Ava DuVernay’s stirringly humanistic adaptation of “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents” is streaming on Hulu and actor Andrew McCarthy reconnecting with some of this fellow Brat Pack alumni for the documentary “Brats” are some of the new television, movies, music and games headed to a device near you.
Movies to stream
Ah, the Brat Pack. Generations of young stars have come and gone since the 1980s, when there was a rush of fresh faces like Ally Sheedy, Rob Lowe, Demi Moore, Molly Ringwald and Emilio Estevez. Still, no crop has since been entirely so defined in the public imagination. In “Brats,” debuting Thursday on Hulu, actor Andrew McCarthy sets out to reconnect with some of his fellow Brat Pack alumni, including all those mentioned above. It was a complicated and often unwanted label for them, though some have since come to terms with it.
“Origin,” Ava DuVernay’s stirringly humanistic adaptation of Isabel Wilkerson’s bestseller “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents,” begins streaming Monday on Hulu. In the film, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor stars as Wilkerson, portraying the author as she investigates historical and contemporary cases of caste systems while navigating personal relationships that put broad social constructs into an intimate context. “Origin” was too much overlooked during awards season and its January theatrical run despite enthusiastic reviews from critics. Those included AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr, who called it “a powerful and artistic interpretation of an academic book that was anything but an obvious candidate for a narrative feature.”
Another movie that failed to click with moviegoers in theaters but deserves another look is “Dumb Money,” Craig Gillespie’s entertaining romp through the GameStop stock frenzy. It may sound like another “Big Short”-esque riff on financial farce, and “Dumb Money” is sort of that. But it’s a fun David vs. Goliath story with an energetic cast (including Paul Dano, America Ferrera, Anthony Ramos, Pete Davidson and Nick Offerman) that does a surprisingly good job of nailing the pandemic year of 2021, its TikTok memes and a short-lived shift in Wall Street power dynamics. In his review, AP’s Mark Kennedy wrote, “the little guy — or at least the little guy with a few hundred bucks to sink into the stock market — gets a movie to cheer.”
Music to stream
On Friday, Paul McCartney & Wings will finally officially release one of the most widely bootlegged albums of all time — 50 years after its original recording — “One Hand Clapping.” Fans have long been familiar with the collection, which was recorded at Abbey Road as Wings filmed a documentary, but they’ve never heard this material straight from the source. McCartney fans, this one is for you.
The music industry’s decline in the early ’00s around the advent of digital piracy through peer-to-peer file-sharing platforms like Limewire and Kazaa has been expertly documented. But who is responsible for the initial piracy, exactly? “How Music Got Free” is a new docu-series from Paramount+, adapted from a 2015 book of the same name that dives into the phenomenon’s origins. No spoilers, but it involves a few teen hackers, a CD factory worker from North Carolina and, in this interpretation, narration from Method Man, courtesy filmmaker Alex Stapleton.
A&E’s “Biography” series returns with a few specials on ’80s rock ’n’ roll greats: Bret Michaels, Dee Snider, Sammy Hagar and Sebastian Bach, among them. Michaels is kicking things off on Sunday — or Monday on the A&E App — with an episode that documents his rise to fame in the glam-metal band Poison and his career as a reality TV star (VH1’s “Rock of Love with Bret Michaels,” “Celebrity Apprentice”).
Shows to stream
Jake Gyllenhaal stars in his first TV role as a prosecutor accused of murder in “Presumed Innocent” for Apple TV+. The series is based on a novel by Scott Turow and was made into a film starring Harrison Ford in 1990. In real life, Peter Sarsgaard is married to Jake’s sister Maggie, who plays Gyllenhaal’s courtroom adversary. “Presumed Innocent” premieres Wednesday.
Just in time for summer vacation, a new Peanuts series called “Camp Snoopy” premieres Friday on Apple TV+. Snoopy and the Beagle Scouts set out to earn their merit badges by completing outdoor activities, while Charlie Brown and his friends have their adventures at camp.
From farmhouses to mountain retreats to ranches, couples seek out their ideal country dwelling in the new show “Find My Country House” for A&E. Trish Suhr hosts the show, dropping on Saturday. “Find My Country House” is co-produced by Reese Witherspoon’s production company, Hello Sunshine. It streams the next day on the A&E app and across major TV providers’ VOD platforms.
In season two of HBO’s “House of the Dragon,” the characters splinter off into different factions of Westeros. The crux is the Targaryen civil war for control of the Iron Throne. The new season of the “Game of Thrones” prequel debuts Sunday on HBO and streams on Max the same night.
MGM+ rewinds to 1970s Miami when cocaine was king in “Hotel Cocaine,” debuting Sunday. Danny Pino stars as a Cuban exile working as the Mutiny Hotel’s general manager, the town’s hottest club. Pino’s character manages to stay neutral between the drug lords and the government officials who frequent the place until he’s forced to connect with his estranged drug kingpin brother. Michael Chiklis and Mark Feuerstein also star.
Video games to play
As V Rising begins, you are a vampire asleep for centuries — and boy, are you thirsty. This gothic adventure from Sweden’s Stunlock Studios is an exciting blend of genres. It’s a Diablo-like role-playing game in which each kill makes you more potent if you avoid sunlight. It’s also a fortress-building sim where you can build an ever more decadent castle while staffing it with hapless human thralls. You can play solo or team up with friends, but either way, you’ll eventually need to challenge more ferocious monsters. It launched on PlayStation 5 on Tuesday.