Arts Calendar: Happenings for the Week of July 23

Film

• “Haunted Mansion” (July 28): While we’re still months out from spooky season, Disney is hoping to get in on the light-fright fest early with this adaptation of its popular ride. LaKeith Stanfield, Tiffany Haddish, Owen Wilson, Danny DeVito, Rosario Dawson, Jamie Lee Curtis and Winona Ryder are among the creepy cast in this tried-and-true horror setup, directed by Justin Simien, of a family that moves into a house to find it already occupied by supernatural tenants. 

• “Talk to Me” (July 28): Scarier than any Disney fare is the debut from brothers Danny and Michael Philippou about a group that dives into occult conjurings with the help of an embalmed hand. One assumes the oddities shop was out of monkey paws. 

• “The First Slam Dunk” (July 28): Takehiko Inoue directs this anime film based on his own manga about dueling high-school basketball teams. 

• “The Beasts” (July 28): Highly decorated at this year’s Goya Awards (the Oscars of Spain), the new film from Rodrigo Sorogoyen (“The Realm”) tells the story—based on actual events—of escalating tensions between a French couple and their neighbors in the Galician countryside. 

• “Sympathy for the Devil” (July 28): Yuval Adler, whose “Bethlehem” won the Ophir Award (this one the Oscars of Israel), directs a thriller in which a driver ( Joel Kinnaman ) is forced to play chauffeur to a mysterious man ( Nicolas Cage ) who is holding him at gunpoint. 

• “War Pony” (July 28): After winning praise at Cannes and strong reviews in the U.K., where it was released last month, Riley Keough and Gina Gammell’s portrait of two Lakota boys on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation makes its way to American screens.

TV

• “Special Ops: Lioness” (Paramount+, July 23): Taylor Sheridan seems happy to work on either side of the camera, whether winning fans and enemies in his roles on “Sons of Anarchy” and “Veronica Mars,” winning critical acclaim for films like “Sicario” and “Hell or High Water,” or winning eyeballs with sleeper hit series like “Yellowstone” and its rustic offspring. He’s back in the creator’s seat with a new spy thriller that stars Zoe Saldaña as a CIA chief guiding a young woman in infiltrating a terrorist organization. Nicole Kidman, Morgan Freeman and Michael Kelly are also among the familiar faces in the covert drama.

• “Son of a Critch” (The CW, July 24): A series based on the memoir of comedian Mark Critch brings his awkward middle-school childhood in 1980s Newfoundland to life. Our critic compares it to “‘The Wonder Years’ if it were written by Jean Shepherd, with additional dialogue by Judy Blume and Hunter S. Thompson. ”

• “The Golden Boy” (HBO, July 24): The multi-time world champ Oscar De La Hoya didn’t get his nickname, which lends the title to Fernando Villena’s

• “Futurama” (Hulu, July 24): Good news everyone! A decade after disappearing into a black hole, the Matt Groening animated comedy is back—and with its full original cast intact, even if the Planet Express ship has seen better days. 

• “Happiness for Beginners” (Netflix, July 27): Katherine Center’s hit novel about a romance that blossoms during a hike on the Appalachian Trail gets a screen adaptation from Vicky Wight, who also directs. Ellie Kemper and Luke Grimes lead as the star-crossed trekkers. 

• “Twisted Metal” (Peacock, July 27): Thanks to shows like “The Witcher” and “The Last of Us,” video games have proved to have success beyond the console. Now, the PlayStation classic—a demolition-derby-based relic from the ’90s—starts its lethal engine with Anthony Mackie playing a delivery driver looking to evade chaos on his way to a better life. 

• “Zoey 102” (Paramount+, July 27): “Zoey 101” was a tween hit in the aughts, with its story of a girl changing the norm at a formerly all-boys school. Now Zoey is all grown up—but still played by

• “Captain Fall” (Netflix, July 28): After being hired to skipper a swanky cruiseliner, a captain discovers that it’s a front for a bigtime smuggling ring. Jason Ritter, Christopher Meloni and Lesley-Ann Brandt crew the sea-bound animated comedy. 

• “Good Omens,” season 2 (Prime Video, July 28): Michael Sheen and David Tennant return from heaven and hell for a second season of the show (four years after it premiered), inspired by the Terry Pratchett – Neil Gaiman novel, about good-natured interlopers from beyond the earthly plane who have set aside their differences to maintain a peaceful existence in the here-and-now.

• “Hidden Strike” (Netflix, July 28): Scott Waugh directs this action-comedy about two ex-special forces members ( John Cena and Jackie Chan ) tasked with leading civilians to safety through Iraq’s notorious “Highway of Death.”

Theater

• “The Cottage” (Hayes Theater, New York, opens July 24): Jason Alexander might be best known for his on-screen work in “Seinfeld,” but he’s also a familiar face in the theater world, having won a Tony for his performance in “ Jerome Robbins ’ Broadway.” Now he makes his Broadway directorial debut helming Sandy Rustin’s new romantic comedy about a woman who reveals her affair to her husband and her lover’s spouse. Eric McCormack, Laura Bell Bundy, Lilli Cooper, Nehal Joshi, Alex Moffat and Dana Steingold

Music

• Beverly Glenn-Copeland, “The Ones Ahead” (July 28th): The Canadian new-age/folk/electronic musician, whose 1986 “Keyboard Fantasies” only recently found widespread popularity, releases his first new studio album in almost 20 years: a hopeful, forward-looking record that deeply believes in the power of song.

• Joni Mitchell, “Joni Mitchell at Newport” (July 28): Last summer, the storied Newport Folk Festival finally returned to its usual format after Covid-19 had derailed it. An especially welcome aspect of its re-emergence was a surprise set by folk legend Joni Mitchell, her first full-length performance in some two decades. For those who weren’t in Rhode Island that day, a recording of the concert, which featured Brandi Carlile among an impressive roster of other talent, is now being made available. 

• Post Malone, “Austin” (July 28): The rapper-singer issues his fifth studio album, which draws its title from his birth name and hints at a more personal direction in his music. 

Opera

• “Orfeo” (Crosby Theatre, Santa Fe, N.M., July 29-Aug. 24): Santa Fe Opera presents Claudio Monteverdi’s opera of the classic love story between Orfeo and Euridice in a new production by Yuval Sharon with never-before-heard orchestration from Nico Muhly.

Art

• “Columbia MFA” (Storage, New York, July 28-Aug. 25): If MFA programs provide a launching pad for young artists, exhibitions of their work are the rocket fuel that helps their careers take off. A selection of creations from more than 20 artists in Columbia’s prestigious program will be on view at this artist-run space in Tribeca. 

Last Call

• “Horses: The Death of a Rider” (Vito Schnabel, New York, closes July 28): This intimate gallery show presents 16 paintings by the Italian artist Giorgio de Chirico, best known for his metaphysical and surrealist work, that focus on the importance of equines throughout his career. Spanning nearly a half-century, his paintings of horses connect with his broader oeuvre by embracing classical imagery and while slyly upending it.