WATCH IT: The Disappearance of Shere Hite tells a too-often forgotten story
In 1976, Shere Hite’s book about the female orgasm, based on thousands of anonymous responses she’d collected in a survey, sold millions of copies around the world. The thesis of The Hite Report, that women didn’t need intercourse in order to be satisfied sexually, prompted questions about everything the establishment thought they knew. No less than Ms. Magazine said it “sparked a revolution in the bedroom.” However, the book also inspired hate, from some men, the far right and researchers who questioned Hite’s methodology. Their criticism drove her out of the country in the late ’90s, and she died in 2020. The filmmakers behind this doc, including Dakota Johnson, who executive produces and narrates the story, intend to make sure Hite’s not forgotten. — Raechal Shewfelt
The Disappearance of Shere Hite premieres Friday, Nov. 17 in theaters; visit Fandango for ticket and showtime information.
WATCH IT: NCIS: Sydney takes CBS’s long-running procedural franchise Down Under
Since originating in Washington D.C., the NCIS franchise has touched down in Los Angeles, New Orleans and Hawaii. Now, the series is venturing across the Pacific for the international co-production, NCIS: Sydney, to investigate Naval-related crimes that play out on a global scale. Former Legends of Tomorrow star Olivia Swann heads up the Australia-based unit, with a crew of actors who will be familiar faces for those living Down Under. — Ethan Alter
NCIS: Sydney premieres Tuesday, Nov. 14 at 8 p.m. on CBS.
WATCH IT: Trolls Band Together adds voices like Amy Schumer and Eric André, reunites NSync
What if we told you 21 years ago, when NSync shocked fans by announcing their breakup at the height of their popularity, that it’d just take an animated sequel based on those crusty, bright-haired Good Luck Troll dolls to bring them back together in a couple decades? It’s a weird world we live in. The boy band-turned-men band released their first song in 22 years for the soundtrack to Trolls Band Together, which of course costars founding member Justin Timberlake (alongside Anna Kendrick) and continues a hit animated series that had no right to be good from the get-go but just keeps impressing. That’s not the only reason to see Band Together, though: The threequel also adds Camila Cabello, Amy Schumer, Daveed Diggs, Eric André, Kid Cudi and more to its already eclectic voice cast, while 100 of the movie’s opening weekend screenings will include light-up wristbands (straight from the playbook of Taylor Swift) for a concert-like experience. — Kevin Polowy
Trolls Band Together premieres Friday, Nov. 17 in theaters; visit Fandango for ticket and showtime information.
HEAR IT: Dolly Parton rocks!
There was a time when Dolly Parton didn’t even want to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of fame, but now she has assembled her own veritable Hall of Fame for her first official rock album, fittingly titled Rockstar. The 30-song opus, a mix of covers and originals, features music royalty of classic rock (Elton John, Peter Frampton Steven Tyler, Steve Perry, Nikki Sixx, Richie Sambora, John Fogerty, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Kevin Cronin); her fellow Class of 2023 inductees (Rob Halford, Simon Le Bon, Pat Benatar); and many of her fellow goddesses, like Ann Wilson, Stevie Nicks, Joan Jett, Pink, Brandi Carlile, Linda Perry, Debbie Harry, Melissa Etheridge, Emmylou Harris, Sheryl Crow and goddaughter Miley Cyrus. Parton even got Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr to perform on a remake of the Beatles’ own “Let It Be”! The record proves there’s nothing Dolly can’t do, and no one who isn’t a Dolly superfan. — Lyndsey Parker
Rockstar by Dolly Parton is available Friday, Nov. 17 to download/stream on Apple Music.
STREAM IT: A three-part docuseries about the rise and staying power of the Kardashian-Jenner family debuts
Streaming on Peacock is the documentary series House of Kardashian, which uses never-before-seen archival footage along with exclusive interviews with family insiders, including Caitlyn Jenner, to explore the growth and staying power of the Kardashian dynasty. While focusing on the three most powerful members of the family — Kim Kardashian, Kris Jenner and Kylie Jenner — this three-part event will chronicle the rise, reach and cost of being a Kardashian as seen from a new perspective, including the controlled narratives surrounding things like personal issues, business dealings, relationships and scandals. The series will also look ahead at what could still be to come for this family as their legacy is slowly cemented behind them. — Kyle Moss
House of Kardashian premieres Thursday, Nov. 16 on Peacock.
STREAM IT: Scott Pilgrim gets the anime treatment with the film’s cast along for the ride
Every generation gets the Scott Pilgrim it deserves. After originating as a manga-inspired comic series in the early 2000s, the story of a video game-obsessed would-be rock star got the live action treatment with Edgar Wright’s seminal 2010 feature film. Now, Scott, Ramona Flowers, Knives Chau and the rest of Pilgrims are getting an anime makeover. Scott Pilgrim Takes Off re-tells the comic storyline across eight episodes with the cinematic cast returning to reprise their roles in voiceover. That includes Chris Evans, who skipped out on voicing Captain America in Marvel’s animated What If… series, but couldn’t resist revisiting bratty movie star Lucas Lee. — E.A.
Scott Pilgrim Takes Off premieres Friday, Nov. 17 on Netflix.
STREAM IT: Todd Haynes makes you laugh (and squirm) with May December
Hollywood’s true crime industrial complex gets some much-needed ribbing via May December, a top-notch collaboration from the trio of Todd Haynes, Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman. Moore plays a Mary Kay Letourneau-like tabloid fixture who seduced a seventh grader, and gave birth to their first child behind bars. Years later, Portman’s awards-hungry actress scores the opportunity to play the now-freed wife and mother and spends weeks observing Moore and her now-grown lover (Riverdale star Charles Melton) in their natural habitat. But in Haynes’s hall of mirrors, who is really performing for whom? What could have been a (still very good) small town potboiler becomes a razor-sharp meta-commentary on public fascination with illicit crimes, as well as the self-serious actors who try to recreate said crimes for statues. May December joins the shortlist of 2023’s top movies. — E.A.
May December premieres Friday, Nov. 17 in theaters (visit Fandango for ticket and showtime information) and Friday, Dec. 1 on Netflix.
READ IT: We can’t hardly wait to read Peter Jesperson’s memoir
Peter Jesperson made indie-rock history when he discovered and managed extremely influential Minneapolis band the Replacements and co-founded Twin/Tone Records, home to not only the Replacements but also Soul Asylum, Babes in Toyland and the Jayhawks. He further shaped alt-rock and alt-country history as the road manager of a then-rising Athens band called R.E.M. and as a record executive for Dwight Yoakam, Kris Kristofferson, Vic Chesnutt and Steve Earle. Now Jesperson recalls it all, euphorically, in Euphoric Recall: A Half Century as a Music Fan, with a foreword by legendary music journalist David Fricke. — L.P.
Euphoric Recall: A Half Century as a Music Fan by Peter Jesperson is available Tuesday, Nov. 14 on Amazon.
OWN IT: The Twilight series gets sexy 4K Ultra HD upgrade in box set
Do Twi-hards still identify as Twi-hards? No judgment, just curious. Regardless of what fans of the Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner-starring series call themselves these days, they’re gonna wanna be all over Lionsgate’s The Twilight Saga: The Complete Collection on 4K Ultra HD that celebrates 15 years of Twilight movies in our lives. Available in a sexy steelbook case, the extras include a conversation with author Stephenie Meyer, filmmaker commentaries, cast interviews and featurettes. — K.P.
The Twilight Saga 15th Anniversary SteelBook releases on 4K Ultra HD Tuesday, Nov. 14 and is available exclusively at Best Buy.
WATCH IT: There’s more to Kennedy than an assassination
Sixty years after President John F. Kennedy was shot and killed during a motorcade through downtown Dallas, the History Channel examines his life as a whole in this eight-part series that airs over three consecutive nights. Narrated by Peter Coyote, Kennedy features “rarely seen footage” and commentary by historians and Kennedy buffs, including Conan O’Brien, a former member of the Kennedy Library Foundation’s Board of Directors. They reflect on the 46 years that JFK lived: his ideals, his leadership in the White House and his family. — R.S.
Kennedy premieres Saturday, Nov. 18 at 8 p.m. on the History Channel.
WATCH IT: D.O.A. features a star from X
D.O.A. stars John Doe, of the legendary Los Angeles punk band X — who over the years has also had roles in Slam Dance, Border Radio, Road House, Great Balls of Fire, Boogie Nights and Sugar Town — as hard-boiled private detective Frank Bigelow. The supporting cast in the movie, an indie spin on film noir classic of the 1950s, includes alt-country singer-songwriter Jake La Botz and MTV’s 120 Minutes VJ Matt Pinfield, only adding to the rock cred. — L.P.
D.O.A. is available to stream on various platforms now.
OWN IT: The fists keep flying in the Shaw Brothers Classics Vol. 3 collection
By the late ’70s, the Shaw Brothers Studio was a well-oiled action machine, churning out martial arts favorites for audiences within Hong Kong and beyond. The third box set in Shout’s ongoing series collects eleven movies made between 1976 and 1979, including The Shaloin Avengers and Clan of the White Lotus. Bonus features include audio commentaries, behind the scenes featurettes and vintage trailers. — E.A.
Shaw Brothers Classics Vol. 3 is available now at most major retailers including Amazon.
HEAR IT: Juliana Hatfield goes Electric
Indie-rock star Juliana Hatfield, formerly of the Blake Babies, has put her own spin on her favorite artists with the tribute albums Juliana Hatfield Sings Olivia Newton-John and Juliana Hatfield Sings The Police, and now she’s taking on the legacy of Newton-John’s Xanadu collaborator, Jeff Lynne, on Juliana Hatfield Sings ELO. While the record features obvious favorites like the Electric Light Orchestra singles “Can’t Get It Out of My Head,” “Don’t Bring Me Down,” “Telephone Line,” “Strange Magic” and “Showdown,” she also goes deep with cuts like “Sweet Is the Night, “Secret Messages, “Bluebird Is Dead,” “From the End of the World” and “Ordinary Dream.” It’s an album full of the sort of strange magic that only Hatfield can conjure. — L.P.
Juliana Hatfield Sings ELO by Juliana Hatfield is available Friday, Nov. 17 to download/stream on Apple Music.
OWN IT: George Lucas’s American Graffiti cruises onto 4K Ultra HD
It’s wild to think that there was a time when George Lucas was really best known for a coming of age film about teens (including a young Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard and Harrison Ford) cruising the streets of Modesto, Calif. in 1962. The Best Picture-nominated dramedy wasn’t the Star Wars’ mastermind’s first film; he dabbled in sci-fi first with the unsuccessful THX 1138. It was the success of Graffiti that gave Lucas the clout to go to a galaxy far, far away. Celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, the vintage 1973 favorite hits 4K Ultra HD with a slick cover and bonus features including screen tests and a director’s commentary from Lucas. — K.P.
American Graffiti releases on 4K Ultra HD Tuesday, Nov. 14 and is available on Amazon.
HEAR IT: Vince Clarke enjoys the Silence
Electronic music pioneer Vince Clarke has made quite a name for himself as the founder of Depeche Mode, Yazoo and Erasure, but incredibly, he has never released a solo album — until now. Songs of Silence began as a project in his home studio to keep him occupied during the COVID-19 lockdown, using only sounds from his Eurorack modular synthesizer and basing each of the record’s 10 instrumentals around just one note. “I could have gone on forever. I could have not stopped,” Clarke said in a statement. “I was enjoying the process so much and wasn’t thinking about anyone else hearing it. … I was in a state of shock, actually, when Mute said they wanted to release this album.” — L.P.
Songs of Silence by Vince Clarke is available Friday, Nov. 17 to download/stream on Apple Music.
