‘Spirited,’ Pokémon game spinoff out now
Mickey Mouse gets own documentary.
Here’s a collection curated by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists of what’s arriving on TV, streaming services, music and video game platforms this week.
■ Family films have been few and far between in theaters lately, but they’re proliferating on streaming services. One of Netflix’s biggest forays into the field yet is “Slumberland,” a $90-million fantasy adventure by “Hunger Games” director Francis Lawrence. The film, which debuts today on Netflix, is about a young girl (Marlow Barkley) who enters the dreamworld of Slumberland, where a rogue named Flip ( Jason Momoa) helps her try to find her late father. It’s loosely based on Winsor Mccay’s early 20th century comic stream, “Little Nemo in Slumberland.”
■ The holiday movies are also already merrily making their way onto home screens. “Spirited,” a riff on “A Christmas Carol” starring Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds, debuts today on Apple TV+. A lavish song-and-dance musical that transfers Charles Dickens’ classic to modern day and reimagines it from the ghosts’ perspectives. (Ferrell plays “Present”.) In her more measured than humbug review, Bahr said “Spirited” “comes up short as a musical,” but “is still pretty enjoyable.”
■ In “Nope,” Jordan Peele has once again made a rarity in Hollywood: a wholly original film that was also a box-office hit. In his third film as writer-director, following “Get Out” and “Us,” Peele extends his darkly unsettling oeuvre into science fiction. The film, arrives today on Peacock after a
theatrical run this summer in theaters, is about a mysterious alien force that hovers in the clouds above a California ranch. The film reteams Peele with “Get Out” star Daniel Kaluuya, whose character maintains a family horse wrangling business with his sister (Keke Palmer). In her review, AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr said “Nope” “offers a lot to chew on, which is more than most big summer spectacles can promise.”
■ Chris Hemsworth, aka “Thor,” puts himself to the test in National Geographic’s “Limitless,” part of an effort to discover the human body’s durability and how best to confront aging. Accompanied by friends and presumably nervous family members, Hemsworth undertakes challenges including swimming across an almost-freezing Arctic fjord, climbing a 100foot rope suspended over a canyon and living with a simulation of what his body might be like at nearly 90 years of age. Created by filmmaker Darren Aronofsky, the six-part series debuted Wednesday on Disney+.
■ He was born Steamboat Willie in a 1928 animated short, but like a lot of older stars he rebranded with a catchier name. He’s finally getting the documentary treatment with “Mickey: The Story of a Mouse,” debuting today on, natch, Disney+. The product of Walt Disney’s fertile imagination, Mickey became beloved by children and adults and a cash mouse for Disney’s growing entertainment empire. The chipper Mickey also proved an adaptable icon, as detailed in the film from director Jeff Malmberg and producer Morgan Neville (both of whom worked on the Fred Rogers documentary, “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”).
■ Fox Nation’s four-part series marking the 150-year history of magnificent Yellowstone National Park has the appropriate host in Kevin Costner, star of the Paramount+ drama “Yellowstone.” In “Yellowstone: One-fifty,” debuting Sunday, Costner follows the path of an 1870s geological expedition in the western region that later became the first U.S. national park; visits Yellowstone during an inhospitable winter with minus-40 degree temperatures and explores the park’s thousands of years of human history.
■ Neil Young & Crazy Horse have a new 11-track studio album, “World Record,” produced by Rick Rubin and Young. Neil Young & Crazy Horse have had a prolific couple of years: In 2019, they issued “Colorado,” followed by “Barn” in 2021.
■ Broadway stars and husband and wife Colin Donnell and Patti Murin release their first joint album, “Something Stupid,” today. The couple tackle 12 tracks by Bruce Springsteen, Sara Bareilles, Jason Robert Brown, Paul Simon and more. Murin played Princess Anna in Disney’s “Frozen” on Broadway and has been a recurring character on NBC’S “Chicago Med,” a show that has also starred Donnell. His Broadway credits include “Violet,” “Anything Goes” and “Jersey Boys.”
Video games
Longtime Pokémon players know they can depend on Nintendo to regularly introduce new batches of the combative critters. Meet Sprigatito, a mesmerizing grass cat; Fuecoco, an excitable fire croc; and Quaxly, a duck with a nasty kick. They’re the starting characters in “Pokémon Scarlet”
and “Pokémon Violet.”
Nintendo says trainers will be able to freely explore a more expansive open world, a shift away from the linear storylines of previous games. Fans can resume the eternal effort to catch ’em all today on the Nintendo Switch.