A MOVIE WITH BUZZ
Ant-Man and the Wasp arrives, plus other pop culture news from Chris Lackner.
MOVIES
Big release on July 6: Ant-Man and The Wasp.
Big picture: Set in the immediate aftermath of Captain America: Civil War, reformed thief Scott Lang/Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) is under house arrest for taking the Cap’s side against the government.
Ant-Man is reluctantly pulled back into the hero biz by Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) — The Wasp — and Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas). Ant-Man’s good natured, Everyman persona and sarcasm make him family friendly. He’s like Deadpool minus the scar tissue, blood lust and self-narrating.
Meanwhile, this new dynamic duo won’t last long before its subsumed into the Avengers. In this sequel, more things shrink and grow than the hero’s suits — from cars and homes to a PEZ candy dispenser. It’s like Honey I Shrunk the Kids meets Big meets Fast and the Furious meets The Fly.
Forecast: It’s no Black Panther, but there is genuine buzz around this superhero popcorn flick.
TV
Big events: Sharp Objects (July 8, HBO); Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee (July 6, Netflix).
Big picture: Montreal director Jean-Marc Vallée helms another HBO miniseries based on a book, after the success of Big Little Lies. Based on Gillian Flynn’s novel Sharp Objects, Amy Adams heads the cast as a reporter covering the killings of two young girls in the creepy, secret-laden small town she grew up in. Buried secrets from her own half-forgotten past find the case hitting close to home.
It’s True Detective meets Broadchurch.
Netflix also starts the engine on a new season of Seinfeld’s Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. Forecast: Seinfeld’s cult series will soon spawn copycats. I predict Directors in Dodge Caravans Getting Doughnuts, Musicians on Mopeds Getting Milkshakes, and Singers in Submarines Getting Seashells.
MUSIC
Big picture: In a week with no big releases, it’s a good time to try to predict the 2018 song of the summer.
Drake’s Nice for What is an easy-listening contender with attitude, and Cardi B’s collaboration with Bad Bunny and J Balvin — I Like It — is hard to miss (Bad Bunny is also my surprise pick to join the super hero cast of the next Avengers’ film).
But the soulful Janelle Monae gets my vote for her delightful Prince homage Make Me Feel, with her other summer single Pynk finishing a close second. (My Canadian winner — sorry Drake — goes to Arkells addictive rock anthem People’s Champ.)
If none of the above work for you, you could also create your own summer song by getting Siri to read out Trump tweets to the backdrop of a generic techno beat.
Forecast: Canadian artists will band together later this year to launch a new concept — song of the winter. Winter is coming, folks. Enjoy patio season.