You’ve Gotta watch a feminist icon
She’s Gotta Have It: Series One 10 episodes, available Thursday
Not unlike Twin Peaks: The Return, Spike Lee’s new Netflix comedy series, She’s Gotta Have It, marks the development of a legendary filmmaker’s artistic concerns with the new canvas of a sprawling TV drama. And like David Lynch, Lee has returned to his origins to push his vision forward, reimagining his groundbreaking 1986 debut of the same name. The crucial difference is that where Lynch has continued to venture into the unknown and otherworldly, Lee has fully embraced the here and now, indulging devices like memes and hashtags as well as thematically focussing on things like feminism, toxic masculinity, the rampant gentrification of New York City, and the gig economy.
DeWanda Wise stars as Nola, a young Brooklyn artist who works a number of odd jobs to make ends meet, and has a romantic life not a million miles from Lena Dunham in Girls. As with that series, the specific plot seems less the point than the sharply observed misadventures of its central character and the slick music and imagery that is another of Spike Lee’s hallmarks.
The Story Of God With Morgan Freeman 6 episodes, available Saturday
If ever someone could explain God and the afterlife to us, it must be Morgan Freeman, whose weary, wise voice is a meditative experience all by itself. Freeman’s welcoming tones makes him an easy stand-in for the audience as he grapples with heavy topics concerning what happens after we die, why evil exists, where we come from and whether or not miracles really occur. It’s hard not to hear Red from The Shawshank Redemption in Freeman’s gentle narration when he says things like: “It’s a story we think we know, but I want to examine this promise of an afterlife more deeply.” The series literally spans the globe, jumping from India to Jerusalem to New Orleans all in one episode. The six-episode series interweaves Freeman’s personal background with global questions. Freeman also talks about the death of his brother and about his upbringing in Mississippi. “You can’t understand me without understanding where I was created,” he explains. It gives this series an extra texture.
Barbra: The Music ... The Mem’ries ... The Magic! Available from Wednesday
At 75 years old, Streisand doesn’t always hit the power notes — as ironically evidenced in the opening numbers of this concert, recorded last year in LA, but we mustn’t kvetch. After all, a few spots of vocal imperfection can hardly detract from the sheer magic of watching a living icon return to the stage after a three-year absence, recounting her storied career through a varied set list that included tracks from each of her No.1 selling albums, from Stoney End to Woman in Love to No More Tears (Enough is Enough), her disco-fied duet with the late Donna Summer. And if the vocals are not quite as shimmering as they once were, Streisand’s between song banter, which takes in Trump and gender politics, gives her fans plenty to laugh about. She also has some A-List guest stars, including James Corden and Jamie Foxx.
Hacksaw Ridge (2016) Available Wednesday
Mel Gibson might be living proof that whatever happens there is always a way back for a certain class of disgraced A-Lister. This film, which came out last year to decent reviews, returns to a couple of the themes that defined Gibson’s career back in The Passion of Christ days: power and violence. The film tells the story of a peaceful man, a real-life conscientious objector named Desmond Doss (Andrew Garfield). Doss was a medic in the army who refused to pick up a weapon, but never gave up his fight to serve his country and his fellow men. He was credited with rescuing 75 men in battle. The scenes leading up to the battle are rather clunky, especially with a miscast Vince Vaughn as Doss’s sergeant. Sam Worthington is better as an army captain. That doesn’t matter once they get to war. Gibson’s eye is fixed on the Battle of Okinawa, and he keeps a steadfast focus on the men and the flying bullets. His portrayal of war is horrific.