TV & movies

The latest news and reviews of TV shows and movies.

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Recommended Reading: The end of 'Game of Thrones'
'Game of Thrones' season 8 showrunners interview: 'This is where the story ends' James Hibberd, Entertainment Weekly Winter is here. HBO's powerhouse Game of Thrones returns for its final season this weekend, signaling the beginning of the end (at least for now) of the stories of Westeros. Entertainment Weekly sat down with the showrunners for season 8, David Benioff and Dan Weiss, who are also the masterminds behind much of the show's narrative arc. The pair promises they'll be in an "undisclosed location" when the final episode airs, "turning off our phones and opening various bottles."
'Veronica Mars' reboot debuts on Hulu July 26th
Last fall, Kristen Bell confirmed rumors that Hulu was working on a new season of Veronica Mars. According to a teaser released on Twitter today, the series is slated to begin on July 26th.
Hulu orders a Theranos miniseries starring Kate McKinnon
If HBO's Theranos documentary didn't satisfy your curiosity, you might be in luck. Deadline and Variety have learned that Hulu is ordering The Dropout, a miniseries about the rise and fall of Theranos and its founder Elizabeth Holmes. The show would be produced by and star Saturday Night Live veteran Kate McKinnon, and would have its roots in a similarly-titled podcast that was turned into a 20/20 documentary in March.
The 'Chef's Table' team is making non-fiction shows for Disney+
Disney+ won't focus solely on telling fictional stories inside the media behemoth's many, many properties. The company has signed a two-year deal that will have Supper Club, the creators of Chef's Table, creating non-fiction streaming shows based around both franchises as well as original ideas. No, the first projects won't be cooking documentaries -- they'll be relatively varied.
YouTube TV costs $50 per month after another price hike
YouTube TV isn't immune to the latest wave of rate hikes plaguing the streaming world. The Google-owned service has announced that it's raising the base monthly price to $50 ($55 if you subscribe directly through an Apple TV), effective immediately for new subscribers and from May 13th onward for existing customers. You'll at least get something for your trouble, though, as YouTube TV will finally offer a host of additional channels.
T-Mobile relaunches its TV service with an AI viewing guide (updated)
T-Mobile hasn't been quick to fulfill its promises of launching TV service, but it finally has something to show following all the early hype: it's launching TVision Home, a rebranded and retuned version of Layer3's broadband-based IPTV service. It's not the fully independent streaming service you might have hoped for (that's coming later in 2019). However, the telecom is hoping to bring a dash of its straightforward "Uncarrier" strategy to the TV world -- provided you're willing to pay.
Red Carpet Films offers first run movie rentals for $3,000
While the average person might debate buying a discounted movie ticket subscription, Red Carpet Films hopes the uber wealthy will consider spending $3,000 to rent first run films. The concept isn't entirely new: charge people hefty premiums to watch the newest movies in their homes. But the price tag is higher, the idea is being pushed by longtime Hollywood businessmen and major studios have signed on.
Netflix debuts Beyoncé Coachella documentary on April 17th
You probably don't think of Netflix as a go-to place for music documentaries beyond Taylor Swift's tour movie, but it's determined to burnish its image. The service has teased the April 17th debut of a previously rumored documentary on Beyoncé's much-hyped performance at the 2018 Coachella festival -- conveniently, just ahead of the 2019 festival's second weekend. You won't find a trailer or other details, but there's little doubt that the teaser is a callback to both the yellow outfits Bey's team wore as well as the launch of her Homecoming Scholars Awards Program at the same time.
Recommended Reading: The road to 'Avengers: Endgame'
Road to Endgame: 'The Avengers' changed cinema and avoided the mistakes of past Marvel movies Siddhant Adlakha, Slashfilm Avengers: Endgame marks the end of a 22-film run for the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). While there are certainly plans to make more movies, this phase will soon be over. Slashfilm is revisiting all of them in the run up to the premiere of Endgame on April 26th. This week alone, the site has covered The Avengers, Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy. You can see the full list of the recaps right here.
Universal Pictures will master new and existing titles in HDR10+
Now that Samsung has established HDR10+ as a viable and accessible alternative to Dolby Vision HDR, it's looking to bring more HDR content to viewers. To do so, Samsung is partnering with Universal Pictures Home Entertainment (UPHE) to master a selection of new releases and existing movies and shows with the standard. Not only will we soon have more HDR10+ hardware, we'll also have something to watch on it.
T-Mobile's streaming TV service will include Viacom channels
T-Mobile hasn't given up on its plans to introduce a TV service. Rumors circulated that the company would launch a TV offering in 2018, and while that clearly didn't happen, it looks like we might actually see it this year. Today, T-Mobile and Viacom announced a content distribution agreement that will bring Viacom's channels -- including MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, BET and Paramount -- to T-Mobile's "uncarrier" TV service.
Oscars limits for streaming movies may violate antitrust law
If the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences ever wants to limit the eligibility of streaming services for the Oscars, it might have to contend with the US government first. The Department of Justice has warned the Academy that rule changes limiting services like Netflix and Amazon might violate antitrust law if they effectively "suppress competition." The Sherman Act bars anti-competitive agreements between rivals, the DOJ wrote, and that would include awards restrictions that hurt a streaming company's sales.
Discovery streaming service will be the main home for BBC nature shows
Discovery is widening the scope of its streaming service plans, although it might not be great news for nature buffs. The network has unveiled a deal with BBC Studios that will see the BBC's history, nature and science documentaries form one of the "pillars" of a Discovery streaming service due to launch by 2020. On top of that, the service will be the exclusive streaming home for BBC nature docs outside of the UK, Ireland and China, including series like Blue Planet, Life and Planet Earth -- it's not clear what will happen with existing titles on sites like Netflix, but you might not want to count on them sticking around.
Netflix's 'The Silence' looks a lot like 'A Quiet Place'
Before you watch The Silence trailer Netflix just released, we'll tell you that the plot looks strikingly similar to A Quiet Place. In both, the world is under attack from creatures who hunt prey by sound, and one family overcomes the disaster by utilizing the heightened senses of a deaf child. Yes, both films rely on a deaf child.
Sinemia offers more details on why it has been terminating accounts
A few weeks after Sinemia users reported their accounts were wrongfully terminated, the company is offering more details. Sinemia is sticking to its explanation that accounts were closed due to fraudulent activity or misuse. Now it says misuse could include using the Sinemia card to purchase concession stand items, using multiple Sinemia accounts on the same device or seeing the same movie more than three times -- a full list was provided to Engadget via email and is reproduced below.
YouTube TV is now available in every US TV market
YouTube TV is now available in every US TV market after it arrived in Glendive, Montana, the last one YouTube needed to finish the rollout. It had just a few markets to add after a broad expansion in January, which made the service available to 98 percent of Americans at the time.
Uma Thurman and horrifying heart transplants meet in Netflix's 'Chambers'
Netflix is about to give horror fans another star-studded fix. It's premiering Chambers, a psychological horror series starring Uma Thurman, on April 26th. The series revolves around a heart attack survivor in a "New Age pocket" of Arizona who starts taking on the traits of her transplant donor -- and not surprisingly, they aren't exactly endearing. It's supposed to start as a "grounded human story," but things go awry from there.
NBC shot an entire episode of the 'Tonight Show' with the Galaxy S10+
Samsung is no stranger to using TV events as sales pitches for its smartphones, but now it's taking over an entire TV show. Variety has learned that the March 25th episode of NBC's Tonight Show will replace the usual studio program with a tour of Jimmy Fallon's favorite New York City locales (complete with The Roots and guests) shot entirely with a Galaxy S10+ phone. In essence, it's one long ad for the smartphone's cameras. Samsung's Patricio Paucar isn't shy about the reasoning, either -- it's an attempt to "break through the noise" and get people to pay attention when they might tune out the usual commercials.
Apple video service may charge $10 each for HBO, Showtime and Starz
Apple's video service event is just hours away, but there are still a few rumors making the rounds -- including, apparently, pricing. Wall Street Journal contacts claim Apple has been negotiating to offer subscriptions to channels "such as" HBO, Showtime and Starz for $10 each through its new TV app, which would also include Apple's original programming. In that light, it would be closer to Amazon's Prime Video Channels, where the focus is on convenient access to third party services.
DC Universe celebrates Batman's birthday with free access March 30th
Batman is about to celebrate his 80th 'birthday' (his first appearance in Detective Comics) on March 30th, and DC Universe is using that as an opportunity to hand out more freebies. The service is providing free access to a wide swath of its Batman movies, TV shows and (of course) comics for 24 hours that day, starting at midnight ET. It doesn't include everything -- most notably, Christopher Nolan's movies still aren't an option. However, you'll still have access to quite a large chunk of the Dark Knight's catalog.

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