ROCKY BACK IN THE RING
Stallone’s boxer back as a coach
Here is what’s on the radar in TV, music and film for the week.
MOVIES
Big Release on Nov. 25: Creed Big Picture: It’s Thanksgiving south of the border, which means moviegoers can offer thanks for franchise reboots and remakes — because that’s pretty much all Hollywood is serving these days. In Creed, the tables have turned from the original Rocky. Apollo Creed’s son, Adonis — the hardpunching offspring of Balboa’s opponent-turned-friend — is now the hero. But he’s just a fiery, undisciplined upstart until he heads to Philadelphia to enlist Rocky (Sylvester Stallone) as a trainer (and father figure). Adonis is played by Michael B. Jordan (Friday Night Lights, Fruitvale Station), a superb young actor. He should carry Stallone through the action veteran’s standard performance of incoherent mumbling. Stallone wears cool fedoras and joins Adonis for vintage training montages. Forecast: Jordan packs enough thespian punch to take this franchise more rounds. Audiences can count themselves lucky that this isn’t some kind of ill-fated Rocky remake. After all, they just announced a remake of 2000’s Memento, the breakout film by director Christopher Nolan. Really?! We’re so short on new ideas we’re remaking movies from this young century? Can an American version of Harry Potter be far off ? Or maybe an R-rated Twilight starring Shia LaBeouf and Miley Cyrus (Bella will display more life in her twerking scenes than she did in the entire original trilogy)?
TV
Big Events: Pretty Little Liars: 5 Years Forward (Nov. 24, M3); The Ties That Bind (Nov. 27, HBO) Big Picture: This special is a prelude to the second half of Pretty Little Liars’ sixth season, which will leap ahead five years when the soapy drama returns in January. With the girls’ longtime tormentor and blackmailer, A, finally revealed as Charlotte, the time jump finds the unlucky pals having moved on with their adult lives. Of course, Charlotte is quickly thrown an unexpected lifeline when a new, secret nemesis stirs up sudsy thrills and chills. Meanwhile, The Ties That Bind is a music documentary that examines the making of Bruce Springsteen’s classic 1980 album The River. They had me at “Bruce.” Forecast: Travelling down The River with The Boss is a TV luxury cruise. (Frankly, I’d watch a documentary about Springsteen whistling while making toast.) But I would have preferred Pretty Little Liars: Frankenstein, in which a modern-day Victor builds the ultimate “Pretty Little Liar” with parts of lesser Pretty Little Liars from the local morgue.
MUSIC
Big Release on Nov. 27: Chris Brown (Royalty) Big Picture: I know exactly what you’re thinking. “Finally, the hiphop ode to Queen Elizabeth II I’ve always dreamt of!” Sadly not (but just give Drake some time). After many failed attempts at redemption, Brown has named his new album after his one-year-old daughter, and its cover shows him cradling her. But tracks include Liquor, Blood On My Hands, Ghetto Tales and Gangsta Way. Forecast: My bet is Brown will follow this up with a spoken-word album featuring his own version of children’s bedtime stories: Little Red Riding Hood in the Hood, or Three Billy Goats Gangsters Gruff.