New this Week: ‘Tina,’ ‘Runaway Bunny’ and ‘City on a Hill’
Here’s a collection curated by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists of what’s arriving on TV, streaming services and music platforms this week. MOVIES
— Most of last week’s Oscar nominees are already streaming or available on- demand. Florian Zeller’s “The Father,” though, is among the most recent arrivals; it becomes available on premium on- demand Friday. ( It’s also playing in theaters.) Based on Zeller’s own much-traveled play, “The Father” largely takes the perspective of its main character, 80- year- old Anthony (Anthony Hopkins), who’s in the grip of dementia. Zeller’s directorial debut was nominated for best picture, best actor (Hopkins) and best supporting actress (Olivia Colman, who plays Anthony’s daughter), as well as nods for production design, editing and adapted screenplay. My review called it a clever, not profound film but praised the lead performance: “To see Hopkins play all these ever- fluctuating turns of mood is riveting. He has grasped, at least for a proud man like Anthony, how one’s ego keeps fighting a battle it doesn’t know is already lost.”
— In Dan Lindsay and T.J. Martin’s revealing documentary “Tina,” Tina Turner surveys her tumultuous and extraordinary life. The film, which debuts Saturday on HBO and HBO Max, includes intimate interviews with the 81-year-old “Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll,” along with previously unseen footage, audio tapes and personal photos. Turner’s life has been much chronicled — including the 1986 autobiography “I, Tina” and its 1993 big- screen adaptation “What’s Love Got to Do With It.” But time has only made Turner’s swings between success, trauma and survival all the more powerful.
— Another Oscar nominee achieved a rare distinction. The piercing Romanian documentary “Collective” was nominated for both best documentary and best international film — something only one previous film ( “Honeyland,” in 2020) — has ever managed to do. Alexander Nanau’s film, which arrives Thursday on Hulu, was one of the very best of 2020. It trails the unlikely investigative journalists that doggedly reported on the fallout of a horrifying and deadly fire in a Bucharest nightclub. “As a journalism drama,” I earlier reviewed, “it’s as absorbing as ‘ Spotlight’ and more sober than ‘All the President’s Men.’” The film is also available on-demand and for digital rental.
— AP Film Writer Jake Coyle
MUSIC
— Carrie Underwood’s upcoming album features gospel hymns important to the “American Idol” winner. The 13-song “My Savior” includes “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” with CeCe Winans and “Nothing But The Blood of Jesus” with Bear Rinehart. “The songs on this album are literally songs that I’ve heard from birth,” Underwood shared in a trailer for the album. Also on the album are harmonica legend Buddy Greene, guitarist Mac McAnally, piano virtuoso Gordon Mote and frequent Underwood collaborator Brett James.