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Things To Do At Home
This week, stream a French film, watch a ballet performance and learn about restoring Earth’s oceans.
Here is a sampling of the week’s events and how to tune in (all times are Eastern). Note that events are subject to change after publication.
Monday
Watch Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar,” produced by the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, a theater company in Ashland, Ore. This 2017 performance of the play, directed by Shana Cooper and featuring Armando Durán in the title role, is part of the organization’s virtual spring season. Tickets cost $15, and the show is available to stream through March 27.
When Anytime
Where osfashland.org/en/productions/2021-digital-plays/d-julius-caesar.aspx
Tuesday
Stream the film “35 Shots of Rum,” the final installment of the “Paris on Film” series hosted by the French Institute Alliance Française, which has been spotlighting cinema shot in the French capital. Directed by Claire Denis and starring Alex Descas, Mati Diop and Nicole Dogué, the movie follows a close-knit father-daughter duo who must learn to navigate change and separation. The film will be presented with English subtitles, and is available to stream through March 29. Tickets are $6.99.
When Anytime
Where fiaf.org/event/2021-03-cs-35-shots-of-rum/
Check out a performance by the American Ballet Theater at the New York City Center. The program will feature the company’s dancers, including Aran Bell, Skylar Brandt and Patrick Frenette, in works by Alexei Ratmansky, a choreographer and the company’s artist in residence. The prerecorded performance will include the world premiere of Ratmansky’s new work, “Bernstein in a Bubble,” which was created this year by artists in a quarantine bubble. At intermission, there will be a conversation between Ratmansky and Linda Murray, the curator of the Jerome Robbins Dance Division at the New York Public Library. Tickets to this event, presented by the American Ballet Theater, New York City Center and Nel Shelby Productions, are $25. The performance will be available for streaming through April 18 after the premiere.
When 7 p.m.
Where NYCityCenter.org/ABT-Live-from-City-Center
Wednesday
Learn about the role of art on public transportation in a talk with Sandra Bloodworth, the director of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Arts & Design program. Ms. Bloodworth, who has led the program for 24 years, will be in conversation with Peter Drake, the provost of the New York Academy of Art, whose art is featured at the Massapequa station of the Long Island Rail Road in New York. This event, which is hosted by the art academy, is free. Registration is required, and attendance is capped at 500.
When 2 p.m.
Where nyaa.edu/public-art-mta-arts-design
Listen to a conversation between the writer Christine Smallwood and Dayna Tortorici and Charles Petersen, editors of the literary magazine n+1. Ms. Smallwood will discuss her debut novel, “The Life of the Mind,” which is adapted from the short story “The Keeper” published in the magazine. This event, presented by n+1, is free, but registration is required. Attendance is capped at 500.
When 7:30 p.m.
Where nplusonemag.com/smallwood
Thursday
Dive in to a discussion on protecting and restoring Earth’s oceans, presented by The New York Times. Moderated by the Times journalist Henry Fountain and featuring speakers like Alexandra Cousteau, an ocean advocate, and Enric Sala, a marine ecologist and a National Geographic explorer in residence, the conversation will tackle topics such as how governments and individuals can take collective responsibility in areas without a national government, and how best to ease the strain of carbon emissions on these parts of the biosphere. This live discussion, which is part of The Times’s “Netting Zero” virtual event series on climate change, is free to attend, but registration is required.
When 2:30 p.m.
Where nytimes.com/interactive/2020/admin/live-events.html
Craft confections with the James Beard award–nominated pastry chef Zoe Kanan. In the class, presented by the Temple Emanu-El Streicker Center, Ms. Kanan will teach viewers how to make a vegan, no-churn, spiced peanut-date ice cream, a cardamom and lemon macaroon tart and a twist on her grandmother’s chocolate lace cookies with matzo meal and sunflower seed. This event, which is part of a four-day Passover cooking series, is free to attend, but registration is required.
When 11 a.m.
Where streicker.nyc/events/zoe-kanan
Friday
Tune in to the Mandala Makers Festival, an annual event that celebrates multidisciplinary South Asian artists. The evening will begin with a performance by Anvita Hariharan, who will play Carnatic music, a genre from southern India, on saxophone, accompanied by the mridangam drum. Ms. Hariharan will be followed by the Grammy Award nominee Priya Darshini on vocals and Max ZT on hammered dulcimer. Tickets are free, and donations are encouraged.
When 8 p.m.
Where makersfestival.mandalaarts.org
Saturday
Celebrate the first night of Passover with your little ones by listening to “K’ilu Kits: Passover Adventure.” This interactive audio play, which is intended for children 3 to 8, teaches kids about the holiday through games, storytelling materials and a kid-friendly Haggadah, the prayer book that guides celebrants through the Seder dinner. A kit of materials is available to download for $18.
When Anytime
Where kilukit.com
Sunday
Step inside a historically restored New York City tenement apartment, with a virtual tour from the Tenement Museum, which explores the ways that immigration and migration have shaped the American identity. Through oral histories, video interviews, images and a 360-degree view of the apartment, participants will learn about the Saez Velez family, who lived there after moving to Manhattan from Puerto Rico in the 1960s. Attendance is capped at 100, and the museum hosts virtual tours of various apartments Tuesdays through Sundays. Tickets cost $10.
When 6 p.m.
Groundhog Day Movies
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Catch a Movie About Time Loops
‘Groundhog Day’ may feel a little too close to home this year. Here are some films you may not need to relive.
- Jan. 30, 2021, 11:41 p.m. ET
The movie “Groundhog Day” came out in1993, but it feels as if we’ve been watching it over and over ever since. This story of a smugweatherman (Bill Murray) who is stuck endlessly repeating the same day has remained popular and inspired countless movies and shows. (The latest, the romantic comedy “The Map of Tiny Perfect Things” debuts on Amazon Prime Video)
“Groundhog Day” wasn’t the first of its kind, but it was an especially clever and emotionally resonant twist on the time-loop plot, with a hero who eventually sees his situation as an opportunity for self-improvement. The best time-loop movies since — like the five featured below — are similarly heartfelt and original.
‘Source Code’
In this rocket-paced science-fiction mystery, the time loop encompasses a frantic eight minutes aboard a commuter train about to explode. Jake Gyllenhaal plays an Army pilot whose consciousness keeps getting projected back to the moments before the bombing, where he has been assigned by his shadowy superiors to figure out who’s responsible. The director, Duncan Jones, and the screenwriter, Ben Ripley, do a lot with short time stretches on the train, creating a miniature world for the hero to investigate and appreciate. Stream it on Showtime; rent or buy it on Amazon Prime, Apple TV+, Google Play, Vudu or YouTube.
‘Edge of Tomorrow’
Also known as “Live Die Repeat,” this techno-thriller stars Tom Cruise as William Cage, a military bureaucrat, forced to join the fight against beastly alien invaders. Like a newbie playing a video-game, Cage keeps dying, often in stupid ways. But each death transports him back in time to train with a hard-boiled soldier (Emily Blunt) before restarting the battle. Cage’s serial mortality works as a darkly comic commentary on the disposability of action-movie characters. Yet the further he gets into the mission, the more genuinely tense and even moving it becomes to see him keep trying to survive. Rent or buy it on Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Google Play, Vudu or YouTube.
‘The Final Girls’
The loop in “The Final Girls” is a 1980s slasher movie called “Camp Bloodbath,” which starred the late mother of a woman named Max (Taissa Farmiga). When Max and her friends find themselves stuck in “Camp Bloodbath” — where scenes restart whenever they try to escape — they use their knowledge of the plot to try to make it to the credits. Unlike most time-loop films, the heroes here don’t endure a slew of resets. Instead, their awareness of horror clichés helps them hold on, while Max spends an emotional day hanging out with a character her mom played. Stream it on Hulu; rent or buy it on Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Google Play, Vudu or YouTube.
‘Happy Death Day’
“Groundhog Day” meets “Scream” in this raucous horror-comedy, featuring Jessica Rothe as the drunken college kid Tree, who keeps getting murdered by a masked maniac. Every time she reawakens, she edges closer to discovering the killer’s identity. But as often happens in these movies, to stop the slaughter Tree first must figure out why her life is a mess. Equally loaded with slapstick and splatter, “Happy Death Day” is one of the wilder entries in this weird subgenre, but it’s ultimately just as poignant. Stream it on FX Now; rent or buy it on Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Google Play, Vudu or YouTube.
‘Palm Springs’
One of the most recent “Groundhog Day” riffs is also one of the funniest, sweetest and smartest. The story starts in the middle, dropping in on a low-ambition slacker named Nyles (Andy Samberg) after he has lived through the same wedding hundreds of times. When Nyles accidentally pulls the bride’s restless sister Sarah (Cristin Milioti) into the loop, he shows her how to enjoy living without consequences — until she realizes this kind of life is meaningless. “Palm Springs” lets viewers enjoy the decadent fantasy of its time-loop story, even as the characters within it reassess their personal values. Stream it on Hulu.
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Six Superhero Movies to Stream
Supported by
Let Down by ‘Wonder Woman 1984’? Here are 6 Great Superhero Movies
The Wonder Woman sequel received mixed reviews. But there are plenty of excellent and entertaining alternatives to stream, and many that never received the attention they deserve.
- Jan. 9, 2021, 11:43 p.m. ET
Last month, Warner Bros. released the coronavirus-delayed “Wonder Woman 1984,” a sequel to the 2017 hit “Wonder Woman.” The action-adventure movie has done relatively well at the box office (in places where theaters are open), even though it’s also available for a limited time on the streaming service HBO Max. But compared with the enthusiastic response to the first “Wonder Woman” movie, the sequel has drawn a mixed reaction, with some critics and comic book fans complaining about the film’s unlikely plot and lengthy running time.
So for those who felt let down by “Wonder Woman 1984,” here are six other superhero options to stream — from the widely beloved and popular to films that have never received the big audiences they deserved.
‘The Rocketeer’
Stream it on Disney+; rent or buy it on Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Google Play, Vudu or YouTube.
The moviegoing public was still developing a taste for superheroes back in 1991, when Walt Disney’s Buena Vista Pictures failed to draw crowds for this charmingly old-fashioned pulp exercise. Based on a little-known comic by the illustrator Dave Stevens, “The Rocketeer” is a fast-paced potboiler set in a 1930s Hollywood filled with glamorous swells and optimistic go-getters — including a bombshell actress Jenny (Jennifer Connelly) and her stunt-pilot boyfriend (Billy Campbell). The director Joe Johnston brings light and zip to the film’s Nazi-fighting plot — something he’d do again 20 years later with the mighty “Captain America: The First Avenger.”
‘Darkman’
Rent or buy it on Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Google Play, Vudu or YouTube.
A little over a decade before the director Sam Raimi was entrusted with the 2002 blockbuster “Spider-Man,” he made his own twisted, R-rated version of a Marvel Comics movie, about a mad scientist driven by tragedy to become a vigilante, disguised in an artificial skin that dissolves in sunlight. Anchored by a zesty Liam Neeson performance (getting an early start on the “capable hero, out for blood” screen persona he’s mastered in recent years), “Darkman” combines elements of old Universal monster movies, gritty 1970s superhero comics and slapstick comedy. Though it’s rated R and not appropriate for younger viewers, the movie is a true original.
[Read The New York Times review.]
‘Fast Color’
Stream it on Amazon Prime or Hulu; rent or buy it on Apple TV, Google Play, Vudu or YouTube.
In some of the most haunting superhero stories, the powerful dwell among us in the ordinary world, devoid of costumes or code names. One of the best-known of these is M. Night Shyamalan’s “Unbreakable.” Film buffs who love that film should definitely catch up with the writer-director Julia Hart’s similarly low-boil “Fast Color,” about a family of women who hide their extraordinary abilities from a government agency that wants to exploit them. Hart and her co-writer/producer Jordan Horowitz add their own spin on this classic genre premise by focusing on human relationships and small moments of wonder.
‘X-Men: First Class’
Stream it on HBO Max; rent or buy it on Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Google Play, Vudu or YouTube.
The X-Men movie franchise and its Deadpool and Wolverine offshoots have been hugely popular but inconsistent. “X-Men: First Class” is the best of the bunch because it isn’t bogged down by complicated mythology. Instead, the story starts at the beginning, in 1962, as two young mutant chums with different ideologies work together to recruit more of their own kind. The director Matthew Vaughn gives the picture the polish of a James Bond film, while James McAvoy (as Professor Charles Xavier) and Michael Fassbender (as Erik “Magneto” Lehnsherr) lead an ace cast in an adventure filled with international intrigue.
[Read The New York Times review.]
‘Big Hero 6’
Stream it on Disney+; rent or buy it on Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Google Play, Vudu or YouTube.
Given that the superhero genre became a phenomenon thanks to the ink-stained medium of comic books, it’s too bad there haven’t been more big-budget animated superhero movies. The Oscar-winning “Big Hero 6” is a fine example of how the exaggerated, cartoony illustrations common to animation lend themselves well to kinetic, fantastical action. The film is also kid-friendly, telling the story of a moody teenage genius who assembles a group of tech-savvy nerds to help him, along with his adorably squishy super-robot Baymax, unravel a conspiracy. At once cute and visually dazzling, “Big Hero 6” is an old-fashioned superhero tale suffused with positivity.
‘Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)’
Stream it on HBO Max; rent or buy it on Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Google Play, Vudu or YouTube.
Comic book connoisseurs disappointed in “Wonder Woman 1984” had an excellent alternative last year for their DC Comics superheroine fix. In the “Suicide Squad” spinoff “Birds of Prey,” Margot Robbie reprises her role as the delightfully daffy Gotham City rogue Harley Quinn, who joins forces with some slightly more virtuous ladies in an explosive standoff with a local mob boss. The director Cathy Yan and screenwriter Christina Hodson load their movie up with foul language, bloody violence and self-referential humor, making the case that while strong female heroes are great, strong female antiheroes may be more fun.
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