Sometimes, streaming services make only trailers available for review. Particularly if it’s an original movie and you review mere “television.” Sometimes that’s unfortunate. Most of the time, it’s a relief.
And that was my exact reaction to the trailer for the new action thriller “Atlas,” streaming today on Netflix.
Jennifer Lopez stars in the title role as a very important AI expert assigned to stop an evil scientist (or chimerical robot entity) named Harlan after he’s already destroyed much of humanity, civilization, etc.
So, we’re basically picking up on a plot that’s been kicking around since the 1984 thriller “Terminator,” which was itself based on a 1957 story by Harlan Ellison that inspired a 1964 “Outer Limits” episode (“Soldier”). With all of AI’s promise and menace, there is nothing new under the sun.
It would be extremely unfair to pick apart dialogue based on a three-minute trailer. Very unfair. But that hasn’t stopped a cottage industry of YouTube “critics” who do just that and film themselves snickering at the proceedings.
The “Atlas” tease includes any number of howlers. Not to give away too much, but Atlas teams up with a program known as “Smith.” She gets inside his “head,” if indeed he has one, and learns about AI from the inside, so to speak, before declaring, “I hate AI!”
For decades now, Memorial Day weekend has marked the kickoff of the official summer movie season, or the silly season, for serious film buffs. We could all use a good giggle right now, and it seems “Atlas” has arrived just in time.
— Speaking of comic relief, Paramount+ streams “South Park: The End of Obesity,” a satirical take on Ozempic and other new drugs. The arrival of big pharma shifts the scales and changes the conversation in the jittery little city of South Park. But when Cartman is denied his dose, the gang strikes back in typical fashion.
— Hulu streams the ABC News documentary “Print It Black.” The film recalls the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24, 2022. It focuses particularly on the coverage of the event in the local newspaper, the Uvalde News Leader. Reporter Kimberly Rubio had the difficult task of dealing with the story when her own 10-year-old daughter was among the 21 lives claimed that day. She has since become a national advocate for gun reform.
— Starting tonight with “The Caine Mutiny” (8 p.m., TV-PG) from 1954, TCM will observe the Memorial Day holiday, devoting the next three days to dramas about soldiers, war, the home front and the experience of returning veterans.
While the vast majority of the selected films are Hollywood efforts, the schedule includes two foreign-language movies, “The Burmese Harp” (3:45 a.m. early Monday, TV-PG), from Japan, and the 1957 drama “The Cranes Are Flying” (6 a.m. Monday, TV-PG), from the USSR. The film was warmly embraced by European audiences and acclaimed at the Cannes Film Festival. Some saw “Cranes” as symbolic of a changing Soviet Union in the post-Stalin era.
TONIGHT’S OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
— With “The Garfield Movie” now in theaters, viewers can compare it with “Garfield: The Movie” (7 p.m., Freeform, TV-PG) from 2004.
— Friends reunite in a Christmas-themed village in the 2022 romance “A Fabled Holiday” (7 p.m., Hallmark, TV-G).
— Hosted by RuPaul, the wordplay game show “Lingo” (8 p.m. and 9 p.m., CBS, TV-PG) enters its second season.
— Leslie Odom Jr. stars in a “Great Performances” (9 p.m., PBS, TV-14, check local listings) presentation of “Purlie Victorious,” a three-act comedy about a preacher trying to save a failed Georgia church, written by Ossie Davis and first staged in 1961.
— A serial killer’s return inspires teamwork on “Blue Bloods” (10 p.m., CBS, r, TV-14).
CULT CHOICE
Broadway schemers (Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder) hope to profit from a surefire flop in the 1967 comedy “The Producers” (6:15 p.m., TCM, TV-14), directed by Mel Brooks. At the time, Brooks was probably best known as the co-creator (with Buck Henry, “The Graduate”) of the TV spy spoof “Get Smart,” which ran on NBC and CBS from 1965-70.
SERIES NOTES
On two episodes of “Night Court” (NBC, r, TV-PG): Dan and Roz collaborate (8 p.m.); blunting the budget ax (8:30 p.m.) … “WWE Friday Night SmackDown” (8 p.m., Fox, TV-PG) … A new variation on pickleball gets the once-over on “Shark Tank” (8 p.m., ABC, r, TV-PG) … “Dateline” (9 p.m., NBC) … “20/20” (9 p.m., ABC).
LATE NIGHT
Kristen Wiig and Mike Birbiglia visit “Late Night With Seth Meyers” (12:35 a.m., NBC, r) … Taylor Tomlinson hosts Shane Torres, Kyle Kinane and Amy Miller on “After Midnight” (12:35 a.m., CBS, r).
