New films, TV shows and music to stream this week, from Sabrina Carpenter to Kalki 2989 AD

From a beloved period drama to a new South Korean reality show, here are The National's top picks

Jung Eun-chae as Kyung Hee in Pachinko. The acclaimed Apple TV+ series returns for season two. Photo: Apple TV+

Following its acclaimed first season run in 2022, Apple TV+'s lush period drama Pachinko returns with a new season. Meanwhile, after ruling the summer with her chart-topping hits Espresso and Please Please Please, Sabrina Carpenter's album is finally ready to be released.

Here are some of the latest music, films and shows to stream this week.

New films to stream

Kalki 2989 AD (Prime Video, August 22)

The Telugu blockbuster, featuring Bollywood superstars Amitabh Bachchan and Deepika Padukone alongside South Indian star Prabhas, made more than 10 billion rupees ($119.3 million) at the box office. Released in May, the science fiction epic follows a bounty hunter named Bhairava (Prabhas), who receives a big ticket to intercept and deliver a pregnant woman, known only as SUM-80 (Padukone), to the totalitarian ruler of The Complex, a giant diamond-shaped utopia towering over the world's last living city of Kashi.

In its review of the film, The National likened watching the fantasy film to an "old-school big screen experience".

Incoming (Netflix, August 23)

From writing and producing siblings John and Dave Chermin comes this comedy, about four teenagers who are invited to their first high school party. What could possibly go wrong?

The Chermins, who created The Mick, and also produced It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, said Incoming is the high school film for the new generation.

“There always felt like there was one of these per generation," Dave said. "It was just something silly that prized laughter above all else that I think we really wanted to see, more than anything.”

New shows to stream

Pachinko season two (Apple TV+, August 23)

Based on The New York Times bestseller of the same name by US journalist Min Jin Lee, Pachinko is a sweeping epic that follows a family for more than four generations, starting in the 1900s during Japan's occupation of Korea. Told in parallel timelines, season two picks up from Osaka in 1945 as the Second World War rages, jumping to Tokyo in the 1980s.

The trailer shows leads Koh Hansu (Lee Min-ho) and Teen Sunja (Minha Kim) reunite in war-torn Japan. “It’s been 14 years. How did you find me?” Sunja asks Hansu. “I never lost you,” he responds. Meanwhile, Sunja's grandson Solomon (Jin Ha) is trying to find himself in the competitive corporate world of Tokyo.

The Frog (Netflix, August 23)

A crime thriller, Netflix's latest South Korean series centres around two men, one who manages a motel and the other who runs a holiday rental, in the remote countryside. But when mysterious guests show up one night, their peaceful existence is interrupted by a series of violent incidents leading them to fight for their own survival.

K-pop fans will be thrilled to see Exo member Chanyeol in the trailer with a sniper rifle in hand and a smile on his face.

New music to stream

Short n' Sweet by Sabrina Carpenter (August 23)

For many TikTokers and Instagram users, Carpenter is 2024's breakout pop artist, with viral hits such as Espresso and the twangy Please Please Please. But Short n' Sweet, out on Friday, is actually her sixth album.

A follow-up to 2022's Emails I Can't Send, her second grown-up album since leaving Disney's Hollywood Records, many of the tracks in Short n' Sweet are co-written and produced by hitmaker Jack Antonoff.

She recently told Variety that the album is "the hot older sister” of Emails I Can't Send. “It’s my second 'big girl' album; it’s a companion but it’s not the same. When it comes to having full creative control and being a fully fledged adult, I would consider this a sophomore album," she said.