On Netflix, there’s Todd Haynes’ appealingly arch “May December” and the dazzling animated sequel “Spider-Man: Across the Spiderverse.” On Prime Video, you can catch up to a pair of standouts from earlier in the year: A.V. Rockwell’s sprawling New York tale “A Thousand and One” and Wes Anderson’s elaborately layered “Asteroid City.” And if you’re looking for something further afield, seek out “The Eight Mountains,” a majestic epic of friendship, streaming on the Criterion Channel.
— AP Film Writer Jake Coyle
NEW MUSIC TO STREAM
— Twenty years ago, SM Entertainment boy band TVXQ helped usher in K-pop’s second generation. (To put that into context: K-pop is currently in its fifth generation, and BTS arrived in the third.) By the end of first generation, lead by bubble gum pop like H.O.T.’s “Candy,” TVXQ emerged with a new kind of charisma, producing soulful harmonies with global resonance and performances alongside Britney Spears. Two decades later, the group is now a duo — made up of original members U-Know Yunho and Max Changmin — preparing to release their ninth studio album, “20&2,” on Tuesday, five years since their last full-length, 2018’s “New Chapter #2: The Truth of Love.” Across 10-tracks, the veteran act offers listeners a modern take on their familiar melodic talents. Begin with the rocking, tense falsetto pop of lead-single “Dark.”
— AP Music Writer Maria Sherman
NEW SERIES TO STREAM
— 2024 kicks off in a big way with “America’s Got Talent: Fantasy League” hosted by Terry Crews. In this competition, Mel B returns to judge alongside Simon Cowell, Howie Mandel and Heidi Klum, where they each selects from a talent pool of past winners, finalists, fan favorites and other standout contestants from the global “Got Talent” franchise to form their own team of 10 acts. The judges will then guide their acts through the competition where the audience determines who advances to the semi-finals and finals. The extravaganza begins Tuesday, Jan. 1 on NBC and streams on Peacock.
— True crime fans were hooked by Max’s “The Curious Case of Natalia Grace,” about an Indiana couple who in 2010 adopted a 6-year-old girl with dwarfism from Ukraine named Natalia Grace. Within two years they began to question Natalia’s identity and believed she was in her early 20s, a fraud and dangerous. While that docuseries focused on the adopted parents’ story, Grace shares her version in “The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: Natalie Speaks.” The six-part series airs over three consecutive nights beginning Tuesday, Jan. 1 on ID.
