Bruce Willis has a Death Wish
Pop forecast: What to expect in movies, television and music
MOVIES
Big releases on March 2: Death Wish
Big picture: Yes, I was hoping this Bruce Willis vehicle was a surprise sequel to The Sixth Sense. Sadly, no. In an era of American machismo and endless gun violence, did we really need to remake Charles Bronson’s 1974 vigilante classic? Willis plays a surgeon whose wife and daughter are viciously attacked at home, which of course spurs him on to an epic crusade of vigilante justice. It’s Falling Down meets Batman meets Robin Hood ( minus the merry), and this flick is chalk full of eerie lines like, “I want to buy a gun” and “If a man really wants to protect what’s his, he has to do it for himself” and “Someone has to do it.”
Forecast: Willis never shoots blanks; he is at his box- office best when he dies hard and kills often.
TV
Big events: McMafia ( AMC, Feb. 26); Living Biblically ( Feb. 26, CBS/ CTV Two); Good Girls ( Feb. 26, NBC)
Big picture: First, AMC airs a BBC- produced crime saga about a young, handsome banker forced to turn “gangster” after being dragged into his extended family’s international crime business. The always excellent David Strathairn shines brightest in an sinisterly sublime cast. “Wars are fought in board rooms, not on the streets,” one character intones. Indeed. Meanwhile, Living Biblically is a sitcom that promises just that — a semi- shady dad ( Jay R. Ferguson) who goes old school — as in Old Testament commandments — in a “soul cleanse” to get his life back on track. Based on Esquire editor A. J. Jacobs’s book, The Year of Living Biblically, this one promises comedic moments like said dad being forced to throw a stone at an adulterous work colleague dining out with his mistress. I guarantee there will also be reoccurring “you shall not covet your neighbour’s wife” jokes.
Meanwhile, Good Girls goes Thelma & Louise fast after three suburban moms ( Christina Hendricks, Mae Whitman, and Retta) decide to rob a grocery store to solve their financial woes. Mad Men’s bombshell, Christina Hendricks, fires up the screen with one- liners like, “I am going to take a shower. I smell like booze and crime.”
Forecast: Living Biblically. Why not? Probably beats my nightly “soul cleanse” bottle of Chardonnay while watching the nightly news. Meanwhile, Good Girls has game thanks to its triplethreat dynamic female leads. It will also inspire me try a new line on my wife after we watch the bleak evening news. “I am going to take a shower. I smell like wine and resignation.”
MUSIC
Big releases on March 2: Moby ( Everything Was Beautiful, and Nothing Hurt); Joan Baez ( Whistle Down the Wind)
Big picture: Speaking of Biblical, Moby promises a return to gospel and trip- hop. For the record, I’m not sure that combo was in The Bible. The effort’s debut single is Like a Motherless Child, a reworking of the traditional southern spiritual. Other “uplifting” tracks names include The Tired and the Hurt, The Sorrow Train and A Dark Cloud is Coming. Gee, Moby, thanks for cheering us all up from our mid- winter blues.
Meanwhile, iconic folk rocker Joan Baez puts out a covers album, including songs by Josh Ritter, Mary Chapin Carpenter and Tom Waits. It’s all in celebration of her final year of touring in 2018.
Forecast: You won’t listen to Moby’s new album after watching the news — unless you want to go through two bottles of Chardonnay in one night.