What to Stream: ‘Mountainhead,' Bono documentary and Elizabeth Banks and Jessica Biel play sisters
NEW YORK (AP) — 'Succession' creator Jesse Armstrong's satirical drama 'Mountainhead' and Elizabeth Banks and Jessica Biel playing dysfunctional siblings in the murder thriller series 'The Better Sister' are some of the new television, films, music and games headed to a device near you.
Also among the streaming offerings worth your time, as selected by The Associated Press' entertainment journalists: a new concert special featuring Aretha Franklin, U2's frontman reveals all in the documentary 'Bono: Stories of Surrender' and multiplayer gamers get Elden Ring: Nightreign, sending teams of three warriors to battle the flamboyant monsters of a haunted land.
New movies to stream from May 26-June 1
— Armstrong makes his feature debut with the satirical drama 'Mountainhead,' streaming on HBO Max on Saturday. The film stars Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman, Ramy Youssef and Cory Michael Smith as tech titans on a boys' trip whose billionaire shenanigans are interrupted by an international crisis that may have been inflamed by their platforms. The movie was shot earlier this year, in March.
— The story of hostage crisis at the 1972 Munich Olympics has been told in many films, but 'September 5' takes audiences inside the ABC newsroom as it all unfolded. The film, from Tim Fehlbaum and starring Peter Sarsgaard, John Magaro and Ben Chaplin, is a semi-fictionalized telling of those tense 22 hours, where a group of sports reporters including Peter Jennings managed to broadcast this international incident live to the world for the first time. In my review, I wrote that news junkies will find much to enjoy in the spirited debates over journalistic ethics and the vintage technologies. It's also just a riveting tick-tock. 'September 5' is now available on Prime Video.
— The directing team (and real life partners) behind 'Saint Frances' made one of AP Film Writer Jake Coyle's favorite movies of 2024 in 'Ghostlight,' streaming Friday on Kanopy. The movie centers on a construction worker who joins a community theater production of 'Romeo & Juliet' after the death of his teenage son. Coyle called it 'a sublime little gem of a movie about a Chicago family struggling to process tragedy.'
— AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr
New music to stream from May 26-June 1
— Celebrate the late, great, eternal Aretha Franklin with a glorious new concert special, 'Aretha! With Sheléa and the Pacific Symphony' airing on PBS. The title is a giveaway: Sheléa and the Pacific Symphony team up to perform the Queen of Soul's larger-than-life hits: 'Respect,' 'Natural Woman,' and 'Chain of Fools' among them. It's now available to stream on pbs.org and the PBS App.
— 'These are the tall tales of a short rock star,' U2 frontman Bono introduces 'Bono: Stories of Surrender,' a documentary film based on his memoir, 'Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story.' The project will become available to stream globally on Apple TV+ now and for the tech heads among us, it is also the first full-length film to be available in Apple Immersive on Vision Pro. That's 180-degree video!
— For film fans, Yeule may be best known for their contribution to the critically acclaimed 'I Saw The TV Glow,' which featured their dreamy cover of Broken Social Scene's 'Anthems For a Seventeen Year-Old Girl' as a kind of theme song. On Friday, the singer-songwriter-producer will release their latest album, 'Evangelic Girl Is a Gun' via Ninja Tune Records — an ambitious collection of electronic pop from a not-to-distant future.
— Music Writer Maria Sherman
New television to stream from May 26-June 1
— Sheri Papini, a woman who pleaded guilty and served jail time for lying to law enforcement about being kidnapped, is sharing her story for the first time. A new docuseries features interviews with Papini herself, her family, attorneys and psychiatrist. She also takes a lie-detector test on camera and participates in reenactments. Papini maintains she was kidnapped by an ex-boyfriend, but says they were having an emotional affair at the time. She claims he held her against her will, sexually and physically abusing her, before letting her go. 'Sheri Papini: Caught in the Lie' is a four-part series airing on ID. It will stream on Max.
— Elizabeth Banks and Jessica Biel are Nicky and Chloe, dysfunctional sisters in the new Prime Video series 'The Better Sister.' It's based on a novel by Alafair Burke. The two are estranged and Chloe is raising Nicky's son as her own — and also married to her ex. When a murder occurs, the sisters must become a united front. It's now on Prime Video.
— In 'Downton Abbey' and 'The Crown,' Matthew Goode plays a charming English gentleman. In his new series 'Dept. Q' for Netflix, he's … English. Goode plays Carl, a gruff detective who is banished to the police station basement and assigned to cold cases. He forms a rag tag group to solve a crime that no one, not even himself, thinks can be cracked. 'Dept. Q' is from the writer and director of 'The Queen's Gambit.' It premiered Thursday.
Wednesdays
A weekly look towards a post-pandemic future.
— A new PBS documentary looks at the life and impact of artist George Rodrigue. He's known for paintings of a big blue dog with yellow eyes (called Blue Dog) but also is credited for art that depicted Cajun life in his home state of Louisiana. Rodrigue's paintings helped to preserve Cajun culture. What people may not realize is how the Blue dog is connected to Cajun folklore. 'Blue: The Art and Life of George Rodrigue' debuted Thursday and will also stream on PBS.org.
— Alicia Rancilio
New video games to play week of May 26-June 1
— Tokyo-based From Software is best known for morbid adventures like Dark Souls and Elden Ring — games that most players tackle solo, though they do have some co-op options. Elden Ring: Nightreign is built for multiplayer, sending teams of three warriors to battle the flamboyant monsters of a haunted land called Limveld. Your goal is to survive three days and three nights before you confront an overwhelming Nightlord. This isn't the sprawling, character-building epic fans would expect from the studio, but those who are hungry for more of its brutal, nearly sadistic action will probably be satisfied. Take up your swords on PlayStation 5/4, Xbox X/S/One or PC.
— Lou Kesten
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Published May 31, 2025 • Last updated 10 minutes ago • 4 minute read (L-R) Jason Schwartzman, Cory Michael Smith, Jesse Armstrong, Ramy Youssef and Steve Carell attend HBO's "Mountainhead" World Premiere at The Museum of Modern Art on May 22, 2025 in New York City. Photo by Jamie McCarthy / Getty Images Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page. Over Succession's four seasons, series creator Jesse Armstrong made a name for himself as television's go-to chronicler of the uber-rich. The HBO show depicted the inner workings of a powerful, Murdoch-esque media clan and the way its members lived, travelled, celebrated and humiliated one another. It was a tantalizing look at what it might be like to have wealth so profound that it sets you apart from everyone and gives you the power to influence politics worldwide. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account Now, after two years off the air, Armstrong returns to HBO on May 31 with a new movie, Mountainhead, which almost feels like it could be a Succession spinoff. (He says he even contemplated having ATN, Succession's Fox-like news channel, playing in the background.) The cool color palette is the same; so are the zingers. Nicholas Britell is back to compose the score. Instead of media scions, however, Armstrong has turned his attention to the newest generation of powerful elites — tech bros — and raised the absurdity of the scenario. And while Mountainhead can be a bit slapdash at times, it once again proves that if you want a glimpse at the masters of the universe — one that will make you wince and laugh in equal measure — Armstrong is your man. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Mountainhead came together quickly. Armstrong cast the movie while writing it in January and February of this year and shot for just five weeks in the spring. On-screen you can feel the urgency as well as the messiness that comes with such a compressed timeline. This is an extremely timely film about the dangers of artificial intelligence, the world falling apart and powerful men who care only about their own portfolios. It could be tighter, but it's still ridiculously entertaining. The plot revolves around a boys trip to the title's namesake location — a Utah estate owned by Jason Schwartzman's Hugo Van Yalk and named for The Fountainhead. (One of his buddies jokes that it was designed by 'Ayn Bland.') Hugo, known to his pals as 'Souper' or 'Soups,' is the founder of a mental health app more interested in hooking users than actually solving mental health crises and the least wealthy of the group, which means he is mocked for only have a net worth in the hundreds of millions. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The rest are billionaires. There's 'Papa Bear' Randall, the elder statesman hiding health issues, played by Steve Carell, and Ramy Youssef's Jeff, the most conscientious of the gang, who still believes his tech can be used for good. But the biggest whale in this toxic foursome is Venis, an Elon Musk-Mark Zuckerberg hybrid portrayed with an odious air by Cory Michael Smith. In the opening moments of the film, Venis launches an AI update to the software of Traam, his Facebook-like social media platform, called 'F***' but spelled with an extra 'u,' which is part of the gag. The explicative serves to highlight his obnoxiousness, but it's also apt in another way. Essentially, Venis has created a fake-news machine, and almost as soon as he arrives at Mountainhead, it's clear his latest creation is sowing worldwide chaos. People are using its functions to falsify images, resulting in murders and coups. While this could ostensibly put a damper on the four friends' poker night, instead it turns into an opportunity, as the men start to strategize on how to use this instability to their advantage. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Jeff also has an AI tool, which has more guardrails on it — a 'filter for nightmares,' as he puts it. Venis wants Jeff to sell it to him, to help solve the global crisis he helped create; Jeff sees more money in keeping it close. But quickly the scheming inside this austere but somehow tacky mansion — there's a bowling alley downstairs — starts to move beyond simple dealmaking. Lives are on the line inside and outside the structure. Left alone to their own devices, the men grow increasingly deluded about their own power, and Mountainhead goes from satire to a more overt critique of the greed that's currently shaping our world. The actors have a great time sinking their teeth into this fantasy. Schwartzman is hilarious as Soups, who has a massive inferiority complex that the others fuel. Carell takes on a professorial air as Randall, who quotes philosophers to support his own self-interest, which involves preserving his consciousness after his death. And Youssef is endearing as the closest thing we have to a 'good guy' — who also happens to be a megalomaniac. Smith is perhaps the least famous of the bunch but the standout of the cast, his face oozing smarm as the loathsome Venis. The shagginess of the plot starts to weigh things down as the movie heads toward its conclusion. Certain moments, especially those related to the characters' outside lives, are underdeveloped, and there's an immediacy to Armstrong's satire that's almost impulsive. But the anger that spurred Mountainhead's creation is also its best quality. Armstrong is pissed off and has decided to channel that into brutal jokes. If we can't laugh at these people, what else can we do? 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