Today's Entertainment

Brainerd Dispatch • August 30 - September 5, 2020 •19 By Jessica Gosse TV Media WHAT'S NEW ON NETFLIX "Away" While many people may be joking about wanting to get on a space- ship to Mars in order to escape the chaotic state of the world right now, on Friday, Sept. 4, Netflix follows an international team of astronauts as they head off on their own mission to Mars in this series premiere. Hil- ary Swank ("Million Dollar Baby," 2004) stars as American astronaut Emma Green. A former pilot in the navy and now the commander of the space mission, Emma is first and foremost a wife to her husband, Matt (Josh Charles, "The Good Wife"), and mother to her daughter, Lex (Talitha Bateman, "Love, Simon," 2018). Unlike many space dramas that focus on various extraterrestrial creatures, "Away" focuses more on the struggles of maintaining inter- personal relationships, both between the crew members and within the families they leave behind. Emma isn't the only one with family back on Earth. The rest of the crew — Russian engineer Misha Popov (Mark Ivanir, "Homeland"), Indian fighter pilot Ram Arya (Ray Panthaki, "Marcella"), Chinese chemist Lu Wang (Vivian Wu, "Knock Out," 2020) and British bota- nist Kwesi Weisberg-Adebayo (Ato Essandoh, "Chicago Med") — have loved ones that they are missing and struggling to keep in contact with, despite the (literal) space between them. From the creators of "Penny Dreadful," "Friday Night Lights" and "Parenthood," don't miss this emo- tional new series when it premieres this Friday. "I'm Thinking of Ending Things" (2020) Based on the bestselling novel of the same name by Canadian author Iain Reid, Academy Award-winning director Charlie Kaufman ("Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," 2004) explores the complex nature of relationships and the human spirit in this film, premiering Friday, Sept. 4, on Netflix. Jessie Buckley ("Wild Rose," 2018) stars as the girlfriend of a man named Jake (Jesse Ple- mons, "Game Night," 2018), whom she has every intention of dump- ing. Despite her plans to end their relationship, she reluctantly agrees to go on a trip to his family farm and meet his mother (Toni Collette, "Knives Out," 2019) and father (David Thewlis, "Wonder Woman," 2017). Things quickly go sideways as a sudden snowstorm leaves them unable to return home. Though she can't discern why, she finds Jake's family unnerving, and the more time she spends with them, the more she begins to question everything she knows. WHAT'S NEW ON PRIME "The Boys" Season 2 Billy Butcher (Karl Urban, "RED," 2010), Hughie Campbell (Jack Quaid, "Rampage," 2018), Frenchie (Tomer Capon, "Combat Medics"), Mother's Milk (Laz Alonso, "The Mysteries of Laura") and Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara, "Suicide Squad," 2016) are back for another exciting season of this unique superhero series, premiering Friday, Sept. 4, on Prime. Season 1 brought viewers into a world where superheroes, aka "supes," are revered by the public, but when Hughie's girlfriend is accidentally killed by a team of famous superhe- roes known as the Seven, it becomes clear to him that these supes aren't nearly as heroic as they lead people to believe. It's soon revealed that the Seven work for a corporation called Vought, and saving people is far from their first priority. Upon learn- ing all of this, Hughie teams up with Butcher, Frenchie, Mother's Milk and Kimiko, a ragtag group of killers determined to bring down Vought and the Seven. Each member of the team has their own skillset and moti- vation for wanting to bring down the Seven — Kimiko was experimented on as part of an effort to create superpowered terrorists; Frenchie is a French weapons expert; Mother's Milk is a mercenary; and Butcher is an assassin with a vendetta against Homelander (Antony Starr, "Outra- geous Fortune"), the leader of the Seven, who he believes raped and killed his wife. Season 2 picks up after the epic Season 1 finale that changed everything, as it was revealed that Butcher's wife is not only alive but raising a superpowered son. Now, despite being on the run from the Seven, Butcher, Hughie and the gang are devising a plan to get Butcher's wife back, but a new supe named Stormfront (Aya Cash, "You're the Worst") could cause problems for both them and the Seven. "Primal" (2019) Nicolas Cage ("The Sorcerer's Ap- prentice," 2010) stars as profession- al hunter and procurer of rare ani- mals Frank Walsh in this action film coming to Prime on Monday, Aug. 31. Walsh's latest expedition takes him deep into the Brazilian rainfor- est in search of an elusive white jaguar known as the "ghost cat," which he intends to sell to a zoo for an obscene amount of money. To the amazement of his colleagues, Walsh actually manages to capture the great cat. Unfortunately for him, his contacts refuse to help transport it back to the United States due to their belief that bad luck follows the jaguar and those who hunt it. As a result, Walsh is forced to find accom- modation for himself and his animals on a cargo ship. However, he soon finds out that he isn't the only pas- senger, as notorious criminal Richard Loffler (Kevin Durand, "The Strain") is also being transported by a swarm of armed guards and Dr. Ellen Taylor (Famke Janssen, "Hemlock Grove"), a neurologist. Chaos ensues on board when Loffler manages to escape and decides to set free all of Walsh's animals. WHAT'S NEW ON HULU "Casino Royale" (2006) Daniel Craig's ("Logan Lucky," 2017) run as the iconic MI6 agent James Bond, aka 007, begins in this spy film coming to Hulu on Monday, Aug. 31. Based on British author Ian Fleming's novel of the same name, this install- ment of the franchise returns to the beginning of Bond's illustrious career as he receives his "license to kill" and is assigned his first mission. The mission takes Bond to Montenegro, where a private banker for terrorists, named Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen, "Hannibal"), has organized a high- stakes game of Texas Hold 'em poker in order to win back money he lost from his clients. Bond enters into the tournament on behalf of MI6, who hope that if Le Chiffre loses, he will trade information on his clients to the British government in exchange for protection. Partnered with Vesper Lynd (Eva Green, "Dumbo," 2019), an MI6 treasury agent, Bond faces all sorts of danger as his mission es- calates far beyond a simple game of poker. As his mission goes on, Bond comes to learn the most important rule of being a spy: trust no one. "Quantum of Solace" (2008) On Monday, Aug. 31, Craig's sec- ond Bond film also joins the Hulu lineup. Following the events of his first mission, Bond and his boss, M (Judi Dench, "Murder on the Orient Express," 2017), become aware of a secret organization called Quantum that has eyes and ears everywhere ... even within MI6. When the group at- tempts to assassinate M, Bond helps her to escape and begins investigat- ing Quantum. He soon learns that everything leads back to one man: Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric, "The Grand Budapest Hotel," 2014), a famous developer of ecological technology. Greene, as it turns out, is working with a Bolivian general to stage a coup in exchange for a portion of seemingly barren desert in Bolivia. While Bond works to stop Greene, he meets Camille (Olga Kurylenko, "The Room," 2019), Greene's girlfriend, who mistakes him for someone else and tries to kill him. Little does Bond know that Camille is working from the inside to get revenge on the Bolivian general for murdering her family. "The Courier" (2019) Gary Oldman ("The Dark Knight Ris- es," 2012) stars as Ezekiel Mannings, a powerful crime lord, in this action film coming to Hulu on Monday, Aug. 31. Knowing that the police are clos- ing in on him, Mannings puts a plan into action to save himself. Special Agent Roberts (Dermot Mulroney, "The Wedding Date," 2005) has been trying to bring down Mannings for ages, and now that he has him, he's determined to put him away for good. Unfortunately, his entire case against Mannings relies on the testimony of Nick Murch (Amit Shah, "Last Christmas," 2019), an eyewit- ness who has been put in witness protection. When a courier (Olga Kurylenko, "Quantum of Solace," 2008) delivers a package to the safe house where Nick is being kept, someone tries to kill her, and she dis- covers that the package could have ruined Roberts' entire plan. In that moment, she knows that Nick isn't safe where he is, since Mannings has people everywhere, and she takes it upon herself to protect him. Hilary Swank as seen in "Away" Jack Quaid, Karen Fukuhara, Tomer Capon and Laz Alonso star in "The Boys" A scene from "I'm Thinking of Ending Things"

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