What to watch: 13 movies and TV series to stream this week

Here ‘s what’ s streaming this week.

Update: ‘The Hawk and the Winter Soldier’

(Disney +)

Growing up in Berkeley, Calif., Malcolm Spellman rejected comic books, and was drawn to Marvel titles, partly for his willingness to address issues of race, class and gender, “whether they got wrong it or not. ”

“People who grew up love Marvel, that will never be broken,” he says, “because you carry it into adulthood. ”

Mr. Spellman is now the lead writer for Marvel’s “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier”, which will appear on Disney + on Friday. The series builds shortly after “Avengers: Endgame,” when American Captain Sam Wilson – Falcon, Black Avenger, played by Anthony Mackie – offered his shield and the chance to take up a career Captain America. But for Sam the shield feels like it belongs to someone else. In the series, he encounters Private Soldier Bucky Barnes, a former brain murderer, a role that revived Sebastian Stan.

“I certainly looked excited about whether or not a Black man should want to be Captain America,” Mr Spellman says. “On Bucky’s side, I showed that I wanted to dig deeper into what seems to be basically being someone who has not only been at war for almost a century, almost , but handled through that whole thing. And finally, for the first time, you have a place to go against that. ”

Latest News: ‘Call’

(Apple TV +)

“Calls,” a new thrush that will appear on Apple TV + Friday, is a collection of nine stories that take place at a global, apocalyptic event (and filmed during the coronavirus pandemic.) Each story is a collection of phone calls, visuals with abstract images and transcripts of the conversations, with participants the never-before-seen calls. It’s a reminder of the recent trend of fully-produced audio drama that allowed viewers to see the horror in their minds.

“We tried very hard to describe very little so we leave a lot of room for imagination,” says director Fede Álvarez, who created the series based on the series. Frenchman Timothée Hochet of the same name. “Whatever you think, it’s always more awful than I can create for you as an image – most of the time.”

The team includes Pedro Pascal (“The Mandalorian”), Rosario Dawson (“Sin City”), Aubrey Plaza (“Parks and Recreation”) and Nick Jonas, among others.

Mr. Álvarez notes that while this project is almost entirely made up of dialogue, one of his previous films, “Don’t Breathe,” had little dialogue, and it was about “senses”. He says this shows that the audience doesn’t need one or the other, or even a big budget, to have the experience they have afterwards.

The audience wants to “feel something,” he says. “You can put them through a wonderful $ 250 million film, and they may not feel anything and get a big disappointment. So that’s what we all run on these things, to get those feelings. ”

New Publications: ‘United States vs. Billie Holiday,’ ‘Genius: Aretha’

(Hulu, National Geography)

Screenwriter and filmmaker Suzan-Lori Parks has two new projects out there that tell the story of Billie Holiday and Aretha Franklin, two famous American speakers with completely different lives and legacies, each one told through a different lens.

“The United States Against Billie Holiday,” now streams on Hulu, looking at the singer’s life through the bravado of the FBI’s efforts to keep her quiet from singing her song about Lining, “Strange Fruit.”

“When I was growing up, my mum and dad would play Billie Holiday records at home and you could hear the pain in her voice,” said Ms Parks, who wrote the screen for the film. “My mum always said, you know, quietly, like a conspiracy:“ Well, you know, they got it. “And I was like: What does that mean?”

The film features Andra Day in the title role, for which she was nominated for an Oscar. Ms Day won Best Actress for the part at Golden Globes last month.

Ms Parks is also a presenter on “Genius: Aretha,” the latest season in National Geographic’s “Genius” anthology series, which airs for Sunday and runs over four cable network nights (next day episodes on Hulu).

The series features Cynthia Erivo in the title role. With “Aretha,” Ms Parks says she tells the story of the singer “Respect,” “Chain of Fools” and many other American classes, “through the lens of genius and focusing on these elements of life. ”

“So, just a different way of looking at someone and a completely different character too,” she says. “I mean, Billie Holiday had problems early in life and they didn’t have the support system that Aretha Franklin had. Aretha Franklin had problems in her life, but she had F two F: faith and family, to help her through her difficult times. “

Where to stream the Oscars favorite photo contestants:

The best photo category includes eight nominees. Here’s how to find them:

• The film “Mank,” directed by David Fincher about the writing of “Citizen Kane,” is streaming forward Netflix.

• “The Chicago 7 Trial,” Aaron Sorkin’s film of the court case following protests outside the 1968 National Democratic Convention, is also underway Netflix.

• “Judas and the Black Messiah,” Shaka King’s story of the FBI infiltration of the Black Panthers, flows forward HBO Max.

• “Nomadland,” Chloé Zhao’s film about a traveling worker traveling west in her van, is on Hulu.

• “The Father,” starring Florian Zeller, uses intriguing cinematic techniques to tell the story of an Alzheimer’s man. on-demand starting March 26th. (Currently only in theaters.)

• The film “Minari,” directed by Lee Isaac Chung about a Korean-American family in rural Arkansas, is available to view on platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Vudu, the Apple TV app and others.

• “Promising young woman,” Emerald Fennell’s story of a woman out for revenge after her friend’s sexual assault, can be hired Amazon Prime Video, Vudu, the Apple TV app and other platforms.

• “Sound of Metal,” Darius Marder’s film about a drummer and addict who loses his hearing, flows on Amazon Prime Video.

• Here Joe Morgenstern, WSJ’s film writer offers film critic’s guidance on the Oscars; For the full list of Oscar nominations click here.

Streaming notes

• The “Justice League Zack Snyder,” an extended, shortened, four-hour version of the 2017 “Justice League” – which includes Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman and others – hits HBO Max on March 18th.

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