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Flavorwire’s Guide to Movies You Need to Stream This Week

By Jason Bailey on

Welcome to Flavorwire’s streaming movie guide, in which we help you sift through the scores of movies streaming on Netflix, Hulu, and other services to find the best of the recently available, freshly relevant, or soon to expire. This week, there’s good stuff from Bradley Cooper, Ethan Hawke, Paul Rudd, Julie Delpy, Amy Poehler, Zach Galifanakis, and Akira Kurosawa, plus a must-see documentary and one of our favorite stand-up specials. Check them out after the jump, and follow the title links to watch them right now. … Read More

Film

Netflix’s “Streamageddon”: Why Do Streaming Video Services Still Suck?

By Jason Bailey on

They called it “Streamageddon,” and it was brutal: on May 1, nearly 1800 titles expired from Netflix Instant streaming, prompting wailing and gnashing of teeth among movie buffs, to say nothing of a last-minute flurry of marathon viewing. (We tried to warn you.) The cause was simple enough: the company’s licensing deals with several key providers — including MGM, Universal, and Warner Brothers — came to a close, and they were not renewed. This kind of thing has happened before (the site lost eight percent of its streaming content when their partnership with Starz Play ended last year); it’s the cycle of shifting deals and fluctuating content. But the way the company has responded to the backlash, and the increasingly erratic and frustrating landscape of streaming in general, raises some troublesome questions about where online viewing is going. … Read More

Web

The Best April Fools’ Jokes From Around the Web

By Alison Herman on

April Fools’ jokes are tricky, and not just because it’s way too easy to forget the date and believe Gmail’s about to turn blue for a few minutes. They’re also hard to get right: they need to be believable, but not too believable; absurd, but not totally out of left field. And most importantly, they need to leave your readers feeling in on the joke, rather than cheated and pissed off. We’ve compiled the highlights (or, depending on your viewpoint, lowlights) of today’s pranks from around the Web. From the email of the future to an Aaron Sorkin-esque HR move at a comics giant, here are the headlines that made us smile, cringe, and sometimes both. … Read More

Television

TV Critics Explain What Nielsen’s New Streaming Ratings Mean for Our Favorite Shows

By Chloe Pantazi on

Nielsen, the company that monitors TV ratings, has announced that it will alter its rating system to factor in the many viewers that are watching TV shows away from the TV set. By changing the way it will collect ratings, Nielsen finally seems to be acknowledging the increasing significance of streaming platforms like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon – as well as gaming devices that support television like the X-Box and Playstation, also to be counted. The development is expected to come into effect later this year in September. … Read More

Film

Flavorwire’s Guide to (Scary) Movies You Need to Stream This Week

By Jason Bailey on

Welcome to Flavorwire’s streaming movie guide, in which we help you sift through the scores of movies streaming on Netflix, Hulu, and other services to find the best of the recently available, freshly relevant, or soon to expire. But since we’re a mere seven days to Halloween, this edition of the streaming movie guide will focus on the scary — some of our favorite horror movies that are at your fingertips this very moment. Check them all out after the jump, and follow the title links to watch them right now. … Read More

Film

Flavorpill's Guide to Movies You Need to Stream This Week

By Jason Bailey on

Welcome to Flavorpill’s streaming movie guide, a new feature in which we help you sift through the scores of movies streaming on Netflix, Hulu, and other services to find the best of the recently available, freshly relevant, or soon to expire. This week, we’ve got a new mash-up music documentary, films from Darren Aronofsky, Jim Jarmusch, and Werner Herzog, and a couple of titles we told (or showed) you about over the past couple of weeks. Check them all out after the jump, and follow the title links to watch them right now. … Read More

News

The Morning’s Top 5 Pop Culture Stories

By Caroline Stanley on

1. Remember that really bizarre Steve Jobs action figure? Well, in the wake of “immense pressure” from Apple’s lawyers and the Jobs family, Chinese manufacturers have decided not to sell the lifelike figurine. The company, which had planned to start shipping the dolls in February, has promised to fully refund all pre-orders. [LAT]… Read More

Television

Finally, Some Good News for ‘Community’ Fans

By Caroline Stanley on

Earlier this week, our own Jason Bailey pointed out that NBC’s decision to bench Community from its mid-season schedule was likely a sign that network had decided that the show’s audience was pretty much set at this point. That’s why we’re happy that Deadline is reporting that thanks to a new… Read More

News

The Morning’s Top 5 Pop Culture Stories

By Caroline Stanley on

1. Billie Joe Armstrong would like for “that kid in Twilight,” aka Robert Pattinson, to star in the upcoming film adaptation of Green Day’s Broadway musical, American Idiot. “He’s a good actor,” he told Perez Hilton. “There’s still more to come with that kid.” Right. We’re sure that his rabid teenage girl fan-base has nothing… Read More