Pop forecast
‘You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows,’ Bob Dylan once wrote, 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 to expect this week in movies,
MOVIES
Big release on May 13: Money Monster.
Big picture: It’s 24 meets Wall Street meets The Big Short (with a touch of Die Hard). George Clooney is Lee Gates, a Fox News-style TV pundit whose finance show has made him a moneymaker and golden boy. But lives are ruined when Gates promotes a tech stock that crashes (and pounds of flesh are owed). During a live broadcast, one irate investor (Jack O’Connell) takes Gates, and his producer Patty (Julia Roberts) hostage. The duo must stay alive and uncover “big money lies” in front of an audience of millions. Imagine The Big Short if Christian Bale’s character had a gun to his head during all those drumming, headbanging scenes.
Forecast: Clooney will charm, as usual, but he should work on saving us instead of entertaining us. He (along with his brilliant lawyer wife, Amal) should take a shot at the White House in 2020 (instead of just taking shots at Donald Trump). Why are only our crazy celebs like Trump and Kanye West talking the presidency? With his humanitarian work, global awareness and handsome Hollywood smile, Clooney would be like a Democratic Ronald Reagan. He could even fill his cabinet with the cast of Ocean’s Eleven. Who would challenge the U.S. with Jason Bourne himself as Secretary of Defence?
Honourable mention: Kidnap. Halle Berry plays a mother who will do anything to recover her kidnapped son. Was Liam Neeson too busy to make another Taken?
Tv
Big events: ChelseaTalk (Netflix, May 11); Every Brilliant Thing (HBO, May 9).
Big picture: First, Canadian comic Samantha Bee goes Full Frontal on TBS. Now comic Chelsea Handler? Two female, late-night talk-show hosts? Donald Trump will surely put an end to this progress when he’s president, but for now we can enjoy the much-needed estrogen boost to the late-night boys club. Handler’s new 30-minute Netflix talk show will air three nights (Wednesday, Thursday, Friday) each week. Next up: An all-female Ghostbusters. Then, maybe a female president? This could be a great year for girl power. By 2017, expect other breakthroughs like the Hulk being replaced by She-Hulk in The Avengers, and Chad Kroeger ousted by Sarah McLachlan as lead singer of Nickelback. Meanwhile, Every Brilliant Thing brings an acclaimed one-man stage show about depression, suicide and the mother-child bond to life on the small screen. Taking the bucket-list concept into all-new emotional and funny territory, it’s about a young boy who eases his mother’s mental woes by starting a running tab of everything worth living for, from ice cream to things with stripes.
Forecast: Watch out all you late-night Jimmys and Jameses. Tina Fey, Amy Poehler and Mindy Kaling don’t have shows yet, and you’re trending down.
MUSIC
Big releases on May 13: Skydiggers (Here Without You: The Songs of Gene Clark); Islands (Should I Remain Here at Sea?) (Taste).
Big picture: As Gene Clark sang, “There’s a time to every purpose under heaven.” Even time for a cover album. Timeless Canadian altcountry band Skydiggers interpret the songs of Clark, the legendary singer-songwriter and founding member of The Byrds. The eight-track pop-folk tribute features songs like Eight Miles High and Feel A Whole Lot Better, and was produced by another homegrown icon, Michael Timmins of the Cowboy Junkies. Meanwhile, they say no man is island. And that’s even true for Islands frontman Nick Thorburn. After three years of seclusion from the band, Thorburn and Co. ambitiously release two albums on the same day. While Taste’s flavour is primarily electronica, Should I Remain Here At Sea? is a pop-rock sequel to the group’s 2006 effort Return to the Sea.
Forecast: I predict Clark’s tribute will inspire more. Taylor Swift covers Nirvana? Kanye West reimagines Johnny Cash? Or, in what could be the greatest Canuck mash-up of alltime: Drake covers the greatest hits of country superstar Shania Twain?