This combination of photos show promotional art for, from left, "Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields," a documentary premiering April 4 on Hulu, "Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies," a series premiering April 6 on Paramount+, and "Tiny Beautiful Things," a series premiering April 7 on Hulu. (Hulu/Paramount+/Hulu via AP)
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
– “Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields,” a two-part documentary debuting Monday on Hulu, reconsiders how Shields was sexualized throughout pop culture as a child model and as the 12-year-old star of Louis Malle’s controversial 1978 film “Pretty Baby.” Shields, now 57, intimately discusses how the early labeling of her a sex symbol affected her personally and shaped her career. Director Lana Wilson’s film, which debuted in January at the Sundance Film Festival, revisits plenty of infamous episodes from Shields’ life – her friendship with Michael Jackson, her relationship with Andre Agassi, her odd run-in with Tom Cruise – as well as new revelations, including that she was sexually assaulted by someone she knew professionally.
– A new series on the Criterion Channel revisits sex and film from a much different perspective. Beginning in April, the streaming service has gathered together some of the defining erotic thrillers of the “˜80s and ’90s, including Brian De Palma’s “Dressed to Kill” (1980), with Angie Dickinson and Michael Caine; Lawrence Kasdan’s “Body Heat” (1981), with William Hurt and Kathleen Turner; and the Wachowskis’ “Bound” (1996), with Jennifer Tilly and Gina Gershon. (“Basic Instinct” arrives in June.) The absence of carnality in today’s more sexless cinema world has been a subject of ongoing debate. But if you want to step back into a steamier time, the Criterion Channel has you (but not its stars) covered.
– AP Film Writer Jake Coyle
MUSIC
– Michigan rapper NF has a new album out Friday, April 7 and some tough love for his record label. “I could write a record full of radio songs/Do a bunch of features that my label would love,” he raps on “Motto,” the first single. “Sounds like a nightmare if you ask me/Went from my bedroom to the big leagues.” The 13-track album “Hope” boasts features with singer-songwriter Julia Michaels and rapper Cordae. It marks the rapper’s first full-length release since 2019’s platinum-selling “The Search.”
– Scottish singer Lewis Capaldi is ready for his spotlight in 2023. The artist who gave us the pop ballad “Someone You Loved” will have a new album – “Broken by Desire to be Heavenly Sent” – out on May 19 and he has been announced for Glastonbury 2023. On Wednesday, Netflix will release “Lewis Capaldi: How I’m Feeling Now,” a documentary that follows the Grammy nominee returning to his Scottish roots and attempting to reconnect with his old life and the family and friends he left behind. The new music includes the anching love song “Pointless,” with lush strings and powerful percussion.
– Linkin Park fans can celebrate the band’s landmark “Meteora” album with a 20th anniversary edition dropping Friday, April 7. It’s got a lost gem – literally, a complete and mixed, yet forgotten, song from the era, appropriately entitled “Lost.” Says bandmember Mike Shinoda: “Finding this track was like finding a favorite photo you had forgotten you’d taken, like it was waiting for the right moment to reveal itself.” Another lost track is “Fighting Myself,” with the late Chester Bennington in fine force. “Meteora” landed on March 25, 2003, went No. 1 on the Billboard Top 200 before selling 27 million units worldwide.
– AP Entertainment Writer Mark Kennedy
TELEVISION
– The popular New Zealand murder series “The Brokenwood Mysteries” returns for its ninth season Monday on Acorn TV, a streaming service offering British TV shows and other international television. The show stars Neill Rea as Mike Shepherd, a detective who in the pilot episode, is assigned to a murder case in the small, fictional town of Brokenwood. Shepherd, who uses unconventional methods in his work, must team up with local detective, Kristin Simms, played by Fern Sutherland, who is more structured and straight-lace. Shepherd stays on in Brokenwood, enjoying the town’s idyllic charm, but there are still plenty of mysteries to solve, with Simms’ help, of course.
– The new Paramount+ series “Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies” shows the origin of the girl gang before Frenchy, Rizzo, or Sandy ever donned their own pink jackets. “Rise of the Pink Ladies” takes place four years prior to the events of the “Grease” movie starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John. It features original music by Justin Tranter, a producer who has worked with recording artists including Lady Gaga, Dua Lipa, Ariana Grande and The Chicks. The show’s creator, Annabelle Oakes, says her hope is to create a “Grease” cinematic universe much like Marvel’s, centered around Rydell High. “Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies” debuts Thursday.
– Kathryn Hahn portrays a character inspired by writer Cheryl Strayed in the Hulu series “Tiny Beautiful Things.” It’s based on Strayed’s book of the same name which excerpts an advice column where she went by the pseudonym Dear Sugar. In the series, Hahn plays Clare, a writer who agrees to take on an advice column where she writes beautiful, heartfelt responses to people’s problems, incorporating her own life experiences, and all the while, Clare’s real lie is messy. Reese Witherspoon and Laura Dern, who both starred in a film adaptation of Strayed’s memoir “Wild,” are executive producers on the series. ‘Tiny Beautiful Things” premieres Friday, April 7.
– Alicia Rancilio
VIDEO GAMES
– Golf’s marquee annual event, The Masters Tournament, begins Thursday but the big news for virtual duffers is Electronic Arts’ long-awaited return to the links. It’s the first entry in the EA Sports PGA Tour franchise since 2015, and its main selling point is exclusive rights to the Masters and the sport’s three other majors. Augusta National, St. Andrews, Pebble Beach and 25 other classic courses are rendered in vivid detail, and EA has completely overhauled swing mechanics, ball physics, weather and landscape effects. Granted, there are plenty of video golfers who don’t want quite that much realism, so there’s an arcade option for those craving more forgiving, faster-paced action. You can tee off Friday, April 7, on PlayStation 5, Xbox X/S and PC.
– Lou Kesten
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