Documentary: ‘Being Eddie’
No, we’ll never learn if Yul Brynner really wanted Eddie Murphy to have sex with his wife (did I actually just type that?), but there’s more to “Being Eddie” than this scintillating nugget of gossip. In this intriguing Netflix documentary, the famed comedian walks us through his storied and admittedly bumpy career, not to mention his sumptuous California mansion, dispensing both earned wisdom and earned self-aggrandizement, and in the process settling one big score. — Doug Brod
TV: ‘Stranger Things’
For four seasons we’ve watched the “Stranger Things” kids grow up onscreen as their characters battled the evil emanating from the parallel universe of the Upside Down. Season 5, debuting with four episodes Wednesday on Netflix, promises the toughest fight yet now that big bad Vecna is poised to take over their hometown of Hawkins, Ind. You better believe I want to see how it all ends. While the action sequences are bound to be epic, it’s the bonds among these nerdy chosen family members that have kept me glued to the drama. — Debra Yeo
Concert: Isabel Bayrakdarian
Canadian soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian isn’t your typical opera singer. In 1997, she graduated from the University of Toronto with a biomedical engineering degree, the same year she won the Metropolitan Opera’s prestigious National Council Auditions. In the years since, she’s gone on to receive four Junos and perform in opera houses around the world. In her concert tonight (Nov. 22) at Koerner Hall (273 Bloor St. W.), Bayrakdarian is set to perform ancestral songs, prayers and lullabies from her Armenian homeland. “When I was young, I didn’t fully grasp the profundity of these songs as vessels of information and essential links to my past and my identity,” she said of these works. “Now, as a mother of two children, I know how powerful these songs and hymns are, and how they can heal and soothe the soul.” — Joshua Chong
TV: ‘The Beast in Me’
Matthew Rhys and Claire Danes go head to head in this delicious little Netflix thriller about a cocky billionaire who may have killed his wife and a famous author hungry for another bestseller to cover the mortgage. Is the billionaire guilty? Is the author going to go too far in the search for the truth? Both actors emote with gusto (including an epic amount of signature chin-trembling from Danes), but it’s Rhys’s signature sass and perfectly played menace that makes this miniseries worth watching. — Briony Smith
