FRIGHT NIGHT
Us brings murderous doppelgängers to the big screen, writes Chris Lackner.
MOVIES
Big release on March 22: Us Big picture: No, this is not a bigscreen version of the TV drama This Is Us. This is ... a fright fest. Us is the followup to Get Out, the acclaimed film from writer-director Jordan Peele. The twists start early and pull you down a sophisticated path of terror. It all starts when a mother (Lupita Nyong’o) and a father (Winston Duke) take their kids on a beachside summer getaway. Cottage rental? Check. Boat rental? Check. Murderous doppelgänger versions of your family showing up on the driveway? What?! That wasn’t in the Airbnb reviews! To quote the family under siege: “They look exactly like us. They think like us. They know where we are. Our own worst enemy.”
Forecast: I predict the twist will be that this is really a sequel to 1996’s Multiplicity and 15 Michael Keatons will save the day and fight off the bloodthirsty clones.
TV
Big events: The Dirt (Netflix, March 22); The Fix (March 18, CTV/ABC); Mental Samurai (March 19, Fox/citytv); The Village (March 19, NBC/CTV); Jann (March 20, CTV)
Big picture: Former prosecutor Marcia Clark is one of the creative forces behind The Fix, which “definitely” is not a fictionalized “kind-of-sorta” take on the O.J. Simpson case. Robin Tunney (The Mentalist) stars as an L.A. district attorney on the losing end of a high-profile celebrity murder trial (the accused is played by Adewale Akinnuoye-agbaje of Lost fame). Years later, she returns to go after the same target when another one of his partners turns up dead. (Yes, the alleged killer is an actor and not an athlete — but a long-haired dude staying in the pool house does end up being a key witness.)
Meanwhile, Rob Lowe hosts Mental Samurai, a game show billed as the “first-ever obstacle course for the mind.” Who knows? Maybe the trend will catch on across media. I predict a “first-ever Transformers movie for the mind” or a “first-ever Luke Bryan country song for the mind.”
Next up, The Village is This Is Us, only set inside a magical Brooklyn apartment building filled with endearing archetypal characters (veteran, single mom, illegal immigrant, etc.) who establish heartwarming connections.
Jann is a new sitcom that finds Canadian singer Jann Arden playing an exaggerated version of herself — poking fun at her music, image, insecurities and semi-fame. Finally, The Dirt is a biopic based on Mötley Crüe’s raunchy, like-named roller-coaster of an autobiography.
Tag line: “Their music made them famous, their lives made them infamous.”
Forecast: You’d pay good money to see Mötley Crüe compete on Mental Samurai.
MUSIC
Big releases: On March 22: Jenny Lewis (On the Line); Mötley Crüe (The Dirt Soundtrack); Andrew Bird (My Finest Work Yet) Big picture: The soundtrack to the Mötley Crüe biopic includes four new songs. The Dirt is an obvious new single, but look forward to their cover of Madonna’s classic Like a Virgin. Meanwhile, talented indie bard and even-more-talented whistler Andrew Bird unveils the most pretentious album title of all time: My Finest Work Yet.
Finally, Jenny Lewis should never be on your musical fence. She is a always force to be reckoned with — effortlessly blending country, indie rock and folk — even more so in this outing that sees her team up with the likes of Beck, Ringo Starr and Ryan Adams.
Her finest work is impossible to choose.
Forecast: You won’t be confused when you add both Bird and Mötley Crüe to your playlist. You won’t need to be a Mental Samurai to figure out which artist wrote the tracks Sisyphus and Archipelago and which wrote songs like Piece of Your Action and Girls, Girls, Girls.