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Pop Forecast looks at week ahead
“You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows,” but these days, a guide through the seemingly endless flurry of pop culture offerings is just what we need. With that in mind, here is what’s on the radar screen in TV, music and film for the coming week.
MOVIES
Big releases on Aug. 12: Sausage Party; Pete’s Dragon. Big picture: Yup. It’s come to this. Animators have projected human faces and voices onto everything from animals and cars to planes and toys — even freakin’ emotions. What else was left other than talking deli meat? Grocery-store goodies get the anthropomorphic treatment in this adult cartoon. “We’re chosen!” cheer the deli meat, buns and produce before one sausage learns the terrible truth: they’re all on the menu. This oddity is from the comic talents behind Superbad and Pineapple Express (Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg). In fact, Rogen voices the hero of the tale, Frank the sausage, while Kristen Wiig voices his love interest, the hotdog bun Brenda. Sigh. (That faint sound you just heard? That’s the sound of Walt Disney weeping from beyond the grave.)
Speaking of ... Pete’s Dragon remakes the 1977 Disney film. Robert Redford plays an old-timer who tells kids stories about a fierce forest dragon; his daughter Grace (Bryce Dallas Howard) thinks he is full of it until she meets a mysterious boy who claims to live in the woods with a dragon named Elliot. I’m hoping Game of Thrones’ Daenerys Targaryen shows up before this thing gets too sappy; she can use her dragons to burn down Silicon Valley and “free” the human slaves addicted to Pokémon Go. Forecast: With deli meat conquered, what’s left for animators? Next up I expect a heartfelt Pixar film about talking vacuum cleaners enslaved by their human overlords. But my entertainment vote will always be parked with dragons over talking hotdogs.
TV
Big events: The Get Down (Aug. 12, Netflix; Geeking Out (Aug. 14, AMC). Big picture: It’s like Moulin Rouge meets Saturday Night Fever meets Glee meets A Bronx Tale. (I know. I’m scared, too). Baz Luhrmann’s flashy new Netflix musical-drama follows a ragtag crew of South Bronx teens in 1970s New York City. Watch — and listen — to the dawn of hip hop, punk and disco.
Meanwhile, the geeks have now taken over late night TV, too. Director Kevin Smith (Clerks) co-hosts a new, eight-part talk show for fanboys and fangirls. It will serve up a mishmash of pop culture interviews, clips, host banter and outof-studio segments. (Geeking Out sounds like EVERY other talk show with celebrity guests. After all, the only acting roles left these days are based on comic books.) Forecast: My crystal ball is foggy on these two. What I can tell you is I would have rather seen Luhrmann create a musical about comic book geeks — mainly to witness the epic ballad, Living in My Parents Basement, Eating Doritos, and Reading Spider-Man While Daydreaming About Kissing an Elven Princess.
MUSIC
Big releases on Aug. 12: Blind Pilot (And Then Like Lions); The Pack A.D. (Positive Thinking). Big picture: Blind Pilot is this year’s The Lumineers or Mumford & Sons. The only difference? The versatile Oregon group’s songs don’t ALL sound the same. Meanwhile, Vancouver rockers The Pack A.D. aim to leave the rest of the pack behind. My prediction? The nihilistic, hard rockers’ positive thinking will get results, and a Polaris Prize nomination. Forecast: Blind Pilot deserves to be at the top of the folk-rock ladder. Meanwhile, the Pack A.D. will inspire other Canadian bands to create their own “wishful thinking” albums. I expect a new Nickelback album titled My Hair Isn’t Greasy & My Songs Aren’t Misogynistic, Shallow Drivel.