This combination of images shows promotional art for season two of “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” premiering on June 15 on Paramount+, left, “Extraction 2,” a film premiering June 18 on Netflix and season two of “Hoffman Family Gold,” premiering June 16 on Discovery Channel. (Paramount+/Netflix/Discovery via AP)
Albums from John Mellencamp and Killer Mike, as well as the return of Chris Hemsworth’s gun-for-hire anti-hero in Netflix’s “Extraction 2” are among the new television, movies, music and games headed to a device near you.
Among the offerings worth your time as selected by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists are season two of “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds,” and new “The Wonder Years,” about a middle-class Black family in Montgomery, Alabama, in the 1960s, returns for its second season.
NEW MOVIES TO STREAM
— Clinical death is just a minor obstacle for Chris Hemsworth’s action hero Tyler Rake, who audiences can see again in “Extraction 2,” debuting on Netflix on Friday. In this outing, he’s assigned the dangerous task of rescuing a Georgian gangster’s family from a prison. Director Sam Hargrave promised twice as much action and more emotion in this outing, produced again by the Russo brothers. And Hemsworth has said that they opted for practical stunts and set pieces over green-screen fakery, which could be a bit frightening filming a sequence atop a train going 40 miles per hour through the snowy Czech Republic while a helicopter hovered 23 feet in front of him flying backwards.
— ”Chevalier,” a lush, dramatic biopic of an accomplished Black man in Marie Antoinette’s France who was all but erased, came and went in theaters without a lot of fanfare. But it’s now headed to Hulu starting on Friday where audiences can learn about Joseph Bologne, the Chevalier de Saint-Georges, the son of a wealthy French plantation owner and an enslaved Senegalese teenager who rose through the ranks of French society due in part to his extraordinary musical talents as a composer and a violinist. Kelvin Harrison Jr. plays the title role in the Stephen Williams-directed film, which I wrote in a review “may be more fiction than history, but it’s worthwhile with effective acting, tension (helped by Kris Bowers’ score) and a decadently beautiful production.”
— And on Disney+, a new original documentary about the late Stan Lee premieres on Friday. “Stan Lee,” directed by David Gelb, promises to explore Lee’s life and cultural impact. Lee, who died in 2018 at age 95, co-created an army of comic book characters including Spider-Man, the X-Men, Iron Man, the Incredible Hulk, the Fantastic Four, Ant-Man and many more who have in the past 15 years become household names thanks to the popularity of Marvel films, many of which feature fun Stan Lee cameos.
NEW MUSIC TO STREAM
— John Mellencamp’s output is not slowing down. A year after releasing the album “Strictly a One-Eyed Jack,” the heartland rocker is back with “Orpheus Descending.” Many of the 11 tracks — including the anti-gun violence anthem “Hey God” and a song about the homeless crisis “The Eyes of Portland” — focus on social issues. “All of these homeless/Where do they come from?/In this land of plenty/Where nothing gets done,” sings Mellencamp, 71, on the latter track.
NEW MUSIC TO STREAM
— John Mellencamp’s output is not slowing down. A year after releasing the album “Strictly a One-Eyed Jack,” the heartland rocker is back with “Orpheus Descending.” Many of the 11 tracks — including the anti-gun violence anthem “Hey God” and a song about the homeless crisis “The Eyes of Portland” — focus on social issues. “All of these homeless/Where do they come from?/In this land of plenty/Where nothing gets done,” sings Mellencamp, 71, on the latter track.
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