New this week: Mellencamp, Hilary Duff and ‘Fraggle Rock’
MOVIES
— Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi latest masterpiece, “A Hero,” comes to Amazon Prime Video on Jan. 21.
— The Sundance Film Festival kicks off Thursday night and, like last year, it is entirely virtual and movie lovers from around the world can buy tickets to see the films when they premiere from the comfort of their homes. Opening night offerings on Jan. 20 include “La Guerra Civil,” a documentary about the rivalry between Oscar De La Hoya and Julio César Chávez in the 1990s directed by Eva Longoria, Jesse Eisenberg’s directorial debut “When You Finish Saving the World,” starring Julianne Moore, and “The Princess,” a documentary about Princess Diana that turns the lens on the audience. Or if you can’t score tickets to any of the Sundance films this year, MUBI is programming some breakouts and underseen gems of years past, like “But I’m a Cheerleader” (Jan. 23), “Tarnation” (Jan. 20) and “Whirlybird” (Jan. 22).
— It’s the fall of 1938 and tensions are boiling over as Hitler readies to invade Czechoslovakia and Britain seeks peace in “Munich: The Edge of War,” coming to Netflix on Friday, Jan. 21. Based on the book by Robert Harris, this fictional tale directed by German filmmaker Christian Schwochow centers on two old Oxford classmates, one British (George MacKay) and one German (Jannis Niewöhner), who are sent to the Munich Conference for negotiations.
MUSIC
— In the fall of 2021, two quintessentially American singer-songwriters got together for a song about making the most of the time we’ve got left. John Mellencamp and Bruce Springsteen’s “Wasted Days” is just one highlight of Mellencamp’s upcoming album, “Strictly a One-Eyed Jack,” set for release Friday, Jan. 21, on Republic Records.
— Norwegian pop star Aurora album is back with a divine new album, “The Gods We Can Touch,” out Friday, Jan. 21, via Decca.
— Keb’ Mo’ releases the 13-track album “Good To Be” on Friday, Jan. 21 via Rounder Records. Darius Rucker, Kristin Chenoweth and Old Crow Medicine Show all make guest appearances and Vince Gill produced three cuts.
TELEVISION
— When a title is as catchy as “How I Met Your Mother,” there’s reason to think it will be recycled. Say hello to Hulu’s iteration, “How I Met Your Father,” with Hilary Duff as the woman searching for love and a tale for future offspring. Kim Cattrall, who skipped the sequel to “Sex and the City,” is Sophie circa 2050, filling her son in on his origin story and her frisky salad days. The series debuts Tuesday.
— Writer-producer Jason Katims, who gifted TV with “Friday Night Lights” and “Parenthood,” is steering Amazon’s “As We See It,” an adaptation of an Israeli series about 20-something roommates navigating the road to adulthood. Jack (Rick Glassman), Harrison (Albert Rutecki) and Violet (Sue Ann Pien) share something else: They are all on the autism spectrum. (The actors playing them also identify as being on the spectrum). The eight-episode comedic drama, which also stars Sosie Bacon, Chris Pang and Joe Mantegna, is out Friday, Jan. 21.
— It’s party time again for Gobo, Red, Mokey, Wembley and Boober on the Apple TV+ reboot “Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock,” debuting Friday, Jan. 21. New friends are also promised in the 13 puppet-populated episodes with roots in the 1983 series created by Muppets mastermind Jim Henson.