The Stream
What's new this week in television, films and music
"The Miniature Wife"
"The Boys"
"Christy"
"Outcome"
Hannah Einbinder, left, and Jean Smart in Season 5 of "Hacks."
ENTERTAINMENT
MOVIES
Sydney Sweeney stars as reallife boxing legend Christy Martin in David Michôd's "Christy" (HBO Max, April 10). The film, which Sweeney also produced, drew some of her best reviews. Her distinctly unglamorous performance spans Martin's smalltown West Virginia beginnings to a professional career shadowed by her abusive manager-turnedhusband (Ben Foster).
One of the highlights of last year, Akinola Davies Jr.'s tender fatherson drama, "My Father's Shadow," begins streaming April 10 on MUBI. The film, penned by Davis and his brother, Wale, is loosely autobiographical. Their father died when they were
MUSIC
Chart-topping country hitmaker Ella Langley — known for such radio mainstays like
"You Look Like You Love Me" and "Choosin' Texas" — releases a new record April 10. If the whole of "Dandelion" is anything like those songs, she's got a long career ahead of her.
English disco-pop singer Jessie Ware's new album "Superbloom" also arrives April 10. She's as ready to soundtrack a late night on the dance floor as she's ever been — like on the single "Ride," which interpolates the theme from the 1966 spaghetti Western film "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" and melts into her sequined synths.
— Maria Sherman
SERIES
"The Boys" launches its fifth and final season April 8 on Prime Video. The critically acclaimed series is based on comic books and follows villainous superheroes and the crew trying to thwart them. Series regulars Jack Quaid, Karl Urban, Antony Starr, Erin Moriarty and Jessie T. Usher and Chace Crawford are all returning, as are more recent additions played by Jeff rey Dean Morgan and Jensen Ackles. "Hamilton" star Daveed Diggs also joins the cast.
Hulu's sequel to "The Handmaid's Tale," called "The Testaments," also premieres April 8. Ann Dowd reprises her Aunt Lydia character from the original and is now in charge of a school for girls that basically prepares them for adulthood, marriage and babies.
These young women have never known anything other than Gilead. It stars Chase Infiniti and Lucy Halliday and is also based on a novel by Margaret Atwood.
Elizabeth Banks and Matthew Macfadyen lead a new sci-ficomedy, "The Miniature Wife," for Peacock. They play a couple working on their marriage when their lives are further complicated after an unusual accident. It premieres April 9.
Another series launching its fifth and final season is "Hacks" on HBO. The show, debuting April 9, follows the love-hate relationship between a legendary comedian (Jean Smart) and a talented writer played by Hannah Einbinder. The series has racked up a lot of hardware, including an Emmy for outstanding comedy series. Smart has won four consecutive Emmys for the show while Einbinder has taken home one.
Do you ever wonder how your favorite former TV stars would fare in the present day? "Malcolm in the Middle" fans are getting their wish. Twenty years after their show went off the air, Frankie Muniz, Bryan Cranston and Jane Kaczmarek return to TV for a revival where Muniz's character is now a dad to a teenage girl. The four episodes of "Malcolm in the Middle: Life's Still Unfair" premiere April 10 on both Hulu and Hulu on Disney+.
— Alicia Rancilio
