COMING SOON
Out this week
*Albums
* The Storm Before the Calm by Alanis Morissette: The Canadian-American singer’s first meditation album, tenth studio album overall; features 11 song meditations written and recorded during the Covid-19 pandemic.
*Movies
* Lightyear (with the voices of Chris Evans, Keke Palmer, Taika Waititi, Peter Sohn, James Brolin) – animation, spin-off of the Toy Story series, origin story of Buzz Lightyear; a test pilot (Evans), alongside his crew, is marooned on a hostile planet and must find a way back home.
* Spiderhead (starring Chris Hemsworth, Miles Teller, Jurnee Smollett) – sci-fi thriller, based on George Saunders’ short story ‘Escape from Spiderhead’; trapped in a facility that experiments on prisoners in exchange for reduced sentences, a convict (Teller) tries to outmanoeuvre the system to save an inmate (Smollett) he cares for.
* Jerry & Marge Go Large (starring Bryan Cranston, Annette Bening, Rainn Wilson, Larry Wilmore) – comedy; a retired couple (Cranston and Bening) use a mathematical loophole to win the lottery and revitalize their small town with the prize money.
* Father of the Bride (starring Andy García, Gloria Estefan, Adria Arjona, Isabela Merced) – comedy, third filmed version of the story; a father (Garcia) comes to grips with his daughter’s upcoming wedding.
SPORTLIGHT
Top Gun: Maverick
Cast: Tom Cruise, Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Glen Powell, Lewis Pullman, Ed Harris, Val Kilmer
Director: Joseph Kosinski
* Action drama; Maverick (Cruise) returns to Top Gun as an instructor to train a group of young aviators – including the son (Teller) of his late friend Rooster – for a difficult, risky mission.
* Is the sequel to the 1986 film Top Gun.
* Had been in development since 2010.
* Has grossed nearly $750 million on a $170 million budget. Is among the highest grossing films of the year so far.
* Kelly McGillis and Meg Ryan, who both appeared in the original film, were not asked to reprise their roles in the sequel.
* Score composed by Harold Faltermeyer, Hans Zimmer, Lady Gaga, and Lorne Balfe. Soundtrack includes the Lady Gaga song ‘Hold My Hand’.
* The family of Ehud Yonay – the writer of the May 1983 ‘Top Guns’ article that inspired the first film – have sued Paramount for copyright infringement over the release of the sequel, claiming Paramount’s 35-year exclusive film rights to the article expired in January 2020.
CELEB TWEETS
* Hasan Minhaj (hasanminhaj): What a time to be alive. We have a Muslim girl in the MCU. Started watching Ms. Marvel and absolutely loved it. Iman Vellani is a star, the cast is amazing, and the series gets even better over time. Shout out to MiniB622 (Sana Amanat) for championing this project for the past decade!
* Jessie Earl (jessiegender): Ms Marvel (which is great) is being review bombed in part because some people see her as a Muslim girl “replacing” the white Carol Danvers. Not only is this racist white replacement nonsense, it’s hypocritical given all the harassment [Brie] Larson got. It’s perpetual racism and sexism.
STAR
* Born today: KJ Apa, Kendrick Lamar, Jodie Whittaker, Venus Williams, Will Forte, Greg Kinnear, Thomas Haden Church