Prior to the launch of the Netflix Basic with Ads plan, the company revealed between 5% to 10% of its TV shows and movies would be unavailable due to licensing restrictions. As it turns out, some of the most popular shows and movies on the streamer are locked out from the cheaper subscription tier. As Variety points out, some of the shows currently unavailable in the US on the $6.99 per month plan are Arrested Development, Breaking Bad, Grey’s Anatomy, How to Get Away with Murder, The Crown, Cobra Kai, and House of Cards. Also not included are Peaky Blinders, New Girl, The Magicians, The Last Kingdom, The Sinner, Good Girls, The Good Place, and Friday Night Lights. As for movies, subscribers to the ad-supported plan won’t be able to watch Skyfall, 28 Days, The Imitation Game, and The ...
It’s not a good sign that Blockbuster, a workplace sitcom set inside a literal metaphor for late-stage capitalism, feels the need to call out the problem with its premise seven minutes into the pilot episode. “Isn’t it ironic that the small business taking a stand against the big corporation in this scenario is actually a franchise of a once-huge corporation, named after the exact type of big corporate movies that killed off smaller movies?” Blockbuster employee Eliza (Melissa Fumero) says, as her boss Tim (Randall Park) tries to rally his underdog staff. I’m admittedly coming to the show with a bias, as a former video store clerk who spent about two and a half years behind the counter of independent stores — stores that always struggled to compete with the Walmart of the industry. But des...
Hollywood’s constant deluge of serial killer content stems from fascination: How could anyone drug, strangle, dismember, and cannibalize a fellow human being? That’s why when Evan Peters finally wrapped his head around it as he prepared to portray Jeffrey Dahmer in Ryan Murphy’s Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, he stayed in that place, remaining in character during the Netflix show’s six-month shoot. Peters and Murphy discussed the process of making the Milwaukee Monster biopic at a recent panel, Variety reports. After Murphy proclaimed that Peters “basically stayed in this character, as difficult as it was, for months,” the actor explained that he wore lead weights around his arms and lifts in his shoes to get Dahmer’s strangely proper physicality down. “He has a very straight ...
With the return of Superman on the horizon, Henry Cavill is abdicating his lead role on Netflix’s The Witcher after three seasons. In his place, producers have tapped Liam Hemsworth to play Geralt of Rivia. “My journey as Geralt of Rivia has been filled with both monsters and adventures, and alas, I will be laying down my medallion and my swords for Season 4,” Cavill said in a statement on Saturday. “In my stead, the fantastic Mr Liam Hemsworth will be taking up the mantle of the White Wolf. As with the greatest of literary characters, I pass the torch with reverence for the time spent embodying Geralt and enthusiasm to see Liam’s take on this most fascinating and nuanced of men. Liam, good sir, this character has such a wonderful depth to him, enjoy diving in and seeing what you can find....
The full-length trailer for 1899 has officially docked online and the upcoming Netflix horror-mystery series, anchored by Dark creators Baran bo Odar and Jantje Friese, looks eerily terrifying. The clip goes full-steam ahead from the start as the European migrant ship Kerberos, traveling from London to New York at the turn of the 19th century, stumbles upon the Prometheus, a vessel long-assumed to have been lost at sea. Though the discoveries made by the ship’s scouting team as well as the source of subsequent, supernatural occurrences remain shrouded in secrecy, the trailer suggest the importance of a menacing triangular symbol that has some type of hold on Kerberos’ passengers. Amongst the preview’s cult-like gatherings, armed mutiny, and Jimi Hendrix’s cover of “All Along the Watch...
Netflix has released the trailer for Pepsi, Where’s My Jet?, a four-part documentary revolving around a college student who called the soda company’s bluff about a commercial offering a military plane as part of its loyalty program. Taking inspiration for its title from the 2000 stoner comedy Dude, Where’s My Car?, the docuseries centers around a college student named John Leonard who went on a crusade to acquire enough Pepsi Points to redeem them for an AV-8 Harrier II jet. In a commercial for the Pepsi Stuff program, the company advertised that seven million points would be required to purchase the plane. Since it would take 1.4 million 12-packs to rack up that many Pepsi points, executives thought the number was out of reach. However, the fine print in the catalog allowed cust...
The Pitch: A racist scavenger (Tim Blake Nelson) uncovers the ultimate score in the storage locker of a dead Nazi. A desperate grave robber (David Hewlett) gets more than he bargained for on his latest excursion. A medical examiner (F. Murray Abraham) autopsies a dead body from a mine explosion and finds a passenger hiding within the flesh. An awkward, frumpy bank teller (Kate Micucci) is tempted with the secrets of beauty by a mysterious skin cream. An art student in 1909 (Ben Barnes) grows obsessed with the horrific paintings of a strange new colleague (Crispin Glover). A desperate man (Rupert Grint) searches for his dead twin sister through the veil of spiritualism. A reclusive billionaire (Peter Weller) gathers a group of illustrious talents to view his latest otherworldly find. A...
“We have so much to say, and we shall never say it,” reads a quote in the trailer for Netflix’s upcoming World War I drama All Quiet on the Western Front. It’s an excerpt from Erich Maria Remarque’s 1929 anti-war novel of the same name, which serves as the source material for the film. The story centers around a young German soldier named Paul Bäumer (played by Felix Kammerer) who lies about his age so he can enlist alongside his friends, all of whom share romanticized ideals about the war. As the trailer depicts, Bäumer is quickly thrown into the trenches with little training or equipment and subjected to the bleak conditions of the Western Front. To make things worse, the German government seems unwilling to accept the reality of its losing cause despite the urging of a ceasefire fr...
[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for The Watcher.] With Ryan Murphy’s limited series The Watcher, the Glee creator delves into a real-life stalker case that has yet to be solved. The Netflix thriller focuses on the well-off Nora and Dean Brannocks, played by Naomi Watts and Bobby Cannavale, who relocate with their children to a suburban house at 657 Boulevard, only to become the recipients of alarming, invasive, and anonymous letters being sent to their new home. In the concluding episode of the suspenseful series, the Brannocks eventually flee the house (and titular Watcher) and are seen in New York, settling into a newer, safe home. But even moving away from 657 Boulevard isn’t enough to escape the damage caused by the Watcher, as Dean is shown still attempting to solve wh...
After months of speculation, Netflix will begin offering an ad-supported plan beginning in November. The new ad-supported tier will launch amid a tumultuous year for Netflix, which faced subscriber losses in the first half of 2022. The company’s hope is that this price-conscious plan will boost both subscribers and revenue in the longterm, in a win-win for everyone. While it will now be Netflix’s least expensive plan, the Basic with Ads subscriber option comes with a few strings attached — mainly, that anyone opting in to the tier can expect to see between 4-5 minutes of commercials per each hour of content. On the other hand, it comes at a lower monthly price point. (For those uninterested in ads, Netflix will continue to offer its ad-free plans at higher price points.) Related Video Befo...