The Best Movies, TV, Books and Music for February 2021

Welcome to Culture Hound, InsideHook’s deep dive into the month’s most important cultural happenings, pop and otherwise.

Note, due to the on-going COVID-19 pandemic, release dates are highly tentative.

RETURNING: Last Week with John Oliver

Maybe, just maybe, John Oliver took a deservedly scheduled but still ill-conceived time to take a short break. And now we really don’t want to relive a coup or the last few months, so hey, expect lots of Gamestop and Covid talk! (Feb 14, HBO)

Other returning TV series and specials: The Equalizer (Feb. 7, CBS); Super Bowl LV (Feb. 7, CBS); The Great North (Feb. 14, Fox); Temptation Island (Feb. 16, USA); For All Mankind (Feb. 19, Apple TV+); Snowfall (Feb. 24, FX); The Walking Dead (Feb. 28, AMC)

WATCH: Saint Maud

Delayed from last year, the latest from film distributor A24 (Midsommar, The Witch, Hereditary) revolves around a hospice nurse with a supernatural streak who becomes obsessed with a patient in her care. It may become the best-reviewed film of 2021. (Feb. 12, Epix/VOD)

More new films coming to the small screen and big: Bliss (Feb. 5, Prime Video); Earwig and the Witch (Feb. 5, HBO Max); A Glitch in the Matrix (Feb. 5, VOD); Malcolm & Marie (Feb. 5, Netflix); Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar (Feb. 12, VOD); Judas and the Black Messiah (Feb. 12, HBO Max); Willy’s Wonderland (Feb. 12, VOD); Nomadland (Feb. 19, Hulu); The United States vs. Billie Holiday (Feb. 26, Hulu)

STUDY: Fake Famous

This documentary/social experiment follows three small-time “influencers” and charts their online fame as fake followers are purchased and bots are used to engage with their social media accounts. (Feb. 2, HBO)

Other new documentaries: 30 for 30: Al Davis vs. The NFL (Feb. 4, ESPN); Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel (Feb. 10, Netflix); Pele (Feb. 23, Netflix)

STREAM: It’s a Sin

The creator of Queer As Folk chronicles the lives of a group of young adults during the AIDS epidemic of 1980s London. The series already premiered in England to glowing reviews. (Feb. 18, HBO Max)

New TV series and specials: The Snoopy Show (Feb. 5, Apple TV+); Clarice (Feb. 11, CBS); Young Rock (Feb. 16, NBC); Superman & Lois (Feb. 23, The CW)

READ: Fake Accounts

A woman discovers her boyfriend is an anonymous online conspiracy theorist; her world (real and online) then becomes more strange and deluded. The debut by literary critic Lauren Oyler is very much a critique of today’s social media world. (Feb. 2)

Other new book releases: Girl A by Abigail Dean (Feb. 2); Animal, Vegetable, Junk: A History of Food, from Sustainable to Suicidal by Mark Bittman (Feb. 2); The Daughters of Kobani by Gayle Tzemach Lemmon (Feb. 16); How to Avoid a Climate Disaster by Bill Gates (Feb. 16)

LISTEN: Bob Dylan

The simply titled Bob Dylan – 1970 counts nine George Harrison collaborations among the 74 (!) previously unreleased songs and outtakes, most of which were recorded around the time of New Morning and Self Portrait. (Feb. 26)

More new albums: Foo Fighters (Feb. 5); Common (Feb. 5); Fleet Foxes (Feb. 5); slowthai (Feb. 5); Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (Feb. 12); Sia (Feb. 12); The Band (Feb. 12, reissue); Black Sabbath (Feb. 12, reissue); The Hold Steady (Feb. 19); Mogwai (Feb. 19); Julien Baker (Feb. 26); Willie Nelson (Feb. 26); NOFX (Feb. 26); The Black Crowes (Feb. 26, reissue)