Dwayne Johnson transforming into MMA pioneer Mark Kerr for “The Smashing Machine” and Louis Tomlinson releasing his third solo album are some of the new television, films, music and games headed to a device near you.
Also among the streaming offerings worth your time this week, as selected by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists: Ryan Murphy’s new series “The Beauty” tackles beauty standards with some horror mixed in, Jeremy Allen White plays The Boss in “Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere” and Megadeth going out with a bang with their final, self-titled album.
— Dwayne Johnson transformed into MMA pioneer Mark Kerr for “The Smashing Machine,” a surprisingly gentle drama about winning, addiction and self-worth, which is set to debut on HBO Max on Friday, Jan. 23. In his review, Associated Press Film Writer Jake Coyle wrote that the potency of Johnson’s performance is “let down by a movie that fails to really grapple with the violent world around Mark, resorting instead for a blander appreciation of these MMA combatants. What does resonate, though, is the portrait of a human colossus who learns to accept defeat.” Filmmaker Benny Safdie won a directing prize for his efforts at the Venice Film Festival, though the awards season spotlight has shifted to his brother, Josh, who made “Marty Supreme.”
— HBO Max also has Judd Apatow’s “Mel Brooks: The 99-Year-Old Man!” arriving on Thursday. The two-part documentary includes interviews with Brooks himself as well as the likes of Ben Stiller, Jerry Seinfeld, Adam Sandler and Conan O’Brien.
— The Bruce Springsteen biopic “Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere” is also making its streaming debut on Hulu and Disney+ on Friday, Jan. 23. Written and directed by Scott Cooper, the film stars Jeremy Allen White as The Boss during the making of the soulful “Nebraska” album. In his review for the AP, Mark Kennedy called it “an endearing, humbling portrait of an icon,” adding that it is almost a mirror of the album itself, “unexpected, complicated and very American gothic.”
— A few other film festival gems are coming to more niche streamers too. The documentary “Mr. Nobody Against Putin,” a 2025 Sundance selection about a Russian teacher who secretly documents his classroom’s transformation into a military recruitment center during the invasion of Ukraine, is streaming on KINO Film on Thursday. And Mubi has Paolo Sorrentino’s “La Grazia” starting on Friday, Jan. 23. Star Toni Servillo won the best actor prize at Venice for his turn as a fictional Italian president.
— AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr
— You’d be right to call it a symphony for dissolution. Last summer, American thrash metal giants Megadeth announced they were going out with a bang. They’ll soon embark on a farewell tour, but before that, they will release their final album, the self-titled “Megadeth.” Pressure’s on, and they’re answering the call with their characteristically complex guitar work.
— Perhaps best known as a candid and cool force in the gargantuan boy band One Direction, the Englishman Louis Tomlinson will release his third solo album on Friday, the existential “How Did I Get Here?” His work usually pulls from his most direct influences, Britpop chiefly among them on 2020’s “Walls” and 2022’s “Faith in the Future.” The “How Did I Get Here?” singles “Lemonade” and “Palaces” seem to suggest those influences are still present, but subtle now in favor of sunny, pop-rock choruses.
— The great Lucinda Williams has returned with a new one titled “World’s Gone Wrong.” It is, of course, uniquely Williams — at the intersection of rock, Americana, country and folk — and stacked with inspirational collaborations from Norah Jones, Brittney Spencer and more. Those, partnered with a powerful rendition of Bob Marley’s “So Much Trouble In The World” with Mavis Staples, makes for a must-listen.
— AP Music Writer Maria Sherman
— FX’s new series cocreated by Ryan Murphy tackles beauty standards with some horror mixed in. “The Beauty” features an all-star cast including Evan Peters, Ashton Kutcher, Rebecca Hall, Jeremy Pope, Anthony Ramos and Isabella Rossellini. Bella Hadid also guest stars. Kutcher plays a tech billionaire who has created a drug that can lead to so-called physical perfection but not without dangerous consequences. “The Beauty” is based on a comic book of the same name and premieres Wednesday on Hulu and Disney+ internationally.
— “Drops of God” also returns Wednesday to Apple TV for its second season. It’s about two estranged siblings (played by Fleur Geffrier and Tomohisa Yamashita) competing to inherit their late father’s estate that comes with a massive wine collection. In Season 2, they must search for the source of an unlabelled bottle of wine believed to be the best in the world.
— On the heels of the “Heated Rivalry” phenomenon, Netflix has its own love story to heat up the ice that premieres on Thursday. Where “Heated Rivalry” is based on a steamy romance book series, “Finding Her Edge” is adapted from a YA novel. It’s about a figure skater training for the world championships, who finds herself in a love triangle with her current and former skating partners.
— Scott Foley and Erinn Hayes star in a new faith-based family drama called “It’s Not Like That,” coming to Prime Video on Sunday, January 25. Foley plays Malcolm, a pastor and father of three whose wife recently died and Hayes is Lori, a divorced mother of teenagers. Their families were always close but Malcolm and Lori find themselves relying on each other more and more as they navigate being single parents.
— Alicia Rancilio
— Flynt Buckler, the hero of Escape from Ever After, lives in a storybook world. But that fantasy goes sour when a greedy corporation invades those books, turning them into cyberpunk dystopias and Lovecraftian nightmares. Can Flynt swashbuckle his way to the top, or will he settle for a crummy office cubicle? Developer Sleepy Castle Studio says it was inspired by Nintendo’s classic Paper Mario games, and the cartoonish 2D settings show off that influence. Turn the page Friday, Jan. 23, on Switch, Xbox X/S, PlayStation 5 or PC.
— MIO: Memories in Orbit is another 2D adventure rooted in a Nintendo classic — in this case, Metroid, the mother of an entire subgenre. You are a small robot in an enormous starship called the Vessel, but your AI bosses have stopped working. It’s up to you to figure out what went wrong while fighting off rogue machines, and the more you explore, the more skills you gain. The ship’s sprawling innards have a hand-drawn, pastel look that you might not expect in a sci-fi game. Blast off Tuesday on Switch, Xbox X/S, PlayStation 5 or PC.
