THE BOSS IS TAKING CHARGE
Springsteen rules the week with an album and Netflix special, Chris Lackner writes.
Big events: Pentatonix: A Not So Silent Night (Dec. 10, NBC); Chilling Adventures of Sabrina: A Midwinter’s Tale (Dec. 14, Netflix); Springsteen on Broadway (Dec. 16, Netflix)
Big picture: Sabrina is here to save you from the saccharine. The teenage witch has her own devilish holiday special. The Church of Night celebrates the Winter Solstice like any good coven of pagan witches: ghosts, demons, magic, merriment and murder.
Love the tagline: “Holidays can be such a witch.” Speaking of sugary TV, whose up for music with no instruments? Aren’t a cappella groups really just small choirs? I’m looking at you Grammy-winning Pentatonix. The vivacious vocalists are joined for a holiday special by the likes of Kelly Clarkson and Backstreet Boys.
Meanwhile, The Boss’s critically acclaimed one-man Broadway show gets the Netflix special treatment. Baby, you were born to run to the kitchen, grab a snack and get up close and personal with a rock ’n’ roll legend. Forecast: Halloween is coming for second helpings. Sabrina Spellman’s chilling adventures are binge worthy.
If you haven’t watched season 1 of this series yet, catch up before this holiday special.
MUSIC
Big release on Dec. 14: Springsteen on Broadway
Big picture: Bruce dominates this week in pop culture. This album is based on his biography-turned-Broadway-show-turned-Netflix-special. It features candid, intimate stories paired with acoustic versions of Springsteen’s classics. Give The Boss credit — he’s dedicated. An eightweek run of the show turned into more than 200 performances. People couldn’t get enough — and neither will the classic rock lover on your holiday list. Forecast: The Boss has taken to Broadway and returned in the unlikely role as the Phantom. The classic song Inside Your Mind is reworked — mainly with Thunder Road lyrics. “The Phantom of the Opera is there ... inside your burnt-out Chevrolet.” Catchy, right?
MOVIES
Big releases (Dec. 14): Mortal Engines; Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse; The Mule
Big picture: We all know about the Stone Age, the Middle Ages and the Industrial Age. But the dystopian future in Mortal Engines promises “the age of the great predator cities” — slogan: “survival of the fastest.” It’s like The Fast and the Furious meets Mad Max meet The Hunger Games. Hundreds of years after a cataclysmic event nearly wiped out humanity in the span of 60 minutes, what’s left of the Earth is fought over by ... um ... cities on wheels. Luckily, the planetary disaster was also kind enough not to wipe out the materials necessary to build elaborate steampunk costumes. Apparently, London is the biggest “predator city” of all, with a voracious appetite for lesser cities, their people and their resources. Enter Hester Shaw (Hera Hilmar), the obligatory bad-ass teenage heroine — and the secret to stopping London and its hooligan leaders.
Spider-Man: Into the SpiderVerse is an animated superhero flick about Brooklyn teen Miles Morales and the limitless number of fellow masked Spider-folk he discovers in the Spider-Verse. Finally, a movie with a positive message: YOU can be Spider-Man, too. In fact, we all can. Thank the Spider-Verse. Or whatever. All I know is I finally feel like I have a solid career backup plan.
Meanwhile, Clint Eastwood plays a down-and-out senior turned unlikely mule for a Mexican drug cartel.
Forecast: Mortal Engines 2 will feature a city called Ottawa that taxes people to death.