MoviesGet out your shoulder pads, leg warmers and parachute pants, the 1980s are back. Two movies opening this week revisit that era, one taking a TV show to the big screen, and the other remaking a classic '80s movie.
Can there be an "A-Team" without Mr. T? Moviegoers will find out this weekend, as a whole new team takes the stage. Liam Neeson plays Hannibal, Sharlto Copley (from "District 9") plays Murdock, Bradley Cooper is Face, and the Mohawked B.A. Baracus is played by ... a former UFC Light-Heavyweight champion? We'll have to see if Quinton Jackson can even attempt to fill Mr. T's shoes, but pity da fool who isn't at least somewhat intrigued by this one. (Opens June 11.)
"The Karate Kid" features Will and Jada Smith's son, Jaden, in the Ralph Macchio role, and legendary martial artist Jackie Chan in the role of kung fu master Mr. Han. (Pat Morita played Mr. Miyagi in the original flick). Smith plays Dre Parker, a Detroit kid who moves to China and is bullied until Mr. Han trains him for a martial-arts tournament. The plot's bound to feel familiar even if you didn't see the original 1984 film, but the sense of the torch being passed (and Chan's appearance) may be enough to sell the remake. (Opens June 11.)
Joan Rivers wasn't as associated with the 1980s as "Karate Kid" and "The A-Team," but she was certainly popular then. So the 1980s theme continues with a fascinating looking documentary, "Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work." Rivers is reportedly presented as surprisingly vulnerable despite her tough broad exterior, doing whatever she can to keep her career thriving as she ages.
TVThe vamps are back! Creepy but enthralling HBO series "True Blood" returns for its third season, and fans know that the second-season finale offered some creepy developments and a major, last-scene cliffhanger that'll have to be addressed immediately. The bloodsuckers and wolves on this show make those wimps from the "Twilight" universe look like Girl Scouts. (Season three premiere, June 13, 9 p.m., HBO)
Let's see ... we've got reality show competitions based on singing, dancing, sewing, modeling, cooking, interior design ... what subject haven't we tackled? How about art? "Work of Art: The Next Great Artist" follows the same outline of the best Bravo reality competitions, and if the first episode is any indication, art wasn't a bad choice. The personalities are outsized, the competitions intriguing, and while purists will surely turn it off in horror, some of the art produced is actually pretty cool. (Series premiere June 9, 11 p.m., Bravo.)
Before this recent barrage of paparazzi reduced to following even Kardashians and "Real Housewives," and even before Princess Diana died while being chased by photographers in Paris, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and her nemesis, Ron Galella, were the face of the issue. Now HBO is showing "Smash His Camera," the award-winning documentary about Galella. Hate them or ... hate them, the paparazzi are a part of our time, and the film tackles the complex issues of privacy, celebrity and freedom of the press. (June 7, 9 p.m., HBO, check your listings for reruns.)
DVD
"Shutter Island" began as a fascinating Dennis Lehane novel, and it doesn't lose much in Martin Scorsese's translation to screen. Leonardo DiCaprio plays a World War II vet and U.S. Marshal who's investigating a creepy case at an even-more-creepy island insane asylum during a hurricane. Nothing is as it seems, and there's plenty to think about once the credits roll. Raved the Wall Street Journal, "Not since 'Raging Bull' has Mr. Scorsese so brazenly married brutality to beauty." (Out on DVD June 8.)