SEA AND BE SEEN
Growing up in the '70s was wild with television shows like Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom, the Wild, Wild World of Animals and the Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau. Cousteau was endlessly entertaining, a rail-thin, cigarette-smoking Frenchman, who sparked worldwide interest in underwater conservation with a side of controversy. He revolutionized scuba diving, inventing much of the underwater gear he needed to do what he did, which in turn opened the underwater portal for the rest of us. A winner at numerous film festivals, including Telluride and Toronto, BECOMING COUSTEAU is available on Disney+. If you liked My Octopus Teacher or have ever fantasized about living under the sea, this is the movie for you. (CARRIE SCOZZARO)
WILD WILD WEST
Look, taking down a towering robot dinosaur with a superpowered bow and arrow will just never get old. While the recently released PlayStation 5 exclusive HORIZON FORBIDDEN WEST might not reach the same heights as its predecessor Horizon Zero Dawn, the gameplay remains a blast. In a post-post-apocalyptic world where humanity has gone back to tribal living and aggressive robot animals and dinos roam in nature, series heroine Aloy must save the world with the aid of an augmented reality computer that allows her to access the secrets of the past. The main knock is that while Zero Dawn boasts maybe my favorite sci-fi story of all-time, Forbidden West's story feels clunky at best. Still, adventuring, exploration and battle gameplay in the ruined husks of locales like Las Vegas and San Francisco mean you never have to dwell on the fantastical plot points too long. (SETH SOMMERFELD)
THIS WEEK'S PLAYLIST
Noteworthy new music arriving in stores and online April 22:
FONTAINES D.C., SKINTY FIA. The third record from the Irish post-punk band struts with the brooding swagger of a bloke who's been lurking in the dark back corner of the bar before taking the stage.
CLAIRE ROUSAY, EVERYTHING PERFECT IS ALREADY HERE. The San Antonio experimental artist creates detail-dense soundscapes to get lost in that feel somehow sparse, lived-in and real. Her latest release consists of two sprawling 15-minute tracks.
JASON ALDEAN, GEORGIA. The country superstar releases the second half of a double album (part one, Macon, came out in November), filled with new whisky-drenched pop-country tunes and live cuts.(SETH SOMMERFELD)
