SABRINA TAKING ON FORCES OF DARKNESS
Your favourite teenage witch is getting a ‘Buffy’ treatment, Chris Lackner writes.
TV
Big events: Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (Oct. 26, Netflix); Bodyguard (Oct. 24, Netflix)
Big picture: Sabrina the Teenage Witch is getting the Buffy the Vampire Slayer treatment. Or at least Diet Buffy. Mad Men’s Kiernan Shipka will leave you spellbound as the titular witch from the Archie Comics. Originally developed as a spinoff to CW’s Riverdale (which is also available on Netflix), it shares the same creator, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa. Sabrina battles forces of darkness — and her half-witch heritage — in the town of Greendale. While Archie and the gang battle biker gangs and thugs, the young sorceress battles foes of an otherworldly variety. After Mad Men, Shipka deserved to headline her own series; if only an elderly Don Draper could make a surprise cameo to smoke cigarettes and reveal he is a warlock (fingers crossed for the season finale).
Meanwhile, Bodyguard is a hit British series starring Game of Thrones’ Richard Madden as a PTSD-suffering Afghan war vet hired to protect a British politician (Keeley Hawes). Best not to mention that whole “Red Wedding” incident.
Forecast: Abracadabra! The new Sabrina is far more enchanting and edgy than the TGIF original that starred Melissa Joan Hart.
MOVIES
Big release (Oct. 26): Hunter Killer
Big picture: Submarines are yesterday’s action-plot driver. It’s been 28 years since Sean Connery played the most Scottish Russian submarine captain who ever lived in The Hunt for Red October, and 23 years since Gene Hackman and Denzel Washington battled for undersea supremacy in Crimson Tide. This time around we get an American submarine helmed by Captain Glass (Gerard Butler) that finds itself in enemy waters amid a Russian coup. Its crew must undergo a madcap mission to rescue the kidnapped Russian president and bring him back to safety to avert nuclear war (no pressure). The only thing standing in their way is missiles, bombers, glaciers and Russian stereotypes (and not necessarily in that order). The creative team has experience in the Fast and Furious franchise — so expect submarine chases, stunts and crashes that make submarining look so cool Vin Diesel will probably pick it up as a weekend hobby.
Forecast: I predict a crossover sequel titled Aquaman vs. Captain Glass.
MUSIC
Big releases on Oct. 26: Shad (A Short Story About a War); John Legend (A Legendary Christmas) Big picture: Canadian hip-hop hero Shad releases one of the best albums of the year — proving that hoisting a microphone is a much better fit for him than hosting Q. I confess, the effort’s first single, The Fool Pt 1 (Get it Got it Good) was my song of the summer. Expect smart, political lyrics decorated with hooks and grooves.
Meanwhile, let’s face an undisputed fact: John Legend took the laziest road possible in his Christmas album title. Forecast: Lazy success is a recipe for imitation. Get ready for Christmas 2019 with Jack White Christmas, John Mayer’s Your Body is a Christmas Wonderland, and Justin Bieber’s Santa Baby, Baby, Baby. Not to mention the countrified holiday carols to come on the album O Come All Ye Faith Hill and the alt-rocking around the Christmas tree antics that will be delivered on the holiday title We Three Kings of Leon Are.