Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Dead man’s plan: Netflix launches ‘Operation Mincemeat’
WHAT’S NEW ON NETFLIX “Operation Mincemeat” (2022)
Keep your friends close and your enemies closer for the release of the new war drama “Operation Mincemeat,” available to stream on Netflix beginning Wednesday, May 11. Based on Ben Macintyre’s 2010 book of the same name, the film dramatizes the events surrounding Britain’s Operation Mincemeat during World War II in 1943. While the allies are determined to break Hitler’s hold on occupied Europe, an all-out assault on Sicily seems like their best course of action. Hoping to take on this daring operation without subjecting their own troops to a massacre, it falls to two intelligence officers, Ewen Montagu (Colin Firth, “The King’s Speech,” 2010) and Charles Cholmondeley (Matthew Macfadyen, “Succession”), to create an elaborate disinformation strategy to throw their enemies off their trail. In order to save thousands of lives, the men recruit the skills of the most unlikely secret agent imaginable: a dead man. Directed by John Madden (“Shakespeare in Love,” 1998) and featuring a screenplay by Michelle Ashford (“Masters of Sex”), the film also stars Rufus Wright (“Shetland”), Kelly Macdonald (“No Country for Old Men,” 2007), Ruby Bentall (“Poldark”), Charlotte Hamblin (“The Stand Up Sketch Show”), Johnny Flynn (“Emma.” 2020), Lorne MacFadyen (“Outlaw King,” 2018), Penelope Wilton (“The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel,” 2011) and Mark Gatiss (“The League of Gentlemen”).
WHAT’S NEW ON HULU “Candy”
Experience the gruesome true crime story of a mother pushed too far in the new Hulu miniseries “Candy,” premiering on the streaming platform Monday, May 9, with new episodes releasing daily until Friday, May 13. Jessica Biel (“The Sinner”) plays 1980s housewife Candy Montgomery, who seemingly had the perfect suburban life, complete with a nice house and a loving husband, son and daughter. Always doing everything right and conforming to society’s expectations, it’s a shock to all when Candy snaps and kills her friend, Betty Gore (Melanie Lynskey, “Yellowjackets”), with an axe. From creators Robin Veith (“Mad Men”) and Nick Antosca (“Channel Zero”), “Candy” is directed by Jennifer Getzinger (“Mad Men”), Benjamin Semanoff (“One of Us Is Lying”), Michael Uppendahl (“Fargo”) and Tara Nicole Weyr (“WuTang: An American Saga”). The series cast is rounded out by Raúl Esparza (“Law & Order: Special Victims Unit”), Sharon Conley (“The Blind Side,” 2009), Aven Lotz (“A Unicorn for Christmas,” 2021), Dash McCloud (“Launchpad”), Antonella Rose (“A Christmas Carol,” 2019), Russell Thomas (“The Oval”) and Kevin Howell (“The First Lady”).
WHAT’S NEW ON PEACOCK “Firestarter” (2022)
Things are heating up Friday, May 13, when the new sci-fi horror film “Firestarter” premieres in theaters and streams on Peacock. Based on the Steven King novel of the same name, this reboot of the 1984 film adaptation stars Zac Efron (“The Greatest Showman,” 2017) and Sydney Lemmon (“Fear the Walking Dead”) as Andy and Vicky McGee, a couple who have been on the run for more than a decade to protect their daughter, Charlie (Ryan Kiera Armstrong, “American Horror Story”), who has incredible powers of pyrokinesis. When Charlie turns 11 and her powers become harder to control, the shadowy government agency that has been hunting her gets closer than ever to taking her away, but Charlie isn’t leaving her family without a fight. Directed by Keith Thomas (“The Vigil,” 2019), “Firestarter” features a screenplay by Scott Teems (“Rectify”). Kurtwood Smith (“The ‘70s Show”), Gloria Reuben (“Mr. Robot”), Michael Greyeyes (“Rutherford Falls”), Tina Jung (“Strays”) and Vas Saranga (“Salvation”) also star in the film.
WHAT’S NEW ON DISNEY+ “Sneakerella” (2022)
Get a chance to be the belle (or beau) of the ball with “Sneakerella,” the new family musical comedy adaptation of the classic Cinderella fairytale, available to stream Friday, May 13, on Disney+. Working as a stock boy at a sneaker store in Queens that used to belong to his late mother, aspiring sneaker designer El (Chosen Jacobs, “It,” 2017) is forced to hide his artistic dream from his stepfather and meanspirited stepbrothers. But when El falls for Kira King (Lexi Underwood, “Little Fires Everywhere,” 2020), the daughter of basketball legend and shoe tycoon Darius King (John Salley, “Bad Boys,” 1995), El gains the courage to pursue his dreams with the help of his best friend, Sami (Devyn Nekoda, “Ginny & Georgia”) and just a little bit of magic. Directed by Elizabeth Allen Rosenbaum (“Relationship Status”), this new family-friendly film is written by David Light (“Z-O-M-B-I-E-S,” 2018), Joseph Raso (“Seed”), George Gore II (“My Wife and Kids”), Tamara Chestna (“After,” 2019) and Mindy Stern (“The Baxters”). Kolton Stewart (“Astrid and Lilly Save the World”), Bryan Terrell Clark (“Snowpiercer”), Hayward Leach (“Love Life”), Juan Chioran (“Around the World in 80 Days, 2021), Robyn Alomar (“Utopia Falls”) and Yvonne Senat Jones (“Ruthless”) also star in the film.