Sexy spin on spy game

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 20/11/2016 (3593 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Movies

BIG RELEASES FRIDAY: Allied, Bad Santa 2

BIG PICTURE: Brad Pitt and French actress Marion Cotillard play an intelligence officer and resistance fighter, respectively, whose fates are intertwined during the Second World War. The last time Pitt played a spy sleeping with the enemy (Mr. & Mrs. Smith), he ended up divorced and later married his co-star. (Sure, “Brarion” isn’t catchy, but you could get used to it.) As for the plot? Bullets fly. Sparks fly. Blouse buttons fly off. Lines are crossed. Star-crossed lovers are double-crossed, and so on. Is she a double agent? Does he care? It’s James Bond meets The Departed, and all is fair in love and war. Meanwhile, Bad Santa 2 marks the big-screen return of Willie Soke (Billy Bob Thornton), the worst Santa ever. He’s greedy, racist, misogynistic, temperamental, unbalanced, angry and a lying schemer. (I suspect Thornton will have a four-year job as White House Santa starting in 2017). In this sequel, Willie reunites with his loathsome elf sidekick and hatches a plan to rob a charity on Christmas Eve. Kathy Bates joins the cast as Willie’s criminally minded mother. Christina Hendricks checks in as a curvaceous charity director and the subject of Willie’s unwholesome houghts.

FORECAST: Hollywood will finally see the crossover potential and cast Billy Bob Thornton in The Santa Clause 4.

HONOURABLE MENTION: Moana. This animated adventure finds the Rock voicing an affable demi-god named Maui, a deity built like a wrestler with the maturity of a frat boy. Maui must help a young girl named Moana on an epic sea journey to find a new island home (I’m guessing Hawaii) for her people. You can thank Walt Disney for this Christmas gift.

 

TV

BIG EVENTS: Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life (Friday, 2:01 a.m., Netflix), 3% (Friday, 2:01 a.m., Netflix)

BIG PICTURE: These “girls” are more likeable than the ones on HBO. Three generations of Gilmore women return to bemoan the state of their idyllic, small-town lives. This marks a new beginning for the old WB/CW (2000-07) series set in fictional Stars Hollow, Conn. This “new season” is unveiled as four 90-minute movies (with additional “seasons” on the horizon). Nine years after the series’ finale, Rory, the youngest Gilmore, is leading a rootless — her grandmother calls it “vagabond” — life after her budding journalism career imploded. (Attention, kids of America: there is no better time to be a vagabond. Go live abroad for four years.) As for mom Lorelai, she is coming to grips with a relationship that may have passed its prime. Meanwhile, Netflix’s first Brazilian original series is 3%, a sci-fi thriller about deep class divisions. In a dystopian near future, the elite live in a heavily fortified island while the rest live on a Mad Max-like mainland. Select regular folks are recruited to join the 3% based on a series of mental, physical and psychological tests — everything from assembling building blocks to bludgeoning one another to death. It’s The Hunger Games meets international cinema meets Saw meets The Maze Runner.

FORECAST: Am I the only one who would have preferred to see Gilmore Girls: 3%, in which our plucky heroines battles for survival in a post-apocalyptic future? I bet all those skills Rory picked up as a vagabond would come in real handy.

HONOURABLE MENTION: The Wonderful World of Disney: Magical Holiday Celebration (Thursday, 7 p.m., ABC). This thinly veiled advertisement for Walt Disney Resorts features musical performances by the likes of Kelly Clarkson, Trisha Yearwood and Garth Brooks. Presumably, there will also be special appearances by various characters destined to soon be incarcerated or deported in Trump’s America — from Aladdin and Jasmine to Mulan. (Enjoy them while you can, kids.)

 

Music

BIG RELEASES FRIDAY: The Weeknd (Starboy)

BIG PICTURE: Toronto’s Abel Tesfaye, a.k.a. the Weeknd, isn’t just working for the weekend. He must be in the studio eight days a week. His last album (the breakout Beauty Behind the Madness) was released little more than a year ago. Tesfaye has cited Michael Jackson and Prince among his inspirations. This time around, Daft Punk joins him in the studio on two tracks — a rare collaboration for the secretive electronic duo that combines their pop music savvy with the Weeknd’s club mystique. By now, his ubiquitous hit Can’t Feel My Face has probably hit No. 1 in multiple different galaxies. Whether you have tentacles or arms, the Weeknd’s beats are irresistible.

FORECAST: Sadly, we lost a Starman this year. But at least this Canadian starboy’s future is bright.The 26-year-old R&B sensation will take his career to new heights, exuding confidence under the ever-widening spotlight.

 

 

Twitter: @chrislackner79