What to Watch on TV and at the Movies This Week

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⭐⭐⭐⭐☆ Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, PG-13

The latest flick in the 10-film hominoid franchise is in most ways a Dune-sized winner, packed with action that feels less artificial than most blockbusters, absorbing characters, a story that makes sense if you haven’t seen the other films, and ape faces more exquisitely expressive than many botoxed A-list actresses can manage. It’s a superb SF epic that whisks you to a future when most humans have lost the power of speech and apes are ruled by the terrifying bonobo tyrant Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand), who kidnaps our clever ape hero Noa (Owen Teague), kills his wise, witty old orangutan mentor Raka (Peter Macon), and tries to force smarter-than-the-average human Mae (Freya Allan) to open a vault full of ancient human war technology. William H. Macy, 74, is aces as a craven human who stays alive by reading Vonnegut and Roman history books to Proximus. The movie takes its own sweet time, and would be better minus half an hour. But even the longueurs are eye-poppingly watchable and serve the purpose of building a world that envelops us. —T.A.

Watch it: Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, in theaters

​Mother of the Bride (Netflix)

This one has rom-com crowd-pleaser written all over it. Brooke Shields, 58, grapples with separation anxiety as her daughter (Miranda Cosgrove) is about to walk down the aisle at a destination beach wedding in Thailand. She snaps out of her funk the second she’s introduced (or reintroduced) to the groom’s dad, who just happens to be the old college boyfriend who broke her heart (Benjamin Bratt, 60). The fact that this was directed by Mark Waters (Freaky Friday, Mean Girls) bodes well.

Watch it: Mother of the Bride on Netflix

​Don’t miss this: Brooke Shields on Life at 58: ‘There Are So Many Moving Pieces’

​Or this: 50 Things That Changed the World: Events, Movies, Shows, Books and Tunes That Turn 50 in 2024, on AARP Members Only Access

​In the Kitchen With Harry Hamlin (AMC+)

Hamlin, 72, the L.A. Law star known as “the king of Bolognese,” invites Ted Danson, 76, Bobby Moynihan, Mary Steenburgen, 71, Ed Begley Jr., 74, and you to his home kitchen to cook up something wonderful where dinner party meets cooking show and documentary.

Watch it: In the Kitchen With Harry Hamlin on AMC+

​Don’t miss this: Harry Hamlin: ‘I’m Just Getting Started ... I Don’t Think About Aging,’ on AARP Members Only Access

Hacks (Max)

The world needs more Deborah Vance, the Joan Rivers-esque, unsinkable comedian wisecracking her way through the slings and arrows of aging while headlining in Vegas. And the world definitely needs more Jean Smart, 72, the Emmy winner who inhabits Vance with elan and venom in equal measure. In the third season, the achingly millennial comedy writer Ava Daniels (Laraine Newman’s daughter, Hannah Einbinder) reunites with her unlikely mentor.

Watch it: Hacks on Max

Don’t miss this: Jean Smart Talks Family, Grief and Aging: ‘Every Day Is Precious Now,’ on AARP Members Only Access

The Idea of You (Prime Video)

In a steamy flip on the traditional May-December romance, a 40-something single mom (Anne Hathaway) embarks on an unlikely fling with the 24-year-old lead singer (Nicholas Galitzine) of her teenage daughter’s fave boy band. The film, based on Robinne Lee’s bestseller, earned raves at its premiere at the SXSW Film Festival.

​Watch it: The Idea of You on Prime Video

Don’t miss this: 12 Classic Older Woman–Younger Man Movies to Watch After ‘The Idea of You’

​​The Tattooist of Auschwitz (Peacock)

In a fact-inspired series, Harvey Keitel, 84, plays Lali, a recently widowed concentration camp survivor who faces the memory of his love at first sight for Gita (Anna Próchniak), whom he met while tattooing her prisoner number on her arm. They decided to defy the Nazis and keep each other alive. “The love story, in the face of the horror, gives testimony to the spirit and the goodness of people,” Keitel says.

Watch it: The Tattooist of Auschwitz on Peacock

⭐⭐⭐⭐☆ Jeanne du Barry, Unrated

French actress-director Maiwenn’s sumptuous, sexy period romance had the prestigious opening night spot at Cannes. She breathes warmth and wisdom into the title role of the low-born, illegitimate courtesan. Jeanne rose, against much court resistance, to become the official mistress of Louis XV (Johnny Depp, 53) at Versailles, where much of the film was shot. Depp balances regal and reined-in emotion, his lips tinted red and cheeks powdered. An exuberant Maiwenn, whether behind the camera or in its gaze, paints the portrait of a sex-positive, good-hearted, curious woman whose travels from kitchen to court offer a juicy pre-Revolutionary chapter of French history. The tableaux are stunning, the costumes surreal and truffle-rich, but the film doesn’t let period details obscure the scandalous love story at its royal center. A warm, scented bath of a movie — if you ignore the guillotine coming for the aristocracy that du Barry worked so hard to access. —T.M.A.

Watch it: Jeanne du Barry, in theaters

Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story (Hulu)

Gather round, Jovi fans. This four-part docuseries takes us behind the spandex for an intimate history of the Jersey hair rock legends who gave us “You Give Love a Bad Name” and “Livin’ on a Prayer,” including candid interviews with the band members. Fellow Jerseyite Bruce Springsteen, 74, weighs in: “Jon’s choruses demand to be sung by 20,000 people in an arena.” As testimonials go, that isn’t too shabby.

Watch it: Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story on Hulu

​Don’t miss this: Jon Bon Jovi, 62, on New Documentary: ‘It’s Each of Our Individual Truths’

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Holdovers, R (Prime Video)

Da’Vine Joy Randolph picked up a well-deserved Oscar for her supporting role in a touching throwback drama by Alexander Payne, 63, set at a snooty New England boarding school in 1970. A lone student, abandoned by his family over the Christmas holiday, remains on campus with his cranky bachelor history teacher (Paul Giamatti, 56) and the school cook (Randolph), who is quietly grieving the loss of her son in Vietnam.

Watch it: The Holdovers on Prime Video​​

Franklin (Apple TV+)

The writers of Boardwalk Empire and the hit Paul Giamatti miniseries John Adams bring you Michael Douglas, 79, as founding father Benjamin Franklin in an adaptation of Stacy Schiff’s dazzling 2005 book, A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France and the Birth of America. The eight-part miniseries revisits when America was losing the Revolutionary War — until its greatest scientist-statesman hit France like a lightning bolt, charming them into helping us change the course of history.

Watch it: Franklin on Apple TV+

​Don’t miss this: Michael Douglas on Playing Franklin: “I Wanted to See How I’d Look in Tights” on AARP Members Only Access

And don’t miss this: How Accurate is ‘Franklin’?

3 Body Problem (Netflix)

In Netflix’s No. 1 hit show, the makers of Game of Thrones and True Blood bring you a sci-fi show about an astrophysicist (Rosalind Chao, 66) whose hunt for aliens in the 1960s causes big trouble for humanity years later.

Watch it: 3 Body Problem on Netflix

Don’t miss this: What You Need to Know Before Watching ‘3 Body Problem’

Fallout, Season 1 (Prime Video)

After apocalyptic bombs devastate the world, it’s overrun with mutant creatures and pragmatic bounty hunters such as The Ghoul (Justified’s Walton Goggins, 52). Kyle MacLachlan, 65 (Twin Peaks), plays Hank, the overseer of a vault where folks hide from calamity.

​​Watch it: Fallout on Prime Video

​Don’t miss this: Kyle MacLachlan Reveals How Prime Video’s ‘Fallout’ Blends Drama With Dark Humor, on AARP Members Only Access

Road House, R (Prime Video)

​The 1989 Patrick Swayze action film gets a 21st-century update, with Jake Gyllenhaal playing a world-weary former UFC fighter who takes a job as a bouncer at a Florida Keys dive bar that seems to attract a very aggro clientele. Brace yourself for bare-knuckle brawling. Many doubted the wisdom of rebooting this much-razzed cult classic — but it broke a record with 50 million viewers, the biggest debut of any Amazon/MGM Studios original in history.

​Watch it: Road House on Prime Video

Palm Royale (Apple TV+)

Kristen Wiig, 50, plays a divorcée trying to break into 1969 Palm Beach high society in a highly promising miniseries with the most illustrious comedy cast of the year: Carol Burnett, 90, Laura Dern, 57, Allison Janney, 64, Julia Duffy, 72, Josh Lucas, 52, and Ricky Martin, 52.

​Watch it: Palm Royale on Apple TV+

​Don’t miss this: 10 Quick Questions for Carol Burnett on AARP Members Only Access​

Grey’s Anatomy (ABC)

In the 20th season of the steamy hospital drama, we’ll see the aftermath of multiple cliff-hangers featuring two crucial smooches and two near-death experiences, by a patient (Sam Page) and his surgeon (Kim Raver, 54). The titular Dr. Grey (Ellen Pompeo, 54), won’t be a regular anymore, but she’ll do voice-overs and maybe even appear on screen. “It’s not a complete goodbye,” Pompeo says.

Watch it: Grey’s Anatomy, Thursdays, 9 p.m. ET on ABC

Don't miss this: Broadcast TV Preview 2024: The 20 Best Free Shows Headed Your Way

And don't miss this: 9 Quick Questions for Chandra Wilson of ‘Grey's Anatomy’ on AARP Members Only Access

⭐⭐⭐⭐☆ Dune: Part Two, PG-13

Oppenheimer director Christopher Nolan compares this incredibly epic film of Frank Herbert’s SF classic to The Empire Strikes Back, which outdid the original Star Wars. He’s got a point. It’s an eye-popping, sonically stunning, highly original story with massively more action, character and plot than the 2021 Dune: Part One. Timothée Chalamet is more vibrant as Paul, the hero battling the Nazi-esque Harkonnens, and the grownups are great: Javier Bardem, 54, and Josh Brolin, 56, as his friends and mentors, Christopher Walken, 80, as the evil Emperor and Stellan Skarsgård, 72, as the Jabba the Hutt-like Baron Harkonnen. The amazingly confusing plot mostly holds your interest, but it’s the images that stick with you: Paul riding the giant sand worm, warriors erupting from the ground like skeletons in Jason and the Argonauts, rallies straight out of Triumph of the Will, fabulous battles. It’s like a trip to other planets. —T.A.

Watch it: Dune: Part Two, in theaters

​Don’t miss this: Everything You Need to Know Before You Watch Dune: Part 2

⭐⭐⭐☆☆ Bob Marley: One Love, PG-13

Kingsley Ben-Adir, who played Malcolm X in the Oscar-nominated 2020 One Night in Miami ..., delivers a smartly focused performance as reggae legend Bob Marley. He nails the late star’s Jamaican patois (you sometimes wish the film had subtitles), but what’s missing is the Soul Rebel who brought stadiums of fans to their feet. You can feel director Reinaldo Marcus Green straining against the family-approved biopic format, in which less attractive episodes such as infidelities and arrests get only a glancing mention. When the focus stays on Marley’s singular talent — for example, a lingering scene in which he and the band piece together the classic tune “Exodus” — One Love succeeds in getting things together so you can feel all right. —Thom Geier (T.G.)

Watch it: Bob Marley: One Love, in theaters

Don't miss this: Ziggy Marley reveals his father’s final words to him on AARP Members Only Access​​