What a (premium) rush!

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From the new series on BBC America "Copper", Doctor Matthew Freeman (Ato Essandoh), Robert Morehouse (Kyle Schmid) and Detective Kevin Corcoran (Tom Weston-Jones). (BBC AMERICA/Cineflix (Copper) Inc./MCT) (TRIBUNE MEDIA MCT)

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Joseph Gordon-Levitt stars in Premium Rush.

"You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows," but these days, a guide through the seemingly endless flurry of pop culture is just what we need. With that in mind, here is what's on the radar screen in TV, music and film for the coming week.

MOVIES

BIG RELEASES: Premium Rush (Aug. 24)

BIG PICTURE: I'll begin with two confessions. I am an avid cyclist and a big fan of Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Inception). But a chase movie about a bike messenger was not what I expected to see on the summer blockbuster roster. It's like someone hired Michael Bay's twin (probably the "good" one) to make an action movie. No killer robots? No mass explosions? No missiles? No trigger-happy army guys in bombers or battleships? How refreshing.

FORECAST: Gordon-Levitt's character is a cross between Lance Armstrong and one of The Expendables. His nemesis (beyond morning traffic) is a corrupt cop hunting down a dangerous courier package. But if anyone can draw an audience to an unconventional action film, it's Gordon-Levitt - who practically oozes likability and credibility. This film could do for cycling what Jaws did for beaches: "Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the bike lane...."

HONOURABLE MENTION: The Apparition (Aug. 24). Twilight's Ashley Greene sticks with the supernatural genre in her first lead role. This spook-fest concerns a spirit created during a university parapsychology experiment gone wrong (I believe Snooki from Jersey Shore came into this world the same way). The apparition in question feeds on people's beliefs and, naturally, their fears. Greene's home gets the whole Paranormal Activity treatment in the film: bumps in the night, moaning and screeching - the whole nine yards. My guess on the twist ending? Greene's apartment is secretly being haunted by Twilight co-star Robert Pattinson. (He just needed a place to nurse the breakup wounds inflicted by Kristen Stewart.)

TV

BIG EVENT: Copper (Aug. 26, Showcase, 8 p.m.)

BIG PICTURE: They could have called this one CSI: Deadwood or Lawless & Orderlessness. Copper effortlessly mixes the best of the Western genre with the conventional police procedural. Set in 1860s New York City, Irish immigrant Kevin Corcoran (Tom Weston-Jones) is a cunning, hard-edged detective working one of the city's most seedy and violent neighbourhoods. This is big-city policing when it still resembled frontier justice. At times Corcoran, and his loyal crew, are forced to act more like vigilantes or gangsters than men of the law. Don't judge. In a morally-bankrupt age, you have to fight fire with fire.

FORECAST: Imagine Detective Horatio Caine's on-and-off sunglasses routine with bowler hats, a doctor who examines bodies without the help of seizure-inducing CGI and techno music, and a stellar cast that can easily outdraw the average "modern" cop show in terms of acting chops. A penny for my thoughts? This is a Copper for your TV schedule.

HONOURABLE MENTION: Common Law (Aug. 26, Showcase, 9 p.m.). It's Anger Management meets the buddy cop movie. Imagine the Lethal Weapon series if Mel Gibson and Danny Glover had spent half their time in couple's therapy. This comedy-driven police series doesn't exactly reinvent the wheel in pairing up a loose cannon who "doesn't play by the rules" and a methodical straight man. But in reaching for laughs as often as a gun holster, the series could make its own mark.

MUSIC

BIG RELEASE ON TUESDAY: Platinum Blonde (Now & Never), Yeasayer (Fragrant World)

BIG PICTURE: It's a good week for electro indie pop. Toronto New-Wave veterans, Platinum Blonde, serve up their first album in 12 years -- well-timed to capitalize on society's current bout of '80s nostalgia. Blondes really do seem to have more fun. But Yeasayer's gloom-glam electro-pop is accessible and impossible not to move to. It's music fit for a dystopian dance floor. Just picture Mad Max's Thunderdome where contestants dance their way to death. Listening to this body-moving album, I can think of far worse ways to go.

FORECAST: Don't be a naysayer, check out Yeasayer. Platinum Blonde offers a refreshing blast from the past, but Brooklyn's Yeasayer is reinventing the genre's future.

-- Postmedia News

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition August 19, 2012 A11