Netflix premieres Judd Apatow’s first stand-up special. And “Finding Your Roots” explores the genealogies of Questlove, Dr. Phil and the journalist Charlayne Hunter-Gault.
What’s Streaming
JUDD APATOW: THE RETURN (2017) on Netflix. In July, Mr. Apatow, the noted comedy film producer (“The Big Sick”) and director (“Knocked Up”), performed a string of stand-up shows at the Just for Laughs comedy festival in Montreal. Those performances were filmed for this comedy special, Mr. Apatow’s first. The Canadian audiences were “warm and excited about comedy,” he told The New York Times. “I like getting out of major cities like New York and talking about my life, show business and politics in a place where people are watching it from a distance.”
CROWN HEIGHTS (2017) on iTunes and Amazon. The story of Collin Warner, an African-American man from Brooklyn who spent 20 years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit before his conviction was overturned in 2001, has inspired both an in-depth “This American Life” episode and this film, directed by Matt Ruskin. In the film, Mr. Warner is played by Lakeith Stanfield, and the narrative shows Mr. Warner behind bars as his friend, Carl King (known as “CK,” played by Nnamdi Asomugha), works to prove his innocence. In a review for The Times, A. O. Scott wrote that the film is “soft-spoken and thoughtful, with sweet, lyrical touches that alleviate some of the grimness without blunting the cruelty and injustice of what happened.”
BEHIND THE CURTAIN: TODRICK HALL (2017) on iTunes and Amazon. This documentary follows the performer Todrick Hall, best known on television as an “American Idol” contestant and a judge on “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” as he writes and prepares to release “Straight Outta Oz,” an autobiographical musical about growing up gay and black in small-town Texas and breaking into show business. The film, directed by Katherine Fairfax Wright, had its premiere earlier this year at the South by Southwest festival in Austin.
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2 (2017) on iTunes and Amazon. Marvel’s ’80s-tinged sci-fi saga — the first installment of which was one of the biggest films of 2014 — returns with its original winning cast of Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel and Bradley Cooper. This time they’re joined by Kurt Russell, who brings “the laid-back vibe of a Hollywood veteran whose tan and crinkly smile tell you that sunsets and Goldie Hawn are waiting for him back in Cali,” Manohla Dargis wrote in her review for The Times.
What’s on TV
FINDING YOUR ROOTS 8 p.m. on PBS (check local listings). Questlove, Dr. Phil and the journalist Charlayne Hunter-Gault are the subjects of this new episode of “Finding Your Roots,” where the host Henry Louis Gates Jr. dives deeply into the genealogy of notable guests. These three all have roots in the Southern United States, and the episode pays special attention to how their ancestors’ lives were shaped by American slavery.
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