Here’s a collection of what’s coming this week on TV, streaming services, and music outlets, compiled by performing media from The Associated Press.
FILMS:
Broadway is dark and most concert tours have been abandoned, but in David Byrne’s American Utopia, you can still experience the excitement of being inside a packed theatre. Spike Lee’s concert film of Byrne’s much-admired stage 7shows debuts at 8 p.m. on Saturday. And it may be one of the best films of the year on HBO and HBO Max.
Combined with Byrne’s exuberant staging of Talking Heads classics and other songs, Lee’s energetic direction makes for a concert film that stands on par with Stop Making Sense, Jonathan Demme’s Talking Heads classic.
For a film set in 1969 and 1970, the timing of Aaron Sorkin’s ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’ is surprisingly strong. After a brief run in theatres, Sorkin’s drama, debuting Friday on Netflix, is first and foremost a portrait of protest, in all its messiness, idealism, and potential.
Made with a starry cast including Mark Rylance, Sacha Baron Cohen, Eddie Redmayne, and Michael Keaton, the film dramatizes the events surrounding the trial of anti-war demonstrators who were convicted of conspiracy to cause a riot during the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago with Sorkin’s trademark snappy dialogue and sweeping theatricality.
Sorkin (who wrote and directed) crafts a timely paean to protest in the landmark stand-off between counterculture and government.
“Driving While Black: Race, Space, and Mobility in America” by Gretchen Sorin and Ric Burns was, sadly, always going to be of the moment. The documentary, which airs at 9 p.m. On PBS on Tuesday and streaming on PBS platforms, the experience of African Americans on the road beginning with the arrival of the car is chronicled.
But it also extends further back and forth to consider all forms of racist movement restrictions for Black Americans, ranging from Jim Crow-era laws to ’60s bus boycotts to contemporary policing.
In the film, historian Christopher West says: I think it’s difficult for most Americans to even begin to understand the gut-wrenching horror that drives a racist society.
Jake Coyle, the AP Film Reviewer
MUSICUM
Kelly Clarkson is coming back to host the Billboard Music Awards this year, which will air live on NBC at 8 p.m. on Wednesday. Some of the performances will be live at Los Angeles’ Dolby Theatre, while others have been recorded previously.
BTS, Post Malone, Bad Bunny, Sia, Alicia Keys, Luke Combs, Doja Cat, Kane Brown, and Demi Lovato will hit the stage, where special honors will be given to country music icon Garth Brooks and rapper-activist Killer Mike.
Rocker Tommy Lee is on his new record, “Andro,” out on Friday in a collaborative state of mind. His first solo release in 15 years, the 14-track album features guest appearances by multi-platinum hitmaker-
Canadian rocker Lukas Rossi, Post Malone, Josh Todd of Buckcherry, West Coast rapper Brooke Candy, South African rapper Push Push, among others, singer-songwriter King Elle Noir and rapper Killvein. The album also finds a veteran of Mötley Crüe covering “When You Were Mine” by Prince.
