Welcome to Culture Hound, InsideHook’s deep dive into the month’s most important cultural happenings, pop and otherwise (note: you can find our monthly book guide a little later this week).
WATCH: Beau Is Afraid
Ari Aster’s follow-up to the modern horror classics Hereditary and Midsommar is — a Jewish Lord of the Rings? It certainly looks like an ambitious (and not scary) journey, following Beau (Joaquin Phoenix) on a surreal adventure to his childhood home after the death of his mother. (4/21, theaters)
More new films coming to the big and small screens: Air (4/5, theaters); Paint (4/7, theaters); Renfield (4/14, theaters); Evil Dead Rise (4/21, theaters); Ghosted (4/21, Apple TV+)
WELCOME BACK: Barry
The fourth and final season of Bill Hader’s award-winning series about a hitman-turned-actor finds Barry in prison and seeking atonement. Not much else is known, as the logline for the new season simply reads “Cousineau (Henry Winkler) is hailed as a hero as Barry’s arrest has shocking consequences.”
More returning TV shows: Dave (4/3, FX); The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (4/13, Prime Video); From (4/23, MGM+); Sweet Tooth (4/27, Netflix); The Afterparty (4/28, Apple TV+)
Is “Prestige TV” Over?
Is the idea of what makes great television actually ruining good shows?BINGE: Mrs. Davis
You can’t accuse this new sci-fi series of playing it safe. Here, Betty Gilpin (GLOW) plays a nun named Simone who goes to battle against an all-powerful Artificial Intelligence known as “Mrs. Davis.” The new Peacock series was co-created by Damon Lindelof (Lost, Watchmen), so expect it to get weirder than that description. (4/20, Peacock)
More new TV series: Beef (4/6, Netflix); Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies (4/6, Paramount+); Dead Ringers (4/21, Prime Video); Citadel (4/28, Prime Video); Fatal Attraction (4/30, Paramount+)
LISTEN: The National
On their ninth album and first record in four years, indie rock vets The National rope in Sufjan Stevens, Phoebe Bridgers and Taylor Swift. And yet, they still, thankfully, sound like The National — a bit gloomy, sort of epic. (Though the single, New Order T-Shirt, sadly doesn’t sound like New Order, the two bands did collaborate on a t-shirt).
More new music: Thomas Bangalter (4/7); Linkin Park (deluxe reissue, 4/7); Metallica (4/14); Neil Young with the Santa Monica Flyers (live, 4/14); Sublime (live, 4/21)
STUDY: Redefined: J.R. Smith
Misunderstood, maybe? J.R. Smith won two NBA titles (and also contributed to this terribly memorable play). But now he’s the center of a four-part docuseries — produced by LeBron James and Maverick Carter — that focuses on Smith’s return to college and his attempt to break into a new athletic field: golf. (4/3, Prime Video)
More new documentaries and specials: Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields (4/3, Hulu); Boom! Boom! The World vs. Boris Becker (4/7, Apple TV+); Personality Crisis: One Night Only (4/14, Showtime); Judy Blume Forever (4/21, Prime Video); John Mulaney: Baby J (4/25, Netflix)
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