New this week: ‘Sex and the City,’ Juice Wrld and Will Smith
MOVIES
— Fresh off his Oscar nomination Riz Ahmed teams up with “Beast” director Michael Pearce for “Encounter,” an alien invasion/family drama hitting Amazon Prime Video on Friday. Ahmed plays an ex-Marine with a host of troubles that only compound when he suspects his ex-wife, with whom he shares two sons, may have been infected by the extraterrestrials. What starts as a straightforward science fiction adventure takes on its own life as a family drama — a choice some might disagree with.
— Sandra Bullock struck viewership gold with “Bird Box” on Netflix and now is back with another very different project, “The Unforgivable,” about a woman trying to reenter society after serving her time in prison for a violent crime. “The Unforgivable” hits Netflix on Friday.
— Netflix also has the animated “Back to the Outback” also arriving on Friday. It’s a lighthearted pic about a group of Australia’s “deadliest creatures” looking to escape from a zoo. The starry voice cast includes Eric Bana as the zookeeper, Isla Fisher as a taipan, Tim Minchin as a koala, Guy Pearce as a funnel web spider and Keith Urban as a cane toad.
MUSIC
— Juice Wrld may be gone but he’s far from forgotten, “Fighting Demons,” drop Friday. And there’s more on him coming: A HBO documentary “Juice Wrld: Into the Abyss” debuts Dec. 16 directed by Tommy Oliver.
— Alicia Keys doesn’t have one album coming out this winter, she has two. “Keys,” out Friday, will be a double album, with one half titled “Originals” featuring her singing with a piano, or as she posted, “laid back piano vibes.” The other half, titled “Unlocked,” will feature the same songs but with “upbeat, drums, level up vibes.”
TELEVISION
— ABC’s 1970s and ‘80s sitcom nostalgia franchise, “Live in Front of a Studio Audience,” is back with reenactments of “Diff’rent Strokes” and “The Facts of Life” episodes. They’re paired in a special airing 8 p.m.-9:30 p.m. Tuesday, with star-filled casts that may indicate Hollywood’s fondness for the shows or a craving for the adrenaline rush of stage work. The reprise of “Diff’rent Strokes” stars John Lithgow, Kevin Hart and Damon Wayans. “The Facts of Life” features Jennifer Aniston, Gabrielle Union, Allison Tolman, Kathryn Hahn and, somehow, Jon Stewart. Ann Dowd appears in both episodes.
— Will Smith stars in a real-life global adventure in “Welcome to Earth,” a sixpart limited series out Wednesday on Disney+. Produced by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Darren Aronofsky (“Black Swan”), the National Geographic series promises a “multisensory” exploration of the planet’s wonders. Smith says he asked the pros to take him to the ends of the Earth and was told, “Oh, we can go further than that.”
— If a comedy sequel for grown-ups is your taste, consider HBO Max’s 10-episode “And Just Like That.” It revisits friends Carrie, Miranda and Charlotte of “Sex and the City” as they discover that life in their 50s can be trickier than young adulthood. Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon and Kristin Davis are back as the pals, along with Chris Noth, David Eigenberg and Evan Handler. (Kim Cattrall as Samantha is MIA). The first two episodes debut Thursday on the streaming service.