THREE’S A CROWD, FOUR’S A CAST
The only thing Hollywood likes more than a star vehicle is a many- star vehicle
Full Circle
HBO Max
His movies get all the love, but Steven Soderbergh is an underappreciated TV auteur, most notably for his great Cinemax historical hospital drama The Knick.
So when he puts together a killer cast — including Zazie Beetz, Claire Danes, Timothy Olyphant, Dennis Quaid, Jharrel Jerome, and . . . Jim Gaffigan? — for a sprawling New Yorkset crime miniseries (about all the secrets uncovered by an investigation into a botched kidnapping), written by Men in Black and Now You See Me’s Ed Solomon (a previous collaborator on Soderbergh’s interactive TV show Mosaic) that sounds a bit like the approach he took with Traffic?
We pay attention.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
May 5
Marvel’s resident band of interstellar misfits returns for one final Guardians jaunt through the galaxy. (This is the MCU we’re talking about, though, so take that “final” bit with a boulder-size grain of salt.) Director James Gunn locks and loads what promises to be an epic cosmo-shopping adventure, which gives us a surly teen Groot and an origin story for Rocket Raccoon; brings back Zoe Saldaña’s Gamora from the dead (wait, what?); and promises to introduce Will Poulter ( Midsommar) as Adam Warlock
— a big deal if you grew up reading comic books in the 1970s. Expect the usual crossover cameos, a revelatory end-credits sequence or two, and a lot of cheesy classic-rock tunes dotting the soundtrack. Plus, this entry is a key part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s “Phase 5,” so don’t be surprised if someone yells
“But what about the Quantum Realm?!” at least once.
Masters of the Air
Apple TV+
First, there was Saving Private Ryan. Then Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg took their World War II fascination to pre
mium cable with the 2001 miniseries Band of Brothers, which has become perhaps the most beloved piece of dad programming ever made. In 2010, they followed it with the raw and visceral The Pacific. More than a decade later, and now away from HBO, the duo reteam (along with Band writers Graham Yost and John Orloff) for the latest chapter in this Greatest Generation collaboration, about bomber crews in the war’s European theater. Where the previous projects had largely white ensembles, this one will feature Black characters. Ncuti Gatwa (soon to star in Doctor Who) joins Austin Butler (a.k.a. Elvis) and Barry Keoghan to head up a cast composed of mostly unknowns.
But Band and Pacific had future stars like
Damian Lewis and Rami Malek, so don't be surprised to see breakouts from this talented group.
Guardians is back? Expect crossover cameos, a revealing endcredits credits sequence, and a lot of cheesy classic-rock tunes.