New this week: ‘Only Murders in the Building,’ ‘More Power’
Here’s a collection curated by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists of what’s available on TV, streaming services and music platforms this week.
MOVIES
The biggest new movie streaming this week is “The Princess,” coming to Hulu today, starring Joey King as a royal who refuses to marry her intended (with good reason, as he’s a sociopath). Still, the act of defiance gets her kidnapped and imprisoned while her betrothed tries to overthrow the kingdom. Le-Van Kiet directed the film, which also stars Dominic Cooper and Olga Kurylenko. Hulu also now has “Independence Day,” if you’re looking for a nostalgic watch leading up to the holiday.
Netflix is adding an army of titles starting today, including several films featuring recently departed actors. Ray Liotta’s star-making turn as aspiring mobster Henry Hill in Martin Scorsese’s “GoodFellas” is one of them. Liotta, who died last month at age 67, had to fight for the role in that cast of heavyweights like Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci. The intensity of his performance and his memorable narration made him stand out even so. Also arriving on Netflix today are “The Talented Mr. Ripley” and “Boogie Nights,” featuring two memorable performances by Philip Baker Hall, who died earlier this month at 90, as a dogged detective and an unsentimental producer.
And if “The Talented Mr. Ripley” doesn’t satiate your dreams of an Italian vacation, Amazon Prime Video is getting Ridley Scott’s “House of Gucci” on Saturday. The gaudy, operatic, two and a half hour family drama stars Adam Driver as the ill-fated Gucci heir Maurizio Gucci and Lady Gaga as his scorned wife Patrizia Reggiani, alongside a starry cast including Al Pacino, Jared Leto (unrecognizable under prosthetics) and Jeremy Irons.
— Lindsey Bahr
MUSIC
Imagine Dragons are back with the second half of their two-album “Mercury” project. “Act 1” came out in 2021 and was raw, confessional and searing, with the songs “Follow You,” “Wrecked” and “Enemy.” The new set — “Act 2” — drops today and promises another 18 tunes, including the upbeat, anthemic “Sharks” and “Bones.” In a video for the latter song, Dragons frontman Dan Reynolds plays a stock trader — decked out in ’80s-inspired clothing and huge hair — who soon is joined by dancing zombies in homage to the 1983 “Thriller” video. Reynolds has said the song is about the fragility of life.
Super-producer Jack Antonoff has a ’70s-era treat for us with the soundtrack for “Minions: Rise of Gru.” It features Diana Ross, Tame Impala, St. Vincent, Brockhampton, Kali Uchis and others covering hit ’70s material from Kool & the Gang, Nancy Sinatra, the Carpenters, John Lennon and many more. “Shining Star” is done by Brittany Howard, St. Vincent tackles “Funkytown,”
“Dance to the Music” is covered by H.E.R. and Phoebe Bridgers tries “Goodbye to Love.” — Mark Kennedy
TELEVISION
Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez are back as unlikely crime-solving New York City neighbors in Hulu’s “Only Murders in the Building.” In season two, the amateur sleuths are the talk of the town, or at least their apartment building, when they’re
linked to the death of the building board’s president. In a cruel twist, the trio that began a podcast to unravel a murder are under scrutiny by a rival podcast. Shirley MacLaine and Cara Delevingne are among the high-profile visitors for the series that returned Tuesday with two episodes.
“Home Improvement” sitcom buddies Tim Allen and Richard Karn reunite for “More Power,” a nonfiction series that explores the development and mechanics of tools, from big (bulldozers) to small (batteries). Each half-hour episode focuses on one implement, which gets dissected in Allen’s workshop with help from April Wilkerson of YouTube do-it-yourself fame. Karn explains the tool’s history, followed by field testing and a segment in which a skilled creator is challenged to devise innovative and “crazy new builds.” The series debuted Wednesday on History Channel. — Lynn Elber