New this week: Carrie Underwood, ‘The Janes,’ Adam Sandler
MOVIES
— Adam Sandler, long a pick-up player, channels his affection for basketball into Jeremiah Zagar’s “Hustle,” debuting Friday on Netflix. In the film, produced by Lebron James, Sandler plays Stanley Sugarman, a scout for the Philadelphia 76ers who discovers a streetballer in Spain (played by Utah Jazz forward Juancho Hernangómez).
— Tia Lessin and Emma Pildes’ “The Janes” is about a group of women who banded together in Chicago in the late ’60s and early ’70s to clandestinely offer illegal abortions to women who needed them in the years before the 1973 decision of Roe v. Wade. The film, which debuts on HBO and HBO Max on Wednesday, has obvious new relevance after the leak of a draft opinion suggesting the U.S. Supreme Court is poised to overturn the landmark decision legalizing abortion.
— The Criterion Channel this month is making the case that less can be more. The streaming service is hosting a series of microbudget movies made for $150,000 or less. Many of them are classics despite — or because of — their gritty leanness, including the nasty noir “Detour,” Melvin Van Peebles’ Blaxploitation triumph “Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song,” Jim Jarmusch’s breakthrough “Stranger Than Paradise” and Christopher Nolan’s debut “Following.”
MUSIC
— Carrie Underwood seems to be aiming for that sweet spot between country and pop with her new album out Friday, June 10, “Denim & Rhinestones.” Underwood co-wrote 11 of the 12 tracks on “Denim & Rhinestones” with many of her frequent collaborators.
— A lot of BTS drops Friday and we mean a lot. The three-disc anthology album, “Proof ” includes 48 tracks featuring many of the band’s hit singles as well as three brand-new songs.
— Summer means the return of cherries and how appropriate that the sweet sound of Neneh Cherry songs arrives this week. A collaboration of covers, “The Versions,” contains Cherry classic hits by women artists inspired by her work. The first two singles from the album are Robyn’s take on “Buffalo Stance” and Sia’s reworking of “Manchild.” Other artists on the album include Anohni, Greentea Peng, Seinabo Sey, Kelsey Lu, Honey Dijon, Jamila Woods and Sudan Archives. Cherry’s daughter, Tyson, bringing her own sensual attitude to mom’s “Sassy.”
TELEVISION
— “All Rise” was canceled by CBS after two seasons, but the verdict was reversed when the OWN channel gave the legal drama a new home. Simone Missick stars as Lola Carmichael, a respected former deputy district attorney who’s making waves as a new judge. “All Rise,” debuting Tuesday, picks up six months after season two’s conclusion as it follows the personal and professional lives of Judge Carmichael and the prosecutors, public defenders and others in the beehive of a Los Angeles courthouse. Wilson Bethel, Jessica Camacho and Marg Helgenberger are part of the cast.
— Stephen Merchant moves onto radically different turf with BritBox’s “The Barking Murders,” a three-part drama based on the real-life story of a British serial killer, how police investigated the crimes and their effect on the gay community he targeted. Merchant is known as a comedy creator and actor (the original “The Office,” “Extras”) who’s appeared in dramas (“Logan,” as Caliban), but here he takes on the lead role of Stephen Port, who’s serving a life sentence for rape and four murders. “The Barking Murders” debuts Tuesday on the streaming service.
— The characters are Gen Z middleschoolers but the comedy is aimed at adults in “Fairfax,” the Amazon Prime animated series returning for its sophomore season on Friday. Billy Porter, Camila Mendes, Yvette Nicole Brown and Guy Fieri are among the guest voice actors popping in on the series, which takes a bemused look at four besties growing up in a social-media dominated world amid the familiar challenges and angst of the early teen years. Skyler Gisondo, Kiersey Clemons, Peter S. Kim and Jaboukie Young-White star.