Steve Carell shines in thriller ‘The Patient,’ journey back to Middle Earth with ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’

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 Aug. 29-Sept. 4, 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: Steve Carell gives riveting performance in The Patient

Early reviews of FX’s limited series praise the former boss at The Office for having given the best dramatic performance of his career in this psychological thriller. In it, he plays Alan Strauss, a therapist mourning the death of his wife, when he encounters Sam Fortner, played by Domhnall Gleeson (Ex Machina, General Hux in recent Star Wars films and Ron Weasley’s brother Bill in both parts of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows). Fortner’s very different character here is a serial killer who wants help combating his urges, and he holds Strauss hostage to get what he wants. Carell tells his co-star in the creepy trailer, “Successful therapy requires a safe environment without anything like fear hanging over every session,” as we see scenes such as someone bound with tape thrown against a glass door and a body thrown in a dumpster. Picture the dark vibe of The Americans, which was produced by some of the same people. — Raechal Shewfelt

The Patient premieres Tuesday, Aug. 30 on Hulu.

STREAM IT: Return to Middle Earth with Prime Video’s billion-dollar series, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power

To paraphrase Justin Timberlake, a million dollar TV series isn’t cool. You know what’s cool? A billion dollar TV series. That’s the eye-popping price tag behind Prime Video’s new blockbuster fantasy series, which hopes to kickstart the dormant Lord of the Rings franchise and give the company a major victory in the streaming wars. Transporting viewers back to J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth centuries before Frodo and the rest of the Fellowship set off for Mount Doom, The Rings of Power depicts the forging of the titular magical rings, the fraying of the once-powerful bonds between Elves and humankind and the flourishing of Sauron’s dark plans to conquer the realm. Even though it’s set in the distant past, the series thankfully reflects the diversity of our present, boasting the most gender-balanced cast of any Lord of the Rings production yet. And the first two episodes make it clear that you’ll see every penny of that billion-dollar budget onscreen. — Ethan Alter

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The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power premieres Friday, Sept. 2 on Prime Video.

WATCH IT: McEnroe chronicles the life story of the high-decibel tennis star

You can’t say that John McEnroe hasn’t lived his life out loud. The volatile tennis pro — whose on-court screaming matches have their own Hall of Fame — opens up about his life and career in the new Showtime documentary McEnroe. Now 63, McEnroe reflects on a childhood marked by a desire to connect with his father, and his days trading serves and volleys with such rivals as Björn Borg and Jimmy Connors. This exclusive clip from the film tackles the aftermath of the 1981 Wimbledon and U.S. Open, when McEnroe’s dominant defeat of Borg sent the Swedish champion into retirement. “John broke his spirit,” observes tennis legend, Billie Jean King. — E.A.

McEnroe premieres Friday, Sept. 2 on Showtime.

WATCH IT: See more wall-crawling hijinks in Spider-Man: No Way Home, The More Fun Stuff Version

Spider-Man: No Way Home swung into theaters last December under a web of secrecy about whether or not original Spider-Dudes, Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield, would be joining Tom Holland in the capper to his Marvel Cinematic Universe trilogy. Now that the secret’s out, we can all relax and have fun with The More Fun Stuff Version of No Way Home, which features 11-minutes of footage not seen in the original release. And you’d better believe those 11-minutes will feature lots more bonding and bickering between the three Spideys, since that’s the stuff that brought fans back to multiplexes over and over and over again. — E.A.

Spider-Man: No Way Home, The More Fun Stuff Version premieres Friday, Sept. 2 in theaters.

HEAR IT: Yungblud lets it bleed on cathartic third LP

Britain’s great rock hope announced his self-titled third studio album by getting a tattoo during a global livestream, so you know this one is going to go deep. He’s said that he has “thought and felt this record so deeply,” going to “a part of myself that I didn’t know was there. I studied it, I bathed in the emotion, tried to solve the equation and come up with an answer (at least for now) from love to pain, adoration to abandonment, laughter to betrayal.” The ambitious LP finds the 24-year-old singer-songwriter, whose real name is Dominic Harrison, working with rising indie glam/powerpop artist Brasko, punk-pop star Willow and his mentor/idol the Cure’s Robert Smith. He says of the Willow collab, the second single “Memories”: “I want people to scream this song out and it be cathartic.” So, turn it up! — Lyndsey Parker

Yungblud by Yungblud is available Friday, Sept. 2 to download/stream on Apple Music.

WATCH IT: Keep This Between Us examines inappropriate relationships between teachers and students in U.S. high schools

Cheryl Nichols, who was in a relationship with her high school teacher, beginning when she was only 16, looks back on it in Freeform’s four-part docuseries. Not only that but, in back-to-back episodes airing over two nights, Nichols and director Amy Berg, who helmed Evan Rachel Wood’s docuseries Phoenix Rising, examine how young female students throughout the country experience similar scenarios. Nichols decided to take the emotional journey after the many allegations of sexual assault against Harvey Weinstein came to light in 2017. “I began to think about what happened to me in a way that I never had before,” Nichols told the Dallas Observer this month. “It always seemed like a scandal to me, something I participated in, rather than something that was, in fact, done to me. This subtle shift in perspective seemed monumental to me, and I wanted to investigate further. I also figured that if I was feeling this way, surely other women and girls were as well.” — R.S.

Keep This Between Us premieres Monday, Aug. 29 at 9 p.m. on Freeform.

WATCH IT: Follow the continuing adventures of Stargirl, now in its third season on The CW

The future of DC’s television slate on The CW might seem shaky, but at least we’re getting another season of hidden gem Stargirl. Returning Aug. 31 for its third year, the series’s winning combination of Golden Age Justice Society nostalgia with ’80s-era Amblin teen adventure vibes once again appears to be in full force. Having discovered that her predecessor, Starman (Joel McHale), is alive and well, Stargirl (Brec Bassinger) now has to demonstrate why she should hold onto the all-powerful cosmic staff that’s the source of her powers. Meanwhile, new threats make their way into the idyllic town of Blue Valley, which require the attention of the high school Justice Society. — E.A.

Stargirl Season 3 premieres Wednesday, Aug. 31 at 8 p.m. on The CW.

WATCH IT: Warrior gets another winning Blu-ray upgrade with 4K Ultra HD release

(Image: Lionsgate Home Entertainment)

Has there been a better man-cry movie released this millennium than Gavin O’Connor’s 2011 MMA drama Warrior? The film follows a pair of estranged brothers (Tom Hardy’s tough-as-nails ex-Marine and Joel Edgerton’s MMA fighter-turned-high school physics teacher, both stellar) on a collision course to brawling one another on the world stage. Warrior, simply put, is an emotional knockout. The steelbook release comes with a making-of doc, gag reel, deleted scene, audio commentary and more. — Kevin Polowy

Warrior releases on 4K Ultra HD Tuesday, Aug. 30. Buy it exclusively from Best Buy.

HEAR IT: Megadeth soldiers on

After the May 2021 dismissal of founding Megadeth bassist David Ellefson amid sexual misconduct allegations, Dave Mustaine and company reset and had the bass parts for their then-in-process 16th studio album re-recorded by Testament’s Steve Di Giorgio. The result is The Sick, the Dying… and the Dead!, the long-running metal band’s first album in six years and also the first with drummer Dirk Verbeuren. The record, which was two years in the making, features a Dead Kennedys cover and original collaborations with Sammy Hagar and Body Count’s Ice-T, but perhaps the tracks “Soldier On!” and “We’ll Be Back” best summarize the group’s mindset moving forward from scandal. — L.P.

The Sick, the Dying… and the Dead! by Megadeth is available Friday, Sept. 2 to download/stream on Apple Music.

READ IT: Bernard Hiller fires up performers and non-performers alike with The Revolutionary Guide to Acting

(Image: Matt Holt)

You don’t have to be an actor to draw some supreme inspiration from The Revolutionary Guide to Acting, the latest book from Bernard Hiller. One of the globe’s most revered acting instructors, Hiller has an uncanny knack for motivational prowess; he wants you to enjoy life, and absolutely own it — and his insightful words of wisdom are likely to fire you up on your way. Of course, if you are an actor, you’ll likely glean the most from Revolutionary Guide, especially when Hiller deep dives into techniques, audition tips and such. But this is a book for dreamers of all stripes. It might even make you quit day job to finally chase that dream of being an actor. — K.P.

The Revolutionary Guide to Acting releases Tuesday, Aug. 30 on Amazon.

— Video produced by Kyle Moss and edited by Jason Fitzpatrick

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