Director Wes Anderson’s latest eccentric curveball of a movie has an all-star cast in a globetrotting tale of shady international business shenanigans
The Phoenician Scheme Starring Benicio Del Toro, Mia Threapleton & Michael Cera Directed by Wes Anderson Rated PG-13
In theaters Friday, May 30
Like other films by director Wes Anderson, The Phoenician Scheme is an eccentric curveball of quirky characters, dark humor, deadpan delivery and meticulous visual flair. If you loved Moonrise Kingdom, The French Dispatch, The Royal Tenenbaums and The Grand Budapest Hotel, you’ll feel cozily at home with this wildly unpredictable, globetrotting tale of an amoral, assassination-dodging 1950s tycoon (Benico Del Toro) trying to put together a massive power-grab project in the Mediterranean.
In between recurring avant-garde afterlife dream sequences, there’s international sabotage and market manipulation, oddball investors, retro-cool gizmos, an insect-loving Norwegian etymologist (Michael Cera) with a secret, and a pipe-smoking young woman (Mia Threapleton) who may, or may not, be cut out for the convent life. Tom Hanks and Brian Cranston play a pair of characters who do business over a game of basketball…in a train tunnel. There’s Scarlett Johannson, Hope Davis, Stephen Park, Riz Almed, F. Murray Abraham, Jeffrey Wright, Charlottes Gainsbourgh—and Benedict Cumberbatch as an estranged uncle with a grudge, and a golly-whopper thicket of facial hair.
A recurring line is “Help yourself to a hand grenade.” And most people do.
Benicio Del Toro, Mia Threapleton and Michael Cera
There’s a group of militant guerrilla fighters, discussions about faith and atheism, two plane crashes, quicksand, flying arrows from a crossbow, and an endearingly soft emotional subtext about the importance of family. And oh, yeah, Bill Murray is God.
It’s all played super seriously for laughs, with everyone all-aboard the big, caustically funny running joke. Some of the faces will be familiar from previous Wes Anderson movies, but Threapleton (the daughter of Oscar-winning Kate Winslet) and Cera both shine in their debuts with the director, becoming central to the movie’s ever-evolving plotline. Here’s hoping to see them both again in another wild-ride Anderson caper.
“This is just…crazy,” Threapleton’s character says at one point. You may agree. The Phoenician Scheme is, indeed, crazy—but it’s precisely the kind of delightful absurdity that fans of Wes Anderson movies have come to expect and adore.
Pee-Wee tells all, Kevin Costner cowboys up & a Bob Dylan musical
FRIDAY, May 23 Pee-Wee as Himself Comedian Pee-Wee Herman narrates this doc (above) about his life, career and the creation of his iconic pop-culture alter ago (Max).
Girl From the North Country A community in Duluth, Minn., comes together in the Great Depression—to the tune of a lot of Bob Dylan songs—in this filmed Great Performance of the Broadway musical (8 p.m., PBS).
Fountain of Youth John Krasinski and Natalie Portman star as estranged siblings who reunite to search for the mythological stream on an epic adventure that they’re hoping will lead to immortality (Apple TV+).
SATURDAY, May 24 Liberian Movie Marathon Watch three of the fantasy-adventure made-for-TV movies starring Noah Wylie as the “Librarian” who protects a secret collection of rare artifacts, in today’s back-to back running of Quest for the Spear, Return to King Soloman’s Mines and Curse of the Judas Chalice (starts 1 p.m., TNT).
SUNDAY, May 25 Thunderbirds For the first time ever, cameras take you inside the cockpit with the U.S. Air Force’s legendary flight squadron to witness the training, danger and sacrifice it takes to be part of one of America’s most revered aerial demonstration teams (Netflix).
MONDAY, May 26 The American Music Awards Superstar Jennifer Hudson hosts the fan-voted awards show live from Las Vegas celebrating a cross-genre span of hits and artists, with Post Malone, Billie Eilish, Chappell Roan and Shaboozey leading the nominations (CBS).
Sheri Papini: Caught in the Lie Docuseries about the woman who mysteriously “returned” after her 2016 alleged abduction sparked a media firestorm and a federal investigation—and the questions that still swirl around the incident nearly a decade later (9 p.m., ID).
TUESDAY, May 27 America’s Got Talent The megahit TV talent competition kicks off its milestone 20th season tonight, hosted by Terry Crews with former Spice Girl Mel B returning to the judges’ table alongside Simon Cowell, Howie Mandell and Sofia Vergara (8 p.m., NBC).
Kevin Costner’s The West The Yellowstone star cowboys up to host this look (above) at the sweeping and sometimes complicated history of the American West (8 p.m., History).
Destination X Jeffrey Dean Morgan hosts this new game show as contestants embark on the road trip of a lifetime on a blacked-out bus, not knowing where they’re going, turning Europe into an enormous “game board” (NBC).
WEDNESDAY, May 28 The Grocery List Show Host Emily Strong, a former Top Chef contender, visits international grocery stores across America to show how cuisine can forge cultural connections (PBS).
Adults New comedy series about a group of 20-somethings in New York, where they find out nothing about the “grown-up” world they’ve entered is simple. Starring Malik Elassal, Lucy Freyer and Jack Innaren (Hulu).
THURSDAY, May 29 The Better Sister Jessica Biel, Elizabeth Banks and Corey Stoll star in this eight-episode series (above) about a murder—and some terrible things that drive sisters apart and ultimately bring them back together (Prime Video).
And Just Like That… Season three continues the post-Sex and the City relationship and adventures of Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte and Seema, starring Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon,Kristin Davis and Sarita Choudhury (9 p.m., Max)
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Celebrate the 25th anniversary of Don Henley’s Inside Job (Rhino.com), the fourth solo album by the former Eagle, now newly remastered and available in double-LP, CD and digital versions. Originally released in 2000, it followed Henley’s 1984’s blockbuster Building the Perfect Beast with his return to the musical spotlight after an 11-year absence. Tracks include “Everything is Different Now,” “For My Wedding,” “Goodbye to a River” and “The Genie.”
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How do you “sell” the outdoors? The Outdoor Archive (Thames & Hudson) is a handsome hard-bound collection spanning a century of ad and catalogue graphics and photography, all intended to make going outside appealing to consumers. Design experts offer insights, like what makes those tent ads so inviting? What photo effects represent action? What colors suggest adventure? And you’ll dig the reproductions of pages from retro catalogues, like a 1927 L.L Bean.
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Robert De Niro stars—in two roles!—in The Alto Knights, a biographical drama now on DVD and Blu-ray, about two organized crime bosses, Frank Costello and Vito Genovese, vying for control of New York. Once the best of friends, they’re now on a collision course that will reshape the Mafia, and America, forever (Warner Bros. Home Entertainment).
What’s so scary about a woman in the yard? Watch The Woman in the Yard (Universal Pictures Home Entertainment), the bone-chilling new horror flick from Blumhouse (The Black Phone, M3Gan, The Invisible Man) and you’ll find out—as a veiled in black, otherworldly woman suddenly appears outside a farmhouse, sending a grieving mother and her childing into a real-life nightmare. Starring Danielle Deadwyler and Okwui Okpokwasili.
Al Pacino is a blind retired military colonel. Chris O’Connell is the prep-school student who takes a part-time job as his companion and assistant. And they’re both in Scent of a Woman (Shout! Factory), a new 4K disc of the 1992 drama—about their wild weekend—that won three Golden Globes. With new bonus features, including an interview with director Martin Brest.
Tom Cruise goes out with a slam-bang in his supposedly last installment of the iconic big-screen spy-action franchise
Mission: Impossible—The Final Reckoning Starring Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg & Esai Morales Directed by Christopher McQuarrie Rated PG-13
In theaters Friday, May 31
In this eighth (and ostensibly final) installment of the big-screen franchise, which revived the deep-dish espionage of the iconic 1960s TV series in the ‘90s, Tom Cruise reprises his starring role as Ethan Hunt, a rogue IMF (Impossible Mission Force) agent faced with another seemingly “impossible” task— to save the world from annihilation by an all-consuming truth-eating digital parasite known as The Entity.
How’s he going to do it? “We’ll figure it out,” he says.
Figuring it out is a bit of a challenge for the audience in this nearly three-hour spectacle loaded with gravitas, self-reflection, doomsday vibes, loads of expository blather and a couple of show-stopping stunt sequences. The plot is crazily confusing, its cup runneth over with actors from previous films, and there’s a lot of talking—about what’s happening, what happened, and what it all means. In case you’ve forgotten, it throws in some greatest hits of Mission: Impossible movie highlights from the past two decades.
But when Cruise takes a deep dive to the bottom of the icy Barren Sea, to find a digital doodad left behind in a sunken Soviet sub clinging precariously to the edge of a bottomless abyss, or when he dangles with derring-do in a grand finale involving two dueling biplanes in the skies over South Africa, well, such preposterously complicated, supremely slam-bang stunt stuff makes you forget about the movie’s more, ahem, tedious passages. In case you haven’t heard, Cruise proudly does his own stunts, and in these two extended scenes, he earns a couple more gold stars—and shows where some of the film’s reported budget of $400 million went.
Hayley Atwell returns as Grace, the former thief now turned IMF agent. There’s Simon Pegg and Ving Rhames, as Ethan’s closest friends and allies. Pom Kiementieff takes a break from playing the alien creature Mantis in Marvel Guardian of the Galaxy movies to return as Paris, the French assassin with a vendetta for Gabriel (Esai Morales), who holds the key—literally—to The Entity. Angela Bassett is the U.S. president, who finds herself in a very tough geo-political spot.
If you’re looking for how the movie nods directly toward its predecessors, there’s the character played by Shea Whigam, from Boardwalk Empire, who traces the intellectual property’s genetic line all the way back to its TV roots. And hey, is that Nick Offerman as a high-ranking military general, and Ted Lasso’s Hannah Wadingham as a Navy official trying to prevent World War III? Yep!
At one point, Ethan is told that “Everything you are, everything you’ve done, has come to this.” That’s certainly true with Tom Cruise and his new Mission: Impossible, which makes a point of reminding us of its impressive run of big-screen escapism across nearly 20 years.
The movie, which began filming back in 2022, hits screens at a time when its storyline feels especially linked to our contemporary world, with modern worries about AI and cyberspace, fraught international relations and the possibility of nuclear self-destruction. And it doesn’t appear like we can count on Ethan Hunt to come along anymore, hanging from an airplane wing or escaping from a submarine torpedo tube, to save the day.
But then again, you never know… And as we’ve learned in the movies, nothing is impossible!
Reba’s a host, Honey Boo Boo’s back & Alexander Skarsgård’s a bot!
FRIDAY, May 16 Academy of Country Music Awards Luke Combs, Megan Moroney, Morgan Wallen and Lainey Wilson are among the top nominees in this 59th annual live event honoring country music makers and their hits, and hosted by Reba McEntire (8 p.m., Prime Video).
Murderbot Alexander Skarsgård stars in this new sci-fi comedy-thriller series, based on Martha Wells’ The Murderbot Diaries, as a security robot given a dangerous mission, but needing to hide his abilities for free thought and emotion (Apple TV+).
SATURDAY, May 17 I Was Honey Boo Boo Alana Thompson (above)—who became reality-TV famous as “Honey Boo Boo”—returns as a young adult in this biopic from her perspective, and all the forced smiles and silent tears, scandals and legal struggles that followed her childhood TV fame (8 p.m., Lifetime)
The Handmaid’s Tale The Emmy-winning dystopian drama returns for its sixth and final season, with Elizabeth Moss, Bradley Whitford, Ann Dowd and Yvonne Strahovski (Hulu).
SUNDAY, May 18 Tucci in Italy Actor Stanley Tucci takes a trip across Italy showcasing the country’s distinctive culinary flavors and traditions of his ancestral homeland (8 p.m., National Geographic).
Naked and Afraid: Last One Standing Fan favorites take on new challengers to see who can last the longest in the Australian Outback…sans clothes, of course. Bring on the pixels! (8 p.m., Discovery).
MONDAY, May 19 Mr. Polaroid Meet Edwin Land, the visionary scientist and inventor of the Polaroid camera (9 p.m., PBS).
White Lies Investigative journalist in South Africa (Natalie Dormer) gets caught in the ugly underbelly of the city, dragging her back to her turbulent past (Acorn TV).
TUESDAY, May 20 A Tooth Fairy Tale Animated kid-friendly flick about a tooth fairy with a rebellious streak, with voices of Jon Lovitz, Fran Drescher, Vivica Fox, Larken Bell and BooBoo Stewart (various digital platforms).
The Last Role of Charles LeBlanc A young drifter (Jack DeCerchio) goes to work for an aging movie legend (Arthur Roberts) and learns the hard way in this streaming flick that great actors never stop acting (Apple TV).
WEDNESDAY, May 21 Nine Perfect Strangers New season intros more strangers (above) who discover their connections in surprising ways. Starring Nicole Kidman as a mysterious health guru, plus Henry Golding, Lena Olin, Christine Baranski and Mark Strong (Hulu).
Gordon Ramsay’s Secret Service The star chef goes “undercover” to get the scoop on the culinary “crimes” of struggling restaurants—then shows them how to make the necessary changes to their space, their menu and their staff (9 p.m., Fox).
THURSDAY, May 22 Not Her First Rodeo Champion bull rider Jorden Halvorsen, joined by rookies and returning pros, begins a new season of her women’s bull-riding league, with each cowgirl hoping this will be the year to win the championship buckle (10 p.m., Freeform).
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Real-life Britpop star Robbie Williams takes us through formative stages of his life and career in Better Man (Paramount Pictures Home Entertainment), with a twist of monkeyshines—he’s represented as talking, singing motion-capture chimpanzee. When you see it, you’ll get it!
Fans of the cinematic subgenre of the ‘70s, action films with Black actors made for Black audiences, will dig Blaxploitation Classics Vol. 1 (Shout! Factory), a 12-disc assemblage of low-budget, explosive firepower that left high marks with popular culture, featuring Issac Hayes,Pam Grier, Fred Williamson and other brand-names-to-be. Titles include Black Caesar, Hell Up in Harlem and Coffy.
Paul Rudd & Tim Robinson strike bro-crush gold in scathingly funny male-bonding comedy
Friendship Starring Tim Robinson and Paul Rudd Directed by Andrew DeYoung Rated R
In theaters Thurs., May 15
Socially stunted Craig (Tim Robinson) develops a bodacious bro-crush on his new neighbor, the suave local TV weatherman Austin (Paul Rudd), in this new gem of cringe comedy about what can go hilariously off-track in male relationships.
It’s an impressive first film for director Andrew DeYoung, but Friendship really finds its wince-y, perfect-pitch groove in Tim Robinson, who spent four seasons as a writer and performer with Saturday Night Live before launching his own successful Netflix series; I Think You Should Leave was about a guy who drives other people away—which is exactly what happens here. Robinson’s Craig is like an overgrown, awkward kid who never fully matured, and much of the film hinges on his hapless, sometimes explosive ignorance in all kinds of situations at home, at work and anywhere else he tries—and fails spectacularly—to fit in.
Rudd, also one of the film’s executive producers, provides the perfect counterpart as a guy who seemingly has it all (a glamorous job, a rock band, a beautiful wife and cool hobbies), but also some insecurities of his own. Sometimes, it feels like Rudd is channeling bits of his smooth ladies-man reporter vibes from Anchorman, while Robinson’s substantial roots in SNL’s subversive sketch humor creep and crawl through everything, orchestrated to an original soundtrack (by Keegan DeWitt) that adds to the air of anything-might-happen unhinged-ness.
Kate Mara plays Craig’s wife, Jack Dylan Glazier (from two It horror flicks, and Shazam!) is their son. I loved the son’s girlfriend (Anora’s Ivy Wolk), whose only spoken lines are “Hi” and “Thank you for the potato.”) And also the young ponytailed phone salesman (Billy Byrk) who doubles as a drug dealer on lunch breaks of Rollos and Red Bull.
How knockout funny is it all? Well, not every movie can wring laughs from neighborhood speed cushions, a psychedelic toad, mushrooms, aqueduct spelunking, soiled clothing and the very mention of a Marvel movie. But this caustic buddy-buddy cocktail truly swings in the awkward yin-yang between Robinson and Rudd, who demonstrate how riotously askew a male friendship can go—especially if you’re clueless, like Craig, to every social cue.
Ewan McGregor rides again, all about The Judds & Joan Rivers gets roasted
FRIDAY, May 9 Long Way Home Actor Ewan McGregor and buddy Charley Boorman are back on the road for another motorcycle adventure (above), this time across Europe (Apple TV+).
Nonnas After the loss of his mother, a man risks everything to honor her by opening an Italian restaurant with a group of local grandmothers and chefs. With Vince Vaughn, Lorraine Bracco, Talia Shire, Susan Sarandon, Brenda Manganiello and Joe Manganiello (Netflix).
SATURDAY, May 10 The Judd Family: Truth Be Told New documentary (above) dives into the intricate, often troubled relationships of country music’s most iconic mother-daughter act. Reba McEntire, Wynonna Judd, actress Ashley Judd and others are interviewed (8 p.m., Lifetime, continues tomorrow night).
Nashville Watch a two-day marathon of the hit series about Rayna James (Connie Britton), Juliette Barnes (Hayden Panettiere) and others navigating the cutthroat world of Music City, and catch all-star cameos from Kelly Clarkson, Zac Brown, Brad Paisley and more (12 p.m., AXS TV).
SUNDAY, May 11 The Bakersfield 3: A Tale of Murder and Motherhood Three-part docuseries about the trio of moms who banded together after each suffering the loss of a child to murder or disappearance—and discovering that all three cases were entangled with each other (8 p.m., ID).
Secrets of the Zoo Down Under Go inside the Taronga Zoo in Sydney Harbor, home to more than 5,000 creatures and hundreds of committed keepers and vets ushering the facility into its second century of operation (9 p.m., National Geographic Wild).
MONDAY, May 12 The Light in the Hall New British series about a woman trying to find the truth about a friend’s disappearance nearly 20 years ago—and finding that not everyone is eager to dig up the past. Starring Alexandra Roach and Joanna Scanlan (Acorn TV).
The Gilmore Girls Fans of the classic show, this is for you: The series, which aired originally 2000-2007 and starred Lauren Graham and Alexis Bedel, is rerunning beginning today on Start TV.
TUESDAY, May 13 Cutthroat Kitchen—Knives Out Host Brian Malarkey dishes out diabolical culinary challenges to test chefs on their cooking prowess, strategic thinking and abilities to innovate (9 p.m., Food Network).
Joan Rivers: A Dead Funny All-Star Tribute The late comedianne is feted in this star-packed special with appearances, anecdotes and stand-up bits by Rachel Brosnahan, Nikki Glaser, Tiffany Haddish, Chelsea Handler, Neil Patrick Harris, Howie Mandell and many more (10 p.m., NBC).
WEDNESDAY, May 14 Ultimate Crash Test: Impact Follow a first-of-its-kind experiment, in the second part of this two-part series, to discover what really happens in multi-vehicle pileups—and gain insights into how driver behavior and vehicle design could save lives (9 p.m., PBS).
THURSDAY, May 15 The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives A swinging sex scandal makes international headlines and shakes the group of Mormon mom “influencers” (or #MomTok’ers) to its core in the new season (Hulu).
Duster| New drama series about a gutsy getaway driver for a 1970s Southwestern crime syndicate and a tenacious young agent hellbent on taking down the crooks. Starring Josh Holloway, Keith David, Greg Grunberg and Rachel Hinson (9 p.m., Max)
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How did a single long-ago language morph and mold into a wide “family” of dialects now spanning the world? Find out in the fascinating Proto: How One Ancient Language Went Global (Bloomsbury), in which author Laura Spinney traces the roots of the Indo-European language that that became the mother tongue for a great part of the globe.
Learn all about bugs from their POV in Insectopolis (W.W. Norton) a vividly illustrated saga of “graphic nonfiction” about a group of ants, cicadas, bees and butterflies, beetles and other crawling and flying things that visit a library exhibition—and learn about their contributions to history and the arts. “Most insect societies are matriarchal,” notes a dragonfly, buzzing through an exhibit of famed entomologists, all of them men. “You’d think humans would have seen fit to tip their hat to women.” It’s a “bug’s life” writ (and drawn) large by acclaimed artist/author Peter Kuper, who has ‘tooned for The New Yorker, The Nation and Mad magazine.
In the previous century, the art world was rocked by new artists with revolutionary ideas. The vibrantly illustrated graphic novel Blow Up! The Explosion of Contemporary Art (Thames & Hudson) lays out the story of how artists like Marcel Duchamp, Andy Warhol and the Japanese woman known as “the polka dot queen” breathed new life into an old format with such diverse works as a banana taped to a wall, a picked shark, a can of soup, a pile of ashes and a camping tent. And, as a bonus, guest appearances by Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, the Beatles and the Velvet Underground!
What do you know one of history’s greatest empires…before it became one of history’s greatest empires? In Rome Before Romans: The Legends That Shaped the Romans (Thames & Hudson), author and historian Philip Matyszak excavates the ancient myths, stories and historical texts that shaped the Roman civilization and continue to reverberate today across the spectrum of popular culture.
If you’re an art lover, you’ll love The Foreign Invention of British Art (Thames & Hudson), which shows the profound influence of many “foreign” artists who’ve called Britain home over the centuries. With loads of biographical info and plentiful illustrations, it’s a primer on how immigration and diversity have so often been driving forces for creative innovation.
How did the Sixties get to be the Sixties? In The Last Great Dream (Da Capo Press), former Grateful Dead publicist Dennis McNally breaks it all down. It’s a funky, fact-filled and altogether fascinating probe into the seeds of anti-mainstream revolution that led to the countercultural “hippie movement” and its swirl of beat poetry, head-trippy music, underground publishing, and gloriously psychedelic everything. Dig it!
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Dune-iacs, rejoice! The acclaimed, fan-fave HBO spinoff of the iconic sci-fi Dune-iverse is now available! Dune: Prophesy: The Complete First Season (Warner Bros. Home Entertainment) stars Emily Watson, Olivia Williams, Mark Strong and Jodhi May, and the new set contains over an hour of bonus content.
Robert Pattison stars in Mickey 17 (Warner Bros. Home Entertainment), based on Edward Ashton’s novel, a rip-roaring futuristic sci-fi black comedy about an “expendable” on a mission to colonize an ice planet for an employer who demands his ultimate commitment to the job. And every he time he dies, he just gets re-cloned. With Mark Ruffalo, Toni Collette and Stephen Yuen.
Back to Mayberry, a run for the roses & ‘Time’ put influencers in the spotlight
FRIDAY, May 2 Adult Best Friends Delaney Buffett, Kate Corwin, Zachary Quinto and Mason Goodwin star in this new streaming flick about a couple of drifted-apart girlfriends, a boyfriend, a bachelor party…and what happens next (Max).
Bad Boy Series is an international production based on the true story of a teenager (played by Daniel Chen) imprisoned in a juvenile detention facility, exploring youth, redemption, brotherhood, friendship and how creativity can help heal deep wounds (Netflix).
SATURDAY, May 3 The Kentucky Derby The granddaddy of Southern horse racing bolts out of the gate in this annual “Run for the Roses” from Churchill Downs in—where else?—Kentucky (12 noon, NBC and Peacock).
SUNDAY, May 4 Month of Mayberry Let Andy and Barney and the whole gang guide you through a month of classic-TV programming, including Andy Griffith’s “crossover” spots on Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C, The Danny Thomas Show and others, plus a couple of Mayberry reunion specials from 2003 and 1986 (MeTV).
TIME100: The World’s Most Influential People Go inside the publication’s annual listing with this gala event, featuring musical performances and other appearances of some of the honorees, including Snoop Dogg, Ed Sheeran, Serena Williams and Demi Moore (10 p.m., ABC).
MONDAY, May 5 Matter of Mind: My Alzheimer’s An intimate portrait of families facing the challenges of the devastating neurodegenerative disease and how it transforms role and relationships (10 p.m., PBS).
The Playboy Murders Holly Madison returns to host season three of the true-crime series recounting shocking intersections of murder and mystery in the sexy world of America’s iconic “girly magazine” (9 p.m., ID).
TUESDAY, May 6 Ms. Pat Settles It Stand-up comic Patricia Williams Lee, known as Ms. Pat, returns for another season of her “reality court” comedy series, in which “juries” of her family members and friends arbitrate real-life lawsuits, feuds and squabbles (10 p.m., BET).
WEDNESDAY, May 7 Humingbirds of Hollywood In the showbiz capital of the world, a woman finds herself on a transformative journey nurturing hummingbirds, unraveling a visually stunning tale of love, fragility, healing and the delicate beauty found in acts of kindness (8 p.m., PBS).
Life or Death Negotiators What does it take to navigate a situation in which one wrong move can be deadly? Find out in this high-stakes docuseries about negotiators skilled at handling matters in which life hangs in the balance (10 p.m., National Geographic).
THURSDAY, May 8 Poker Face Season two begins of the award-winning mystery series starring Natasha Lyonne, with guest appearances by a buncha all stars, including Cynthia Erivo, Katie Holmes and Awkwafina (Peacock).
ACM Awards Reba McEntire will host tonight’s 60th anniversary awarding of honors to country music’s top artists and writers, live from Frisco, Texas. Ella Langley leads the pack with eight nominations, followed closely by Cody Johnson, Morgan Wallen and Lainey Wilson (Prime Video).
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The wife (Michelle Pfeifer) of a university professor (Harrison Ford) believes that their lakeside Vermont home is haunted by a ghost in What Lies Beneath. Is it, or is she losing her mind? This special remastered 25th anniversary re-release of director Robert Zemeckis’ classic cult-fave horror tale is loaded with bonus content, including commentary and a feature-length documentary about making the movie. What Lies Beneath remains Ford’s only “horror” film, and Zemeckis gave a nod to Alfred Hitchcock with Pfeifer as the film’s blond heroine, a recurring theme of Hitch’s meticulous casting.
The definitive documentary about the late, great pioneer of reggae music Bob Marley is now available on DVD, honoring what would have been his 80th birthday. Marley (MVD) delves into the life, legacy and achievements of the reggae superstar, who died in 1981, but not before putting the music of his native Jamacia on the global map, turning the world on to his Rasta vibes.
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Movie buffs, you’re sure to dig these new books. Hollywood Boozers, Brawlers and Hard-Luck cases, by Laura Wagner, digs into sordid, scandalous, sometimes just sad and often career-upending tabloid tales from Hollywood’s Golden Age. It’s a big bunch of drunkenness, brawls and even murder among mid-level actors and actresses who weren’t always “protected” from news hounds by the big studios. Then, Aubrey Sullivan’s The Cinemascope Years leaps onto the screen with the story of what was once a theatrical game-changer—the widescreen technology of Cinemascope—with an inside scoop on more than 500 movies that “went big” during the 1950s and ‘60s, including The Bridge on the River Kwai, North to Alaska, The King and I and The Guns of Navarone, and many other films of all genres. (McFarland).
Ballastic: The New Science of Injury-Free Athletic Performance Find out about the ongoing study of how athletes move…and why they can get hurt, in author Henry Abbott’s fact-filled dive into strength training, psychology, biomechanics and pain, and the strides made by sports science to keep competitors safe. It makes great companion reading for the next football game, MMA match or just about anything where someone might get carted off in a stretcher (W.W. Norton).
Felony Juggler The master magician Penn Jillette is known for mind-blowing tricks on TV and on stage with his partner Teller, but here he puts down the wand and picks up a pen. In this fictional twisty-turn-y tale, a street performer finds himself ensnared in a crime and must outwit his fellow conspirators with a feat of juggling so prodigious, it’s like…well, magic! So you can add “juggling novel” to Jillette’s long list of show-biz accomplishments! (Akashic).
Did ancient Romans play Monopoly? Not exactly, but there’s a through-line from those olden days straight to the modern world with “tabletop” games, the small-scale diversions we devise to engage us, entertain us and bond us. That’s what author G.T. Karber explores in Across the Board (Abrams), an engrossing dive into player-vs.-player pastimes from ancient Egyptians to Pokemon kids, and how those kind of games parallel the march of civilization across the centuries (Abrams).
Movie review: Wooly, wide-ranging doc spotlights the (almost) legendary cult musician and his friends
Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted Documentary Directed by Isaac Gale & Ryan Olsen Unrated In theaters Friday, May 2
He’s recorded and released more than 25 albums, worked with superstars and written million-selling songs. And most people have no idea who he is. He’s Jerry Williams Jr., better known as Swamp Dogg, a Virginia-born musician who became a cult figure during more than seven decades on the fickle, not-quite-famous fringes of the music industry.
This pleasantly quirky, engagingly colorful documentary introduces us to Williams and his two longtime housemates, Guitar Shorty and Moogstar, who shared his ranch-style home in a leafy Los Angeles suburb—where, we learn, nearly all the neighbors seem to be making porn vids. Shorty and Moog also share Dogg’s on-again, off-again relationship with what might be considered success.
We learn that Williams, now in his 80s, made his first record in the mid-1950s, toured constantly, later becoming a label exec, a producer, arranger and a multi-genre songwriter, dabbling in disco, rap, R&B and country, co-penning (with Gary U.S. Bonds) the 1971 Johnny Paycheck hit “She’s All I Got.” He started his own label, releasing what surely must be the most commercially successful of all CDs of Beatles songs “performed” by dogs, chickens, cows and sheep (1983’s “Beatle Barkers”). He recorded a duet of “Sam Stone” with John Prine, performed on the Grand Ole Opry and had his own cable-TV cooking show, If You Can Kill It, I Can Cook It. In the early ‘70s, he was investigated by the CIA in the 1970s for protesting the war in Vietnam alongside actress-turned-activist Jane Fonda.
Somewhere along the way, he devised his alter ego, Swamp Dogg. Some of his album covers—depicting him riding a giant rat rodeo-style, as a hot dog slathered in mustard and onions, or as Jesus on a cross—are visual hints of his wide-ranging, wildly idiosyncratic takes on multiple formats of music.
The film shows him working in the studio on what would be his latest album, Blackgrass: From West Virginia to 125th St, released last year, blurring the lines between folk, blues, country, roots music and soul with a savory brew of new Swamp Dogg originals, favorites from past albums and timeless ‘50s R&B classics.
Swamp’s saga is a wooly, wide-ranging, hip ‘n’ flip tale of the ups and downs, ins and outs and upside-downs of a funky, improbably flexible lifetime in the music biz, the story of a true survivor who recounts much of his wildly unpredictable ride sitting in the shade of his backyard, watching an artist paint the bottom of his swimming pool. You don’t find out exactly what’s being painted until the end of the movie, but suffice it to say, it puts the perfect cherry on top of this swirly cinematic Swamp Dogg sundae.
Moogstar lives with Swamp Dogg in their “bachelor pad for aging musicians.”
One of the movie’s most endearing qualities is the turn of its spotlight often onto Dogg’s housemates in their “bachelor pad for aging musicians.” We learn how Guitar Shorty (whose death, in 2022, is covered in the film) was a winner on TV’s The Gong Show, and about a transformational encounter by Moogstar at the Montana gravesite of motorcycle-riding daredevil Evel Knievel. There’s a free-flowing, anything-goes kind of grooverey across time and space with a combination of archival footage, home videos and animation.
Dogg’s celebrity friends—like comedian Tom Kenny, the voice of Spongebob Squarepants, and head Jackass honcho Johnny Knoxville—also pop by the pool to swap tales and shoot the breeze. We meet one of Dogg’s five daughters, Jeri, now a neurologist. We learn how his late wife, Yvonne, became his lifelong anchor, partner and manager.
It’s a sweeping, often funny, sometimes profane and ultimately sweet story of a man whose wholly unique claim to pop culture spans decades and crosses just about all the boundary lines that typically define musical categorization. And you come away with the feeling that, despite all the yin and yang, the winning and the losing, the highs and the lows, the hits and the misses, Swamp Dogg—and Jerry Williams—wouldn’t have it any other way.
“I consider myself one of the luckiest motherf*uckers in the world,” he notes. After seeing Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted, you’ll understand why.
Nicole K goes all the way, celebs share their happy places & a classic romcom gets a reboot
FRIDAY, April 25 Babygirl Nicole Kidman gives a brave and inhibited performance in this sexually saturated flick (above) as a successful CEO who begins a torrid affair with her much younger intern (Harris Dickinson). It’s h-o-t!! (Max).
WondLa Season two of the animated adventure series launches with Jeanine Mason returning to provide the voice of Eva, a young woman continuing her epic journey to uncover her past while pursued by a relentless force (Apple TV+).
SATURDAY, April 26 Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series Have you ever wondered why would anyone jump from a rocky precipice to flip, twist and finally plunge into water far below? Maybe you can figure out one of the world’s most extreme sports if you watch this competition (12 noon, Vice.).
Brett Goldstein: The Second Greatest Night of Your Life The Ted Lasso star (he plays Roy Kent) gets his first HBO standup comedy special (10 p.m., HBO).
SUNDAY, April 27
Eva Longoria: Searching for Spain Eight-episode series (above) follows the award-winning actress, producer, director and social activist on a cuisine-centric pilgrimage through the land of her ancestors (9 p.m., CNN).
My Happy Place In this new series, a group of celebrity hosts (including Alan Cumming, Taraji P. Henson, Billy Porter and Questlove) invite you along to learn about the places across the world that have become their restorative sanctuaries (10 p.m., CNN).
MONDAY, April 28 The Voice Welcome aboard the new mega mentor/coaches—superstar Sheryl Crow and country powerhouse LeAnn Rimes—as this season’s Playoffs begin (8 p.m., NBC).
Yes, Chef! Martha Stewart co-hosts as rising-star chefs compete in this new culinary challenge testing their kitchen chops, while also trying to ferret out what might be holding them back—ego, intense personality, stubbornness or short fuses (10 p.m., NBC).
TUESDAY, April 29 Free for All: The Public Library Learn the story of the quiet revolutionaries who made a simple idea become reality—and also the modern-day librarians serving the public despite our contentious age of closures and book bans (10 p.m., PBS).
Pati Jinich Explores Panamerica The James Beard Award-winning Mexican chef and TV personality explores the Panamerican Highway, stretching from Alaska to Argentina, celebrating the many cultures along the way (9 p.m., PBS).
WEDNESDAY, April 30 Carême New French drama (above) series follows the world’s first “celebrity chef” (Benjamin Voisin) as he rises from humble beginnings in Paris to the height of culinary stardom in Napoleon’s court (Apple TV+).
In the Kitchen With Harry Hamlin The actor and his niece, chef Renee Guilbaut, cohost another season of celebrity guests, stories, dishes and dinner parties for their celebrity friends (11 p.m., AMC).
THURSDAY, May 1 Another Simple Favor Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively star as friends who travel to a wedding in Italy, only to find themselves in a twisty-turning adventure of glamour, murder and betrayal (Prime).
The Four Seasons A new spin on the 1981 romcom flick, about four couples (played by Tina Fey, Will Forte, Steve Carell, Kerri Kenni-Silver, Colman Domingo and Marco Calvani) who go out of town for a relaxing weekend retreat together, but then find out one of the them is headed for a split (Netflix).
NOW HEAR THIS
Fifty-five years after its original release in 1970, Chicago II, the album that made a Midwestern “horn band” into all-American musical heavyweights, has been remastered on Blu-ray (Rhino.com). Hear the Top 10 hits “Make Me Smile,” “Colour My World” and “25 or 6 to 4” in a sparkling new musical spotlight, along with other tracks that came to define the group’s radio-ready dexterity with classical, pop and rock.
Has it really been almost 40 years since Prince rocked Purple Rain? That awesome 1984 album—with hits like “Darling Nikki,” “When Doves Cry,” “Let’s Go Crazy” and, of course, the title song that became a movie and spent 24 weeks at No. 1—has now been remixed as a high-quality Blu-ray audio. A masterwork from the artist once known as His Royal Badness (before changing his name to an unpronounceable symbol and becoming “The Artist Formerly Known as Prince”) it’s a return to a genuine musical milestone for fans of the late rock star, who died in 2016 (Warner Music Group).
BRING IT HOME
Clint Eastwood Classics He’s received four Oscars and been lauded for a durable career extending from early TV roles to theatrical westerns, crime dramas, war movies and comedies. Now you can squint like Clint with three Clint Eastwood classic flicks from Warner Bros., newly released for the first time on 4K Ultra HD. There’s the iconic Dirty Harry (1971), a special 40th anniversary edition of Pale Rider (1985), and The Outlaw Jersey Wales (1976), all with new bonus features, making-of docs and commentary.
READ ALL ABOUT IT
How did the former Diana Spencer become a princess for the world, a pop-cultural icon and—especially in her afterlife—an almost mythological figure? Edward White breaks it all down in Dianaworld: An Obsession, a wide-ranging deep dive into the life and legacy of the royal who connected with a wider, broader and more diverse group of people—including Hollywood filmmakers, sex workers and professional impersonators—than any member of the British monarchy before her. She was a princess so familiar to so many that she became known by her first name, and Dianaworld breaks down why she was so special to so many, and how her image continues to shine decades after her 1997 death. (W.W. Norton)
More than a decade after his passing, the work of the late James Gandolfini continues to be felt by those who remember his gravitas in TV and movie roles, like The Sopranos, Killing Them Softly and Zero Dark Thirty. Now film historian and film critic and movie historian Jason Bailey shines a spotlight on the man and his work in Gandolfini: Jim, Tony and the Life of a Legend (Abrams), which follows the actor’s rise from childhood to bit parts and ultimately his crowning role as Tony Soprano, the mobster kingpin and family man.
Ralph Fiennes is pumped, meet the new Wolf Man and penguin secrets
Ralph Fiennes stars in a new take on Odysseus in ‘The Return.’
FRIDAY, April 18 Jane Tonight begins season three of the Emmy-winning kid-centric series based on the early life of Dr. Jane Goodall (played by Ava Louise Murchison) as the young budding environmentalist begins her lifelong quest save endangered animals (Apple TV+).
Wolf Man A new take on another Universal monster-movie classic (like The Invisible Man), this one stars Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner in a modernized tale of a husband with some beastly behavior (Peacock).
SATURDAY, April 19 Desire: A Temptation Story Tasha Smith and Adrian Holmes star in twisty tale—which kicks off a broader network franchise—about a talk-show host who marries her new suitor, only to find that her desires have led her down a dangerous path (8 p.m., Lifetime).
SUNDAY, April 20 Secrets of the Penguins Discover never-before-filmed secret traditions, surprising intelligence and the close-knit societal bonds of penguins in this eye-opening series filmed in some of the world’s most extreme places. Narrated by Blake Lively (Nat Geo).
The Rehearsal Season two of the mock-doc comedy series begins tonight, with Nathan (Nathan For You) Fielder helping more people “prepare” for difficult conversations and encounters through the use of actors and extensively recreated sets (HBO).
MONDAY, April 21 Dr. Pimple Popper: Breaking Out Zits alive! Dr. Sandra Lee (TV’s “Dr. Pimple Popper”) returns in this all-new reality series about all kinds of oozy-doozy derma drama (10 p.m., Lifetime).
The Return Mythology comes alive in this new drama starring Ralph Fiennes as Odysseus, returning to his kingdom 20 years after the Trojan War—and not quite the mighty warrior he used to be (Paramount+).
TUESDAY, April 22 America’s Most Wanted Calling all armchair detectives! John Walsh returns, joined with his son, Callahan, for another season of using viewers’ leads to ferret out bad guys and crack crimes (9 p.m., Fox).
Deep in the Heart Actor Matthew McConaughey narrates this celebration of the diverse landscapes and remarkable wildlife that share his home state of Texas (Pluto TV).
WEDNESDAY, April 23 Changing Planet: River Restoration Learn how ongoing projects are bringing back life to two rivers essential to humans and nature (10 p.m., PBS).
THURSDAY, April 24 Étoile Dance-world dramedy set in New York and Paris—from the director of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel— follows two world-renowned ballet companies trying to save their institutions. With Maisel’s Luke Kirby, plus Charlotte Gainsbourgh and David Alvarez (Prime Video).
Black Snow Crime drama returns for season two with more gripping missing-persons cases set in Australia’s Glasshouse Mountains. Starring Travis Fimmell and Jana McKinnon (AMC+).
The Media Tourist 