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(CNN)Is Halloween the official kickoff to the holiday season?
In my world that’s a yes, and it’s scary how much great content there is to get the party started.
Let’s go there.
Three things to watch
‘Army of Thieves’
The prequel to Zack Snyder’s “Army of the Dead” may not be awash with zombies and gore, but that doesn’t mean you won’t enjoy this story. The thriller breaks down how small-town bank teller Ludwig Dieter (Matthias Schweighöfer) gets drawn into the adventure of a lifetime when a mysterious woman recruits him to join a crew of Interpol’s most wanted criminals.
How can attempting to heist a sequence of legendary, impossible-to-crack safes across Europe not be fun?
“Army of Thieves” starts streaming on Netflix Friday.
‘Colin in Black and White’
Long before he was an NFL quarterback who lost his job for taking a knee in protest of racial injustice, Colin Kaepernick was a young man navigating race, class and culture as the Black adopted child of a White family.
It drops Friday on Netflix.
‘Hypnotic’
I couldn’t leave you without a little something to make your heart race in honor of the holiday.
In “Hypnotic,” a young woman (played by Kate Siegel) tries to deal with her trauma by employing a renowned hypnotherapist.
Let’s just say things don’t exactly go as planned in this psychological thriller.
It’s currently streaming on Netflix.
Bonus: If you can’t tear yourself away from Hollywood suspense and horror, check out the latest episode of Pop Life Pop Off! My bestie, CNN’s Audrey Irvine, joins me as we explore what’s behind our fascination with the criminal mind, like the charismatic serial killer Joe Goldberg in “You”:
Two things to listen to
Ed Sheeran has been in the news recently after sharing he had tested positive for Covid-19.
But he also has a new album titled “=” coming out.
Pronounced “Equals,” it follows 2019’s “No. 6 Collaborations Project.”
The English singer-songwriter may not be able to promote his latest project the way he had originally planned, but we still get to enjoy the new music when it comes out Friday.
Tori Amos says she has written herself out of a tough mental space during the pandemic.
The result is her new album, her first in four years, titled “Ocean to Ocean.”
The singer told NME she had written an album that was supposed to come out before the US presidential election last year.
“Because of the pandemic, I had to pull plans for not one North American tour, but two,” Amos said.
“Then the third lockdown (in the UK) hit this January and it became clear to me that the songs I was writing pre-election just weren’t resonating with me any more,” she explained. “So I threw them all out and started again. The songs I had (before) didn’t have the energy I needed to get out of my despondency at that point.”
We will get to witness her healing when the new album drops Friday.
One thing to talk about
If you are trying very hard not to connect with people right now, don’t pick up a copy of the “Schitt’s Creek” coffee-table book.
It’s as delightful as the popular comedy series on which it’s based, according to my CNN colleague Marianne Garvey. And, honestly, we all could use a little bit of the good feels that “Best Wishes, Warmest Regards: The Story of Schitt’s Creek” brings.
It’s a behind-the-scenes look at the critically acclaimed, award-winning series that had so many falling in love with the Rose family and kept the phrase “Ew, David!” stuck in our heads.
The show is deeply missed — and since Hollywood loves a revival, I vote that we not wait years to bring this one back. At the very least, maybe a holiday special?
Something to sip on
Whenever tragedy strikes in Hollywood, there is a tendency to mourn and then move on, much as we do in real life.
In the case of the accidental fatal shooting on the “Rust” movie set, I hope we all take a moment to not only remember the life of Halyna Hutchins, but also take a valuable lesson from her time here on Earth.
The cinematographer, who died of her injuries October 21 after Alec Baldwin discharged a gun on set, had formerly been a journalist in Europe who moved first to New York and then to Los Angeles to chase her dreams.
She fell in love with the art of filmmaking, and that is what the wife and mother was doing when her life was tragically cut short.
Those who knew her have offered tributes that made clear hers was a life well lived and well loved, even while all too brief.
We should all strive to leave a legacy of pursuing our passions and being so deeply admired as Hutchins appears to have been.
