New this week: J.Lo doc, ‘Martin’ reunion and ‘Spiderhead’
MOVIES
— “Good Luck to You, Leo Grande,” debuts on Hulu on Friday and “Cha Cha Real Smooth,” starts streaming on Apple TV+ Friday as well. “Cha Cha” looks at post-grad malaise from the eyes of 22year-old Andrew who strikes up a friendship with a single mom and her daughter while working as a bar-mitzvah party starter. “Leo Grande” focuses on a character in a different stage of life: Emma Thompson plays a 50-something widow and retired teacher who hires a handsome young sex worker to to break her out of her funk.
— Netflix also has some high-profile films coming this week. First up is the Jennifer Lopez documentary “Halftime,” which starts streaming Tuesday. The doc focuses on the months leading up to her halftime performance at the Super Bowl in 2020 and promises candid and vulnerable moments, including the morning she found out she did not get an Oscar nomination for “Hustlers.”
Then, on Friday the sci-fi thriller “Spiderhead” debuts. Based on a George Saunders short story, Chris Hemsworth plays an eccentric scientist who runs a state-of-the-art penitentiary and is administering experimental emotion-controlling drugs on the inmates.
— And over on HBO Max, there is a new “Father of the Bride” remake coming Thursday. Andy Garcia and Gloria Estefan play the parents of the bride (Adria Arjona). Not only are the parents having their own marital problems, but Sophie’s fiancé, Adam (Diego Boneta), is Mexican, leading to some cultural clashes with her Cuban family.
MUSIC
— The members of Foals feel like dancing and who can blame them? The British indie darlings spent 2019 putting out a complex social commentary in two parts — “Everything Not Saved Will Be
Lost” — and now it’s time for some fun. “Life Is Yours” is a shimmering album of airy, uplifting songs.
— Alanis Morissette once famously sang “I am not the doctor” but she’s got some calming advice this summer. The Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter will release “The Storm Before the Calm,” an album of guided meditations co-written with Dave Harrington, on Friday.
— Two iconic music acts — The Beach Boys and Frank Zappa — have streaming offerings this week. “Sounds of Summer: The Very Best of The Beach Boys,” originally released in 2003, has been updated in both number of songs and audio quality, expanding the original 30 tracks for a total of 80. And “Zappa/Erie” is a new six-disc boxed set/digital collection that contains more than seven hours of unreleased material, including a trio of live
shows recorded 1974-76. Of the 71 tracks, only 10 minutes have been released before.
TELEVISION
— “Becoming Elizabeth,” which debuted Sunday on Starz, stars Alicia von Rittberg as the orphaned teenager who is destined for the English throne — but not without a struggle, as depicted by series creator-writer Anya Reiss. When King Henry VIII is succeeded by his 9-year-old son, Henry.
— Here’s whazzup: It’s been 30 years since “Martin” debuted, and BET+ is marking the anniversary with “Martin: The Reunion.” Original cast members Martin Lawrence, Tisha Campbell, Tichina Arnold and Carly Anthony Payne II revisit the 1992-97 sitcom with music and celebrity guests including Snoop Dogg, Brian McKnight, Tracy Morgan and Marla Gibbs.