Elvis has left the theaters — and entered the streaming world.

This had to be one of the most well-done biopics I have seen, well, since Rocketman. Even Priscilla and Lisa Marie sang Austin Butler's praises calling his performance “exceptional.” It's definitely a must-see. I think that the eccentric style of Baz Luhrman captured the iconic career of Elvis perfectly and the soundtrack is just *chef’s kiss*.

For J.R.R. Tolkien fans, the lore of Middle Earth goes way beyond just The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. So move over House of the Dragon, Amazon Prime's adaptation of the high fantasy universe that started it all, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is premiering Thursday night. The highly-anticipated eight-episode series is based on the published books and not tied to the Peter Jackson films, set thousands of years before those stories. The initial buzz around it seems to be good, and for a Tolkien nerd such as myself, I can't wait to return to the epic story of elves, hobbits, dwarves, and men and their antagonists — the monstrous orcs and their dark lord called Sauron.

This week marked 17 years since Hurricane Katrina submerged the city of New Orleans in water and displaced more than one million people. In this HBO Max documentary, we hear from a few survivors who were children at the time the storm hit. They tell harrowing accounts of attic-level rescues as water nearly drowned entire families and the aftermath in which they were left to pick up the pieces of their lives, beginning with the savage conditions they faced inside the Superdome. 

In another nod to the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, I've been revisiting Treme, producer David Simon's follow-up to The Wire. While some see the New Orleans-set drama as less compelling than the beloved police procedural, I'd argue that it's a much richer show. By focusing on regular people, rather than cops and journalists, it presents a fuller portrait of a city at its darkest hour. Twelve years after its release, it still has the power to enrage and delight. Treme is at once a condemnation of the inadequate national response to the disaster (itself man-made) and a celebration of a city that counts among the most culturally distinct in the country.