TV & movies

The latest news and reviews of TV shows and movies.

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ESPN+ adds personalized recommendations and offline viewing
ESPN is making some welcome (and arguably overdue) improvements to its ESPN+ service that could change how and where you watch. Its updated app now includes personalized recommendations for ESPN+, starting with on-demand videos. Watch a lot of hockey? You'll probably see more highlight clips from the latest NHL matches. Recommendations will "soon" spread to live and future events, so you might spot big matches you would otherwise miss.
NBCUniversal to launch ad-supported TV streaming service in 2020
NBCUniversal isn't going to twiddle its thumbs while competitors like CBS dive deeper into streaming video. The broadcaster has unveiled plans for an ad-supported streaming service that will launch sometime in early 2020. It'll be 'free' if you watch TV through a paid provider with NBCU access (Comcast and Sky included), but you'll have the option of subscribing if you're either a cord cutter or just want to eliminate ads.
A new 'Star Trek' spinoff is in the works starring Michelle Yeoh
The rumors were true: Michelle Yeoh is getting her own Star Trek spinoff show. CBS All Access has confirmed that Yeoh will star in a new streaming series that elaborates on her character Captain Georgiou's role in Starfleet's mysterious Section 31, which plays an important role in Discovery's second season. Most details are still forthcoming, but it'll be executive produced by a familiar team that includes Discovery veteran Alex Kurtzman as well as Rod Roddenberry.
Hulu beats Netflix with its own Fyre Festival documentary debut
Both Hulu and Netflix have been working on documentaries about the disastrous Fyre Festival, and Hulu has now released its version just a few days ahead of Netflix. Fyre Fraud, as its name suggests, gives a look into how those behind Fyre Festival defrauded investors as well as attendees. And the film shows how the event turned out to be an utter fiasco lacking the luxurious food, accommodations and performances initially promised.
CBS' reworked film division will focus on streaming
CBS' ongoing streaming push is now affecting its movie business. Variety has revealed that CBS is folding its Films division into the larger Entertainment Group over the next year, and it will shift its focus to streaming after the last of its four in-progress movies (Five Feet Apart, Lexi, Pavarotti and Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark) reaches theaters. The details of what happens next are reportedly still up in the air, but there's a good chance All Access plays a major part in that strategy.
The ‘Minecraft’ movie will now be directed by Peter Sollett
The Warner Bros. Minecraft movie has a new director... again. Variety reports that Peter Sollett is now on board to write and direct the long-awaited movie, which was at one point supposed to be released in May of this year. However, production has hit delays, due in part to director switchups. Previously, Rob McElhenney (It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia) was set to direct the film, but he left the project last August. And he had taken over from Shawn Levy (Night at the Museum) who dropped out in 2014.
Everywhere we found AirPlay 2 at CES 2019
As is tradition, Apple was once again infamously absent at the biggest technology show of the year, CES. The company hasn't actually stayed out of the headlines over the past week, however. Apple didn't do any announcing of its own, but it was name-checked in practically all press conferences held by the biggest consumer tech brands at CES. The reason? AirPlay 2.
Netflix’s ‘Fyre’ shows how fraud built and doomed Fyre Festival
Netflix has released a trailer for its upcoming Fyre Festival documentary, and it recaps both how hype around the event was built as well as how it all came crashing down. A good portion of the trailer also focuses on Billy McFarland, the Fyre Festival co-founder who has now been convicted of fraud and sentenced to six years in prison. Through a number of interviews, Fyre reveals how McFarland continued to pull in investors while falsely promising that profits were to be had.
Jake Gyllenhaal faces art world horrors in Netflix’s ‘Velvet Buzzsaw'
Netflix has released a trailer for its creepy new film Velvet Buzzsaw. Written and directed by Dan Gilroy (Nightcrawler), it's set in LA's art scene and shows what happens when "art collides with commerce." The film features an all-star cast, led by Jack Gyllenhaal and Rene Russo, which includes John Malkovich, Toni Collette, Natalia Dyer (Stranger Things), Daveed Diggs (Blindspotting), Tom Sturridge (On the Road) and Zawe Ashton (Wanderlust).
Humans abandon a toxic Earth in Netflix’s film ‘IO’
Netflix has released a trailer for its next sci-fi film, IO, which takes place in a future where Earth has become uninhabitable to humans. While most of humanity has abandoned Earth for Jupiter's moon Io, scientist Sam Walden, played by Margaret Qualley (The Leftovers), has stayed back, attempting to find a way for humans to survive on the now toxic planet. But her plans change when Micah (Anthony Mackie) shows up, and the two have to figure out how to safely get to the last shuttle off of Earth before it leaves without them.
CBS' Picard series will loosely tie in with JJ Abrams' 'Star Trek'
Ever since CBS confirmed that it was making an All Access Star Trek series based on Jean-Luc Picard, there's been one main question: namely, what's the story? You now have an inkling of what it will entail. Show creator Alex Kurtzman has revealed that the streaming show will tie into events mentioned in JJ Abrams' 2009 Star Trek movie, and that this has a dramatic effect on the iconic character (fair warning: there are spoilers for that movie below).
Amazon revisits Lorena Bobbitt’s trial in new ‘Lorena’ trailer
Last year, Amazon greenlit a Jordan Peele-produced documentary series on Lorena Bobbitt, and now it has released a trailer for the upcoming four-part series. Bobbitt made headlines in 1993 when she cut off her husband's penis, and the resulting sensationalistic media coverage obscured her side of the story as well as any meaningful conversation about domestic abuse and sexual assault. Lorena takes a look at Bobbitt's trial, how it was covered and discussed, and gives Bobbitt a chance to talk about what happened and how it affected her life. "I didn't choose to be in the spotlight," Bobbitt says in the trailer. "But there's no going back."
Plex may soon offer ad-supported movies and more subscriptions
Over the past year, Plex started supporting podcasts, introduced a portal for on-demand web shows and bundled Tidal with its service. It's no longer just a media manager, and the company plans to continue in that trajectory by offering ad-supported movies. According to TechCrunch, Plex is already in discussions with rights holders and networks to bring ad-supported movies and subscription programming to the platform.
Sony's 'super-large' 8K TVs are coming home this year
This year at CES Sony is one of the TV makers jumping into 8K with two "super-large" Z9G displays that are big enough, at 98- and 85-inches, to make use of the format's 33-million pixel resolution. According to Sony, these screens have "completely new" full array LED backlighting, plus a Picture Processor X1 Ultimate to manage the signal and upscale any lower-res video, which is important since 8K content will be hard to find for a while. Sony didn't mention much about content, but they are ready for IMAX Enhanced content, which will be available via the Privilege 4K service in the spring, and all of its TVs have support for Netflix Calibrated Mode. Plus, like so many other TVs we're seeing this week, all of the Sony models announced here will get support for Apple AirPlay 2 and HomeKit later this year. That high-res screen is surrounded by four speakers, with two at the top and two at the bottom, which Sony says can deliver an experience similar to its OLED TVs that deliver "Sound-from-Picture"reality. Assuming you have a home theater speaker setup (and for TVs like these we'd expect you would), it can also make the TV a center channel. It didn't call out support for HDMI 2.1 in the press release, but with 8K, as well as home theater equipment supporting features like Enhanced Audio Return Channel (eARC), we'd bet on having it.
Live from Sony's CES 2019 press event!
Just when you thought the pre-CES press event deluge was over, Sony is wrapping up a busy day with some evening festivities. The company's annual Las Vegas soirée is happening tonight, January 7th at 8PM ET/5PM PT, and we'll be there to bring you all the news live. We're sure to hear about Sony's new TV lineup, as well as new additions to its home theater stable of soundbars, speakers and more. There's typically some headphone and personal audio news as well, with a dash of cameras for good measure. Whatever Sony has planned, keep your browser locked here for all the details from the event. You can also stream the event live right here.
Samsung's imposing 98-inch 8K TV defines CES opulence
Samsung's initial 85-inch 8K TV was just the tip of the iceberg. The electronics giant has formally unveiled its 2019 TV lineup at CES, and the QLED-based Q900 series will include a range of 8K models headlined by a massive, intimidating 98-inch version -- if you have the room and cash for it, you can make sure you see every last pixel. There will also be 65-, 75-, 82- and 85-inch sets in case your bank account or living space isn't sufficiently enormous.
Sony accused of blocking Kodi media app to discourage piracy
It won't shock you to hear many people use Kodi to pirate movies and TV shows, but Sony appears to be particularly alarmed. The Kodi team has accused Sony of blocking the installation of its media app on newer Android TVs following months of reports from users. They believe Sony is blocking the package ID from Google Play, and have worked around it by recompiling the app with a different ID to evade the company's filter.
Watch LG’s CES press conference in 8 minutes
Considering LG began its CES hype campaign in early December, the company's obscenely early press conference today -- the first of the show -- was unexpectedly short and sweet. LG is committed to releasing a 5G smartphone this year, and promises its ThinQ AI home appliances will get progressively smarter, suggesting how to better manage your home rather than just blindly obeying your conversational commands. LG also gave an appropriate amount of airtime to HomeBrew, its new capsule-based craft beer system for nurturing easy, homemade batches.
Hisense's new ULED XD has two panels, instead of one
Hisense is clearly a fan of that Xzibit meme in which the Pimp My Ride star announces that he's put a thing inside a thing. That must be the explanation for how it came to its latest TV technology, dubbed ULED XD, which crams not one, but two panels inside its case. The company says that ULED XD's proprietary technologies include better chipsets and image processing algorithms that offer "incredibly deep blacks and dazzling brightness."
David Fincher and Tim Miller's animated Netflix series is not for kids
David Fincher's next project for Netflix is taking a sharp left turn. The famed director is working with Deadpool's Tim Miller on Love, Death, and Robots, a mature-themed animated anthology series. The show will revolve around 18 short stories of varying length (from 5 to 15 minutes each), each with their own film crews using distinctive art styles ranging from classic 2D to realistic CG.

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