Author Archives: Neil Pond

Aug 09 2024
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DVDs, Movies, Pop Culture, Television

The Entertainment Forecast

Aug. 9 – Aug. 15

Matt & Casey on the lam, ‘Game of Thrones’ meets ‘Industy’ and the rise and fall of a TV psychic

All times Eastern.

FRIDAY, Aug. 9
The Instigators
Matt Damon and Casey Affleck star in this heist comedy (above) as thieves on the run…with their therapist in tow (Apple TV+).

Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Who’s your favorite crime-fighting hard-shelled reptile? Leonardo? Donatello? Raphael? They’re all here in this new animated series, which features a guest voice by Pete Davidson as a lazy rich kid who loves the Turtles so much, he’ll do anything to become one (Paramount+).

The Braxtons
New reality series begins tonight with more exploits of the ladies from Braxton Family Values as they embark on an emotional rollercoaster of love, loss, triumph and healing after the death of a beloved sister (9:30 p.m., We TV).

SATURDAY, Aug. 10
Miss Cleo: Her Rise and Fall
Biopic about the Los Angeles woman who stumbled into a career as TV psychic and later expressed her regret about charging people for “spiritual guidance” by the minute—before dying of colon cancer (8 p.m., Lifetime).

SUNDAY, Aug. 11
Industry
Game of Thrones star Kit Harington joins the cast for season three of the acclaimed drama about high finance in a London pressure cooker of sex and drugs. (HBO).

Gangland Chronicles
Delve into some of the world’s most notorious criminal organizations in this new series about money-making rackets, deadly turf wars, monstrous mobsters, crafty informants and federal shakedowns. From the mafia to motorcycle clubs and prison subcultures, the gangs’ all here! (10 p.m., History)

Hollywood Black
Four-part documentary series explores a century of Black experience in Hollywood with personal stories from actors, writers, directors and producers who recall fighting for their places on the screen and behind the scenes (MGM+)

MONDAY, Aug. 12
Celebrity Antiques Road Trip
Euro celebs hop in classic cars and head off across Great Britain scouting for finds to sell in an auction competition (PBS Living on Prime Video).

Houses of Horror: Secrets of College Greek Life
New investigative series explores the cult-like secrecy, power and control of the Greek system and its lifelong impact on young men and women who participate (9 p.m., A&E).

TUESDAY, Aug. 13
Wiggin’ Out with Tokho Stylez
Come along as the famed hairdresser to the stars creates custom wigs for high-profile celeb clients including Cardi B, Trina Braxton and Ari Fletcher (ALLBLK

WEDNESDAY, Aug. 14
Bad Monkey
Vince Vaughn stars in this ten-episode comedy series as a former cop who makes a grisly discovery that puts him back in the law-and-order game—if he can get past a host of Sunshine State oddballs and one bad monkey (Apple TV+).

Daughters
Poignant documentary follows a group of young girls (above) as they prepare for a momentous daddy-daughter dance with their incarcerated fathers (Netflix).

The Tyrant
Scientists in South Korea work to develop a virus that will put their country on a level playing field with the world’s most powerful nations in this new drama mini-series with an all-Korean cast (Hulu).

Rhythm Masters: A Mickey Hart Experience
The Grateful Dead drummer explores the universal rhythm found in music, sports and life itself (9 p.m., ESPN).

THURSDAY, Aug. 15
Bel Air
Season three begins of the Fresh Prince spinoff starring Jabari Banks as a young Will Smith adjusting to life among Hollywood’s upper crust after arriving from the mean streets of Philly (Peacock).

CMT Giants: Alabama
The supergroup is honored in this musical special by Blake Shelton, Steve Wariner, Brad Paisley, Jason Aldean, Old Dominion, Martina McBride, Vince Gill and others (8 p.m., CMT).

NOW HEAR THIS

Get down and dirty in the Rio Grande mud with ZZ Top From the Top: 1971-1976 (Rhino), the splendid new box set of high-end vinyl re-releases of five seminal LPs by the three-piece “little ol’ band from Texas”—ZZ Top’s First Album, Rio Grande Mud, Tres Hombres, Fandango and Tejas. Only 2,000 copies were made of this deluxe collection, so if you’re a fan(dango!), order yours today at Rhino.com. 

BRING IT HOME

The Bikeriders—based on a real-life Midwestern motorcycle club in the 1970s—roars on to Blu-ray with bonus features that includes interviews with the cast (Jodie Comer, Austin Butler and Tom Hardy) and an inside look at the making of the movie. Vrooom! (Read a full film review of Bikeriders here: https://neilsentertainmentpicks.com/2024/06/19/movie-review-the-bikeriders/)

Director George Miller continues his epic of road rage in the post-apocalyptic prequel Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (Warner Bros. Home Entertainment), starring Anya Taylor-Joy as the young woman who would grow up to become the one-armed badass played by Charlize Theron in the previous film, Mad Max: Fury Road.  Come for the wild ride, stay for the extras, especially on the 4K version.

Aug 07 2024
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Movie Reviews

Movie Review: ‘Sing Sing’

Colman Domingo leads a cast of former inmates in this inspiring drama about the power of the arts

Sing Sing
Starring Colman Domingo and Paul Raci
Directed by Greg Kwedar
Rated R

In theaters Friday, Aug. 9

Prison inmates find an emotional outlet on stage in this moving drama based on a real incarceration program, Rehabilitation Through the Arts, that began at New York’s Sing Sing Correctional Institute in the 1990s. Colman Domingo, nominated for an Oscar for Rustin and so damned good at playing bad in The Color Purple, stars as Divine G, one of the leaders of the troupe, spurring on his fellow inmates as they mount their latest production behind bars.

Domingo may indeed be looking at another Oscar nod for his galvanizing performance here as a wrongly imprisoned man hopeful about his upcoming parole hearing. A poignant image in the film is a dialogue-free shot of “G” putting his hand outside the bars of a window, gently turning his palm in the gentle breeze. You can feel his longing to be in that outside air—so close he can touch it, but still impossibly out of reach.

In a brilliant creative twist, the film uses actual former inmates involved in the RTA program for most of its supporting cast, grounding everything to an almost palatable sense of reality as we hear them express their hopes, regrets, and memories of sons and daughters and wives and lives before ending up in Sing Sing. It “humanizes” these incarcerated characters, while never excusing the misdeeds that may have put them behind bars. Sing Sing was filmed at a decommissioned (and un-airconditioned) penal facility in New York State, adding to the stifling, almost suffocating feel of being locked up.

It’s like Shawshank Redemption meets Shakespeare. But the inmates here are trying to escape not by tunneling into a sewage pipe, but by channeling the Bard. Theater is their release, their mechanism to cope with the harsh realities of incarceration, their flickering flame of pretending to be someone else, doing something else, somewhere else.   

Paul Raci plays the “outside” director helping with the program, and Colman’s real-life long-time theatrical collaborator Sean San José plays Mike-Mike, G’s cellmate neighbor and close friend. The movie gets some extra dramatic traction when one of the prison’s tough yardbirds, Divine Eye, joins the group, with a toothy grin—and a shiv tucked into his waistband. He’s played by Clarence Maclin, making his movie debut and drawing on his own experience as a Sing Sing inmate.

The troupe’s production-in-progress is an anything-goes comedy built around Hamlet, reshaped into a time-traveling, to-be-or-not-to-be spoof incorporating Roman gladiators, Old West Cowboys and Freddie Krueger from Nightmare on Elm Street. The wide spectrum allows everyone to have an acting part, and a say in the story, as the film reinforces the idea that every man—every person—has worth, and feelings, and deserves a place in the world, even in prison. 

The whole film is a big booster shot for the arts, in general, and how the RTA program—in the movie and the real world—provides inmates with life skills, emotional release and essential coping mechanisms. Research has shown that prisoners involved in the program have much higher chances of “getting straight” and being successful once back in the free world.

Another shot in the film shows a coil of razor wire at the prison perimeter, with a small bird perched temporarily inside. Unlike the prisoners, the bird can take wing away anytime. The inmates have given up the unrealistic hope of busting out or flying away. But their theater program lets them feel like they’re out, if only for a little while.

Sing Sing is an inspiring reminder of the rejuvenating powers of creativity and how a growing number of incarcerated men find balm for their troubled souls by pouring them out on the stage.

—Neil Pond

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Aug 02 2024
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The Entertainment Forecast

Aug. 2 – Aug. 8

Liz’s lost tapes, some ‘tricky’ dudes, & Anthony Hopkins rescues kids from Nazis

All times Eastern.

Interviews with the late actress Elizabeth Taylor are used to “narrate” a new doc.

FRIDAY, Aug. 2
Rebel Moon—Chapter Two: Chalice of Blood
Sofia Boutella, Djimon Hounson and Charlie Hunnam star in this latest installment of director Zack Synder’s epic sci-fi saga, which finds a peaceful settlement on a distant moon threatened by space tyrants (Netflix).

Cowboy Cartel
Four-part series explores the true story of a rookie FBI agent, Scott Lawson, who took down leaders of one of the most powerful crime cartels in Mexico in a horse-racing money laundering scheme (Apple TV+).

SATURDAY, Aug. 3
Elizabeth Taylor: The Lost Tapes
Some 40 hours of newly unearthed audio interviews from the box office beauty of 1950s and ‘60s fame are used to “narrate” this intimate portrait of the actress whose memorable films include Giant, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Cleopatra (which brought her an Oscar) and a number of films with her one-time husband Richard Burton, including Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolfe and The Taming of the Shrew (HBO).

Dude Perfect
How did a bunch of guys (above) from a little town in Texas become a sport-comedy trick-shot phenomenon? This doc will show you! (9:30 p.m., ESPN).

SUNDAY, Aug. 4
Miss USA
Have we really been crowning young women with this title since 1952? You know, the “beauty pageant” that found itself mired in turmoil after one of the winners stepped down, citing its “toxic” environment? The one that Donald Trump used to “own,” boasting about wandering around backstage and ogling teens in various states of undress? Yep, and tonight someone else will get it—the crown, that is (8 p.m., The CW).

MONDAY, Aug. 5
Judy Justice
Did you ever wonder how court cases end up in front of Judge Judy? Well, injured parties apply online at judyjustice.com for the chance to have their “grievances” decided in a TV courtroom. So if your buddy stiffs you paying for the lawnmower you sold him, you can take it to the judge! And now you know. (Amazon Freevee and Prime Video).

One Life
Anthony Hopkins and Lena Olin star in this dramatized true story of a young London broker who, in the months leading up to World War II, rescued over 600 children from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia (Paramount+).

TUESDAY, Aug. 6
PD True
Meet the real cops who worked some of the biggest crimes in modern times, including serial killings, mass murders and bank-robbery shootouts (Paramount+),

WEDNESDAY, Aug. 7
Dance Moms: A New Era
If you were a fan of the original show, about busybody mothers who guided their little girls onto the stage for competitive dancing like li’l show ponies in leotards, you’ll likely enjoy this one with new coaches, new dancers and new mama drama (Hulu).

See No Evil
True-crime series shows how some deadly crimes are solved by the only witnesses that never lie—surveillance cameras (9 p.m., ID).

THURSDAY, Aug. 8
One Fast Move
A down-on-his-luck young man seeks out his estranged father to help him pursue his dream of becoming a pro motorcycle racer. With K.J. Apa, Eric James and Edward James Olmos (Prime Video).

The Mallorca Files
Ambitious female detective (Elen Rhys) and her laid-back German partner (Julian Looman) find a new season of arson, kidnappings, murders and more on the sun-drenched Spanish island (Prime).

BRING IT HOME

Two awesome time-traveling dudes get the full box-set treatment in Bill &. Ted’s Most Triumphant Journey (Shout! Studio), a new 4K collection featuring the original Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989) and its two movie follow-ups, all starring Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter. Special features include commentary, behind-the-scenes docs and other goodies. Excellent!

The hit comedy Babes (Neon Home Entertainment) comes to DVD with 30 minutes of bonus materials to round out the raucous comedy about a female friendship testing its bounds when one of them decides to get pregnant and have a baby. Starring Ilana Glazer and Michelle Buetea. It’ll warm your raunchy heart.

Jul 26 2024
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DVDs, Movies, Pop Culture, Television

The Entertainment Forecast

July 26 – Aug. 1

A Bugs Bunny celebration, Michael Keaton fights dementia & Batman’s back…again!

FRIDAY, JULY 26
Antiques Roadshow Recut
Season three features themed half-hour highlight episodes of standout moments of the popular every-object-has-a-story series (10 p.m., PBS).

Knox Goes Away
Michael Keaton directs and stars in this film as a hit man with dementia (below), racing to save his son from a vengeance-fueled mistake before his mind deteriorates (Max).

SATURDAY, JULY 27
Family Movie Marathon
Sit back with the fam and get ready to laugh all through the p.m. hours with this mega movie marathon featuring Paul Blart: Mall Cop, The Addams Family and two Despicable Me’s (begins 12 noon, TBS).

Hare’s to Bugs! A Bugs Bunny Marathon
Celebrate the 84th birthday of cartoondom’s most famous wascally wabbit with an all-day slate of Bugs’ greatest ‘toon hits, plus commentary from voice actors, animation historians and more (begins 10 a.m., MeTV Toons). 

SUNDAY, JULY 28
Hotel Portofino
Bella (Natasha McElhone) prepares for the arrival of her brother (Lucian Ainsworth) and sister (Constance March) but is thrown off when Cecil (Mark Umbers) shows up requesting a divorce. Season three of the made-in-Croatia period drama, set during the era of the crash of Wall Street in the 1920s, begins tonight (PBS, Masterpiece and Prime Video).

Hustlers Take All
When an underground casino run by women recruits a brilliant young business grad, their biggest rival hatches a murderous plot to stay on top. Carole Davis—you might have seen her in small roles on Hacks, Madam Secretary or Two Broke Girls—stars as Talia (Tubi).  

MONDAY, JULY 29
Futurama
Season 12 begins tonight of the far-out animated sci-fi comedy series, created by The Simpson’s Matt Groening (Hulu).

Signora Volpe
More adventures of the British spy (Emilia Fox, below) with a new quiet life in the Italian countryside…until murder and blackmail pull her back into the world of crime (BBC America).

TUESDAY, JULY 30
Betrayal: A Father’s Secret
New series based on the hit podcast follows a Utah wife and mother of three who makes a horrifying discovery about her husband, causing her to safeguard her family from the man she thought she knew (Hulu).

Under the Radar: Secrets of a Swedish Serial Killer
In this new docuseries, a journalist traces additional crimes though clues he finds in songs by a convicted serial killer (Viaplay).

WEDNESDAY, JULY 31
Women in Blue
Brush up on your Spanish for this crime drama (above) with an entirely Hispanic cast, about four women who defy cultural notions of the time and join Mexico’s first female police force (Apple TV+).

Mountain Queen
Doc about Lhaka Sherpa, a Nepali-born woman who’s climbed Mount Everest ten times, more than any other woman the world. High (very high) five, sista! (Netflix).

THURSDAY, AUG. 1
Batman: Caped Crusader
Yes, yet another adaptation of the tale of the Dark Knight. This new high-pedgree animated version, which drops all 10 episodes in the wee a.m. hours, features voices by Hamish Linklater, Christina Ricci, Minnie Driver and McKenna Grace (Prime).

Influenced
Social media personalities host this new series about content creators with varying spheres of influence in lifestyle, food, home décor, travel, beauty and entertainment (Prime).

BRING IT HOME

The award-winning and fan-favorite hit series Ted Lasso comes to Blu-ray and DVD for the first time, with all episodes from three acclaimed seasons available in a specially packaged box set. Relive all the magic, merriment and comedic mayhem led by the cast of Jason Sudeikis, Hannah Waddingham and Juno Temple (Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment).

READ ALL ABOUT IT

I grew up with G.I. Joe, “America’s movable fighting man,” which ultimately became a multimedia franchise with countless action-figure spinoffs, a TV series and movies.  The G.I. Joe Roster (McFarland), by Teresa Bane, gives the ultimate rundown on all the iterations and “characters” in the G.I. Joe-verse, with details on their names, nicknames, missions, weaponry, areas of combat expertise, dates of service and more. It’s the field book for all those Joes who “served” the gung-ho military fantasies of gazillions of kids since the 1960s.

Jul 19 2024
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Books, Movies, Pop Culture

The Entertainment Forecast

July 19 – July 25

A new ‘Time Bandits,’ Harry Connick Jr. rocks & Morgan Freeman’s escape routes

All times Eastern.

Apple TV+’s ‘Time Bandits’ puts a next-gen spin on classic Monty Python humor.

FRIDAY, July 19
Find Me Falling
Hey, is that Harry Connick Jr. (below) in this new movie about an aging rock star taking a break…and discovering an old flame in an unlikely place? Why yes, it is! (Netflix).

Mastermind: To Think Like a Killer
For all you true-crime fans who can’t seem to get enough, this docuseries looks at the real-life Dr. Anne Burgess, whose profiling innovations changed history and stopped many a serial killer (Hulu)

SATURDAY, July 20
Dinner & a Movie
Movie hosts Jason Biggs and Jenny Mollen join Food Network chef Shirley Chung for appetizing munchies to accompany the film Crazy Rich Asians (10 p.m., TBS).

SUNDAY, July 21
Roots of Comedy with Jesus Trejo
Six rising comedians explore the diversity of the United States in their standup (10 p.m., PBS).

How It Really Happened with Jesse L. Martin
Series returns with a two-hour look at the 1996 bombings at the centennial Olympics in Atlanta, where security guard Richard Jewell was investigated after finding a suspicious backpack under a bench (9 p.m., CNN).

MONDAY, July 22
Candice Renoir
Season nine begins tonight of this import crime drama about a female detective—and frazzled mom (Cecile Bois)—cracking into crime in a French harbor town (Acorn TV).

History’s Greatest Escapes
Host Morgan Freeman (above) returns for season two and exploring daring real-life prison breaks, including Devil’s Island and a WWII death camp (9 p.m., History).

Dress My Tour
Actress/model Kate Upton (below) hosts as 11 aspiring fashion designers as they create stage outfits for some of musicdom’s biggest artists, including Toni Braxton and Paul Abdul (Hulu).

TUESDAY, July 23
Gods of Tennis
Court is in session (get it?) with this new docuseries revolving around the world-famous Wimbledon tournament and players (including Billie Jean King, Arthur Ashe, John McEnroe and Chris Everett) who changed the sport forever (Prime Video).

WEDNESDAY, July 24
Sea Change: The Gulf of Maine
Find out about a sea within the sea, a body of water that’s warming almost twice as fast as the global ocean elsewhere, and what it means for ocean life, and for us (9 p.m., PBS).

Time Bandits
Embark on a rollicking comedic journey through time and space with a group of ragtag thieves and their newest recruit, an 11-year-old history buff named Kevin. Inspired by the 1981 film by Monty Python alum Terry Gilliam, this one stars Taika Waititi, Lisa Kudrow and Jermaine Clement (Apple TV+).

THURSDAY, July 25
Beat Bobby Flay
Comedian Leslie Jones brings the nuttiness as chefs battle to beat host Bobby Flay at his own game (9 p.m., Food Channel).

BRING IT HOME

Go to the “dark side of the moon” with Have You Got It Yet? (Mercury Studios), a rock-doc DVD about 1970s psych-rock pioneers Pink Floyd and the life and genius of co-founder Syd Barrett. Did you know Pink Floyd was named after a pair of obscure blues musicians, Pink Anderson and Floyd Council?

Ryan Reynolds and Emily Blunt look like they’re having a ball in The Fall Guy (Universal Pictures Home Entertainment), a rollicking action-movie comedy spinoff from the 1970s TV series about a Hollywood stuntman who finds himself in some real-world slam-bang action. With loads of bonus content, including gags, alternate scenes and an inside look at the filming in Australia.

READ ALL ABOUT IT

How did some of history’s most lauded, successful civilizations and cultures fail, like the mighty Roman Empire, the Aztecs and ancient kingdoms of Mesopotamia and Byzantium? Author Paul Cooper, a historian and podcaster, takes an enlightening look in Fall of Civilizations (Hanover), with timely insights into how a once-mighty global empire can crumble into a hemispheric has-been.

Jul 17 2024
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Movie Reviews

Movie Review: ‘Twisters’

Add an ‘S,’ new stars, more tornadoes and stir for what’s almost assured to be the summer’s hottest popcorn movie

Twisters
Starring Glen Powell, Daisy Edgar-Jones and Anthony Ramos
Directed by Lee Issac Chung
Rated PG-13

In theaters Friday, July 20

Nearly three decades ago, the original Twister movie blew audiences—and most of its competition—away, barely missing becoming the highest-grossing film of 1996. Now, to paraphrase a line from a Chubby Checker hit, let’s twist again like we did last summer, with more stars, more tornadoes, more wind-shearing wowza and more big-screen wallop.  

Adding an “s” to the original movie, the newly pluralized Twisters returns to the tornado alley of Oklahoma, where a wave of monster funnel clouds is marching across small-town America. Can Kate, a young meteorologist (Daisy Edgar-Jones), figure out how to shut down the killer storms? Will Tyler, a tornado-chasing adrenaline-junkie YouTuber (Glen Powell), convince her he’s not really such a cad? Can Javi, her former college bud (Anthony Ramos), win her heart after the tragedy five years ago that tore them apart? The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind.

And there’s a lot of wind in Twisters, with all kinds of snarl coming down from the skies. The tornadoes are CGI wonders, much more sophisticated special-effect creations than back in the mid ‘90s, when large-scale computer-generated imagery was still in its infancy. There are several pulse-pounding sequences as the intrepid storm wranglers head into funnel clouds of all shapes and sizes, including a roaring pillar of fire picking up steam after it mows down an oil refinery. The movie makes you feel about as up-close and intimate as you’ll ever want to be to a tornado.

Director Lee Issac Chung brings the same detailed sense of setting that he demonstrated in his Oscar-nominated Minari (2020), about South Korean immigrants resettling in rural Arkansas. His cameras capture the sweeping spectacle but also the intimacy—of dandelions in the breeze, fields of grain in a shifting wind, the heartbeats of heartland life. On one such occasion, at a rodeo event, Kate learns that Tyler used to be a bull rider, and he compares what he did then with what he does now. “Tornadoes, bulls—same thing,” he says. “You don’t just face your fears, you ride ‘em.”

And to ride out these storms, you’ve got some extremely eye-catching companions in the romantic triangle of main actors. You might recognize Britain’s Edgar-Jones from Where the Crawdads Sing, and Ramos from the musical In the Heights. But it’s Powell who really steals the spotlight from the sky. Coming off of two other well-received flicks, Anyone But You and Hit Man, he’s the movie man of the moment, now as a hunky, cowboy-hatted slice of sex appeal, for sure. Is it hot and humid in here, from the summer swelter and the falling barometric pressure of a tornado getting ready to rumble? Or is it just Glen Powell, strutting onscreen in a torso-hugging white tee, flashing a megawatt smile? In between the twisters, you can practically hear the audience swooning.

There’s a lot of sorta-science banter about tornadoes, what they do, how they’re formed and how they’re designated. You even hear the name of the meteorologist, Ted Fujita, who devised the now-standard system of tornado classification—EF-1, EF-2, and so on—back in the ‘70s. But nobody will be going to see Twisters be tutored about science. They’ll be going to see churning monsters from above, vehicles picked up and strewn around like toys, people sucked screaming into their dooms in a swirling abyss of wind and debris.

And, of course, Glen Powell smiling, strutting, poured into a white T-shirt.

The movie’s final tornado scene is a real gollywhopper, with the chasers herding the citizenry of a small town, during the rip-roaring “the storm of the century,” into the only shelter readily available. “Everybody into the movie theater!” someone shouts.

And getting you into the theater is exactly what Twisters is all about. So hang on—and hold on—for this summer’s wildest, windiest must-see popcorn movie.

—Neil Pond

Jul 12 2024
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The Entertainment Forecast

July 12 – July 18

All about Faye, 80s pop culture, mafia spies & gladiators

All times Eastern.

FRIDAY, July 12
The Serpent Queen
Season two begins tonight of the delightfully wicked drama series, starring Samantha Morton and Minnie Driver as regal rivals in 19th century France (Starz).

The Very VERY Best of the 80s
Celeb commentators including Anson Williams, Todd Bridges, Jodie Sweetin, Dee Wallace and Mindy Cohn guide this rundown of pop culture moments that defined a decade (8 p.m., AXS).

SATURDAY, July 13
Sister Wife Murder
A young woman (Dia Nash) falls for a charismatic pastor (Matthew Daddario) but learns he has a dark side (8 p.m., Lifetime).

Faye
Doc about the legendary actress Faye Dunaway, in which she candidly discusses her career, her challenges, her breakout roles in Bonnie & Clyde and Chinatown, and the movie that she calls a critical career misstep (Max).

Mammals
The great David Attenborough narrates this sweeping new natural history series about this remarkable group of animals (us included) and how mammals conquered the Earth after dinosaurs went bye-bye (8 p.m., BBC America).

SUNDAY, July 14
Tulsa King
Sylvester Stallone (above) stars in this gritty drama series—originally on Paramount+—as a New York mafia capo exiled in the Midwest (8 p.m., CBS).

The Emperor of Ocean Park
Set in the worlds of politics, elite academia and the beaches of Martha’s Vineyard, this new drama series follows an esteemed law professor (Grantham Coleman) whose quiet life is shattered by the questionable death of his father, a well-known judge (10 p.m., MGM+).

MONDAY, July 15
The Critics Choice Real TV Awards
Let’s get real! MTV’s Ru Paul’s Drag Race and Peacock’s The Traitors lead the nominations for this sixth annual awards presentation to nonfiction and reality television programming. Also in the running: Will Arnett (Lego Masters), Terry Crews (America’s Got Talent) and Keke Palmer (Password). Streaming on the Critics’ Choice YouTube, X and Facebook channels. 

TUESDAY, July 16
Mafia Spies
Six-part docuseries (above) about the real-world spies, gangsters, honeypots and mistresses behind a hidden conspiracy between the CIA and the Chicago mob to assassinate Cuba leader Fidel Castro at a crucial part of the Cold War of the 1960s (Paramount+).

The Ark
No, not Noah’s. This planetary colonization drama, which kicks off season two, finds the spaceship crew reaching their destination but finding it uninhabitable and forced to survive long enough to find a new home (10 p.m., SyFy). 

WEDNESDAY, July 17
UnPrisoned
Season two opens with the Alexander family still a mess, Paige’s therapy practice in trouble and Finn’s anxiety through the roof. Can a “radical family healing coach” help turn things around? Kerry Washington stars (Hulu).

Wild Wild West
Outer space is the new wild West in this doc about scientists, companies and entrepreneurs in a celestial land grab—sending satellites into orbit to map and claim space in space and control the skies above our heads (Max).

THURSDAY, July 18
Lucky 13
Gina Rodriguez and Shaq O’Neal host this new high-stakes primetime quiz competition, testing contestants’ knowledge with 13 true or false questions—and a twist (9 p.m., ABC).

For Those About to Die
Sir Anthony Hopkins leads the cast of this sprawling new dramatic series from director Roland Emmerich about the dirty work of entertaining the masses of ancient Rome with the blood sports of the arena. Let the games begin! (Hulu).

BRING IT HOME

Adriannnnnnnn! Get ready to go the distance with The Rocky Ultimate Knockout Film Collection (Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment), and re-experiences the big-screen, heart-tugging boxing saga of Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) punching his way through almost impossible odds—and six films. The generous extras include an hour-long documentary on the making, and commentary by Stallone, deleted scenes and alternative endings.

READ ALL ABOUT IT

What do movies from another era like The Tender Trap, Pillow Talk, The Seven Year Itch and The Marriage-Go-Round have in common? They all used “sexual relations” (shhhhh!) as a crux for laughs, as you’ll find out in Hollywood Sex Comedies 1953-1964 (McFarland) by Hal Erickson. It’s an engaging look at a time when bedroom romps were mostly forbidden fruit in Hollywood…unless you seasoned them with comedy.

NOW HEAR THIS

John Lennon‘s landmark 1973 album gets the deluxe treatment in Mind Games: The Ultimate Collection (Universal Music Group), an eight-disc set of wide-ranging Lennon-abilia including remixed tracks, studio outtakes, audio commentary, two Blu-rays and artwork reproductions from the late former Beatle and his wife, Yoko Ono. His son, Sean, oversaw the production of this lavish tribute.

Jul 09 2024
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Movie Reviews

Movie Review: ‘Fly Me To The Moon’

Stars shine in this fanciful space-age screwball spoof spinning around a faked moon landing

Fly Me to the Moon
Starring Scarlett Johansson & Channing Tatum
Directed by George Berlani
Rated PG

In theaters Friday, July 12

In this space-age screwball comedy-slash-love story, it’s the late 1960s and America is falling behind in the moon race. The Russians have beat us in getting a satellite into orbit, then putting a man into space, and NASA is playing catchup. Can we make it to the moon before the Commies? Enter Madison Avenue spin specialist Kelly Jones (Scarlett Johansson), sent by shifty White House agent Moe Berkis (Woody Harrelson) to drum up support for America’s space program—where Kelly immediately butts heads with NASA’s beleaguered all-American launch director Cole Davis (Channing Tatum).

That’s the “meet cute” in this comedically farcical yarn with a fictional Hollywood romcom grafted onto real historical drama. Will NASA get the funding it needs—and the public support—to launch a successful moon mission? Will Johansson and Tatum’s characters fall in love? Will we learn about her secretive past, or the reason he didn’t become an astronaut? Will a stray black feline—a universal omen of bad luck—derail everything, like in Disney’s 1965 comedy That Darn Cat?

Yet another layer gets added to the story when Harrelson’s special agent demands that a fake moon landing be staged and filmed for backup in case the real one has a glitch—and Kelly brings in a flamboyant, over-the-top director (Community’s Jim Rash) to make it happen. You’ll also see Ray Romano, but mostly underused in a supporting role as a veteran NASA engineer.  Johansson’s real-life hubby, SNL’s Colin Jost, gets a cameo as a moonstruck senator.

As a kid in the 1960s, I was deep into space—wanted to be an astronaut, had toy spaceships and spaceman figures, launched model rockets and knew all about NASA’s Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions, gleaned through copies of Life magazine and TV news. I have to say, the kid in me geeked out at just how closely this movie aligns with the way things really were, or at least seemed to be, down there in Florida at Cape Canaveral. Fly Me to the Moon is a bright blast of nostalgia for anyone who grew up interested in America’s real space race, and how our program had to scramble once the Ruskies got ahead in the game—and what fashions, and hairdos, looked like in the 1960s. In the movie, everything falls under the long shadow of the tragedy of the first Apollo mission in 1967, which resulted in the fiery deaths of three astronauts before it could even get off the ground.

The movie is also a sly nod to how advertising began to creep into everything during that era, including the space program—with breakfast drinks, wristwatches, even kids’ underwear. Kelly knows all about stretching the truth to sell a product, and Cole insists he won’t compromise NASA’s integrity by turning its space program into a flying billboard.

The romance part might not be true, but you’ll be charmed by how it all falls into place with a couple of lead actors who happen to be very easy on the eyes. Director George Berlani brings a wealth of experience as a successful TV writer and producer (Dawson’s Creek, Brothers and Sisters, Riverdale) to his role, basking his stars in a classic-Hollywood retro glow resembling something in vogue when the 1950s song from which the movie takes its title was first on the radio. And meanwhile, the war in Vietnam rages offstage, threatening to take America’s gaze off the heavens.

You probably know how the true part of this story ends, that America (spoiler alert) really did plant our flag on the moon, the Vietnam war ended and President Richard Nixon resigned in disgrace. But the real objects to set your eyes on in Fly Me to the Moon isn’t the moon, but the two stars who soar through this zippy romcom romp that jauntily blurs the lines between fact and fantasy, providing a sparkly romantic grounding to a story that’s otherwise out of this world.

—Neil Pond

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Jul 05 2024
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DVDs, Movies, Pop Culture, Television

The Entertainment Forecast

Steve Harvey celebrates, Zendaya’s love triangle & John Cena goes deep…with sharks!

July 5 – July 11

Steve Harvey celebrates a ‘Family Feud’ milestone this week.

All times Eastern.

FRIDAY, July 5
The Real Bros of Simi Valley: High School Reunion
A continuation of the comedy mockmentary series The Real Bros of Simi Valley, this one finds the castmates preparing for the milestone of their 10th high school reunion. Tony Hawk, Zoey Deutch and Rob Riggle are among the new stars (Roku).

Down in the Valley
Buckle up for this wild ride as P-Valley star Nicco Allman goes deep into the deep South in this new docuseries (below) exploring sex workshops, strip clubs and other edgy elements of life below the Mason Dixon—and often, below the waist! (9 p.m., Starz).

SATURDAY, July 6
Amish Affair
An Amish woman (Mackenzie McCall) sets out to prove her innocence after she’s accused of murder (8 p.m., Lifetime).

SUNDAY, July 7
Shark Week
It’s summer, and that means one thing: Another fin-tastic week of shark-related programming hosted by John Cena (Discovery).

Shark Attack 360: Urban Jaws
Follow a shark-bite investigation team as they investigate a shark attack Down Under, fishing for clues across the world that connect the incident in Australia to something even wider…and wilder (9 p.m., National Geographic, Hulu and Disney+).

MONDAY, July 8
BBQ Brawl
Chef Bobby Flay oversees pitmasters from around the country vying for the title “Master of ‘Cue.” Saucy! (9 p.m., Food Network).

The Bachelorette
Join 25 men on their jet-setting journey to find love with Vietnamese beauty Jenn Tran (below) as the 21st season of the hit reality dating show begins tonight (8 p.m., ABC) .

TUESDAY, July 9
Family Feud: Four Decades of Laughs
The primetime star-studded showdown celebrates its milestone 100th episode and its 10th anniversary tonight, with Steve Harvey continuing his reign as host (8 p.m., ABC).

Sasha Reid and the Midnight Order
New series about a group of brilliant young women uniting for the common goal of protecting those law enforcement has ignored (10 p.m., Freeform).

WEDNESDAY, July 10
Sunny
Ten-episode dark-comedy mystery thriller stars Rashida Jones as an American woman in Japan who gets a robot (named Sunny) to fill the void in her life, embarking together on adventure to solve the mystery of the plane crash in which her husband vanished (Apple TV+).

In the Arena: Serena Williams
Eight-part documentary series spotlights the life and legendary career of the tennis superstar (ESPN+).

WEDNESDAY, July 11
The 2024 ESPYS Presented by Capitol One
Ah, remember the good ‘ol days, when advertising sponsors didn’t demand that their brand name be part of the show title? Anyway, tennis legend Serena Williams hosts this annual awards ceremony honoring sports achievements and memorable moments (8 p.m., ABC).

Sausage Party: Foodtopia
New animated series (below) continues the, ahem, adventures of a bunch of randy, raunchy R-rated supermarket items as they build their own society. Voice by Seth Rogen, Kristen Wiig, Michael Cera, Will Forte and others. Hold on to your bratwurst, it’s a crazy ride! (Prime Video).

BRING IT HOME

Put your heebie-jeebies on ice with the latest season of the Max crime-solving series True Detective, this time around starring Jodie Foster and Kali Reis as a pair of cops trying to solve a really cold cold-case mystery in the prolonged darkness of an Alaska winter. The DVD comes with bonus features, including a cast Q&A and a discussion of this season’s densely woven indigenous themes (Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment).

And Zendaya stars as a former tennis prodigy with romantic troubles in Challengers (Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment), a sexy love-triangle drama about past and present colliding, and the costs of coming out on top. With The Crown’s Josh O’Connor and Mike Faust.

Jul 04 2024
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Movie Reviews

Movie Review: ‘Maxxxine’

Mia Goth returns to role of the monstrously troubled young woman who won’t let life stand in her way

Maxxxine
Starring Mia Goth, Kevin Bacon, Elizabeth Debicki, Bobby Cannavale and Michelle Monaghan
Directed by Ti West
Rated R

In theaters Friday, July 5

In the third film of director Ti West’s cult-favorite slasher-flick franchise, young Maxine Minx (Mia Goth) has set her sights on Hollywood stardom. But her violent past comes back to haunt her, as the only survivor of a horrific massacre when she was younger with some truly effed-up layers of deep trauma passed along from her sex-obsessed grandmother.  

At the screening I attended, I saw dozens of young women dressed like Goth’s character from previous films, in overalls, boots and bandanas, or blood-red 1900s dresses. One told me she loves these movies because Maxxxine has become an emblem of female empowerment, a young woman with life stacked against her who won’t let that stop her. Even if that means using an axe, a shotgun or a junkyard car-crusher to get there.

In Maxxxine, it’s now the mid-1980s and Goth’s character has added a couple of x’s to her name to reflect her success as a porn actress. But she wants more, to become famous as a mainstream star. A serial killer, murdering young women, is stalking Hollywood, and Maxxxine’s friends and coworkers are turning up dead and maimed. When she gets her big break, with a role in a non-porn horror movie, the icy female director (Elizabeth Debicki, below)warns Maxxxine to focus on her career, and to quash anything that might stand in her way. And you know she will.

Returning director Ti West has again created a super-stylized window into Maxxxine’s smeary world, swirling with grungy ‘80s esthetic and music. (In the opening scene, she struts out from an audition to ZZ Top’s “Gimme All Your Lovin’.”) It’s a meta-movie, a horror flick that stylistically recalls other horror flicks of its era. There’s over-the-top gore, extreme violence and intentionally campy dialogue. And like the previous films, it explores the seedy underbelly where promiscuous sex, pornography, hyper violence and religious extremism root around in the same grimy bed. Add some Hollywood dream-machine toxicity, and voila, you’ve got Maxxxine.

But it feels like more of a loose gorehound grab bag than a firmed-up story, with stabs of dark humor, lurid sights and grindhouse grit meant as a horror-movie homage to “exploitative” flicks from an earlier era. You know, exploding heads, mangled bodies and slashing knives.  And suitcases full of severed body parts.

Kevin Bacon has a hammy ball as a slimy private “dick,” an investigator hired to trail Maxxxine. Bobby Cannavale and Michelle Monaghan are L.A. homicide cops trying to sniff out the killer terrorizing Tinseltown. Giancarlo Esposito, from Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, is her slick fixer of a manager.  Lily Collins plays an ill-fated horror-movie costar. And there’s Sophie Tucker, from TV’s Yellowjackets, and the singer Halsey, who plays a short-lived porno pal.

But everybody and everything revolves around Maxxxine. And model-turned-actress Mia Goth is once again riveting as the young woman at the messy, macabre center, fighting “the devil” inside her as she charges into the fame she always wanted, grabbing for the life she insists she deserves.

Maybe her deeply troubled path left Maxxxine starving for attention while fating her for heinous acts of vengeful retribution. The movie opens with a quote from the late, great Hollywood diva Bette Davis, about how “until you’re known in my profession as a monster, you’re not a star.” Maxxxine is indeed a movie-star monster in stiletto heels, stabbing now into the dark heart of Hollywood, drawing new blood—and appeasing legions of fans who see her as more victim of circumstance than villain.

—Neil Pond

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