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Clockwise from top: The Sheep Detectives, The Other Bennet Sister, Mortal Kombat II, and Billie Eilish: Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour.
Photo-Illustration: Vulture; Photos: Amazon MGM Studios/Everett Collection, Henry Hwu/Paramount, Warner Bros., James Pardon/BritBox
Let’s all ugly cry over a Sherlockian flock, a smart cephalopod, and the long natural life of Sir David Attenborough this weekend. At the movies, The Sheep Detectives investigate the death of their noble shepherd, Sally Field’s Remarkably Bright Creatures brings existentialism to the aquarium, and Billie Eilish takes her massive concerts to the moviegoing masses. On TV, a new Lord of the Flies leaves the lads to their devices on a desert island, while Salieri and Mozart duke it out in another Amadeus. Oh, there’s also Mortal Kombat II. Get over here and watch something fun.
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What’s harder to believe: that they made a movie in which a flock of talking sheep solve the murder of their shepherd, played by Hugh Jackman, or that this Babe-esque take on the cozy-mystery genre managed to make me cry more than once? —Alison Willmore
For James Cameron’s latest non-Avatar trick, he aimed his 3-D cameras at Billie Eilish’s bombastic tour supporting her third album, Hit Me Hard and Soft, to maximalist effect. Eilish is credited as a co-director on the $20 million concert movie.
Free Tip
How to Find an Empty Movie Theater
To hell with oppressive movie-theater etiquette. Scroll TikTok in peace, text a friend without judgment, or, hey, do cartwheels in the aisle. Just make sure the theater is empty first. Thanks to a new tool designed by programer Riley Walz, that’s easier than ever. “About 10 percent of AMC movie showings sell zero tickets,” Walz writes on the website, which lets users search for empty screenings by Zip Code. Walz is careful to disclaim that the tool “isn’t affiliated with AMC Theaters.” —Hershal Pandya
Audiences looking for a solid costume drama were likely disappointed by the recent PBS Forsytes adaptation, but have no fear: This yet-another-version-of–Pride and Prejudice is a much stronger entry. Ella Bruccoleri plays Mary Bennet as a protagonist, and Richard Grant was born to be peevish, misanthropic Mr. Bennet. —Kathryn VanArendonk
British writer Jack Thorne has become a go-to guy for both adaptations of children’s stories (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, His Dark Materials) and treatises on the dangers of masculinity (Adolescence), so of course he’s taking a stab at William Golding’s 1954 novel. —Roxana Hadadi
➽ In theaters; read the full review.
National treasure Sally Field befriends an octopus voiced by Doc Ock himself, Alfred Molina, for your feel-good viewing pleasure. It could even be your Mother’s Day programming.
Writer Joe Barton has proven himself with the wonderfully entertaining shows Giri/Haji and Black Doves, and his ability to make a densely plotted series watchable energizes this adaptation of the 1979 stage play (which also inspired the 1984 film). Will Sharpe stars as the bratty wunderkind Mozart; Paul Bettany is the established composer Salieri, who becomes his jealous rival. —Roxana Hadadi
Happy 100th birthday today to Sir David Attenborough! Is there any centenarian left alive who’s done more to raise awareness for the conservation of this beautiful ball of mud we all share? If so, they don’t have a snappy BBC doc made about them yet.
If You’re in New York or Los Angeles …
➽ Promised Sky — This year’s New York African Film Festival opens with Erige Sehiri’s drama about three migrant women in Tunisia, led by a pastor (Aïssa Maïga) whose precarious dynamic in their shared sanctuary is unsettled by an orphaned child. —A.W.
From the opening minutes of the HBO docuseries The Dark Wizard, when mountain climber and BASE jumper Dean Potter describes his first memory as a dream of falling, it’s clear that childhood experience shaped everything that came afterward. His free soloing of mountains. How he eventually pushed harder routes with a parachute strapped to his back. How he chased terminal velocity through BASE jumping off peaks and cliffs all around the world. And, perhaps, his mental-health struggles, his mood swings, and the antisocial behaviors that The Dark Wizard recounts and suggests were the cost of — or maybe the reason for — his athletic prowess. —Roxana Hadadi on the show’s unconquerable contradictions
Zendaya and Robert Pattinson’s messy marriage story The Drama is out on premium video on demand. So are Ready or Not 2: Here I Come (hates the rich), the Lorne doc (profiles a specific rich guy), and Exit 8 (solid video-game movie).
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