This Week’s Must-Watch Streaming Picks: Adam Sandler, ‘Star Wars: Ahsoka,’ Tim McGraw and ‘Honor Among Thieves’

Coming soon to your device, Tim McGraw makes a triumphant return with his latest project “Standing Room Only,” while the highly anticipated “Star Wars: Ahsoka” spin-off from “The Mandalorian” also joins the lineup of new television shows, movies, music, and games.

Among the offerings picked by Associated Press entertainment reporters are “The Eight Mountains,” a soul-stirring Italian epic about male friendship, and Adam Sandler’s return in “You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah.” “

NEW MOVIES IN DELIVERY

It would have been easy to dismiss “Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” as another tired Hollywood attempt to polish its unused IP. Still, directors and writers Jonathan M. Goldstein and John Francis Daley, who helmed one of the best comedies of recent years (“Game Night”), make “Honor Among Thieves” a very funny and refreshingly frivolous fantasy adventure, led by Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez and Hugh Grant comics. After hitting theaters this spring, “Honor Among Thieves” arrives on Prime Video on Friday, August 25. AP’s Jocelyn Noveck said in her review that it works “surprisingly, sometimes delightfully well — even if you have no idea what a Paladin or a Red Wizard or a Harper is.”

The hills come alive in “Eight Mountains,” the soul-stirring Italian epic of male friendship from Belgian filmmakers Charlotte Vandermeersch and Felix van Groeningen. The film is one of the best of the year and follows the lives of two friends (Luca Marinelli, Alessandro Borghi) from childhood to adulthood in the Italian Alps. A mountain idyll is a pastoral dream for one, a modest livelihood for another. The filmmakers, whose film won an award at the Cannes Film Festival last year, are unhurried and let time flow against the stunning alpine backdrop and Daniel Norgren’s fragile, organ-driven folk songs. Reviewing “Eight Mountains,” which begins streaming on the Criterion Channel on Tuesday, I wrote: “At once expansive and intimate, their luminously languid adaptation of Paolo Cognetti’s bestsellers reaches lofty heights.”

Adam Sandler has long been known for making movies with his friends. Now it’s his family’s turn. “You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah,” premiering Friday, Aug. 25 on Netflix, stars Sunny Sandler as Adam’s teenage daughter, one of two friends (Samantha Lorraine plays the other) who are driven apart by the boy’s argument. . Adam himself stars as Sunny’s father in Fiona Rosenbloom’s adaptation of the 2005 YA novel. Sandler’s wife Jackie and another daughter Sadie are also in the cast.

PERFORMING NEW MUSIC

Tim McGraw roars back with “Standing Room Only,” the wistful title track, and “Hey Whiskey,” a near-disintegrating song with alcohol. The second single, “Remember Me Well,” is a look at a love affair, with McGraw singing “If you’re gonna forget me/Find someone else/If you remember me/Remember me well.” He says the songs are “the most emotional, thought-provoking and life-affirming music I’ve ever recorded”.

Alice Cooper welcomes you to the new album in a very Alice Cooper way. “I know you’re looking for a real good time. So, let me introduce you to my friend. I’m Alice. I’m the master of madness; The Sultan of Surprise,” she sings on the first single, “I’m Alice.” The rocker’s new collection Road” also includes “Welcome to the Show” and “White Line Frankenstein” featuring Tom Morello. His team says the new music “touches the essence of his classic hits while delivering a fresh and refreshing sound that’s full of energy from the first note”.

NEW SERIES to stream

Jedi Ahsoka Tano was originally introduced in the 2008 animated film “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” and then returned to be portrayed by Rosario Dawson in “The Mandalorian.” Now Anakin Skywalker’s former apprentice is leading a “Mandalorian” spin-off called “Star Wars: Ahsoka.” Ahsoka, a survivor of the Jedi Purge, investigates the threat to the galaxy after the fall of the Galactic Empire. Other actors include Natasha Liu Bordizzo, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, David Tennant and Lars Mikkelsen. The series premieres Wednesday on Disney.

If you want to stay in space, “Invasion” Season 2 launches on Apple TV on Wednesday. The show, co-created by Simon Kinberg and David Weil, focuses on individuals on different continents whose lives are revolutionized by the arrival of aliens on Earth. In the second season, the aliens are becoming more aggressive.

The life of a foreigner living in Spain begins to unravel when a trip to the supermarket turns into a robbery and one of the robbers claims to recognize him. Maybe he’s been leading a double life? Evin Ahmad plays the main character in his first English-language role. All seven episodes of Immortals of Aveum are simple: a first-person shooter with sorcery. Think something like Call of Duty, except you’re shooting bullets, you’re shooting magic bolts, missiles, and bombs. Protagonist Jak has just discovered his occult gifts and is recruited to fight in a thousands-year-old war between two supernatural superpowers that rule his world. Coming from Ascendant Studios, a new production house founded by Call of Duty veteran Bret Robbins, Immortals is a rarity these days – a fresh single-player adventure that isn’t just another installment in a long-running franchise. You can start casting spells on Tuesday on PlayStation 5, Xbox X/S, and PC.