THE REAL COLBERT
Talk show set to debut
Here is what’s on the radar screen in TV, music and film for the coming week.
MOVIES
Big release on Sept. 11: The Visit Big picture: Grandparents haven’t got this bad a rap since the Big Bad Wolf cross-dressed as an octogenarian in an attempt to chow down on Little Red Riding Hood. Writer-director M. Night Shyamalan tries to mount yet another comeback. Fans and critics alike hope the horror maestro comes to his “sixth senses” after flops like The Happening and After Earth. There is reason for optimism. Shyamalan is at his best when creepy crawling his way through family dynamics. In The Visit, a mom sends her two kids to visit their grandparents. Nana (Deanna Dunagan) and Pop-Pop (Peter McRobbie) look like the sweet, “spoil-the-kids rotten” types at first. But when the kids are told never to leave their bedroom after 9:30 p.m., things head on a runaway train to Spookville. For starters, Nana acts like the girl from The Exorcist after the lights go out, and Pop-Pop may have some literal skeletons in the closet. Justifiably, the kids want to end their vacation early, but mom thinks they’re just homesick. Forecast: Shyamalan will find redemption with this of mix of psychological horror and dark humour. The film promises one of Shyamalan’s twist endings, so best to avoid all Internet spoilers. What could be wrong with the evil elders? Are they demonically possessed? Witches? Cultists? Aliens? Alien witches? Fox Mulder’s parents? Chronic Fox News watchers?
TV
Big event: The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (Sept. 8, CBS/ Global) Big picture: Farewell David Letterman. Long live the Late Show reign of Stephen Colbert! Fitting that one awkward, oddly lovable weirdo has been replaced with another. But Letterman’s smarmy curmudgeon had no competition in his early days; he was a breath of fresh air on late-night TV. Colbert will be competing with himself: a public brand defined by the faux right-wing blowhard he played on The Colbert Report for years. Consider “real” Stephen a work in progress. How can he appeal to a generation that sees him as a mastermind of political satire, without being too eccentric for Middle America (e.g. Conan O’Brien)? Expect a more genuine and grounded Colbert, with occasional, gentler doses of his pointed sarcasm. But he recently told GQ he enjoys the “unconventional” and occasionally “uncomfortable,” so guests shouldn’t expect the overdose of puppy love they get on Jimmy Fallon. Forecast: Colbert will find his own late-night niche. His intelligence will see him through any initial bumps, and Colbert can outwit most rival hosts in his sleep. The premiere presents another potential melodrama. Colbert’s career exploded after his famous, razor-sharp White House Correspondents Dinner speech with U.S. president George W. Bush. Fittingly, younger Bush brother and wannabe prez, Jeb, is one of his first guests. Awkward much?
MUSIC
Big releases on Sept. 11: Beirut (No, No, No); Jewel (Picking Up the Pieces) Big picture: Nothing will match the Gypsy-influenced, orchestral magic of Beirut’s first two albums. In fact, Beirut’s mastermind, Zach Condon, veers even further toward mainstream pop with his first effort since 2011. The eclectic instruments are mostly gone as Condon charts a course for shallower musical waters following a messy divorce and a physical and mental breakdown he suffered while on tour. Meanwhile, Jewel picks up the pieces of her folk-pop career on the 20th anniversary of her confessional 1995 debut, Pieces of You. The singer-songwriter’s soulful yodel is still a rare treasure, and this one even finds her collaborating with Dolly Parton on the autobiographical tune My Father’s Daughter. Forecast: Jewel is still looking for someone to save her soul, and fans are willing to oblige. Even a lighter, more accessible Beirut is reason for indie music fans to say, “Yes, yes, yes!”