Jason Momoa hosting a new travel docuseries for Max called “On the Roam” and the Finnish romantic comedy “Fallen Leaves” are some of the new television, movies, music and games headed to a device near you.
Also among the streaming offerings worth your time as selected by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists are Mandy Patinkin starring in a whodunit aboard an ocean liner in Hulu’s “Death and Other Details,” the big and fun action movie “Fast X” and a Paramount+ documentary on June Carter Cash.
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NEW MOVIES TO STREAM
— The best romantic comedy of the year was an 81-minute Finnish film called “Fallen Leaves,” which begins streaming on MUBI on Friday. Director Aki Kaurismäki points his lens towards an alcoholic construction worker, Holappa (Jussi Vatanen) and a supermarket employee, Ansa (Alma Pöysti) who has just been sacked. Their surroundings are bleak, but their awkward courtship is anything but. AP film writer Jake Coyle named “Fallen Leaves” his No. 1 of 2023 and wrote in his review that “short, sweet and utterly delightful, (‘Fallen Leaves’) is the kind of movie that’s so charming, you want to run it back the moment it’s over.”
— Fashion model Bethann Hardison, now 81, looks back at her five decades as a Black woman in the industry in a documentary she co-directed with Frédéric Tcheng, “Invisible Beauty,” which is now on on Hulu. Hardison famously participated in the 1973 “Battle of Versailles” fashion show and later founded coalitions to encourage more diversity in high fashion. “Bethann’s legacy is undeniable,” Tcheng told the AP in an interview last year. “She’s really changed the way fashion looks. She singlehandedly led the industry to really change the way they thought about racial diversity and integrated the modeling industry. And she went way beyond that. Now she’s working with designers and just creating community at every stage of her life.”
— Or if you just want some big, dumb, fun action “Fast X” is racing to Prime Video on Tuesday. AP’s Mark Kennedy wrote in his review that “Fast X” is monstrously silly and stupidly entertaining — just Wile E. Coyote stuff, ridiculous stunts employing insane G-forces and everything seemingly on fire. There are elements of ‘Mission: Impossible,’ 007 and ‘John Wick,' as if all the action franchises were somehow merging. But here’s a warning: It careens to an end without a payoff, a more dangerous stunt than any in the movies themselves.” Kennedy singled out Jason Momoa’s bad guy as one of the main reasons to watch and called the film “pure popcorn lunacy.”
NEW MUSIC TO STREAM
— In some ways, 2024 began with Green Day. The pop-punk trio performed “American Idiot,” the title track from their 2004 rock opera, during “ Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve ” special on ABC. It was innocuous enough, save for a slight change in lyrics that drew ire from certain political parties. “I’m not a part of the MAGA agenda,” frontman Billie Joe Armstrong sang, a reference to President Donald Trump’s political campaign. It is necessary context for the band’s 14th studio album, “Saviors,” which maintains Green Day’s no-nonsense criticism of power players delivered atop ascendent power chords. For the part-time punks who have work in the morning, and the full-time ones, too.
— In 2023, country music listenership grew 23.7% — one of the biggest jumps across any genre. There are many reasons for the increased curiosity — among them, country music has diversified its approach to the music, weaving in new sounds into traditional instrumentation and narrative lyricism. It also means there’s a up-and-coming generation of performers changing the game, including Brittney Spencer. Her debut album, “My Stupid Life,” gives credence to her position one very “artist to watch” list: from her soulful piano ballads (“Bigger Than the Song”) to her anthemic crowd-stompers (“Night In”), Spencer defies categorization, an artist raised on R&B and the Chicks in equal measure.
— The greatest music documentaries reveal underexplored truths, shining light on those influential, larger-than-life figures. The best ones offer course-correcting history lessons that go down like water. That is the case of “June,” Paramount+’s new documentary on June Carter Cash. Featuring interviews with everyone from Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, Kacey Musgraves and Reese Witherspoon (who won an Oscar for her role as Carter Cash in the 2005 film “Walk the Line”), and stacked with previously unreleased archival material, “June” recontextualizes the country icon’s place in music canon. She’s so much more than Johnny Cash’s wife – lest we forget she wrote “Ring of Fire,” after all.
— “Little Rope,” the latest album from indie rock heroes Sleater-Kinney, the duo of Carrie Brownstein and Corin Tucker, was written in a place of mourning and meditation — of personal loss and political unease. In the fall of 2022, Brownstein’s mom and stepfather were killed in a car accident while vacationing in Italy. In the months that followed, Brownstein found comfort playing guitar for hours on end. “I just needed to feel my fingers on something that was solid,” she told The Associated Press. “When people leave this Earth, you are aware of what is still here, and what is tactile versus what you’ll never touch again.” The result is a ferocious and frustrated album — easily one of their most essential.
— AP Music Writer Maria Sherman
NEW SHOWS TO STREAM
— Mandy Patinkin and Violette Beane star in a whodunit aboard an ocean liner in the Mediterranean in Hulu’s “Death and Other Details.” The pitch for the series may have described it as “The White Lotus” meets “Knives Out” meets “Murder on the Orient Express.” Beane’s character, Imogene Scott, becomes the prime suspect of a murder aboard the cruise ship and she must rely on detective extraordinaire, Rufus Cotesworth, (Patinkin)to clear her name. The 10-episode series is now on Hulu.
— It’s time to head back to the Windy City with the return of Chicago Wednesday, otherwise known as One Chicago, also known as “Chicago Med," “Chicago Fire” and “Chicago P.D.,” returning for new seasons on Wednesday on NBC. Then, sound the gong! “Law & Order” premiered season 23 on Thursday. The “Chicago” shows, and “Law & Order” were delayed eight months because of the Hollywood actors and writers strikes. They also can be found on Peacock.
— Momoa gets a second entry this week as the host of a new travel docuseries for Max called “On the Roam.” Cameras follow the actor as he travels across the U.S. in search of creative artisans who inspire him including a Hollywood prop maker, a photographer, and motorbike builder. Momoa says he’s “a roamer” by nature so the show is an accurate picture into his world. It's now on Max.
— Ruth Wilson stars in a new mystery series called “The Woman in the Wall” for Paramount+ with Showtime. Wilson stars as Lorna, a woman who wakes up one morning to discover a dead body in her home and she doesn’t know what happened. Lorna is immediately under suspicion by a local investigator played by Daryl McCormack (“Good Luck to You, Leo Grande”) because she’s got a reputation in town for her strange behavior. Lorna suffers from trauma after becoming pregnant as a teen and being sent to a religious home, where her newborn baby was taken from her. “The Woman in the Wall” premieres on Paramount+ on Jan. 19 before its broadcast debut on Paramount+ with Showtime (the cable channel formerly known as Showtime), on Sunday.
— A new dating show on TLC finds out whether love really is a universal language. In “Love & Translation,” premiering Sunday, three American men and 12 international women mingle on a remote island. The problem — besides the ratio of men to women — is that the women don’t speak English and the men don’t speak their languages. “Love & Translation” will also stream on Discovery+ and Max.
NEW VIDEO GAMES TO PLAY
— The Prince of Persia has been through a lot since he first scampered across Apple II screens in 1989. He started off in two dimensions, went 3D in a spectacular 2003 reboot, and even made it to the big screen in a 2010 movie. He’s back after too long an absence, returning to his 2D roots in Ubisoft’s Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown. Alas, the Prince himself has been kidnapped, and it’s up to a young warrior named Sargon to rescue him. Not to worry, though: Sargon is just as slick a swordsman, with the ability to swing two blades at once, pull off superhuman acrobatics and even stop and rewind time. And he has a cool haircut. The swashbuckling begins on PlayStation 5/4, Xbox X/S/One, Nintendo Switch and PC.
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Catch up on AP’s entertainment coverage here: https://apnews.com/entertainment.