Winnipeg Free Press Newspaper Archives May 31 2015, Page 11

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - May 31, 2015, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE A12 A 12 WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, SUNDAY, MAY 31, 2015 ENTERTAINMENT winnipegfreepress. com Compiled by CHRIS LACKNER / Twitter: @ PopForecast Cloak- and- dagger COMEDY McCarthy returns in silly spy tale ‘ 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 offerings is just what we need. With that in mind, here is what’s on the radar in TV, music and film for the coming week. MOVIES BIG RELEASE FRIDAY: Spy BIG PICTURE: Bridesmaids deserves a lot of credit. After the 2011 comedy’s release, Hollywood woke up in the 21st century and realized women can star in their own successful comedies. Imagine that. Women can even do their own gross- out comedy! ( Studio executives are both slow learners and lemmings). The latest female- driven comedy reunites Bridesmaids director Paul Feig with two of the movie’s stars: Melissa McCarthy and Rose Byrne. This time, McCarthy is the leading lady of laughs as Susan Cooper, a CIA desk jockey thrust into the role of bumbling hero on a dangerous undercover mission. Her alias? Honey Morgan, a divorced Iowa housewife. ( I’d pay good money to see Daniel Craig’s Bond go undercover as an Iowa tax accountant). FORECAST: Unlike this spring’s female buddy- comedy Hot Pursuit , Spy will be successful in its pursuit of laughs. McCarthy is likable and an all- around laughter machine. Action star Jason Statham is on board as a fellow CIA agent — mainly to poke fun at his own alphamale persona. Sold. HONOURABLE MENTION: Insidious: Chapter 3 . Sigh. Another haunted house with no Casper in sight, another ghost targeting someone’s poor daughter, and another gifted psychic. ( I guess friendly ghosts don’t sell movie tickets). Because the ghost and spy genres have been done to death, I think the only fresh angle left is a hybrid: a spy who is a ghost and works for a CIA handler/ medium to save the planet from both the living and the dead. ( Honestly, what would Hollywood do without me?) MUSIC BIG RELEASE TUESDAY: Florence and the Machine ( How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful ) BIG PICTURE: I’m a little bit suspicious of an album title that sounds like a wedding tradition. But this English indierock group’s third studio album is destined for big things. Lead singer Florence Welch’s siren vocals are truly one of a kind. Based on previous history, expect a lot of songs about love, death, dying for love and living for death, etc. You get the picture... but don’t expert Florence to sing at your wedding. She only does that for Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds. FORECAST: Florence and the Machine may sound like a Terminator - themed children’s book, but they haven’t swiftly become one of the biggest bands in the world without reason. No reason to feel blue — this effort’s a beauty. HONOURABLE MENTIONS: Barenaked Ladies ( Silverball ); Hawksley Workman ( Old Cheetah ). A Cancon double play. You can teach an old dog — or cheetah — new tricks. The veteran Barenaked Ladies sound a little more relaxed and a bit more soulful on this one — like they’ve recast the magic of 1992’ s Gordon in the 21st century. Meanwhile, the versatile Workman is all over the genre map on his latest, but the songwriter’s innate talent holds the experiment together. Where else are you going to find songs called Teenage Cats and Small Town Dracula ? TV BIG EVENTS: The Whispers ( Monday, ABC, 9 p. m.; Sense8 ( Friday, Netflix, 2: 01 a. m.) BIG PICTURE: Aliens invade. Yes. Again. But this time it’s via children’s “ imaginary friends.” Based on a Ray Bradbury short story and produced by Steven Spielberg, this series has pedigree. Spooky stuff. Imagine every child in the world suddenly transforms into your classic “ spooky horror- movie kid,” as unseen extraterrestrial forces cause the young’ uns to unwittingly turn on adults. Meanwhile, Sense8 may sound like a terrible new boy- band name, but it’s actually a drama with real promise. The Matrix creators Andy and Lana Wachowski are on board as writers, directors and executive producers. The cast includes Naveen Andrews ( Sayid from Lost ) and Darryl Hannah. Andrews plays a wise, mysterious figure who shows up to randomly badger people with stupid questions such as, “ Do you know what it means to be reborn a Sense8?” And what does it mean? Eight people from around the world suddenly become inexplicably linked. They can access each other’s knowledge, language, skills, experiences — and inner- most secrets. And, of course, they are soon being hunted by nefarious forces. FORECAST: On The Whispers , “ imagination” becomes our worst enemy ( yes, even worse than the imagination of the writers behind the CSI franchise). Sense8 should win over TV viewers looking for complex storytelling, and those who wanted to know what a mash- up of Lost and Heroes might look like. ( For the record, here’s a list of people I’d love to see form a real- world Sense8: Charlie Sheen, Bill Gates, Lady Gaga, Jay Z, Oprah, Lindsay Lohan, Bill Clinton and Justin Bieber. Unstable, unpredictable and unstoppable!) LARRY HORRICKS / 20TH CENTURY FOX MURRAY CLOSE / NETFLIX RICH FURY / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILES Florence and the Machine Sense8 Spy A_ 12_ May- 31- 15_ FP_ 01. indd A12 5/ 30/ 15 6: 58: 34 PM