The Boss shines in the documentary “Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band,” and Billy Crystal stars in a new series for Apple TV+ called “Before.” These are some of the new television, films, music and games headed to a device near you.
Also, among the streaming offerings worth your time include Halsey’s fifth studio album and the return of “Special Ops: Lioness.”
MOVIES TO STREAM
One of the documentary standouts of the Sundance Film Festival, “The Remarkable Life of Ibelin” packs an emotional wallop. The film, which won both the audience award and the directing award for documentary at Sundance, is Mats Steen, a quadriplegic Norwegian who died from a degenerative disorder at age 25. After his death, his parents discovered their son’s life was far richer than they had imagined. To a wide “World of Warcraft” community, Steen was Ibelin Redwood, a cherished virtual friend. Much of the film, directed by Benjamin Ree (“The Painter and the Thief”), is told through “War of Warcraft”-style animation and starts streaming Friday on Netflix.
There hasn’t been a shortage of Bruce Springsteen documentaries in recent years, but “Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band” (streaming Friday on Disney+ and Hulu) is still a notable addition to the ever-expanding cottage industry of all things Bruce. The film is directed by Thom Zimny, who was also behind the docs “Western Stars” and “Springsteen on Broadway.” This one candidly captures the band on their 2023-24 tour with archival footage mixed in.
The M. Night Shyamalan-produced thriller “Caddo Lake” has been popular on Max lately, and the filmmaker’s own film, “Trap,” will join it on Friday. In “Trap,” Josh Hartnett stars as a serial killer who takes his teenage daughter to an arena popstar concert.
MUSIC TO STREAM
In June, Halsey revealed she’d been privately battling both systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE, the most common form of lupus) and a rare T-cell lymphoproliferative disorder since 2022. On Friday, she’ll release her fifth studio album, “The Great Impersonator,” written and recorded in that time, what she’s publicly referred to as “the space between life and death.” Lyrically, the album touches on those themes — and musically, it is a great return to form for Halsey, an exploration of the music she deeply loves, done in her own fashion. There’s the interpolation of Britney Spears on “Lucky,” the shoegaze-meets-nu-metal “Lonely is the Muse,” the pop-punky “Ego” and the folky “The End.”
Also on Friday, Andrea Bocelli — arguably the world’s most recognizable tenor — will release a new album of duets, simply titled “Duets,” on the 30th anniversary of his debut album, 1994’s “Il Mare Calmo della Sera.” Bocelli tackles his best-known hits, now with new singing partners: Sarah Brightman on “Time to Say Goodbye,” Jennifer Lopez on “Quizás, Quizás, Quizás,” Céline Dion on “The Prayer,” and so on. It’s all A-listers here: Ed Sheeran, Gwen Stefani, Chris Stapleton, Marc Anthony, Karol G and more make an appearance.
Country-pop star Kelsea Ballerini is in love. But her fifth studio album, “Patterns,” is no “happy-go-lucky, mushy, gushy record,” as she told The Associated Press earlier this summer. Instead, her album examines a breadth of human experience, specifically what she’s identified as “learning how to go from fighting with something or with someone, to fighting for something or for someone.” It’s a lofty goal, one she manages with ease across songs like “Sorry Mom,” a swaying, guitar-pop confessional with intergenerational appeal. Banjos and beat drops appear here, too, in equal measure.
SHOWS TO STREAM
Another popular video game is getting the live-action treatment. “Like a Dragon: Yakuza” is based on a Sega game released in 2005. It follows a powerful gangster named Kazuma Kiryu (Ryoma Takeuchi), who has a good heart and strong moral conviction — despite his ties to the mob. Kiryu’s story unfolds in two timelines: 1995 when he first gets drawn into the yakuza and in 2005 as a made man. The series debuts on Prime Video on Thursday with subtitles and dubbed versions.
Social media star Nadia Caterina Munno, a chef known as The Pasta Queen, now has her own travel food show with the same name. Munno takes viewers on a tour of Italy and then into the kitchen, where she demonstrates how to make authentic Italian dishes with fresh ingredients. “The Pasta Queen” drops Thursday on Prime Video.
Billy Crystal stars in a new series for Apple TV+, “Before,” about a man grieving the death of his wife. A child therapist, Crystal’s Eli, finds himself drawn to a young boy (played by Jacobi Jupe) whom he realizes may carry past trauma that could help his own. The show also stars Judith Light and Rosie Perez. It premieres Friday on the streamer.
The Peabody Award-winning “Somebody Somewhere” starring Bridget Everett returns for its third and final season Sunday on HBO and Max. Everett plays Sam, a single woman who has found her people in a group of misfits in the Midwestern town of Manhattan, Kansas.
Taylor Sheridan’s CIA show called “Special Ops: Lioness” returns for its second season Sunday on Paramount+. Zoe Saldaña plays a CIA operative named Joe who recruits young females to infiltrate terrorist organizations in a secret program called Lioness. Nicole Kidman, Morgan Freeman, Michael Kelly, Dave Annable and Laysla De Oliveira all are back for season two.
VIDEO GAMES TO PLAY
Activision’s venerable Call of Duty franchise has, for the most part, offered a rah-rah attitude about U.S. military might. Things get weirder in the Black Ops spinoffs, which have presented a loopy, paranoid history of geopolitical shenanigans from the Cold War to 2065. Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 takes us to the 1990s. The Gulf War is breaking out, but Marine vet Frank Woods and his team have a bigger problem: The CIA has been taken over by a shadowy cabal that wants them dead. Answer the call Friday on Xbox X/S/One, PlayStation 5/4 or PC.
