Here’s a collection curated by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists of what’s arriving on TV, streaming services and music and video game platforms this week.
MOVIES
— Shaunak Sen’s “All That Breathes,” one of the more transfixing and beautiful documentaries of the past year, is about a pair of brothers in New Dehli who make a makeshift clinic to mend and heal the birds of prey who are increasingly falling to Earth in the pollution-choked Indian capital. The film, nominated for best documentary at the Academy Awards, is a stirring and poetic portrait of ecological urban rescue that begins streaming on HBO Max on Tuesday. (It also premieres on HBO on Tuesday.) Nadeem Shehzad and Mohammad Saud may be amateurs, but they’ve saved some 20,000 birds.
— With Valentine’s Day fast approaching, the rom-coms cometh. Two notable ones are on tap this week: “Your Place or Mine” on Netflix and “Somebody I Used to Know” on Prime Video. Aline Brosh McKenna’s “Your Place or Mine,” debuting Friday, stars Reese Witherspoon and Ashton Kutcher as longtime friends who swap houses for a week. Dave Franco’s “Somebody I Used to Know” is his second film as director and fourth collaboration with his wife, Alison Brie. Brie stars as a young woman who while visiting her hometown reunites with an old flame (Jay Ellis).
— Just half a year after the death of NBA great Bill Russell, a new Netflix documentary reflects on the life and legacy of one of the best basketball players of all time. Sam Pollard, the veteran documentarian of “MLK/FBI,” directs “Bill Russell: Legend” (streaming Wednesday), a two-part film featuring interviews with Russell taped before his death, as well as Steph Curry, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Chris Paul. The film illuminates both Russell’s on-court accomplishments, including 11 championship titles with the Boston Celtics, and his off-the-court activism.
MUSIC
— Paramore‘s “This Is Why” will arrive on Friday and marks the first album from Hayley Williams, Taylor York and Zac Farro since 2017’s “After Laughter.” The trio says the album summarizes “the rollercoaster of being alive in 2022” and the singles seem to hint at a funkier, indie rock approach, including the terrific, jangly title cut. The band’s third single, “C’est Comme Ça,” (which translates roughly into the expression “That’s just how it is”) contains the spicy lyrics: “I hate to admit getting better is boring/But the high cost of chaos/Who can afford it?”
— Kelela’s second full-length album, “Raven,” arrives Friday with the new seductive single, “Contact.” A mix of ’90s house, electronic and R&B, “Contact” is a super sexy chill way to get ready for a right out and later the feel of sweaty, super cool bodies swaying. One music writer calls her music “the soundtrack to a night drive home as you watch the rain patter on your window, reflecting on how it could have all been different.” The songwriter describes her new album as a “15 track deep-dive into facets of dance music that have always excited me.”
— Entertainment Writer Mark Kennedy
TELEVISION
— A new Lifetime movie called “Black Girl Missing” is inspired by true instances of missing women of color who don’t get the same attention or spotlight from the authorities and media that a missing white woman does. Garcelle Beauvais executive produces and stars as a woman whose missing daughter is dismissed as a runaway, as news of a missing white girl stirs up a media frenzy. “Black Girl Missing” debuted Saturday.
— MGM+ (formerly known as EPIX) is out with a new documentary about Jack Roland Murphy — also known as “Murf the Surf.” Murf was an infamous thief, who was also known for his elaborate, tall tales, stole the Star of India sapphire — plus other jewels — from New York’s Museum of Natural History in 1964. To date, it’s the largest jewel thief in the city’s history. Murf went on to be convicted of murder and then sentenced to life in prison, plus additional time added later for other crimes but was paroled in 1986. The four-part series, which premiered Sunday, looks at Murphy’s life, crimes and how a criminal was able to captivate both the media and public.
— Alicia Rancilio
VIDEO GAMES
— The Harry Potter universe is going through rough times, with a series of poorly received “Fantastic Beasts” films and an ongoing controversy over creator J.K. Rowling’s comments against transgender people. Warner Bros. Games is hoping to turn around its fortunes with Hogwarts Legacy, an ambitious open-world adventure set at the school of magic in the 1800s. Players can create their own protagonist, a witch or wizard who “holds the key to an ancient secret that threatens to tear the wizarding world apart” — as if the Potterverse doesn’t have enough agita already. You can pick up your wand Friday on the PlayStation 5, Xbox X/S or PC.
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Catch up on AP’s entertainment coverage here: https://apnews.com/apf-entertainment.
The Associated Press
