At the movies

“Zombieland Double Tap,” opening in wide release on Oct. 18, is a sequel to “Zombieland,” a 2009 wry zombie apocalypse comedy. In the original, Jessie Eisenberg, now 36, starred as Columbus, a nerdy guy who cleverly avoids being bitten and becoming a zombie. He meets up with other survivors played by Abigail Breslin, Emma Stone and Woody Harrelson, and they eventually bond and stave off a big zombie attack. The sequel finds the same quartet, played by the same actors, meeting up with four new survivors, one of whom is played by Zoey Deutch, 24. Ruben Fleischer, 44, who made his directorial debut with the original, returns as the director of “Double Tap.” Fleischer also directed the big box-office hits “Gangster Squad” in 2013 and “Venom” in 2018. Paul Wernick, 47, co-wrote the original and the sequel.

“The King” and “The Addams Family” opened in theaters last week. “King” is a Netflix film (begins streaming Nov. 1) that stars Timothée Chalamet, 23, as Henry V of England (1386-1422). Henry was a reluctant heir. But after his tyrannical father died, he learned how to manage palace politics and lead his army to victories. “The Addams Family” is an animated film about the famous spooky (and funny) family. Nick Kroll, 41, voices Uncle Fester (Gomez Adams’ brother) and Bette Midler, 73, voices Grandmama, Gomez and Fester’s mother.

Look what’s streaming

I’ve been advised that there’s another Jewish actor with a leading part in the first season of “The Politician,” a Netflix series that dropped on Sept. 27. That new actor is David Corenswet, 26, in his first big role. As I previously wrote, the series stars Ben Platt, 26, as a Santa Barbara rich kid, and each season will cover an election that he’s in. The first season he’s running for class president against Corenswet’s character. A family history maven friend uncovered that fact that David’s father, John Corenswet, was from an old Southern Jewish family. Sadly, John died this year and his funeral was at a New Orleans temple. David’s mother, a native New Yorker, isn’t Jewish. My friend referred me to an online caption in which David seems to identify himself as Jewish.

Paul Rudd, 50, stars in the Netflix series “Living With Yourself” as a man who undergoes a mysterious treatment, only to find out that he’s been replaced by a man better than himself. The first season dropped on Oct. 16. Rudd also appears in Funny or Die’s recently released “Between Two Ferns: The Movie” on Netflix. The movie is an expansive version of the online, abrasively awkward talk show of the same name hosted by Zach Galifianakis. Rudd is interviewed about 30 minutes in and pretty quickly Galifianakis begins peppering him with some Jewish questions, including “Are you a practicing Jew?” Rudd responds in an original and witty way.

“Why We Hate” is a six-part documentary series on the Discovery channel that began on Oct. 13. Produced by Steven Spielberg, 72, and Oscar-winning documentary-maker Alex Gibney, the series is described by the PR staff as “explor[ing] one of humanity’s most primal and destructive emotions: hate. At the heart of this timely series is the notion that if people begin to understand their own minds, they can find ways to work against hate and keep it from spreading.”

Comedian and actress Jenny Slate, 37, stars in her first stand-up special, “Jenny Slate: Stage Fright,” which begins streaming on Netflix Oct. 22. It’s a mixture of onstage stand-up and scenes of her having conversations with her family in her childhood home.