The return of the mystery-comedy "Only Murders in the Building" and Gal Gadot getting her "Mission: Impossible"-style action film with the international espionage thriller "Heart of Stone" are among the new television, movies, music and games headed to a device near you
Among the offerings worth your time as selected by The Associated Press' entertainment journalists are "Superfan," a new one-hour game show that features music superstars crowning their biggest fan, and a royal rom-com adaptation of Casey McQuiston's bestseller "Red, White and Royal Blue" lands on Prime Video.
NEW MOVIES TO STREAM
— Gal Gadot gets her "Mission: Impossible"-style action film in the international espionage thriller "Heart of Stone." The film, debuting Friday on Netflix, stars the "Wonder Woman" actor as a superspy for a shadowy global peacekeeping agency called the Charter. "Heart of Stone," directed by Tom Harper, boasts plenty of stunt sequences and international locales, with Gadot starring alongside Jamie Dornan, Alia Bhatt, Keya Dhawan and Sophie Okonedo.
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— Harry and Meghan have competition. In "Red, White and Royal Blue," the royal rom-com adaptation of Casey McQuiston's bestseller, Nicolas Galitzine ("Cinderella") stars as British prince Harry and Taylor Zakhar Perez ("The Kissing Booth") plays the son of the first female U.S. president (Uma Thurman). They're initially bitter rivals who cause a media frenzy when they tussle and fall into a cake at a royal wedding. But in the film, directed by playwright Matthew López, a resulting PR campaign brings them closer. "Red, White and Royal Blue" premieres Friday, Aug. 11, on Prime Video.
— Mario is a-here. Since early August, "The Super Mario Bros. Movie" has been streaming on Peacock, bringing one of the year's biggest box office hits to the NBCUniversal platform. Back when the film (the second attempt at a big-screen adaptation of the Nintendo videogame) opened in theaters in April, it raced to more than $1.3 billion at the global box office. In my review, I called this "Mario" "okey-dokey," writing: "As nice as it is to look at 'The Super Mario Bros. Movie,' it's not anywhere near as fun as it would be to play it."
— AP Film Writer Jake Coyle
NEW MUSIC TO STREAM
— Music fans get to take center stage on Wednesday. CBS has the debut of "Superfan," a new one-hour game show series that features six music superstars each week as they each crown their biggest fan. Contestants vie in multiple rounds to prove they are their favorite artist's most devoted supporter, including a lip-synch battle. Season one features Kelsea Ballerini, Gloria Estefan, Little Big Town, LL Cool J, Pitbull and Shania Twain. The show is hosted by co-creator Keltie Knight and Nate Burleson.
— Neil Young has dug deep into his own record crates to release his 1977 lost album "Chrome Dreams" for the first time on Friday. The 12-track album, recorded between 1974 and 1977, includes several originals eventually re-worked or overdubbed elsewhere, including "Powderfinger" and "Pocahontas," later featured on "Rust Never Sleeps; "Sedan Delivery" and "Hold Back the Tears," later remade with new lyrics; and "Stringman." Fans might know all the songs but six of the 12 tracks are presented here in its original way.
— Hip-hop's 50th anniversary will be celebrated by Netflix with the four-part docuseries "Ladies First: A Story of Women in Hip-Hop." Each episode will feature a mix of classic MCs including Queen Latifah, Sha Rock, Remy Ma, Yo-Yo, Roxanne Shante, MC Lyte, Da Brat, Monie Love, Bahamadia and Rah Digga mixed with some of the hottest artists of today, such as Latto, Saweetie, Coi Leray, Chika, Rapsody, Kash Doll and Tierra Whack, as well as commentary from journalists, record label executives and stylists. It starts Wednesday.
— AP Entertainment Writer Mark Kennedy
NEW SERIES TO STREAM
— Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez have a new case to devote their podcast to when "Only Murders in the Building" returns to Hulu on Tuesday. In the new episodes, Oliver Putnam's (Martin Short) career comeback is in jeopardy when a murder disrupts his Broadway play, and it seems almost everyone involved is suspicious. "Your show is a death trap! Today alone I almost died three times," Martin's Thomas Haden-Savage declares in the trailer. The third season also features new all-star cast members including Meryl Streep, Paul Rudd, Jesse Williams and Ashley Park.
— A new Netflix limited series details the rise of opioid use in the United States from various perspectives. "Painkiller" features Matthew Broderick as Richard Sackler, the former Purdue Pharma head, who developed OxyContin. Taylor Kitsch plays an honest family man whose life is torn apart by opioid addiction after an accident on the job. Uzo Aduba portrays a prosecutor for the U.S. Attorney's office investigating the Sackler family. West Duchovny (daughter of actors David and Téa) plays a pharmaceutical sales rep who gets caught up in the allure of pushing the drug on doctors. "Painkiller" All six episodes were directed by Peter Berg and drop Thursday.
— After sitting out season six, Damian Lewis' "Billions" character, Bobby Axelrod, returns for the seventh and final season of the Showtime drama. Lewis reunites with Paul Giamatti's character Chuck Rhoades, who is now Attorney General of New York. "Billions" will first be available on Paramount+ on Friday, Aug. 11 (with the Showtime bundle), and then air on the Showtime cable network on Sunday, Aug. 13.
— Alicia Rancilio
NEW VIDEO GAMES TO PLAY
— It's been a busy summer for fans of role-playing games, but here's something completely different: Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical. It's an urban fantasy in which a college dropout gains the power of song when an ancient muse dies in her arms, and the gods aren't too happy about it. It comes from Summerfall Studios, which was founded by Dragon Age writer David Gaider, and the lead composer is Austin Wintory, best known for his Journey soundtrack. The cast of voiceover all-stars is led by The Last Of Us veterans Laura Bailey, Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson. If you love musicals but wish they were interactive — or if you love games but wish they had more singing — the show must go on Thursday on PlayStation 5/4, Xbox X/S/One, Nintendo Switch and PC.
— Lou Kesten
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Photos: Those we've lost in 2023
Jeff Beck
Jeff Beck, a guitar virtuoso who pushed the boundaries of blues, jazz and rock ‘n’ roll, influencing generations of shredders along the way and becoming known as the guitar player’s guitar player, died Jan. 10, 2023. He was 78. Beck was among the rock-guitarist pantheon from the late ’60s that included Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page and Jimi Hendrix. Beck won eight Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice — once with the Yardbirds in 1992 and again as a solo artist in 2009.
Bobby Caldwell
Bobby Caldwell, a soulful R&B singer and songwriter who had a major hit in 1978 with “What You Won't Do for Love” and a voice and musical style adored by generations of his fellow artists, died March 14, 2023. He was 71. The smooth soul jam “What You Won't Do for Love” went to No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 6 on what was then called the Hot Selling Soul Singles chart. It became a long-term standard and career-defining hit for Caldwell, who also wrote the song.
Robbie Knievel
Robbie Knievel, an American stunt performer who set records with daredevil motorcycle jumps following the tire tracks of his thrill-seeking father — including at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas in 1989 and a Grand Canyon chasm a decade later — died Jan. 13, 2023. He was 60.
Gina Lollobrigida
Italian film legend Gina Lollobrigida, who achieved international stardom during the 1950s and was dubbed “the most beautiful woman in the world” after the title of one of her movies, died Jan. 16, 2023. She was 95. Besides “The World’s Most Beautiful Woman” in 1955, career highlights included Golden Globe-winner “Come September,” with Rock Hudson; “Trapeze;” “Beat the Devil,” a 1953 John Huston film starring Humphrey Bogart and Jennifer Jones; and “Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell.”
Lynette Hardaway ("Diamond")
Lynette Hardaway, an ardent supporter of former President Donald Trump and one half of the conservative political commentary duo Diamond and Silk, died Jan. 9, 2023. She was 51. Hardaway (pictured at left), known by the moniker “Diamond,” carved out a unique role as a Black woman who loudly backed Trump and right-wing policies.
Adam Rich
Adam Rich, the child actor with a pageboy mop-top who charmed TV audiences as “America’s little brother” on “Eight is Enough,” died Jan. 7, 2023. He was 54. Rich had a limited acting career after starring at age 8 as Nicholas Bradford, the youngest of eight children, on the ABC hit dramedy that ran from from 1977 to 1981.
Charles White
Charles White, the Southern California tailback who won the Heisman Trophy in 1979, died Jan. 11, 2023. He was 64. A two-time All-American and Los Angeles native, White won a national title in 1978 before claiming the Heisman in the following season, when he captained the Trojans and led the nation in yards rushing.
Tatjana Patitz
Tatjana Patitz, one of an elite group of famed supermodels who graced magazine covers in the 1980s and ’90s and appeared in George Michael's “Freedom! '90” music video, died at age 56.
Russell Banks
Russell Banks, an award-winning fiction writer who rooted such novels as “Affliction” and “The Sweet Hereafter” in the wintry, rural communities of his native Northeast and imagined the dreams and downfalls of everyone from modern blue-collar workers to the radical abolitionist John Brown in “Cloudsplitter," died Jan. 7, 2023. He was 82.
Cardinal George Pell
Cardinal George Pell, a onetime financial adviser to Pope Francis who spent 404 days in solitary confinement in his native Australia on child sex abuse charges before his convictions were overturned, died Jan. 10, 2023. He was 81.
Ken Block
Ken Block, a motorsports icon known for his stunt driving and for co-founding the action sports apparel brand DC Shoes, died Jan. 2, 2023, in a snowmobiling accident near his home in Utah. Block rose to fame as a rally car driver and in 2005 was awarded Rally America's Rookie of the Year honors.
Walter Cunningham
Walter Cunningham, the last surviving astronaut from the first successful crewed space mission in NASA's Apollo program, died Jan. 3, 2023. He was 90. Cunningham was one of three astronauts aboard the 1968 Apollo 7 mission, an 11-day spaceflight that beamed live television broadcasts as they orbited Earth, paving the way for the moon landing less than a year later.
Mark Margolis
Mark Margolis, who had a breakout role as a mobster in “Scarface” but became best known decades later for his indelible, fearsome portrayal of a vindictive former drug kingpin in TV's “Breaking Bad," died Aug. 3, 2023. He was 83. Margolis was nominated for an Emmy in 2012 for outstanding guest actor in “Breaking Bad” as Hector “Tio” Salamanca, the murderous elderly don who was unable to speak following a stroke. But this actor did not need dialogue; he communicated via facial expressions and the sometimes menacing use of a barhop bell taped to his wheelchair.
