UPFRONT/WATCH
Now Playing
AARP critic Tim Appelo picks upcoming movies and shows to watch
JOKER: FOLIE À DEUX
In theaters October 4
In the sequel to 2019’s The Joker, the billion-dollar hit that won an Oscar for star Joaquin Phoenix, 49, the troubled clown falls for a fellow inmate at Arkham Asylum (Lady Gaga), and mayhem ensues. Who says a psychologically bent action film can’t be a musical too? The A-list cast also includes Oscar nominees Catherine Keener, 65, Steve Coogan, 58, and Brendan Gleeson, 69.
POPPA’S HOUSE
On CBS October 21
A radio talk-show host (Damon Wayans, 64) finds himself still parenting his adult son (real-life son Damon Wayans Jr.), who’s trying to be a responsible father himself without giving up his dreams.
HAPPY’S PLACE
On NBC October 18
Reba McEntire, 69, plays an heiress running her late dad’s restaurant. Her Reba costar Melissa Peterman, 53, plays a bartender. Reba’s also on the new season of the music competition reality show The Voice, with new judges Michael Bublé, 49, and Snoop Dogg, 52.
WHITE BIRD
In theaters October 4
To teach her grandson (Bryce Gheisar) a lesson, a famous French Jewish artist (Helen Mirren, 79) tells him how her classmate (Orlando Schwerdt) and his mother (X Files ’ Gillian Anderson, 56) hid her from the Nazis in their barn. “We had both seen how much hate people are capable of, and how much courage it took to be kind,” she says. “When kindness can cost you your life, it becomes like a miracle.”