TV
"Britain's Got Talent" pulled in all the big headlines this spring. Now it's our turn. Can "America's Got Talent" turn out another Susan Boyle-style drama, or must we take second-place to our chums across the pond? Find out when the show returns, with Nick Cannon (Mr. Mariah Carey) taking over from Jerry Springer as host. (Season premiere June 23, 8 p.m., NBC.)
"The Cleaner," with Benjamin Bratt playing extreme addiction interventionist William Banks, returns with special guest-star Whoopi Goldberg as Banks' own former recovery sponsor. Bratt tells Entertainment Weekly that there's friction between the two characters because of their differing approaches to recovery. (Season premiere June 23, 10 p.m., A&E.)
Movies
Need a “Terms of Endearment”-style cryfest? Cameron Diaz and Abigail Breslin star in the tear-jerking“My Sister’s Keeper.” Based on the best-selling novel by Jodi Picoult, the film tells the story of parents who, in order to keep one leukemia-stricken daughter alive, rely on their younger daughter’s body. But when the daughter turns 11, she decides to sue her parents for medical emancipation. It’s a decision that could cost her sister her life. And if you think you’re not going to cry, take note that this film is directed by Nick Cassavetes of the prime weeper “The Notebook.”
Remember the name Jeremy Renner — this guy is destined to become a star. This week, he stars in “The Hurt Locker,” about the day-to-day life of a bomb-disposal squad in Iraq. Time magazine’s Richard Corliss called the film “a near-perfect movie about men in war, men at work,” and Hollywood Elsewhere’s Jeffrey Wells described the film as an “existential nerve ride about the risk and uncertainty of everything and anything.” (Opens June 26)
Music
Who says prog rock no longer exists? The Mars Volta offer up yet another album, “Octahedron,” that would be perfect for the next version of “Rock Band.” Spin magazine gave the album three and a half stars and called it the band’s “most consistently compelling slab since 2005's salsafied ‘Frances the Mute.’” (On sale June 25)
It may be a shame about Ray, but the good news is that the Lemonheads have returned with a new album, “Varshons.” This album of covers includes songs by Leonard Cohen, Gram Parsons and even Christina Aguilera. Spin magazine gave the album three stars and called it “the perfect requiem for 1993.” (On sale June 25)
DVDMany Oscar-watchers picked "Waltz With Bashir" to win this year's Academy Award for best foreign-language film. While it lost out in an upset to Japan's "Departures," the Israeli animated documentary has still earned critical acclaim and plenty of other awards. It tells the story of filmmaker Ari Folman's attempt to reconstruct his own memories of the 1982 invasion of Lebanon. Roger Ebert called it "devastating." Check it out this week on DVD. (Out on DVD June 23.)