The It List: Jon Bernthal heats up small screen in 'American Gigolo' remake, 'Kiddie Kai' is a real-life 'Cobra Kai,' John Legend drops new album and all the best in pop culture the week of Sept. 5, 2022
The It List is Yahoo's weekly look at the best in pop culture, including movies, music, TV, streaming, games, books, podcasts and more. Here are our picks for Sept. 5-11, including the best deals we could find for each. (Yahoo Entertainment may receive a share from purchases made via links on this page.)
STREAM IT: Sorry Richard Gere — meet the new American Gigolo
Jon Bernthal raises his fashion game in Showtime’s new adaptation of Paul Schrader’s 1980 film, which starred Richard Gere as a well-dressed male escort. Emerging back into the world after a 15-year prison sentence, Julian Kaye (Bernthal) looks to get back into the gigolo game, while also dealing with the other women in his life, including ex-lover Michelle (Gretchen Mol) and investigating officer Detective Sunday (Rosie O’Donnell) who is still trying to solve the case that landed him in the slammer. Like Gere, Schrader has nothing to do with the new series, which he called a "terrible idea" when speaking with Yahoo Entertainment last year. But he also admitted that he'll tune in anyway. "I'll probably watch it out of curiosity, because how can they make an essentially '80s formula work in this age of internet porn?" the director mused. Guess we'll find out soon enough. — Ethan Alter
American Gigolo premieres Friday, Sept. 9 on Showtime.
STREAM IT: Kiddie Kai is a real-life Cobra Kai
The premise of Cobra Kai, that nerdy kids learn karate to protect themselves from school bullies is exactly right, and it's playing out in the southeastern United States. This new Discovery+ reality show captures the young students but also their teachers, who can be as over-the-top as Daniel and Johnny. (We can see more of those two in the fifth season of Cobra Kai, streaming Friday, Sept. 9 on Netflix.) “I want to set his skull on fire and piss on the ashes,” one instructor seems to say of another in the trailer for, yes, the reality series. About the kids. Perhaps there's an Ali involved? — Raechal Shewfelt
Kiddie Kai premieres Tuesday, Sept. 6 on Discovery+.
WATCH IT: Justin Long takes a tour of Kate Bosworth's House of Darkness in a new horror film from Neil LaBute
Real life couple Justin Long and Kate Bosworth have a slightly more antagonistic relationship in House of Darkness, the Gothic horror story from The Wicker Man writer/director Neil LaBute. Long plays Hap, a smooth-talking player who charms his way into the large, empty home of the lovely Mina (Bosworth). But as the evening unfolds, it appears that the player might be the one getting played. As with LaBute's breakout movie, 1997's In the Company of Men, the real horror at the heart of House of Darkness is toxic masculinity, with Mina showing Hap the error of his lothario ways. This exclusive clip from the film provides an early clue that Hap is in over his head — a clue that he unwisely chooses to ignore. — E.A.
House of Darkness premieres Friday, Sept. 9 in theaters and Tuesday, Sept. 13 on most digital and On Demand services.
STREAM IT: Go on some Epic Adventures with rock star naturalist Bertie Gregory
It's a big world out there, and Bertie Gregory is ready to see it all. The 29-year-old filmmaker and National Geographic Explorer circumnavigates the globe in his new Disney+ series, which brings him face to face with Earth's natural wonders and animal species. Gregory's travels take him to the shores of Costa Rica, where hammerhead sharks patrol the shoal, to the plains of Zambia where buffalo hunt lions and not the other way around. This exclusive clip from his Epic Adventures finds the adventurer in Antarctic waters, where he swims with a whale pod. "It feels like she's looking into my soul," he says of the pod's matriarch, calling their trust in him the "ultimate honor." — E.A.
Epic Adventures With Bertie Gregory premieres Thursday, Sept. 8 on Disney+.
HEAR IT: John throws a LEGEND-ary disco party
EGOT-winner and Voice coach John Legend’s eighth studio album, simply and double-meaningfully titled LEGEND, finds the multihyphenate musician in full-on party mode, collaborating with famous friends like Rick Ross, Muni Long, Jazmine Sullivan, Jada Kingdom, Rapsody, Ledisi, Jhene Aiko, Ty Dolla $ign, JID, and on the vibey, clubby, early-Michael Jackson-esque single “All She Wanna Do,” rapper Saweetie. Legend has described the Ryan Tedder-produced record as being “suffused with an unapologetic spirit of sensuality and joy, informed by the full vulnerability of pain, praise and healing.” — Lyndsey Parker
LEGEND by John Legend is available Friday, Sept. 9 to download/stream on Apple Music.
WATCH IT: Make now the most precious time to order the (original) Star Trek Ultra HD movie collection
For all the fans currently clamoring for a Community movie, take solace in this: It took Gene Roddenberry 10 years of lobbying Paramount to make a Star Trek movie after the original series ended. 1979’s Star Trek: The Motion Picture, of course, launched a cinematic universe, with five sequels (most memorably, of course, 1982’s The Wrath of Khan and ending with 1991’s The Undiscovered Country). All six original Star Trek films will be available this week (and ahead of Star Trek Day, Sept. 8) in a 4K Ultra HD box set, with hours of both new and legacy bonus content. — Kevin Polowy
Star Trek: The Original Motion Picture Collection releases Tuesday, Sept. 6 on Amazon.
STREAM IT: Open up! Chef's Table: Pizza fuels your mind and appetite
The newest installment of the Chef's Table franchise visits kitchens as far away as Italy, and as near as Phoenix, for an up-close look at what makes the perfect slice of 'za. Each of the six episodes profiles a different chef: Chris Bianco of Pizzeria Bianco in Phoenix, Ariz.; Gabriele Bonci of Bonci Pizzarium in Rome; Yoshihiro Imai of Monk in Kyoto, Japan; Ann Kim of Young Joni, Hello Pizza and Pizzeria Lola in Minneapolis; Sarah Minnick of Lovely's Fifty Fifty in Portland, Oreg.; and Italian pizza master Franco Pepe. But, as is often the case with the Emmy-nominated series, there's more on the menu than just (delicious) food. Chefs also explain what fuels their passion for good eats and what motivates them to make their own dishes like none you've eaten before. — R.S.
Chef's Table: Pizza premieres Wednesday, Sept. 7 on Netflix.
HEAR IT: Kane Brown brings something Different to country music
Fresh off his history-making performance as the first male country artist to ever play the MTV Video Music Awards, country music barrier-breaker Kane Brown returns with Different Man, his first full-length studio album since 2018 and his first collection of new music since the release of his 2020 EP Mixtape Vol. 1. The record features his pal Blake Shelton on the title track and his “secret weapon” Katelyn Brown on “Thank God.” — L.P.
Different Man by Kane Brown is available Friday, Sept. 9 to download/stream on Apple Music.
WATCH IT: 3:10 to Yuma is right on time on 4K Ultra HD
Remember when the 2007 double billing of 3:10 to Yuma and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford rejuvenated the Western for good? OK, it didn’t quite work out that way, but there have been a handful of worthy Westerns since. Few, however, are as fantastic as Yuma, James Mangold’s two-hander remake teaming future Thor: Love & Thunder co-stars Russell Crowe and Christian Bale and boasting engaging drama and gritty, tense gunplay. Yuma arrives on 4K Ultra HD this week with bonus features including audio commentary, various making-of docs and deleted scenes. — K.P.
3:10 to Yuma releases on 4K Ultra HD Tuesday, Sept. 6 at Best Buy.
HEAR IT: Prince of Darkness Ozzy Osbourne reigns again
The Prince reclaims his throne! The immortal Ozzy Osbourne enlists his many worshippers from among rock’s elite — Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, the Red Hot Chili Peppers’s Chad Smith, Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready, Guns N’ Roses’s Duff McKagan, Queens of the Stone Age’s Josh Homme, Metallica’s Robert Trujillo, Jane’s Addiction’s Chris Chaney and longtime cohorts Tony Iommi and Zakk Wylde — for a true late-career masterpiece. Patient Number 9 is Ozzy’s 13th studio album, and it seems 13 is the often beleaguered legend’s lucky number. — L.P.
Patient Number 9 by Ozzy Osbourne is available Friday, Sept. 9 to download/stream on Apple Music.
WATCH IT: Stage parents are front and center in Raising a F***ing Star
The idea of the 2004 Bravo show Showbiz Moms and Dads has been rebooted into this reality show following aspiring performers and their overeager parents. The words momager and dadager are used early on. "We're not raising a lawyer, we're raising a pop star," a dad says. The young performers endure music lessons, acting lessons, dance lessons — so many lessons! — and photo shoots in their attempts to become a star. In a world where the internet can make anyone famous, it very well could pay off. — R.S.
Raising a F***ing Star premieres Wednesday, Sept. 7 at 9:30 p.m. on E!.
DRINK IT: Quaff your thirst for more Targaryen drama with House of the Dragon wines
Put some fire in your belly with a trio of red wines inspired by HBO's blockbuster Game of Thrones prequel series, House of the Dragon. Hailing from Seven Kingdoms Cellars — a division of Vintage Wine Estates — the three vinos include a Pacific Northwest-based Pinot Noir, as well as a Cabernet Sauvignon and a blend that hails from California. Don't worry about checking with your Master of Coin: at $20 each these wines won't break the bank, but they will give you the kind of buzz that Queen Cersei would delight in. — E.A.
House of the Dragon wines are available now on the official wine shop.
HEAR IT: Julian Lennon reclaims his name
As the firstborn son of the John Lennon (and the inspiration for the Beatles’s “Hey Jude”) recently told Yahoo Entertainment, on Jude, Julian Lennon comes to terms with his fraught family legacy, “breaking through any fear and anxiety I used to have about the Beatles, about Dad, about everything.” Poignantly, the release of the full-circle album — Julian’s first LP since 2011 — coincides with Julian’s cover of his father’s “Imagine” as well as with his beloved late mother Cynthia’s birthday. — L.P.
Jude by Julian Lennon is available Friday, Sept. 9 to download/stream on Apple Music.
— Video produced by Kyle Moss and edited by Jason Fitzpatrick
