Staying Fit
What’s on this week? Whether it’s what’s on cable, streaming on Prime Video or Netflix, or opening at the movie theater, we’ve got your must-watch list. Start with TV and scroll down for movies. It’s all right here.
On TV this week …
Hacks (Max)
The world needs more Deborah Vance, the Joan Rivers-esque, unsinkable comedian wisecracking her way through the slings and arrows of aging while headlining in Vegas. And the world definitely needs more Jean Smart, 72, the Emmy winner who inhabits Vance with elan and venom in equal measure. In the third season, the achingly millennial comedy writer Ava Daniels (Laraine Newman’s daughter, Hannah Einbinder) reunites with her unlikely mentor.
Watch it: Hacks, May 2 on Max
Don’t miss this: Jean Smart Talks Family, Grief and Aging: ‘Every Day Is Precious Now,’ on AARP Members Only Access
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The Tattooist of Auschwitz (Peacock)
In a fact-inspired series, Harvey Keitel, 84, plays Lali, a recently widowed concentration camp survivor who faces the memory of his love at first sight for Gita (Anna Próchniak), whom he met while tattooing her prisoner number on her arm. They decided to defy the Nazis and keep each other alive. “The love story, in the face of the horror, gives testimony to the spirit and the goodness of people,” Keitel says.
Watch it: The Tattooist of Auschwitz, May 2 on Peacock
A Man in Full (Netflix)
Jeff Daniels, 69, and Diane Lane, 59, star in this darkly funny limited series based on Tom Wolfe’s best-selling novel about a prickly Atlanta real estate mogul who’s facing bankruptcy and fighting off all of the ready-to-pounce jackals eager to see his fall from grace. From David E. Kelley, the producing powerhouse behind Big Little Lies, Anatomy of a Scandal and, way back when, Ally McBeal.
Watch it: A Man in Full, May 2 on Netflix
Don’t miss this: 50 Things That Changed the World: Events, Movies, Shows, Books and Tunes That Turn 50 in 2024, on AARP Members Only Access
MaryLand (PBS Masterpiece)
If you liked Broadchurch or Bad Sisters (and you should!), try this mystery about estranged siblings (Suranne Jones and House of the Dragon’s Eve Best, 52) who reluctantly bond while trying to figure out how their mom died on the Isle of Man. Does their mom’s eccentric American friend (Grease’s Stockard Channing, 80) know the secret?
Watch it: MaryLand, May 5, 9 p.m. ET on PBS Masterpiece
Dark Matter (Apple TV+)
Joel Edgerton, 49, plays a Chicago physics professor who walks home one night and finds himself in a quantum labyrinth of alternate realities his life might have taken — and confronts an evil version of himself. All he wants is to get home to his real life and wife (Jennifer Connelly, 53).
Watch it: Dark Matter, May 8 on Apple TV+
Hollywood Con Queen (Apple TV+)
In a three-part docuseries from the people who brought you Tiger King, a Hollywood Reporter sleuth and a private investigator hunt for the truth about a woman who impersonated Tinseltown’s top female power players to lure her marks to Indonesia, promising big career breaks, and exploiting them with her mind games.
Watch it: Hollywood Con Queen, May 8 on Apple TV+
Your Netflix Watch of the Week is here!
Unfrosted
Jerry Seinfeld, 70, cowrote, directed and stars in this eagerly awaited Netflix original movie about the early ’60s creation of the delightfully tasty, part-of-a-balanced-breakfast treat Pop-Tarts. Think of it as Mad Men crossed with that Nike Air Jordan movie, but with a lot of sugary on-the-go pastries. The bold-faced cast of funny people includes Melissa McCarthy, 53, Jim Gaffigan, 57, Amy Schumer and Hugh Grant, 63, as Tony the Tiger.
Watch it: Unfrosted, May 3 on Netflix
Don’t miss this: The 12 Best Movies on Netflix Right Now
And don’t miss this: The Best Things Coming to Netflix in May
And don’t miss this: Jerry Seinfeld Turns 70! Celebrate by Watching the 20 Best ‘Seinfeld’ Episodes (Ranked) — and Hear Jerry’s Advice for AARP Members Turning 70
Your Prime Video Watch of the Week is here!
The Idea of You
In a steamy flip on the traditional May-December romance, a 40-something single mom (Anne Hathaway) embarks on an unlikely fling with the 24-year-old lead singer (Nicholas Galitzine) of her teenage daughter’s fave boy band. The film, based on Robinne Lee’s bestseller, earned raves at its premiere at the SXSW Film Festival.
Watch it: The Idea of You, May 2 on Prime Video
Don’t miss this: The Best Things Coming to Prime Video in May
And don’t miss this: 12 Classic Older Woman–Younger Man Movies to Watch After ‘The Idea of You’
What’s new at the movies …
⭐⭐⭐⭐☆ The Fall Guy, PG-13
The premiere of The Fall Guy launches summer movie season. The Ryan Gosling – Emily Blunt two-hander stars him as a hard-knocks stunt guy on a fling with her ambitious cameraperson. He breaks his back. She gets her break to become a director. A jerky A-list action star (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) is a very, very bad boy who separates, then reunites, them on a disastrous Australian set while making a cowboy-meets-alien movie. Are there second chances? Naturally. The movie is made to entertain: It’s got karaoke, charismatic stars, cars rolling in the air and a winky, devil-may-care attitude. It’s mainstream action-comedy-romance mayhem with extra sizzle. This is the kind of crossover date night, squad night, girls’ night out fun bound to compel audiences to fall back into the theater again. —Thelma M. Adams (T.M.A.)
Watch it: The Fall Guy, May 3 in theaters
⭐⭐⭐⭐☆ Jeanne du Barry, Unrated
French actress-director Maiwenn’s sumptuous, sexy period romance had the prestigious opening night spot at Cannes. She breathes warmth and wisdom into the title role of the low-born, illegitimate courtesan. Jeanne rose, against much court resistance, to become the official mistress of Louis XV (Johnny Depp, 53) at Versailles, where much of the film was shot. Depp balances regal and reined-in emotion, his lips tinted red and cheeks powdered. An exuberant Maiwenn, whether behind the camera or in its gaze, paints the portrait of a sex-positive, good-hearted, curious woman whose travels from kitchen to court offer a juicy pre-Revolutionary chapter of French history. The tableaux are stunning, the costumes surreal and truffle-rich, but the film doesn’t let period details obscure the scandalous love story at its royal center. A warm, scented bath of a movie — if you ignore the guillotine coming for the aristocracy that du Barry worked so hard to access. —T.M.A.
Watch it: Jeanne du Barry, May 3 in theaters
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