What to Stream: Brad Pitt, ‘Spinal Tap II,’ Percy Jackson and lots and lots of Taylor Swift
A six-episode behind-the-scenes Disney+ documentary series about Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour and Rian Johnson’s third “Knives Out” film, “Wake Up Dead Man,” are some of the new TV, movies, music and games headed to a device near you.
Also among the streaming offerings worth checking out this week, selected by Associated Press entertainment reporters: Chip and Joanna Gaines take on a big job remodeling a small house in the Colorado mountains, video gamers can skateboard through hell in Sam Eng’s Skate Story and Rob Reiner gets the band back together for “Spinal Tap II: The End Continues.”
— Rian Johnson’s third “Knives Out” film, “Wake Up Dead Man,” arrives on Netflix on December 12. Religion is at the heart of this episode, in which Daniel Craig’s dapper detective Benoit Blanc attempts to solve the “closed room” murder of Josh Brolin’s Monsignor Jefferson Wicks, a charismatic and terrifying church leader with a group of devoted followers. The large cast includes Josh O’Connor, Glenn Close, Andrew Scott, Jeremy Renner and Kerry Washington. Some, however, were not thrilled with this release. In his review for the Associated Press, Mark Kennedy called it “a dark, clunky outing that could test fans’ faith in the filmmaker.”
— Brad Pitt plays a tired driver seeking glory on the track in the Formula 1 film “F1,” streaming on Apple TV on Friday, December 12. Filmmaker Joseph Kosinski wanted the film to be as exciting and authentic as possible: in many scenes, it’s really Pitt and Damson Idris driving these cars at 180 mph. Screenwriter Jake Coyle wrote in his review that it is “a fine-tuned machine of a film that, in its most gripping racing scenes, approaches a kind of high-speed splendor.”
– Rob Reiner reunited the band for “Spinal Tap II: The End Continues,” which begins streaming on HBO Max on Friday, December 12. Was it a mistake to revisit the great mockumentary of 1984? Mark Kennedy wrote in his review that “Despite some great star-studded cameos – Paul McCartney’s is by far the best – ‘Spinal Tap II’ relies too heavily on old favorites and is drowned out by the constantly looming presence of death, a downer. The improvisation-based comedy is forced and the laughs barely register. This is a film for die-hard Tappers.”
—Lindsey Bahr, AP writer
— It’s Taylor Swift’s world and we live in it. Get ready for two new projects at Disney+. It’s a six-episode behind-the-scenes documentary series about her famous “Eras Tour” called “Taylor Swift ‘The Eras Tour’ The End of an Era” – the first two episodes will be released on Friday. And this should not be confused with the second, entitled “Taylor Swift ‘The Eras Tour’ The Final Show”, a concert film now with the inclusion of “The Tortured Poets Department” section. The 2024 album was incorporated into his three-and-a-half-hour performance after its release. It was filmed in Vancouver. (This differs from the 2023 film “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour,” which was compiled from several Swift shows at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, a Los Angeles suburb and arrived before “The Tortured Poets Department.”) Swifties, rise up!
— It’s been a big year for collaborative rap records (I’m looking at you, Clipse) and it continues into the 11th hour of 2025 with “Light-Years,” a new album from rapper Nas and record producer DJ Premier. They’re awesome for a reason.
— Grammy Award-winning producer, DJ and electronic musician Fred Again will release the next iteration of his USB series, the 16-track “USB002” on Friday. Expect the unexpected: The collection’s first song is “You’re a Star,” which features Australian punky-pop band Amyl and The Sniffers. The club sounds a little different this time around.
— Maria Sherman, AP music editor
— Chip and Joanna Gaines have long said they won’t do any fixer-upper outside of Central Texas. Until now. The couple took on a big job remodeling a small 1960s house in the Colorado mountains. “Fixer Upper: Colorado Mountain House” premieres Tuesday on Magnolia Network and HGTV and streams the same day on HBO Max and Discovery+.
— Percy Jackson, the son of Poseidon, returns to television Wednesday with season 2 of “Percy Jackson and the Olympians.” The series, starring Walker Scobell in the title role, adapts “The Sea of Monsters”, the second novel in a series of books by Rick Riordan. A two-hour season premiere will air on Disney+ and Hulu.
— He helped launch “American Idol” and created “America’s Got Talent” and One Direction. Now, cameras follow Simon Cowell as he seeks to form a new boy band in “Simon Cowell: The Next Act.” The documentary series, released Wednesday, focuses on both his research and Cowell himself. He is proud to have discovered an “it” factor. “When you’re a band, it’s like mining for diamonds,” he said in the trailer. “If it goes wrong, it’ll be ‘Simon Cowell lost it’.”
— Diane Kruger stars in a new drama for Paramount+ called “Little Disasters” as Jess, a mother who takes her son to the hospital for a head injury. The doctor, who is also a friend, becomes suspicious of Jess’s description of what happened and calls the authorities. It’s based on a novel of the same name. All six episodes are released on Thursday.
—Alicia Rancilio
— I’ve skated all over the world in various video games, but one place remains untouched by my deck: Hell. Solo designer Sam Eng aims to correct this omission with Skate Story. You are a skateboarder made of glass in an underworld filled with demons, which can only be defeated by unleashing your toughest tricks. The only way to escape is to swallow the moon. If you love classics like Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater but wish they were more hallucinatory, this might be the ride for you. Kicks off Monday on PlayStation 5, Switch 2 or PC.
