The Brainerd Dispatch - Today's Entertainment Magazine
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Brainerd Dispatch • December 6 - 12, 2020 •19 By Dana Simpson TV Media WHAT'S NEW ON NETFLIX "The Prom" (2020) You can now stop choosing be- tween Hollywood and Broadway, because both are united in "The Prom," coming to Netflix on Fri- day, Dec. 11. Following a stint in select theaters, Netflix welcomes a star-studded cast to the screen to regale viewers with the story of a high school girl who gets help from an unlikely source. When Mrs. Greene (Kerry Washington, "Scandal"), head of the school's PTA committee in a small, ultra- conservative, "Footloose"-type Indiana town, bans Emma Nolan (Jo Ellen Pellman, "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel") from attending the prom with her girlfriend (Ariana DeBose, "Hamilton," 2020) on her arm, a troupe of self-obsessed Broadway stars steps in to save the day. Hilariously played by Hol- lywood heavyweights Meryl Streep ("Mamma Mia!," 2008), Nicole Kidman ("Moulin Rouge!," 2001), James Corden ("Into the Woods," 2014) and Andrew Rannells ("Girls"), it would be amiss not to mention that these Broadway thespians have an ulterior motive. Each suffering the egoist shame of a recent major limelight flop, Angie (Kidman), Dee Dee (Streep), Trent (Rannells) and Barry (Corden) initially view Emma's struggle for equality as an image-boosting photo op. Needless to say, in true musical fashion, things do not always play out as you expect them to. Adapted for the screen by Chad Beguelin and Bob Martin from their and Matthew Skylar's 2018 stage production of the same name, "The Prom" is based on an original con- cept by Jack Viertel ("Delusion," 1981) and was directed by "Glee's" Ryan Murphy. Keegan-Michael Key ("Friends from College") and Mary Kay Place ("Being John Malkov- ich," 1999) also star. "Rose Island" (2020) It may be true that "no man is an island," but what is there to stop a man (or woman, surely) from building one? Find out exactly what it takes to start a nation from scratch with "Rose Island," coming to Netflix on Wednesday, Dec. 9. Harboring a lifelong infatuation for all things obscure and inventory, quirky engineer Giorgio Rosa (Elio Germano, "Nine," 2009) feels chal- lenged to create a world of his own after repeatedly being told that he cannot simply do as he pleases in this world without considering the consequences. Determined to always create the next best thing, Rosa builds a large platform off the coast of Italy — outside of the country's territorial waters — and begins receiving requests for citi- zenship. When the Italian govern- ment gets wind of this, however, Rosa appears to be in deep water. The Italian-language film, directed and co-written by Sydney Sibilia (director of the popular Smetto Cuando Voglia franchise in Italy), is based on the true story of the Italian engineer of the same name who built a 4,300-square-foot micronation off his home coun- try and declared independence from it in 1968. "Rose Island," or "L'incredibile storia dell'isola delle rose" as it was originally titled, also stars Matilda De Angelis ("The Undoing"), Fabrizio Bentivoglio ("Human Capital," 2013) and Tom Wlaschiha ("Game of Thrones"). "Alice in Borderland" Mind your head as you go down the rabbit hole in "Alice in Border- land," coming to Netflix on Thurs- day, Dec. 10. Based on Haro Aso's suspense manga series of the same name, this new Japanese-language series follows the meddlesome Ryohei Arisu (Kento Yamazaki, "Or- ange," 2015), a gaming-obsessed teenager who finds himself and his two equally riotous friends, Karube (Keita Machida, "Prince of Leg- end," 2019) and Choda (Yûki Mori- naga, "Setoutsumi"), suddenly living in a barren and otherworldly version of Tokyo following a power outage. Soon realizing that they are required to participate in a series of video game-like challenges in order to return to the world they know, they set out on an epic adventure based on Lewis Carroll's classic tale "Alice in Wonderland." Teaming up with Yuzuha Usagi (Tao Tsuchiya, "We Are Rockets"), a young woman who entered the Border- land alone, the group must conquer hurdles they never even thought possible in the video games they love so much. Written by Yasuko Kuramitsu ("Love Song") and the King of the Borderland himself, Haro Aso, "Alice in Borderland" was directed by Shinsuke Sato ("I Am a Hero," 2015). Tsuyoshi Abe ("Big Stan," 2007) and Ayame Mi- saki ("Radiance," 2017) also star. WHAT'S NEW ON PRIME "I'm Your Woman" (2020) Don't ask questions, and definitely don't get caught — "I'm Your Woman" comes to Prime on Friday, Dec. 11. Centered around the premise that we should be able to see what happens to the women in crime films while their husbands are seeing all the action, "I'm Your Woman" follows (quite literally) Jean (Rachel Brosnahan, "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel") as she bounces around the country trying to avoid detection after her hus- band betrays his business partners with deadly consequences. Set in the 1970s, Jean is now forced to protect herself and her child for, really, the first time in her life, all under the watchful eye of a myste- rious man named Cal (Arinzé Kene, "Youngers"). Directed by Julia Hart ("Fast Color," 2018) and co- written by Hart and "La La Land" (2016) producer Jordan Horowitz, this retro crime film also stars Marsha Stephanie Blake ("Orange Is the New Black"), Frankie Faison ("Coming to America," 1988) and Bill Heck ("Locke & Key") as Jean's morally corrupt husband, Eddie. WHAT'S NEW ON APPLE TV+ "Wolfwalkers" (2020) You'll be itching to howl at the moon after watching "Wolfwalk- ers" this Friday, Dec. 11, on Apple TV+. When young Robyn Goodfel- lowe (voiced by Honor Kneafsey, "The Christmas Prince," 2017) travels to Ireland with her father (voiced by Sean Bean, "Game of Thrones") on a quest to rid the country of its last wolf pack, she finds herself in a tough predica- ment. After meeting Mebh (Eva Whittaker, "The Girl at the End of the Garden," 2019), a young and wild wolfwalker — people who are human during their waking hours and turn into wolves while sleeping — Robyn completely changes her mind about her hunting duties and, instead, resolves to protect the very thing she was sent to destroy. From the same team behind the 2014 Oscar-nominated film "Song of the Sea," this beautifully animated family film features original music by French composer Bruno Coulais ("Coraline," 2009) and Irish folk band Kíla. Debuted to the world at the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival, this heartfelt and sincere exploration of one's duty to tradition, family and nature also stars Maria Doyle Kennedy ("The Tudors"), Simon McBurney ("The Last King of Scotland," 2006) and Tommy Tiernan ("Derry Girls"). WHAT'S ON HULU "Skins" They say that "beauty is only skin deep," but this long-running televi- sion series proves that perhaps there is a little more to it than that. Switch over to Hulu to start watching all seven seasons of "Skins," available now. Touted as one of the U.K.'s most popular and well-received teen dramas, "Skins" delighted its fans by airing a grand total of 61 episodes between 2007 and 2013. Often compared to recent adolescent rite-of-passage series such as "13 Reasons Why" and "Sex Education," as well as the classic Canadian television drama "Degrassi," "Skins" gave an hon- est — and therefore often contro- versial — look at the struggles and beauty of being a teenager. From topics such as sex, drugs and alco- hol to depression, eating disorders and PTSD, no conversation was off the table with this series featuring teens living in Bristol, U.K. Created by father-and-son duo Bryan Elsley and Jamie Brittain ("Dates"), "Skins" became known for almost entirely swapping out its cast every two seasons and for catapulting the careers of several of today's most popular celebrities, includ- ing Nicholas Hoult ("The Great"), Dev Patel ("Lion," 2016), Hannah Murray ("Game of Thrones"), Kaya Scodelario ("The Maze Runner," 2014) and Daniel Kaluuya ("Get Out," 2017). James Corden, Nicole Kidman, Andrew Rannells and Meryl Streep in "The Prom" Rachel Brosnahan stars in "I'm Your Woman" A scene from "Wolfwalkers"