New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
New this week: Chrissie Hynde, loads of zombies and M.O.D.O.K
— In “The Dry,” Eric Bana returns to his native country for a taut, tense thriller set against the parched landscape of droughtstricken Australia. Grippingly directed by Robert Connelly with patient command and adapted from Jane Harper’s novel, “The
Dry” is one of the sturdiest thrillers seen in a while, with a firm grasp of the characters’ complicated pasts, their fraught present and an ominous, climate-shaped future.
— Ah, springtime. When the birds chirp, the flowers bloom and Zach Snyder releases six-plus hours of laden, thundering action content. Two months after the release of his four-hour edit of “Justice League,” the maximalist filmmaker has shifted to Netflix, and returned to zombies. His “Army of the
Dead” clocks in at 148 minutes, and comes seven years after Snyder’s last stab at zombies in the 2004 George A. Romero remake “Dawn of the Dead.” The film, starring Dave Bautista, Ella Purnell, Omari Hardwick and Ana De La Reguera, debuts Friday on Netflix after a week run in theaters.
MUSIC
— You can finally drive and listen to
Olivia Rodrigo’s new album in your car. The newcomer behind one of the year’s biggest hits is releasing her debut album, “SOUR,” on Friday.
— Chrissie Hynde is pretending to be Bob Dylan, sort of. The Pretenders frontwoman will release a Dylan covers album on Friday called “Standing in the Doorway: Chrissie Hynde Sings Bob Dylan.” Hynde recorded the nine-track album during the pandemic with her Pretenders bandmate James Walbourne, and it includes new interpretations of Dylan songs like “You’re a Big Girl Now,” “Love Minus Zero/No Limit,” “Don’t Fall Apart on Me Tonight” and “Every Grain of Sand.”
— Blake Shelton says the pandemic helped him create his new album because it allowed him to live with the songs longer than usual. As “The Voice” coach put it: “I
still feel as strongly as I do about (the songs). That makes me have even more confidence in the record.” Shelton will release “Body Language” on Friday. It is his 12th studio album and includes the singles “Minimum Wage” and the Gwen Stefani-featured “Happy Anywhere,” a platinum success that marks Shelton’s 28th No. 1 hit on Billboard’s country airplay chart.
TELEVISION
— Wrenching image images from COVID-burdened ICUs are an enduring part of the pandemic. PBS’ “Frontline” series and National Public Radio looked closer at American health care during the crisis and found a widening gap for those served by so-called “safety net” urban hospitals. “The Healthcare Divide,” the result of the investigative reporting with American University, is out Tuesday on PBS and its website, with NPR airing a story the same day on “All Things Considered.”
— “Marvel’s M.O.D.O.K.” had us at the voice casting of Patton Oswalt as the title’s maniacal supervillain. M.O.D.O.K — the Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing
— is kicked out of the evildoer organization A.I.M. after years of mismanagement, but retains his dream of world domination. As for the violence, Patton says it’s more “hilarious” than offensive or disturbing, promising it stops at “’Monty Python level.’” The 10episode adult animated series, debuting in full Friday on Hulu, co-stars Aimee Garcia, Melissa Fumero, Ben Schwartz, Beck Bennett and Jon Daly.
— A lovely seaside English town is home to homicide in “Whitstable Pearl,” an original Acorn TV six-part mystery series debuting May 24 on the streaming service. Pearl Nolan (Kerry Godliman), single mom, lead owner of the popular Whitstable Pearl eatery and a freshly minted private detective, is sure that a family friend’s death wasn’t accidental. The new police chief (Howard Charles) resists, but then buys into a theory that will shake up the village. That’s just episode one, with a possible murder by marmalade among the other crimes ahead. A running thread: Tension between traditionalists and the newcomers bent on Whitstable’s gentrification.