it feels she’s ready to sink her fangs into a feisty, freaky new horror franchise.

—Neil Pond

MOVIE REVIEW: ‘The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare’

Henry Cavill leads a bunch of rogue-rascal Brits on a super-secret WWII mission

The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare
Starring Henry Cavill, Alan Richson, Babs Olusanmokun & Eiza Gonzáles
Directed by Guy Richie
Rated R

In theaters Friday, April 19

A group of rip-roaring rapscallions plots to wipe out a nest of nasty Nazis in this World War II action romp inspired by a true story. Director Guy Richie’s latest baddie-laddie ensemble flick is based on a 1942 covert mission by British operatives to sabotage the supply chain for German submarines making the Atlantic so treacherous for Allied Forces.

That’s just a bunch of blah-blah, though, in this movie mainly about hot bods and bang-bang. Germans are dispatched by the dozen with just about every weapon imaginable—guns, grenades, shivs, an axe and a bow and arrows. There are bombs on boats, bombs in bunkers, bombs on beaches.

Alan Richson also stars in TV’s ‘Reacher.’

And bombshells all over the screen. Hunky Henry Cavill (known for his recurring roles as Superman) and equally hunky (if not even hunkier) Alan Richson (who stars as the title character in the Prime action series Reacher) look like they just came from a Britbox special on history’s hottest stealth fighters. Eiza Gonzáles (below), the only female in the cast, plays another real-life character (model-turned-Hollywood actress Margie Stewart) whose actual role in the real mission is historically vague—although she sure vamps it up here as a sexy spy, at one point dressed as a bare-midriff Cleopatra, seducing a smitten SS officer (Til Schweiger) and sashaying onstage through “Mack the Knife” for a group of cheering, leering Nazis. (For some reason, it made me think of Madeline Kahn cavorting for a saloon full of cowboys in the saloon as Lili Von Schtupp in Mel Brooks’ Blazing Saddles.)

The movie’s mission is a high-stakes hail Mary pass by Great Britain, desperate to keep Hitler’s forces from marching ashore after stomping across Europe. Although Winston Churchill himself (Rory Kinnear plays the famous Prime Minister) has sanctioned them, these brazen Brits know they’ll be arrested for war crimes if they’re snared by the British navy—and certainly executed if captured by the Nazis. Churchill gives the go-ahead for the group to do whatever it takes to succeed, even if it means breaking the rules and stooping below wartime “conventions.” It’s a job for ungentlemanly gentlemen and their dirty tricks.  

And as a kind of pseudo-historical bonus, the movie offers a thru-line to the world’s most famous superspy. James Bond’s creator, Ian Fleming, was a British intelligence officer in WWII, and his fictional, suave 007 was inspired by the character Cavill plays in the film—the quippy, dashingly handsome, caddish commando Gus March-Phillips, who was the real-life husband of actress, model (and maybe special agent) Margie Stewart. In the film, Fleming is also around, without much to do but observe, and played by British actor Freddie Fox.

The appearance of Bond’s creator in a movie also featuring an actor rumored to be under consideration to play the next movie Bond (Cavill)….portraying the real-world inspiration for James Bond….makes everything feel a bit like a mobius strip with historical facts on one side and pop fiction on the other.

There’s a lot of adrenaline-stoked action, retorts of snappy British banter and spasms of highly choreographed violence—all hallmarks of director Guy Richie’s other projects like his Gentleman franchise, Snatch and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. But there’s also the sense that The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare is siphoning off mojo from a couple of other WWII-adjacent films, including The Dirty Dozen from the 1960s and Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds.

The plot is a bombs-away jumble and gets particularly chaotic toward the end. Much of the mostly British ensemble cast—Henry Golding, Cary Elwes, Alex Pettyfer—gets lost in the crossfire…and the undercover “darkness” of night, which envelopes almost the entire second half of the film. But at least most of the “name” actors fare far better than almost all the cardboard-villain Nazis. The fearsome SS is a bunch of easily dispatched doofuses only there to be mowed down by this cheeky crew of hunky Brits in a sailboat.

“They’ll thank you for this one day,” someone remarks to March-Phillips. And indeed they did, as the real characters were ultimately recognized for their bravery and their under-the-radar dirty deeds. But as a movie, I don’t predict a lot of accolades for this lad-fest blowout, a distinctly Guy Richie concoction of glib violence, gabby retorts and implausibly smooth subterfuge, with studly, scruffy scallywags and a foxy, pistol-packing siren—plus a pop-cultural nod to another dapper “gentleman” who’d come along a couple of decades later with his own license to kill.

Neil Pond

The Entertainment Forecast

April 12 – April 18

Michael Douglas flies a kite, a new Dora explores, Billy Joel marks a milestone and Conan O’Brien’s gotta go

All times Eastern.

FRIDAY, April 12
Franklin
Michael Douglas stars as the founding father (above) who famously flew a kite in a thunderstorm, signed the Constitution and became America’s first postmaster general, among many other achievements, in this new limited series about the guy on our $100 bill (Apple+). 

Dora
You probably know her as Dora the Explorer, but now she’s just plain Dora in this new 26-episode animated series about the bilingual adventurer and her monkey friend, Boots (Paramount+).

The Greatest Hits
The transportative power of music is the theme to this fantasy flick in which a young woman (Lucy Boynton) discovers that songs can allow her to time-travel back to a former romantic relationship (Hulu).

SUNDAY, April 14
The 100th: Billy Joel at Madison Square Garden—The Greatest Arena Run of All Time”
The title says it all: The “Piano Man” makes his record-breaking 100th consecutive performance at New York City’s iconic venue, part of his record-breaking string of sold-out appearances there (9 p.m., CBS).

The Sympathizer
Hoa Xuande, Sandra Oh and Robert Downey Jr. (who plays multiple roles) star in this limited series about a half-French, half-Vietnamese communist spy during the final days of the Vietnam war, and his new life as a refugee in Los Angeles—where he learns that his dangerous spying days are not over (9 p.m., HBO).

MONDAY, April 15
Music Mayhem
New original series cuts through the stardust to get to the bitter feuds, tragic endings, weird collaborations, musical romances and more dishy side trips into the land of rock and roll, with spotlights on the Beatles, David Bowie, Ozzy Osborne, the Rolling Stones and many other performers (8 p.m., AXS).

TUESDAY, April 16
Control + Alt Desire
Docuseries follows the year-long investigation of shocking killings that rocked a quiet Florida town, and a 29-year-old man accused of murdering his family execution-style for the love of a cam girl (Paramount+).

WEDNESDAY, April 17
Under the Bridge
New series based on true-crime tale about the abduction about a 14-year-old girl who went to join friends at a party and never came home. Starring Riley Keough, Lily Gladstone and Vritka Gupta (Hulu).

THURSDAY, April 18
Conan O’Brien Must Go
The Emmy-winning former late-night talk show host spent several years sitting behind a desk. Now he’s up and moving around as the host of this new travel series (above), in which he treks the world to connect with listeners to his popular podcast (Max).

Orlando Bloom: To the Edge
Three-part limited adventure series follows the actor on his journey of self-discovery as he pushes his limits physically and mentally through fear-defying extreme sports, including wingsuiting, free diving and rock climbing (Peacock).

READ ALL ABOUT IT

In Music and Mind (Viking), renowned opera superstar Renee Fleming curates a collection of essays by other famous music makers and thinkers (Ann Patchett, Yo-Yo Ma, Ben Folds) to present a thorough—and thoroughly entertaining—treatise on the power of music manifest in ways both mental and physical. Bravo!


Star Trek’s George Takei’s My Lost Freedom (Random House) brings his childhood story—of incarceration with his family, along with thousands of other U.S. citizens of Japanese ancestry, in California internment camps during World War II—to vivid life for young readers. It’s a pointed, timely reminder of hysteria masquerading as “national security,” and the fragility of democracy in our “land of the free.”

Life During Wartime

Kirsten Dunst plays a photojournalist in a battlezone that hits uncomfortably close to home

Kirsten Dunst & Cailee Spaeny in ‘Civil War.’

Civil War
Starring Kirsten Dunst, Cailee Spaeny, Wagner Moura & Stephen Henderson
Directed by Alex Garland
Rated R

In theaters Friday, April 12, 2024

As a team of journalists traverses a country that’s become a deadly battlefield, what they witness looks all too familiar to things we’ve seen on the evening news. But this war is different: It’s here, and it’s now—or it could be.

Set in an unspecified future that looks very much like today, Civil War follows a war-weary photographer (Kirsten Dunst), her adrenaline-junkie colleague (Wagner Moura), a young newshound wannabe (Cailee Spaney) and an older rival reporter (Stephen Henderson) on a perilous trek to the nation’s capital, where they hope to interview the besieged U.S president (Nick Offerman) before D.C. and the government fall to insurrectionist forces.

Nick Offerman is the besieged U.S. President.

Civil War never defines or specifies the fractious divide that led to American-vs.-American infighting, but instead plunks us—and the characters—smack-dab down in the messy midst of it. There’s talk of successionist states, treason, an Antifa massacre and the disbandment of government agencies, but no direct reference to politics, parties or people. The movie suggests that, when war breaks out, ideology gets boiled down to brutal basics—an endless, senseless loop of kill or be killed, shooting because someone else is shooting at you.

Which side are you on, and what kind of American are you? It’s a loaded question, and how you answer it might cost you dearly.

It’s intentionally unnerving, unpleasant and terrifying as the journalists make their way toward Washington. Along the path of destruction, they see a crumbling civilization well on its way to collapse. A fuel stop off the interstate reveals a gruesome gas-station Gitmo; enemy hostages are hooded and executed by firing squad; highways are littered with abandoned vehicles and bodies; bombed-out buildings smoulder.

American currency is practically worthless, like “Confederate” dollars after the War Between the States—the original Civil War—ended in the 1860s. Civilians are armed with assault rifles, and Jesse Plemons adds another character to his growing catalogue of creep-out roles. And young Cailee Spaeney crawls out from a pit of corpses, which is even ickier than what she had to do as Elvis’ child bride in Priscilla.

It’s about war, yes, but it’s really about seeing war, watching it through the photos and videos of reporters in the line of fire, who risk their lives to reveal it—in the Ukraine, in Iraq, in the Persian Gulf, in Vietnam. It’s about journalism, the free press, and the media. Maybe you’ve heard that confidence in media has plummeted to an all-time low. That’s not good, but at least it’s not to the point where, as in the movie, we hear about journalists being shot on sight—at least not yet. That would give a whole new meaning to “deadline.”  

The movie asks how much death and destruction can you watch, through a camera lens or faraway, on a screen, before you become numb, burned out or even perversely pumped about what you’re seeing—images of suffering, barbarity and inhumanity. And what happens when those hard-hitting images—from those far-away places—hit a lot closer to home?

Director Alex Garland has made unsettling, thought-provoking movies before—Ex Machina, Annihilation, Men. But Civil War is in a league of its own. It’s an expertly crafted homeland horror show, an in-our-face wake-up call for a nation that seems to be on the precipice of a similarly polarized abyss, with no bridges left to cross.

Think it couldn’t happen here? Think it couldn’t happen a second time? Civil War pointedly asks us to think again.

—Neil Pond