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    Theater to Stream: Shakespeare Villains and Hot-Tub Dreams

    #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }At HomeExplore: A Cubist CollageFollow: Cooking AdviceVisit: Famous Old HomesLearn: About the VaccineAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyTheater to Stream: Shakespeare Villains and Hot-Tub DreamsPatrick Page looks at bad guys, Steven Carl McCasland gives us literary women, and Jill Sobule mines her own history, including the dreaded seventh grade.A still from “The Infinite Wrench Goes Viral,” from The Neo-Futurists, a Chicago performing-arts group. Credit…via The Neo-FuturistsFeb. 3, 2021Updated 2:17 p.m. ETDark and wintry days, cold nights: February is the perfect time to cuddle up with some so-called chiller theater.Toxic squares: Travis Schweiger and Chelsea J. Smith, top, and Neal Davidson in Stephen Belber’s “Tape.”Credit…via The Shared ScreenLet’s start with Stephen Belber’s “Tape,” which begins with a character shoveling coke up his nose and goes on from there. In this 2000 play (adapted into a Richard Linklater movie), the friends Vince and Jon have a relationship so toxic, it could qualify as a government cleanup project. Their reunion starts with the needle in the red, then really skids off the rails. The Shared Screen company has devised its production as a live video call. Feb. 5-20; thesharedscreen.com.Stay on the line for the Keen’s company benefit reading of Lucille Fletcher’s radio thriller “Sorry, Wrong Number,” from 1943, about a bedridden woman who is being targeted by killers — her phone is her only connection to the outside world. Marsha Mason leads the cast and Nick Abeel handles the live Foley effects. (Feb. 15 at 7 p.m.; keencompany.org.)Patrick Page in “All the Devils Are Here.”Credit…via Shakespeare Theater CompanyFinally, Patrick Page, Broadway’s favorite basso profundo, wrote and performs a solo look at theatrical bad guys in Shakespeare Theater Company’s “All the Devils Are Here: How Shakespeare Invented the Villain.” Page knows a thing or three about the subject: He has played Iago in “Othello,” Hades in “Hadestown,” the Comte de Guiche in “Cyrano de Bergerac,” the Grinch in “Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas!” and the Green Goblin in “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark.” Feb. 4-July 28; shakespearetheatre.org‘The Infinite Wrench Goes Viral’The Neo-Futurists, based in Chicago, have turned their showcase of very short plays — or thought experiments, or whatever you want to call these bite-size works — into a successful weekly virtual show. Some are animated; others are performed by live actors. One was 14 seconds long; most are around two or three minutes. The only rule seems to be that you never know what’s next. A Patreon subscription buys a 30-play show delivered on Sunday nights, with an average of 10 new plays a week. neofuturists.orgJill Sobule’s hot-tub time machine“F*ck7thGrade,” from the singer-songwriter Jill Sobule, may be a concert shot in an improvised drive-in, but this autobiographical show has impressive theatrical bones: Liza Birkenmeier (“Dr. Ride’s American Beach House”) wrote the book, Rachel Hauck (“Hadestown”) designed the set and Lisa Peterson (“An Iliad”) directed for City Theater, in Pittsburgh. Now the question is: Will Sobule and Robin Eaton’s musical adaptation of the movie “Times Square” ever get a full production? Through June 30; citytheatrecompany.orgIn “Little Wars,” clockwise from left: Catherine Russell, Linda Bassett, Juliet Stevenson, Debbie Chazen, Sophie Thompson, Natasha Karp and Sarah Solemani. Credit…John BrannochDinner with Gertrude and LillianCaryl Churchill’s “Top Girls” engineered a meeting between female historical figures. “Little Wars,” Steven Carl McCasland’s new play, also sticks with literary heroines. When a dinner party includes Lillian Hellman (Juliet Stevenson) and Gertrude Stein (Linda Bassett, wondrous in “Escaped Alone” at the Brooklyn Academy of Music), the conversation could get interesting. Through Feb. 14; broadwayondemand.comFor your ears onlyL.A. Theater Works specializes in audio theater with startlingly good casts, and its impressive catalog keeps growing. The latest offering is Hannie Rayson’s eco-minded “Extinction,” with a cast that includes Sarah Drew and Joanne Whalley. Hankering for the days of before? Check out the last two productions Theater Works recorded in front of a live audience, early last year: a commissioned adaptation of “Frankenstein” by Kate McAll, starring Stacy Keach as the creature; and Qui Nguyen’s semi-autobiographical “Vietgone,” inspired by his Vietnamese refugee parents, and directed by Tim Dang. latw.orgSigned, sealed and, eventually, deliveredTheater — or something companies are calling theater — by mail is alive and well. Ars Nova’s “P.S.” project has been going on since November; the second season of the Artistic Stamp company’s epistolary project is underway, with a third beginning soon; and next month, Arena Stage is starting “Ken Ludwig’s Dear Jack, Dear Louise: Love Letter Experience.”The most ambitious initiative yet may well be Post Theatrical, which encompasses 13 “mail-based theatrical experiences” from companies in the United States, Lebanon and Hong Kong. Through June 30; posttheatrical.org‘Yorick, la Historia de Hamlet’/‘Yorick, the Story of Hamlet’Remember Yorick, the jester whose skull plays a big part in “Hamlet”? He takes center stage in Francisco Reyes’s solo with puppets “Yorick, la Historia de Hamlet”/“Yorick, the Story of Hamlet,” presented by the Los Angeles contempory-arts center Redcat. American audiences may know Reyes from his role as Orlando in the Chilean movie “A Fantastic Woman.” In English with Spanish subtitles. Feb. 12-14; redcat.orgWith songs in their heartIf you’re wondering about the back story to the French song in that Allstate commercial, it’s “Non, je ne regrette rien,” made famous by Edith Piaf. And if you missed the biopic “La Vie en Rose,” head over to Raquel Britton’s docu-concert “Piaf … Her Story … Her Songs,” brought to us by Broadway’s Best Shows and the Actors Fund. Feb. 15-18; actorsfund.orgFor tunes in English, turn to Theater Forward, an organization that supports regional theater, which will offer performances by Jason Robert Brown, Kate Baldwin, George Salazar, Anika Noni Rose, Shaina Taub, Branden Noel Thomas, Taylor Iman Jones and the Bengsons for its annual benefit. Feb. 8; theatreforward.orgDavid Glover in “Kyk Hoe Skin die Son.” Credit…Dion Lamar MillsClubbed Thumb’s Winterworks festivalThis enterprising New York company is best known for Summerworks, a festival of new plays that has provided a launchpad for favorites like “What the Constitution Means to Me” and “Tumacho.” Now, Clubbed Thumb is opening up its developmental showcase, Winterworks, to a wider audience on platforms like YouTube, Instagram and Twitch. The shows open at regular intervals throughout February, with several livestreaming before going on-demand for a limited time. The programming is director-driven, so there should be some interesting innovations. In “Kyk hoe Skyn die Son [Look at How the Sun Shines],” for example, Keenan Tyler Oliphant writes a letter live and on-screen, while artists reimagine his memories. Other participants include Leonie Bell and Michaela Escarcega. clubbedthumb.orgTechnology and its discontentsThe Studios of Key West has wrangled quite the cast for Drew Larimore’s new play, “Smithtown,” which deals with the impact of technology on our lives and is made up of four interconnected monologues, read by Michael Urie, Ann Harada, Colby Lewis and Constance Shulman. Feb. 13-27; tskw.orgA scene from “Today Is My Birthday,” with, from left, Emily Kuroda, Eric Sharp and Katie Bradley.Credit…via Theater MuTech is integrated into the very fabric of Theater Mu’s multicamera capture of “Today Is My Birthday,” by Susan Soon He Stanton, a staff writer on the HBO hit “Succession.” This Twin Cities company focuses on the Asian-American experience. And Stanton’s narratively inventive play, about a young journalist (Katie Bradley) who has fled New York to return home to Hawaii, is told through phone calls, voice mail messages and even intercom. Feb. 6-21; theatermu.orgAdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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    Bringing Stages to Storefronts in a Theater-Hungry City

    #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }At HomeExplore: A Cubist CollageFollow: Cooking AdviceVisit: Famous Old HomesLearn: About the VaccineAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyExit InterviewBringing Stages to Storefronts in a Theater-Hungry CityMiami New Drama gave audiences a window on the “Seven Deadly Sins” when it took over part of a pedestrian mall for a production. Michel Hausmann, the artistic director of Miami New Drama, waves to passers-by from inside one of the storefronts where his company presented “Seven Deadly Sins.”Credit…Scott McIntyre for The New York TimesFeb. 2, 2021MIAMI — As the final performance of Miami New Drama’s “Seven Deadly Sins” ended Sunday night, the actors streamed onto Lincoln Road, thanking the company’s artistic director, Michel Hausmann. They had spent months performing separately, inside adjacent vacant storefronts on this South Beach pedestrian mall, to an audience that watched and listened from a distance.Whooping and hugging each other, they gathered around the gregarious Hausmann at the outdoor bar lit by a neon “Purgatory” sign. They continued celebrating, even as the glowing red signs, reading “Lust” “Greed” “Wrath” and more, flickered off and the block turned dark.The pandemic closed the city on March 13, the eve of the opening of Miami New Drama’s first musical. To keep the 5-year-old company going, Hausmann, who is from Venezuela, commissioned seven notable playwrights — five Latino or Latina, two Black — to write short works that would fit under the “Seven Deadly Sins” rubric.They included Aurin Squire, who imagined sloth as a white woman claiming Black identity. Carmen Pelaez envisioned pride as the arrogant statue of John Calhoun, an outspoken defender of slavery, challenging the crowd that is pulling him down. Moisés Kaufman, who co-founded New Drama with Hausmann, portrayed greed by way of a brother and sister clashing over their father’s will.Six of the plays, all with either one or two actors, were staged in glassed-in storefronts, the seventh in the loading dock of the Colony Theater, the company’s regular home on Lincoln Road.Guides led audience groups of 12 from store to store, where they listened to the actors over iPods Velcroed to their bright red, socially distanced chairs.Audience members watch as the actress Jessica Farr performs in the “Lust” section of “Seven Deadly Sins,” written by the playwright Nilo Cruz.Credit…Scott McIntyre for The New York TimesActors performed inside the storefronts while audience members listened on headphones.Credit…Scott McIntyre for The New York Times“Seven Deadly Sins” was extended twice, selling out for most of its two-month run. According to Actors Equity, “Seven Deadly Sins,” produced at a cost of $580,000, was the biggest live professional theater production in the country at the time, employing 100 theater workers, from stage crew to designers and actors. And thanks to meticulous precautions — including individual dressing room/rehearsal spaces — no one got sick.On the phone the morning after the show wrapped up, Hausmann reflected on the inspiration for the production and why it mattered. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.How did you feel seeing this show end?I cried when we couldn’t extend again. Then I made my peace with it. I feel like we pulled off a miracle. Not only artistically, but that the health protocols worked.How did you come up with the idea?I was extremely pessimistic when the pandemic hit. I’m normally an optimist. But I understood what we were facing was an unprecedented disruption. I’d been thinking for years about the empty storefronts on Lincoln Road. I was packing my office knowing I wouldn’t return for a very long time, and it hit me walking to my car and looking at those storefronts and boom! I saw the actors inside, the audience outside.“Although this is literally 40 paces from our door,” Hausmann said of the storefront experiment, “it was like producing on the moon.”Credit…Scott McIntyre for The New York TimesThen I had the good and bad fortune of breaking my knee and wrist riding my bike. I spent weeks in bed. It was a quarantine inside the quarantine. My escape was imagining what I could do with the storefronts. I borrowed Thornton Wilder’s idea of doing 10-minute plays around the seven deadly sins, and a production in Venezuela in 1974 that commissioned different authors.Then what?My first call was to Dan Gelber, the Mayor of Miami Beach. I told him we have this crazy idea that is impossible to pull off without the support of the city. He said, “We’re all in.”What were you worried about?Everything. We’ve become pretty good at producing shows inside the Colony Theater. Although this is literally 40 paces from our door it was like producing on the moon. We had to create seven different theaters — lighting, sound, sets. It was uncharted territory.Any surprises?We had an incident before we opened where a man who I assume was a white nationalist was so offended by the Calhoun set that he threatened to bomb not only that storefront, but the Colony. He made that threat in a credible way. Twenty minutes later the whole block was taken over by police. That’s frightening, but that’s what theater should do. Theater needs to be political.Digital programs for the show were scannable.Credit…Scott McIntyre for The New York TimesOne of the staff members who guided attendees to their seats, and from show to show.Credit…Scott McIntyre for The New York TimesHow did Covid-19 protocols shape the process?We had to have three negative tests before we were even allowed to be outdoors together. After that we had to have two negative tests every week. I got very good at it — now I can share important tips. Breathe in while the swab is going in.You’ve always produced theater with a political dimension. How did that enter here?I gave the playwrights a broad mandate: Pick your favorite sin and write a 10-minute play with one or two actors. What they brought back was a look at American society through the seven deadly sins. We helped process what it means to live in America in the year of the pandemic, Black Lives Matter, and political reckoning.Given everything else going on, why was it important to stage live theater this year?I felt a great sense of responsibility to the theatrical ancestors who figured out how to do theater in the Theresienstadt concentration camp, during apartheid in South Africa, in the living rooms of dissidents behind the Iron Curtain. To keep the flame alive.I felt an even bigger responsibility to our local artists. We never furloughed anyone. We employed a hundred people for the setup of the play and 60 professional actors and techs for the almost three months we were rehearsing and performing. Even if the play had had no artistic merit, that for me is dayenu. [Hebrew for “It would have been enough.”]What else did you learn?It’s liberating to understand we are in the business of live storytelling. The possibilities are really endless.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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    Golden Globes 2021: A Full List of Nominees

    #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }Awards SeasonNetflix’s First Winner?Our Best Movie PicksNew Diversity RulesOscar-Winning DocumentariesAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyGolden Globes 2021: A Full List of NomineesHere are the films, television shows, actors and directors chosen by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.Chadwick Boseman, left, and Viola Davis were nominated for acting awards for “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.”Credit…David Lee/NetflixFeb. 3, 2021Updated 10:49 a.m. ETThe 78th Golden Globe Awards are scheduled for Feb. 28 and will be shown on NBC. Amy Poehler and Tina Fey will return to host the ceremony, which they last led in 2015.The Golden Globes typically take place in January. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which gives out the awards, pushed the ceremony to February this year, citing the coronavirus pandemic.Streaming services, including Netflix and Amazon, dominated the list of nominees, both with their own films — like “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” and “One Night in Miami,” which wouldn’t have relied on open movie theaters to find eyeballs even during a standard year — and with movies that the streaming companies purchased from traditional studios, including Aaron Sorkin’s “The Trial of the Chicago 7.” The streaming services also did well in the television categories: Netflix hits like “The Queen’s Gambit” undoubtedly benefited from having a captive audience over the past year.See the list of nominees below.Best Motion Picture, Drama“The Father”“Mank”“Nomadland”“Promising Young Woman”“The Trial of the Chicago 7”Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy“Borat Subsequent Moviefilm”“Hamilton”“Music”“Palm Springs”“The Prom”Best Director, Motion PictureEmerald Fennell, “Promising Young Woman”David Fincher, “Mank”Regina King, “One Night in Miami”Aaron Sorkin, “The Trial of the Chicago 7”Chloé Zhao, “Nomadland”Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture, DramaViola Davis, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”Andra Day, “The United States vs. Billie Holiday”Vanessa Kirby, “Pieces of a Woman”Frances McDormand, “Nomadland”Carey Mulligan, “Promising Young Woman”Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture, Musical or ComedyMaria Bakalova, “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm”Kate Hudson, “Music”Michelle Pfeiffer, “French Exit”Rosamund Pike, “I Care a Lot”Anya Taylor-Joy, “Emma”Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in any Motion PictureGlenn Close, “Hillbilly Elegy”Olivia Colman, “The Father”Jodie Foster, “The Mauritanian”Amanda Seyfried, “Mank”Helena Zengel, “News of the World”Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, DramaRiz Ahmed, “Sound of Metal”Chadwick Boseman, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”Anthony Hopkins, “The Father”Gary Oldman, “Mank”Tahar Rahim, “The Mauritanian”Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, Musical or ComedySacha Baron Cohen, “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm”James Corden, “The Prom”Lin-Manuel Miranda, “Hamilton”Dev Patel, “The Personal History of David Copperfield”Andy Samberg, “Palm Springs”Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in any Motion PictureSacha Baron Cohen, “The Trial of the Chicago 7”Daniel Kaluuya, “Judas and the Black Messiah”Jared Leto, “The Little Things”Bill Murray, “On the Rocks”Leslie Odom Jr., “One Night in Miami”Best Screenplay, Motion PictureEmerald Fennell, “Promising Young Woman”Jack Fincher, “Mank”Aaron Sorkin, “The Trial of the Chicago 7”Florian Zeller and Christopher Hampton, “The Father”Chloé Zhao, “Nomadland”Best Original Score, Motion PictureAlexandre Desplat, “The Midnight Sky”Ludwig Göransson, “Tenet”James Newton Howard, “News of the World”Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, “Mank”Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross and Jon Batiste, “Soul”Best Original Song, Motion Picture“Fight for You,” “Judas and the Black Messiah”“Hear My Voice,” “The Trial of the Chicago 7”“Io Sì (Seen),” “The Life Ahead”“Speak Now,” “One Night in Miami”“Tigress & Tweed,” “The United States vs. Billie Holiday”Best Motion Picture, Animated“The Croods: A New Age”“Onward”“Over the Moon”“Soul”“Wolfwalkers”Best Motion Picture, Foreign Language“Another Round”“La Llorona”“The Life Ahead”“Minari”“Two of Us”Best Television Series, Drama“The Crown”“Lovecraft Country”“The Mandalorian”“Ozark”“Ratched”Best Television Series, Musical or Comedy“Emily in Paris”“The Flight Attendant”“The Great”“Schitt’s Creek”“Ted Lasso”Best Limited Series, Anthology Series or a Motion Picture made for Television“Normal People”“The Queen’s Gambit”“Small Axe”“The Undoing”“Unorthodox”Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series, DramaOlivia Colman, “The Crown”Jodie Comer, “Killing Eve”Emma Corrin, “The Crown”Laura Linney, “Ozark”Sarah Paulson, “Ratched”Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series, Musical or ComedyLily Collins, “Emily in Paris”Kaley Cuoco, “The Flight Attendant”Elle Fanning, “The Great”Jane Levy, “Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist”Catherine O’Hara, “Schitt’s Creek”Best Performance by an Actress in a Limited Series, Anthology Series or a Motion Picture Made for TelevisionCate Blanchett, “Mrs. America”Daisy Edgar-Jones, “Normal People”Shira Haas, “Unorthodox”Nicole Kidman, “The Undoing”Anya Taylor-Joy, “The Queen’s Gambit”Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Supporting RoleGillian Anderson, “The Crown”Helena Bonham Carter, “The Crown”Julia Garner, “Ozark”Annie Murphy, “Schitt’s Creek”Cynthia Nixon, “Ratched”Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series, DramaJason Bateman, “Ozark”Josh O’Connor, “The Crown”Bob Odenkirk, “Better Call Saul”Al Pacino, “Hunters”Matthew Rhys, “Perry Mason”Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series, Musical or ComedyDon Cheadle, “Black Monday”Nicholas Hoult, “The Great”Eugene Levy, “Schitt’s Creek”Jason Sudeikis, “Ted Lasso”Ramy Youssef, “Ramy”Best Performance by an Actor in a Limited Series or a Motion Picture Made for TelevisionBryan Cranston, “Your Honor”Jeff Daniels, “The Comey Rule”Hugh Grant, “The Undoing”Ethan Hawke, “The Good Lord Bird”Mark Ruffalo, “I Know This Much is True”Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Supporting RoleJohn Boyega, “Small Axe”Brendan Gleeson, “The Comey Rule”Daniel Levy, “Schitt’s Creek”Jim Parsons, “Hollywood”Donald Sutherland, “The Undoing”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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    Iceland Has a Request for Disney+: More Icelandic, Please

    AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyIceland Has a Request for Disney+: More Icelandic, PleaseDisney brought its streaming service to Iceland last year. Now, the country’s education minister has sent a letter of complaint over the lack of Icelandic dubbing and subtitling.Iceland’s education minister urged Disney+ to work with the country’s efforts to preserve its language.Credit…Steven Senne/Associated PressFeb. 3, 2021Updated 10:05 a.m. ETREYKJAVIK, Iceland — Iceland, like much of the world, has embraced Disney’s popular streaming service, Disney+, since it arrived there late last year, with characters from Mickey Mouse to Mulan now available to watch on demand in homes across the country.But there is a problem, the government says: None of the movies or shows are dubbed or subtitled in Icelandic.The country’s education minister sent a letter of complaint to Bob Chapek, The Walt Disney Company’s chief executive, this week, urging the company to cooperate in the country’s efforts to preserve its language.“We work hard to maintain it, especially among children and young people who are heavily exposed to other languages daily, mainly English,” the minister, Lilja Alfredsdottir, wrote in the letter, which was also posted on social media. She noted that, particularly for children, it is vital to have as much exposure to the language as possible.Since then, the campaign has picked up steam, with many Icelanders adding their voices to calls for their native tongue to be featured. The move is part of a broader push to preserve the Icelandic language, a source of identity and pride for many, that some fear is being undermined by the widespread use of English.“I have never experienced reactions this strong,” Ms. Alfredsdottir said in an interview after publishing her letter on Facebook. “People are clearly passionate about our language.”The Disney+ service offers subtitles and audio dubs in up to 16 languages, according to its website, although the availability varies by title. The company also says it plans to add more languages as the service becomes available in more countries.The service’s uptake has risen steeply during the pandemic as people across the globe spend more time at home. By December, the company had reported about 87 million subscribers worldwide, after only a year in operation.And Icelanders have long adored Disney characters, many of whom are given names in Icelandic: Donald Duck is Andrés Önd, and Winnie the Pooh is Bangsímon.Many of Disney’s classic films were also dubbed into Icelandic when they were first released. But those versions are absent from Disney+, and people in the country want to know why.“I do wonder why they don’t at least offer the old versions,” Thorarinn Eldjarn, an author who has translated dozens of children’s books into Icelandic over his long career, said in an interview. “Either they think Iceland is too small and unimportant to bother with, or they assume everyone understands English.”Icelandic is a version of Norse that has remained largely unchanged on the island nation since it was settled about 1,100 years ago. But many people worry about the future of the language, which is spoken by only a few hundred thousand people in an increasingly globalized world.Some protections have been put in place: Local broadcasting rules require foreign shows to be subtitled at all times. But that has not been extended to streaming services, and exceptions are also made for international sports events.Among the nation’s children, English is being embraced at a rate that few people could imagine even a decade ago.Some of Iceland’s youngest children now speak English without an Icelandic accent.Credit…Lucas Jackson/ReutersSchools have had to rethink their curriculum because many students can no longer fluently read volumes from the Sagas of Icelanders, the medieval literature that chronicles Iceland’s early settlers and is considered the bedrock of the language.And many Icelanders have made the point that without the preservation of ancient Icelandic scripts and people’s ability to read them, some of the best-known tales of Norse mythology would have been lost. (That would mean no foundation for the lucrative Marvel Thor series, which is streamed on Disney+ and based on the Norse god of thunder.)Now, some of the country’s youngest children speak English without an Icelandic accent, and when communicating in Icelandic their syntax is influenced by that of English.Evidence also suggests that young Icelanders’ vocabulary is shrinking and blending with English, particularly regarding technical terms. Some people, for instance, will know the English word civilization but not necessarily the Icelandic equivalent (it’s “siðmenning”).Even so, researchers who have documented the effects of globalization on Icelandic insist that the status of the language is still strong.Ms. Alfredsdottir said she planned to follow up with foreign media companies, but declined to say whether streaming services could face fines for not adding subtitles.“I believe we can appeal to mutual interests,” she said. “If Disney embraces Icelandic, I am sure people will reward them for it with a subscription.”Disney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.The absence of Icelandic has not been a deal breaker for other streaming services. Roughly 70 percent of Icelandic households in the country subscribe to Netflix, according to a 2020 Gallup poll — among the highest rate in the world — and its shows mostly do not have Icelandic subtitles.But Eirikur Rognvaldsson, a professor of Icelandic, said the influence of English on children, particularly with Disney+, could be problematic.“Disney films have catchy songs and phrases that children tend to repeat,” Mr. Rognvaldsson said.Much depends on the duration of exposure, he said, citing a large three-year study of 5,000 people from age 3 to 98, that he is involved with.He also said that interactive use of English tended to have more of an influence, such as when video game users chat with players around the world. “Too many children are not exposed enough to their mother tongue,” he said. “And that is causing a range of learning difficulties.”Yet some in the country are working to counter the digital trend.“We are already experimenting with automatic subtitle captioning,” said Johanna Gudmundsdottir, who leads the research center Almannaromur, with a team of 60 experts working to save the language from “a digital death.”The government has allocated $23 million for the project, which is being open-sourced so that tech companies can add Icelandic as a language option without much groundwork.Ms. Gudmundsdottir said the technology still needed to advance to a level of translating English audio in real time. She added, “We will get there.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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    Trump’s Being Impeached Again, So It Must Be Groundhog Day

    #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }What to WatchBest Movies on NetflixBest of Disney PlusBest of Amazon PrimeBest Netflix DocumentariesNew on NetflixAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyBest of Late NightTrump’s Being Impeached Again, So It Must Be Groundhog Day“His lawyers just copied and pasted his defense from the last impeachment: Control-F ‘Ukraine,’ replace with ‘riot,’” Jimmy Fallon said.“I’m just glad we’re still holding up wild rodents,” Jimmy Fallon said of the Groundhog Day festivities in Pennsylvania. “Clearly, we’ve learned a lot about public health from the pandemic.”Credit…NBCFeb. 3, 2021, 2:17 a.m. ETWelcome to Best of Late Night, a rundown of the previous night’s highlights that lets you sleep — and lets us get paid to watch comedy. We’re all stuck at home at the moment, so here are the 50 best movies on Netflix right now.Someone Sees His Shadow“Well, guys, it must be Groundhog Day because we’re living through Trump’s impeachment again,” Jimmy Fallon said on Tuesday’s “Tonight Show.”Fallon and most of the other late-night hosts delved into the House Democrats’ brief alleging that former President Donald Trump was “singularly responsible” for the Capitol riot last month. Rudy Giuliani was heartbroken, according to Fallon: “Singularly responsible? What — what am I, chopped cigars?”“This morning, House Democrats released their trial brief, which argues ‘the former president is singularly responsible for the violence and destruction that unfolded in our seat of government on January 6,’ as he ‘summoned a mob to Washington, exhorted them into a frenzy, and aimed them like a loaded cannon down Pennsylvania Avenue.’ Yes, they were in a frenzy, and by the look of it, some of them were clearly loaded.” — STEPHEN COLBERT“After that, Trump’s legal team filed a brief that claims that he isn’t responsible. It wasn’t that hard to write. His lawyers just copied and pasted his defense from the last impeachment: Control-F ‘Ukraine,’ replace with ‘riot.’” — JIMMY FALLON“The brief opens with a simple timeline of the facts: The president refuses to accept the results of the 2020 election, the president incites insurrectionists to attack the Capitol, insurrectionists incited by the president attack the Capitol, the president is derelict of duty during the attack. OK, that checks out. He is a derelict, and they smeared the Capitol with doody.” — STEPHEN COLBERT“The disgraced former president’s team argued that he cannot be convicted by the Senate, because he is no longer in office. So, OK, once you leave a job, you’re immune from prosecution? ‘Cannibalism? Nice try, your honor, but I don’t even work at White Castle anymore.’” — STEPHEN COLBERT“On the very first page of their first legal filing, they wrote, ‘to the honorable members of the Unites States Senate.’ They misspelled ‘United States.’ And we’re off!” — JIMMY KIMMEL“There was actually a typo on the first page of the Trump brief, but I’m sure it was a long, complicated legal term. Nope, it’s just — just the name of our country, that’s it.” — JIMMY FALLON“Yes, the ‘Unites States Senate,’ both Republicarnts and Democrabs.” — STEPHEN COLBERTThe Punchiest Punchlines (Punxsutawney Edition)“You know how we keep saying that every day in this pandemic feels like Groundhog Day? Well, today it really did.” — JIMMY KIMMEL“Pennsylvania groundhog Punxsutawney Phil today saw his shadow, which in Covid times means six more weeks of February.” — SETH MEYERS“I’m just glad we’re still holding up wild rodents. Clearly, we’ve learned a lot about public health from the pandemic.” — JIMMY FALLON“But it seems Punxsutawney Phil has been spending lockdown like the rest of us, because he came out in stretchy pants eating a tube of cookie dough.” — JIMMY FALLON“For the love of God, Phil. I can’t take it! I don’t want to be stuck inside six more weeks staring at snow outside the window. I am ready to be stuck inside staring at rain outside the window.” — STEPHEN COLBERT“I know you think it’s just a cute little tradition, but I don’t know if you’ve noticed, the rest of us are out here in a life-or-death battle over anti-science psychopaths taking over our government. So it really doesn’t help our case that we’re out here using animals to predict the weather, because it’s hard to make fun of Marjorie Taylor Greene and her Jewish space lasers while you supposed blue staters are wearing top hats and gathering around a hole in the ground waiting to find out if you can book tee times based on which way a woodchuck scurries.” — SETH MEYERS“I’m all for this nonpolitical news, but this whole thing is getting a little silly, isn’t it? I mean, top hats and scrolls, wall-to-wall coverage? It’s a groundhog; it’s not a royal wedding. Biden’s inauguration didn’t get this much attention.” — JIMMY FALLON“Due to the pandemic, instead of any groundhog groupies, the audience was packed with cardboard cutouts. Well, then that means there were no proper witnesses. I demand a hand recount of the groundhog. Stop the shadow! Storm Gobbler’s Knob!” — STEPHEN COLBERTThe Bits Worth WatchingTrevor Noah talked about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Instagram Live detailing the congresswoman’s terrifying experience during the riot at the Capitol.What We’re Excited About on Wednesday NightThe dancer, singer and hair bow aficionado JoJo Siwa will appear on Wednesday’s “Tonight Show.”Also, Check This OutMaria Garcia, the host and creator of “Anything for Selena,” in El Paso, where she was raised.Credit…Ivan Pierre Aguirre for The New York TimesThe “Anything for Selena” podcast celebrates the Tejano singer Selena’s continuing impact on popular culture.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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    ‘Blood Meal’ Review: Just Us, Locked Down in a Dollhouse

    #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }At HomeExplore: A Cubist CollageFollow: Cooking AdviceVisit: Famous Old HomesLearn: About the VaccineAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyCritic’s Pick‘Blood Meal’ Review: Just Us, Locked Down in a DollhouseCleverly edited and darkly funny, the latest Theater in Quarantine show finds a nervous couple afraid to go out or let anyone in. Sound familiar?Lee Minora, left, and Joshua William Gelb in Scott R. Sheppard’s “Blood Meal,” which is shot and edited live with the actors in different settings.Credit…Katie Rose McLaughlin, via Theater in QuarantineFeb. 2, 2021The bugs have made Sam and Lindsay prisoners of their own home. To battle the invasion, the couple live in bare rooms, the furniture wrapped in plastic. They don’t leave the house and don’t welcome anybody in, either: They refuse entry to Girl Scouts selling cookies and after drinks with friends on the porch — in the middle of winter — they throw their clothes in garbage bags.Any resemblance to a certain pandemic is entirely not coincidental, and in just 32 minutes Scott R. Sheppard’s darkly funny new play, “Blood Meal,” captures our zeitgeist with satirical accuracy.What makes the show even zeitgeistier is that it is the latest salvo from the prime purveyor of inventive stagecraft in the age of Covid: Joshua William Gelb and Katie Rose McLaughlin’s Theater in Quarantine.For the past 10 months, the pair have turned a small closet in Gelb’s apartment into a performing space that has hosted everything from an “expressionistic musical portrait” of Mother Teresa (“I Am Sending You the Sacred Face”) to an adaptation of a Polish science-fiction story (“The 7th Voyage of Egon Tichy”).In creating Theater in Quarantine, Gelb (with Minora) has shot many pieces from a closet in his apartment.Credit…Katie Rose McLaughlin, via Theater in Quarantine“Blood Meal” ups the ante: Gelb (who directed and plays Sam) and Lee Minora (Lindsay) are performing live from separate closets — hers was built in the basement of La MaMa. The magic of technology brings the actors together so Sam and Lindsay can have sex and share a bath. We even watch them move about a cross-section of their home, as if it were a dollhouse. (Gelb and Stivo Arnoczy did the video design; Alex Hawthorn was responsible for the software that synced the action.)The setting itself creates a strange combination of the mundane and the surreal that perfectly suits Sheppard’s sensibility. He co-wrote the Off Off Broadway hit “Underground Railroad Game,” about children and adults re-enacting slavery scenarios, and last June contributed “Topside,” a claustrophobic, unsettling play inspired by the Donald Barthelme nuclear-cloud short-story “Game” to the growing Theater in Quarantine catalog.The zippy “Blood Meal,” which is free on YouTube, is an even better piece than “Topside” because it so skillfully maps a familiar world where an invisible danger lurks everywhere. McLaughlin’s matching costumes for Lindsay and Sam, black with red accessories, make them look like two mimes flailing in paranoid domesticity at the end of the world.Sam is at the end of his rope and desperately wants to believe the infestation has run its course so they can get back to normal and maybe even stop sleeping in the kitchen.Editing technology allows the viewers to watch Minora and Gelb, being filmed separately, take a bath together.Credit…Katie Rose McLaughlin, via Theater in QuarantineLindsay has a more jaundiced attitude. “If we are serious about fighting these bugs, we must always doubt that we are free of them,” she tells him. “Do you understand that? It’s about doubt.”But she starts having the wrong kind of doubt as she increasingly suspects Sam of surreptitiously meeting people outside. Her nagging suspicions and his equivocations drive a wedge in the heretofore united couple. Eventually, Sam pleads for Lindsay to join him in an escape: “Let’s get in the Jetta and take the mountain,” he pleads. “Let’s drink black Manhattans and cuddle like bobcats.”Watching this live play on a screen, at a remove, it’s hard not to think, “Can I come too?”Blood MealOn the Theater in Quarantine YouTube pageAdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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    Trump’s New Lawyers Represent Him Well, Says Late Night

    #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }What to WatchBest Movies on NetflixBest of Disney PlusBest of Amazon PrimeBest Netflix DocumentariesNew on NetflixAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyBest of Late NightTrump’s New Lawyers Represent Him Well, Says Late Night“My God, who on Earth would hire Jeffrey Epstein’s defense lawyer?” Stephen Colbert said on Monday. “Oh, Jeffrey Epstein’s wingman? Yeah, that makes sense.”Stephen Colbert joked that former President Donald J. Trump “cruised some dark alleys of the legal world” to find new lawyers for his impeachment defense team.Credit…CBSFeb. 2, 2021, 2:29 a.m. ETWelcome to Best of Late Night, a rundown of the previous night’s highlights that lets you sleep — and lets us get paid to watch comedy. We’re all stuck at home at the moment, so here are the 50 best movies on Netflix right now.‘Rats Fleeing a Sinking Rat’Former President Donald J. Trump lost five lawyers from his legal defense team over the weekend, just more than a week before his second impeachment trial.“There was something lawyers wouldn’t do for money,” Stephen Colbert joked on Monday night. “That is rats fleeing a sinking rat.”“He wanted his lawyers to make the case that he won the election and they quit, so this should be fun.” — JIMMY KIMMEL“Yep, Trump and his lawyers disagreed on strategy. Apparently Trump got upset when they wanted to have one.” — JIMMY FALLON“Aha, the brilliant legal strategy of pointing out to the jury how motivated you were to commit the crime.” — STEPHEN COLBERT“At this rate, Trump’s going to be the first president to show up to his impeachment trial with a public defender.” — SETH MEYERS“Trump suddenly found himself without any legal representation, which is still a huge improvement over being represented by Rudy Giuliani.” — JAMES CORDEN“Trump was furious — not that they quit, that he couldn’t fire them on Twitter.” — JIMMY FALLON“A source close to the ex-president described it as a ‘mutual decision.’ Oh, totally mutual! ‘No, Carol did not divorce me — we divorced me. We also agreed that the lawn was the perfect place for all my shirts.’” — STEPHEN COLBERTBut Trump didn’t go without for long. On Sunday, Colbert said, “the former president cruised some dark alleys of the legal world and scooped up two new lawyers,” Bruce Castor and David Schoen.“Now these guys have a lot in common. When he was a Pennsylvania D.A. in 2005, Castor declined to prosecute Bill Cosby as part of a ‘secret agreement,’ although it is possible Castor did not know, and Cosby just dropped the secret agreement into his drink.” — STEPHEN COLBERT“Meanwhile, days before Jeffrey Epstein died, Schoen actually met with the accused child sex trafficker about ‘joining his defense.’ My God, who on earth would hire Jeffrey Epstein’s defense lawyer? Oh, Jeffrey Epstein’s wingman? Yeah, that makes sense.” — STEPHEN COLBERT“What, was the guy who defended Saddam Hussein not available?” — JIMMY FALLON“I mean, even Rudy Giuliani thought, ‘You’re going with these guys?’” — JIMMY FALLONThe Punchiest Punchlines (Vaccine Dodgers Edition)“The only snowflakes we had here in L.A. this weekend were the ones blocking the vaccine line at Dodger Stadium.” — JIMMY KIMMEL“Whatever their reason, they gathered at the entrance to Dodger Stadium for what they called a ‘scamdemic protest march.’ They blocked traffic; they delayed the vaccinations for about an hour. Now see, this is where we really miss Tommy Lasorda. He would have cleared that mess out in about a minute.” — JIMMY KIMMEL“Whoa, these people in L.A. had to sit in their cars for an hour. How did they notice?” — TREVOR NOAH“For Pete’s sake, it takes two hours just to change lanes on the 405.” — STEPHEN COLBERT“The protest organizers wanted people to be open to their message, so they urged attendees to ‘refrain from wearing MAGA attire, as we want our statement to resonate with the sheeple.’ Yeah, the ones getting the vaccine are the sheeple — ‘Now everyone hide the matching hats we bought from our bankrupt casino god-king!’” — STEPHEN COLBERT“That’s right. These doofuses with their homemade signs saying ‘Bill Gates is controlled by Satan’ are like, ‘Take off that MAGA hat or they’ll think we’re nuts.’” — JIMMY KIMMEL“If you don’t want a vaccine, then don’t get one. I don’t agree with you, but don’t ruin it for everyone else. Like, we don’t come interrupt you when you’re busy dying of measles.” — TREVOR NOAH“Here’s what I don’t understand — why does it always have to be the most ridiculous people who are the most fired up? Like why can’t anti-vaxxers be like those Instagram models were last summer, you know? Where they just post a black square on Instagram one day and never bring up vaccines again?” — TREVOR NOAHThe Bits Worth WatchingThe “Slave Play” playwright Jeremy O. Harris appeared on “The Daily Show,” discussing how Covid has devastated the theater industry.What We’re Excited About on Tuesday NightZendaya will catch up with Colbert on Tuesday’s “Late Show.”Also, Check This OutSophie’s fascinations with the musicality of hyper-feminized speech and the plasticky found-materials of late-capitalist consumer culture made their way into her music.Credit…Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for CoachellaThe late Sophie was a progressive performer and producer who worked with artists from Madonna to Charli XCX in her short but influential career. Here are 12 of her essential songs.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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    The Best Movies and TV Shows New to Netflix, Amazon and Stan in Australia in February

    #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }What to WatchBest Movies on NetflixBest of Disney PlusBest of Amazon PrimeBest Netflix DocumentariesNew on NetflixAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyThe Best Movies and TV Shows New to Netflix, Amazon and Stan in Australia in FebruaryOur streaming picks for February, including ‘Parks and Recreation,’ ‘News of the World’ and ‘Bliss.’‘Parks and Recreation’Credit…NetflixFeb. 1, 2021Every month, streaming services in Australia add a new batch of movies and TV shows to its library. Here are our picks for February.New to NetflixFEBRUARY 1‘Parks and Recreation’ Seasons 1-7With all the social and political unrest around the world, now is as good time as any to revisit this refreshingly optimistic sitcom. Set in the dysfunctional Middle American city of Pawnee, the show stars the very funny Amy Poehler as Leslie Knope, a midlevel bureaucrat who motivates a community of skeptics and kooks into making their town more livable. Though “Parks and Recreation” mostly focuses on the relationships between its cast of lovable eccentrics, it’s also about how good-hearted and determined civil servants can make a difference.FEBRUARY 2‘Kid Cosmic’Although the animated science-fiction/superhero series “Kid Cosmic” sprang from the mind (and the pen) of “The Powerpuff Girls” creator Craig McKracken, it looks and feels different from the work he’s done before. This is a more serialized adventure, featuring a group of misfits from a New Mexico desert town who rely on superpowered alien jewels to fight off invaders from outer space. “Kid Cosmic” has a remarkable design, with its loosely sketched lines and pale colors resembling fading old fantasy magazines and comic books.FEBRUARY 3‘Firefly Lane’Based on Kristin Hannah’s popular tear-jerker novel, “Firefly Lane” stars Katherine Heigl as a glamorous but lonely TV personality. Sarah Chalke plays her longtime best friend, whose own life as a wife and mother has recently been disrupted by divorce. The series frames these two women’s diverging situations as a kind of existential mystery. Frequent flashbacks to the characters’ teenage and young adult years allows viewers to make key connections between the troubles of the past and the anxieties of the present.‘Malcolm & Marie’Credit…NetflixFEBRUARY 5‘Malcolm & Marie’The writer-director Sam Levinson — best-known for the social satire “Assassination Nation” and the provocative teen drama series “Euphoria” — shot his intimate, two-character “Malcolm & Marie” during the pandemic. John David Washington and Zendaya play a bickering couple, airing their grievances over the course of one tense night. Levinson cenhances the stripped-down story by shooting his two striking-looking actors in handsome black-and-white, making a movie that echoes the low-budget psychodramas of the indie film pioneer John Cassavetes.FEBRUARY 10‘News of the World’How did it take so long to get Tom Hanks into a western? In “News of the World,” Hanks plays Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd, a veteran of the U.S. Civil War, who in the 1870s ekes out a living riding from town to town, reading newspapers to the locals. Helena Zengel plays Johanna, a preteen kidnap victim whom Kidd tries to return to her family. Based on a Paulette Jiles novel, this film has an episodic structure, designed to lead viewers through a tour of a postwar America still deeply divided. Hanks is the sturdy anchor for a winding story.‘To All the Boys: Always and Forever’Credit…NetflixFEBRUARY 12‘To All the Boys: Always and Forever’In Netflix’s energetic and emotional movie adaptations of Jenny Han’s novel “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” and its two sequels, Lara Condor plays a lovestruck teenager named Lara Jean Covey, while Noah Centineo plays her college-bound crush Peter. Last year’s “P.S. I Still Love You” introduced some complications to the first film’s happy ending; and now the third and final part in the trilogy, “Always and Forever” tells the story of how Lara Jean and Peter handle an unexpectedly complicated transition from high school to college.FEBRUARY 19‘I Care a Lot’Don’t look for any sympathetic characters in J Blakeson’s “I Care a Lot,” a blackly comic neo-noir film in which two oddly charismatic creeps try to outwit one another. Rosamund Pike plays a high-class grifter, who exploits the systemic flaws in the elder-care industry to make money off the helpless. Peter Dinklage plays a drug kingpin living under an assumed name, who risks revealing himself when his mother (Dianne Wiest) gets caught up in the scam. Like Blakeson’s entertainingly nasty 2009 debut film “The Disappearance of Alice Creed,” this is a well-acted and twisty movie, made for audiences who enjoy watching clever folks be shamelessly awful.FEBRUARY 23‘Pelé’This documentary about the legendary Brazilian footballer Edson Arantes do Nascimento, known as Pelé, is focused primarily on his four World Cup appearances, from 1958 to 1970. Between those years, he went from being an unknown teen from a poor São Paulo neighborhood to becoming universally acknowledged as one of the best ever. The “Pelé” directors Ben Nicholas and David Tryhorn have a wealth of exciting footage of the man in action, but their film is just as much about how Brazil and the world changed during the 1960s.FEBRUARY 24‘Ginny & Georgia’Fans of “Gilmore Girls” should find a lot to like about “Ginny & Georgia,” a drama about a precociously mature teenage girl (Antonia Gentry) and her more free-spirited and libertine mother (Brianne Howey), who are both adjusting to a new life in a quaint New England town. In a reversal of the “Gilmore Girls” premise — where the mom was born of privilege and then fled to a more middle-class existence — in “Ginny & Georgia” the family has seen hard times and is now striving for something better. The core of the show remains the often shaky relationship between a strong-willed parent and her equally headstrong child.Also arriving: “Tiffany Haddish Presents: They Ready” Season 2 (February 2), “Black Beach” (February 3), “Hache” Season 2 (February 5), “Invisible City” (February 5), “The Last Paradiso” (February 5), “Little Big Women” (February 5), “Space Sweepers” (February 5), “Strip Down, Rise Up” (February 5), “Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel” (February 10), “The Misadventures of Heidi and Cokeman” (February 10), “Capitani” (February 11), “Red Dot” (February 11), “Squared Love” (February 11), “Buried by the Bernards” (February 12), “Nadiya Bakes” (February 12), “Xico’s Journey” (February 12), “Hello, Me!” (February 15), “Behind Her Eyes” (February 17), “Tribes of Europa” (February 19), “2067” (February 19), “Classmates Minus” (February 20), “High-Rise Invasion” (February 25), “Bigfoot Family” (February 26), “Caught by a Wave” (February 26), “Crazy About Her” (February 26).New to Stan‘Punky Brewster’Credit…StanFEBRUARY 3‘Race to Perfection’The archivists for Formula One auto racing have emptied out their vaults for this seven-part docu-series, which covers the past 70 years of the sport from multiple angles. Packed with original interviews and exciting vintage footage, “Race to Perfection” documents both the history and the evolution of various aspects of racing: from the advances in technology to the personalities of the drivers to some of F1’s most controversial incidents. It’s pitched at longtime fans and novices alike.FEBRUARY 5‘The Virtues’The writer-director Shane Meadows and the actor Stephen Graham are frequent collaborators, best known for their decade-spanning “This Is England” series. The pair reunites for the four-part mini-series “The Virtues,” a heavy drama about a man belatedly confronting childhood trauma. Graham plays an alcoholic whose life is in utter disarray when he returns home to reconnect with his estranged sister. The trip reminds him of incidents he’d long-suppressed, while also pushing him toward a woman (Niamh Algar) with issues of her own.FEBRUARY 12‘Clarice’This thriller series’s title character should be familiar to fans of either the novel or the movie “The Silence of the Lambs.” The show is set one year after the events of “Silence,” and follows the FBI agent Clarice Starling (Rebecca Breeds) as she tackles new cases. Expect a mix of short and longer narrative arcs, splitting the difference between a traditional TV procedural and the more novelistic serialized approach. But don’t expect any direct mention of the infamous serial killer Hannibal Lecter; the character’s rights are owned by a different production company.FEBRUARY 26‘Punky Brewster’In its original incarnation, the 1980s sitcom “Punky Brewster” starred Soleil Moon Frye as an abandoned child, taken in by a cranky old widower and raised with the help of some kindly neighbors and teachers. Frye returns for the revival, playing Punky now as a quirky divorced mother, who upends her family’s life when she considers become a foster parent to a kid a lot like herself. Some of the original cast members will appear, in a series that aims to charm and uplift.Also arriving: “Doll & Em” Seasons 1-2 (February 2), “The Pleasure Principle” (February 4), “The Green Mile” (February 9), “Hassel” (February 11), “Chasing Life” Seasons 1-2 (February 12), “Lucy” (February 12), “Ex Machina” (February 15), “United 93” (February 17), “Perfect Places” (February 18), “The First Team” (February 19), “Children of Men” (February 21), “Casino” (February 23), “Indian Summers” Seasons 1-3 (February 23), “Angel of Death” (February 25), “Scarface” (February 26), “American Gangster” (February 27).New to Amazon‘Bliss’Credit…AmazonFEBRUARY 5‘Bliss’Owen Wilson plays a lonely, hopeless man named Greg in the writer-director Mike Cahill’s haunting science-fiction drama “Bliss.” Greg is experiencing a run of bad luck when he meets Isabel (Salma Hayek), who persuades him that they’re both actually living in a computer simulation. Cahill makes both Greg’s dreary “real” world and Isabel’s more utopian version seem equally valid, leaving the audience wondering until the end whether she’s savvy or crazy. Along the way, he raises pointed questions about whether humans need some kind of misery in their lives to achieve happiness.‘Tell Me Your Secrets’The lives of three very different characters — a woman on the run (Lily Rabe), a desperate mother (Amy Brenneman), and a sexual predator (Hamish Linklater) — intersect in this mystery/suspense series. As a crime from the past draws this trio closer together, they each reveal secrets about themselves they would’ve rather kept hidden, while also learning more about their friends and neighbors than they may have wanted to know. “Tell Me Your Secrets” is about the lies and delusions that sustain some people; and about what happens when they’re finally told the truth.Also arriving: “The Map of Tiny Perfect Things” (February 12).AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More