What to Stream: 'The Smashing Machine,' Louis Tomlinson, 'The Beauty' and Bruce Springsteen biopic

Dwayne Johnson transforming into MMA pioneer Mark Kerr for “The Smashing Machine” and Louis Tomlinson releasing his third solo album are some of the new television, films, music and games headed to a device near you.

Also among the streaming offerings worth your time this week, as selected by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists: Ryan Murphy's new series “The Beauty” tackles beauty standards with some horror mixed in, Jeremy Allen White plays The Boss in “Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere” and Megadeth going out with a bang with their final, self-titled album.

— Dwayne Johnson transformed into MMA pioneer Mark Kerr for “The Smashing Machine,” a surprisingly gentle drama about winning, addiction and self-worth, which is set to debut on HBO Max on Friday, Jan. 23. In his review, Associated Press Film Writer Jake Coyle wrote that the potency of Johnson’s performance is “let down by a movie that fails to really grapple with the violent world around Mark, resorting instead for a blander appreciation of these MMA combatants. What does resonate, though, is the portrait of a human colossus who learns to accept defeat.” Filmmaker Benny Safdie won a directing prize for his efforts at the Venice Film Festival, though the awards season spotlight has shifted to his brother, Josh, who made “Marty Supreme.”

— HBO Max also has Judd Apatow’s “Mel Brooks: The 99-Year-Old Man!” arriving on Thursday. The two-part documentary includes interviews with Brooks himself as well as the likes of Ben Stiller, Jerry Seinfeld, Adam Sandler and Conan O’Brien.

— The Bruce Springsteen biopic “Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere” is also making its streaming debut on Hulu and Disney+ on Friday, Jan. 23. Written and directed by Scott Cooper, the film stars Jeremy Allen White as The Boss during the making of the soulful “Nebraska” album. In his review for the AP, Mark Kennedy called it “an endearing, humbling portrait of an icon,” adding that it is almost a mirror of the album itself, “unexpected, complicated and very American gothic.”

— A few other film festival gems are coming to more niche streamers too. The documentary “Mr. Nobody Against Putin,” a 2025 Sundance selection about a Russian teacher who secretly documents his classroom’s transformation into a military recruitment center during the invasion of Ukraine, is streaming on KINO Film on Thursday. And Mubi has Paolo Sorrentino’s “La Grazia” starting on Friday, Jan. 23. Star Toni Servillo won the best actor prize at Venice for his turn as a fictional Italian president.

— AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr

— You’d be right to call it a symphony for dissolution. Last summer, American thrash metal giants Megadeth announced they were going out with a bang. They’ll soon embark on a farewell tour, but before that, they will release their final album, the self-titled “Megadeth.” Pressure’s on, and they’re answering the call with their characteristically complex guitar work.

— Perhaps best known as a candid and cool force in the gargantuan boy band One Direction, the Englishman Louis Tomlinson will release his third solo album on Friday, the existential “How Did I Get Here?” His work usually pulls from his most direct influences, Britpop chiefly among them on 2020’s “Walls” and 2022’s “Faith in the Future.” The “How Did I Get Here?” singles “Lemonade” and “Palaces” seem to suggest those influences are still present, but subtle now in favor of sunny, pop-rock choruses.

— The great Lucinda Williams has returned with a new one titled “World’s Gone Wrong.” It is, of course, uniquely Williams — at the intersection of rock, Americana, country and folk — and stacked with inspirational collaborations from Norah Jones, Brittney Spencer and more. Those, partnered with a powerful rendition of Bob Marley’s “So Much Trouble In The World” with Mavis Staples, makes for a must-listen.

— AP Music Writer Maria Sherman

— FX's new series cocreated by Ryan Murphy tackles beauty standards with some horror mixed in. “The Beauty” features an all-star cast including Evan Peters, Ashton Kutcher, Rebecca Hall, Jeremy Pope, Anthony Ramos and Isabella Rossellini. Bella Hadid also guest stars. Kutcher plays a tech billionaire who has created a drug that can lead to so-called physical perfection but not without dangerous consequences. “The Beauty” is based on a comic book of the same name and premieres Wednesday on Hulu and Disney+ internationally.

— “Drops of God” also returns Wednesday to Apple TV for its second season. It's about two estranged siblings (played by Fleur Geffrier and Tomohisa Yamashita) competing to inherit their late father's estate that comes with a massive wine collection. In Season 2, they must search for the source of an unlabelled bottle of wine believed to be the best in the world.

— On the heels of the “Heated Rivalry” phenomenon, Netflix has its own love story to heat up the ice that premieres on Thursday. Where “Heated Rivalry” is based on a steamy romance book series, “Finding Her Edge” is adapted from a YA novel. It's about a figure skater training for the world championships, who finds herself in a love triangle with her current and former skating partners.

— Scott Foley and Erinn Hayes star in a new faith-based family drama called “It's Not Like That,” coming to Prime Video on Sunday, January 25. Foley plays Malcolm, a pastor and father of three whose wife recently died and Hayes is Lori, a divorced mother of teenagers. Their families were always close but Malcolm and Lori find themselves relying on each other more and more as they navigate being single parents.

— Alicia Rancilio

— Flynt Buckler, the hero of Escape from Ever After, lives in a storybook world. But that fantasy goes sour when a greedy corporation invades those books, turning them into cyberpunk dystopias and Lovecraftian nightmares. Can Flynt swashbuckle his way to the top, or will he settle for a crummy office cubicle? Developer Sleepy Castle Studio says it was inspired by Nintendo’s classic Paper Mario games, and the cartoonish 2D settings show off that influence. Turn the page Friday, Jan. 23, on Switch, Xbox X/S, PlayStation 5 or PC.

— MIO: Memories in Orbit is another 2D adventure rooted in a Nintendo classic — in this case, Metroid, the mother of an entire subgenre. You are a small robot in an enormous starship called the Vessel, but your AI bosses have stopped working. It’s up to you to figure out what went wrong while fighting off rogue machines, and the more you explore, the more skills you gain. The ship’s sprawling innards have a hand-drawn, pastel look that you might not expect in a sci-fi game. Blast off Tuesday on Switch, Xbox X/S, PlayStation 5 or PC.

— Lou Kesten

Lauren Hashian, left, and Dwayne Johnson arrive at the 83rd Golden Globes on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)

Jeremy Allen White arrives at the 83rd Golden Globes on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)

NEW YORK (AP) — Incendiary internal messages in which a Live Nation employee mocks customers as “so stupid” and says the company is “robbing them blind, baby” have been made public as over two dozen states weigh whether to continue their antitrust trial against the entertainment giant and its subsidiary Ticketmaster.

The messages from late 2021 through early 2023 on the online work messaging platform Slack were highlighted late Wednesday in a filing by government lawyers released in the public court record. The lawyers insist the messages should be evidence in the week-old trial in Manhattan federal court against Live Nation and Ticketmaster.

At the trial, lawyers for the federal government and 39 states and the District of Columbia say Live Nation and Ticketmaster were squelching competition and driving up prices for fans through threats, retaliation and other tactics to “suffocate the competition” by controlling virtually every aspect of the industry, from concert promotion to ticketing. The companies insist that artists, sports teams and venues set prices and decide how tickets are sold.

The government lawyers wrote that the statements should be part of the trial because they are “candid, internal messages" in which Ben Baker “calls fans ‘so stupid,’ explains that he ‘gouge(s)’ them, and brags that Live Nation is ‘robbing them blind, baby.’"

In the submission to Judge Arun Subramanian, the lawyers noted that Baker made the statements while he was a regional director of ticketing with responsibility for a large amphitheater in Florida but has since been promoted to head of ticketing for Venue Nation with responsibilities relating to all of Live Nation's venues.

They said the employees were discussing Live Nation's price for access to the VIP area of a show at the MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre in Tampa when Baker wrote that the prices are “outrageous,” that “these people are so stupid” and that “I almost feel bad taking advantage of them” before writing, “BAHAHAHAHAHA.”

Live Nation wants the exhibits disqualified from the trial, saying the messages reflect “off-the-cuff banter, not policy” between two personal friends who do not work together.

The company's lawyers wrote that the exhibits don't relate to the antitrust claims. They said the employees were making “passing references to non-ticket ancillary products — such as VIP club access, premier parking, or lawn chair rentals — sold to concertgoers at two amphitheaters” in Florida and Virginia.

But lawyers for the plaintiff states and U.S. government wrote that “excessive prices for ancillary services are directly relevant” to their claims and that “ancillaries are a significant way that Live Nation monetizes its monopoly position in the amphitheater market.”

In a statement Thursday, the company said the Slack exchange “from one junior staffer to a friend absolutely doesn't reflect our values or how we operate.”

The company added: “Because this was a private Slack message, leadership learned of this when the public did, and will be looking into the matter promptly.”

The arguments regarding the exhibits were made after Bloomberg News, The New York Times and MLex, a publication which covers legal and regulatory matters, and Inner City Press requested their release.

The trial’s status is up in the air after the federal government announced this week it was settling with Live Nation in a deal that would give Live Nation's competitors some access to ticket sales they are currently excluded from.

Lawyers for more than two dozen states have asked that the ongoing trial be scrapped and that a new jury be chosen in the weeks ahead. A jury that began hearing evidence last week was told to stay home this week with the expectation the trial would resume on Monday.

Meanwhile, Subramanian encouraged lawyers for the states and Live Nation to negotiate this week before telling him late Friday whether they've reached a deal.

Although the parties were not speaking publicly about the progress of any talks, a lawyer for Live Nation indicated at a court hearing Tuesday that there was no realistic chance of a fast deal with all states.

In a letter to the judge Thursday, a states' lawyer signaled the trial was likely to resume, saying the judge needed to rule on whether the Slack message exhibits can be shown to the jury because his decision will have a “material impact” on which witnesses the states call to testify as the states “prepare to resume trial next week.”

FILE - The seal of the Dept of Justice is shown on the podium, Aug. 1, 2023, at an office of the Department of Justice in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

FILE - The Ticketmaster logo is seen along the sideline of the field before an NFL football game, Sept. 15, 2024, in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack, File)