Hereās a collection curated by The Associated Pressā entertainment journalists of whatās arriving on TV, streaming services and music and video game platforms this week.
MOVIES
ā Robert Downey Jr. affectionately pays tribute to this late father, Robert Downey Sr. in āSr.,ā an intimate documentary the younger Downey spent three years filming with his dad before his death in 2021 at 85. Downey Sr. was a noted cult filmmaker in the ā60s and ā70s. His freewheeling movies also featured his sonās first steps into acting, and had a profound influence on him. āSr.,ā which debuts Friday, Dec. 2, on Netflix, lovingly celebrates their on and off screen life together.
ā Joanna Hogg, the British filmmaker of the stunning two-part memory piece āThe Souvenir,ā reteams with longtime collaborator Tilda Swinton in āThe Eternal Daughter.ā The film, which opens in theaters and on video on demand Friday, Dec. 2, is a ghost story. Swinton plays a middle-aged filmmaker on a cozy and quiet holiday with her elderly mother, who is also played by Swinton. āThe Eternal Daughter,ā which premiered earlier this fall at the Venice Film Festival, hauntingly digs into the joy and guilt that can come from mining oneās family for fiction.
ā Little is as festive as a good screwball comedy. Thankfully, for the holiday season, the Criterion Collection has gathered together some of the best for a series of pure cinematic bliss, beginning Thursday. Many of the classics are here ā Howard Hawksā āHis Girl Friday,ā Preston Sturgesā āThe Palm Beach Story,ā Ernst Lubitschās āTo Be or Not to Be.ā If they have for any reason passed you by, seek out āThe Awful Truthā (1937), with Cary Grant and Irene Dunn as a divorcing couple sharing custody of a Wire Fox Terrier; and Mitchell Leisenās āMidnightā (1939), with Claudette Colbert, John Barrymore and a taxi-driving Don Ameche.
MUSIC
ā Just in time for Christmas, BTSā RM will release his debut solo album, āIndigo,ā on Friday, Dec. 2. In a statement, the singer said he worked on the collection for four years and āit will be very different from my past projects, and a lot of fun friends are gathered in it.ā RM has previously released a pair of mixtapes, 2018ās āMonoā and 2015ās āRM,ā but āIndigoā has been described as his first full-length effort. The seven-member K-pop supergroup BTS announced a hiatus for members to pursue individual music releases. In October, Jin debuted his first solo single āThe Astronaut.ā
ā Half Alive deserve to get your full attention. The trioās āConditions of a Punkā arrives Friday, Dec. 2, with their unique brand of R&B, funk, indie pop, alternative rock, soul and disco, which some compare to Twenty One Pilots, a band they have opened for on the road. Half Alive is composed of lead vocalist Josh Taylor, drummer Brett Kramer and bassist J. Tyler Johnson and was formed in 2016 in Long Beach, California. New singles include the lushly pop āDid I Make You Up?ā and āHigh Up,ā which goes from Mumford & Sons to Coldplay in under 4 minutes.
ā AP Entertainment Writer Mark Kennedy
TELEVISION
ā Family secrets, betrayal and power struggles are abundant in the new Amazon Prime Video series āRiches.ā When a self-made cosmetics king and the patriarch of an affluent Black family in London suffers a stroke, his surviving relatives from two sets of families swoop in to take control of his empire. The stakes are high and so is the level of drama. All six-episodes of the show featuring a cast that includes Deborah Ayorinde, Hugh Quarshie, and Sarah Niles, drop on Friday, Dec. 2. Show creator and writer Abby Ajayi worked previously on ABCās āHow to Get Away With Murderā and the Netflix series āInventing Anna.ā
ā You donāt have to be Clark Griswold to appreciate ā or judge ā a homeās outdoor holiday display. āThe Great Christmas Light Fightā returns to ABC on Monday with two episodes beginning at 8 p.m. ET. Now in its 10th season, each episode follows four families across the U.S. as they trick out the front of their homes with holiday cheer. Carter Oosterhouse and Taniya Nayak choose a winning display and the winning family is awarded a Light Fight trophy and a cash prize of $50,000.
ā Alicia Rancilio
VIDEO GAMES
ā āMarvelās Midnight Sunsā adds a dash of strategy to the usual superhero slugfest. You are the Hunter, a demon-slayer whoās invited to join more familiar names like Wolverine, Scarlet Witch and Blade in a campaign to stop a terrifying threat from the supernatural side of the Marvel Universe. Itās not a test of your reflexes ā instead, you need to figure out when and where to play cards to unleash your most effective attacks. āMidnight Sunsā comes from 2K Gamesā Firaxis studio, known for brainier challenges like āCivilizationā and āXCOM.ā It arrives Friday, Dec. 2, on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox X/S. Xbox One and PC.
ā Fans of āDead Space,ā the beloved 2008 science fiction thriller, should check out Kraftonās āThe Callisto Protocol.ā Itās the debut game from Striking Distance, a studio launched by āDead Spaceā co-creator Glen Schofield. The protagonist, Jacob Lee, is an inmate of a maximum-security penitentiary on one of Jupiterās moons ā and if thatās not bad enough, most of the other prisoners are turning into monsters. At least Jacob has a high-tech arsenal, including a weapon that warps gravity itself. Blast off for Callisto on Friday, Dec. 2, for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox X/S. Xbox One and PC.
ā Lou Kesten
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