Super-hyped Squad is here as expendables on a mission

Here is what’s on the radar screen in TV, music and film for the coming week.

MOVIES

Big releases on Aug. 5: Suicide Squad; Nine Lives.

Big picture: Suicide Squad is based on a DC comic and positions a band of super villains as highly unlikely, would-be heroes sent on a suicide mission. Their government orders will probably kill them, and no one will care, making them the even more expendable than The Expendables. Joel Kinnaman (The Killing) and Viola Davis (How to Get Away with Murder) hold their own as the nominal good guys overseeing the whole dubious enterprise. And it’s great to see Will Smith as part of an ensemble (small dose!) as the assassin Deadshot, but “It Girl” Margot Robbie steals this show as Harley Quinn, a sexy, deadly wild card that makes The Joker seem predictable (coincidentally, she has also stolen his heart). The Dark Knight’s arch-nemesis is brought to life by Jared Leto.

Meanwhile, Kevin Spacey’s fall from grace continues: from The Usual Suspects and American Beauty … to Mr. Fuzzypants. Spacey voices a cat inhabited by the soul of workaholic executive Tom Brand, essentially the inexplicable love child of Donald Trump and Scrooge. This non-animated film is essentially Big meets Garfield meets Dr. Doolittle … meets Spacey crying in his trailer between takes. For the record, Mr. Fuzzypants happens to be Brand’s oft-neglected daughter’s new pet, so there are life lessons to be learned.

Forecast: The Suicide Squad may be the heroes for our time. They’re like the Guardians of the Galaxy — if the Guardians were re-populated by Russian track-and-field athletes and FIFA executives who moonlight as psychotic criminal masterminds.

TV

Big Event: CMA Music Festival: Country’s Night to Rock (Aug. 3, ABC)

Big Picture: Country’s Night to Rock — a special with performances by Blake Shelton, Keith Urban and Luke Bryan — was recorded during June’s CMA Music Festival and features its top stars. Funny how one person’s “night to rock” might be another person’s night to turn off the TV, sip whisky and play old Johnny Cash records.

Forecast: My whisky stock is soon to be depleted. Bring on the Man in Black!

MUSIC

Big releases on Aug. 5: Nels Cline (Lovers); Dinosaur Jr. (Give a Glimpse of What Yer Not).

Big picture: Cline has played with some of the industry’s greatest (Wilco), but now is the esteemed guitarist’s time to shine (and call in some favours) with a double album featuring a talented ensemble of more than 20 musicians. Meanwhile, Dinosaur Jr. roars back with its followup to 2012’s I Bet on Sky. J Mascis and Lou Barlow remain a dangerously talented combination.

But with track titles like Mirror, Left/Right, and Love is … this album sounds like the talking points at a stoner convention.

Forecast: Given Drake’s Raptors’ obsession, don’t be surprised if he re-brands himself Dinosaur Sr.