Cordkillers 293 - The Math Is In: They're All Terrible (w/ Chris Mancini)
Black Widow and Wonder Woman 1984 trailers, free movies from Plex, and Golden Globe noms. All this and more on Cordkillers! With special guest Chris Mancini ( https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/comedyfilmnerds/rise-of-the-kung-fu-dragon-master ).
This week on It's Spoilerin' Time: Rick and Morty (404), The Mandalorian (105), Watchmen (108), Mr. Robot (410), The Larry Sanders Show (202-203)
Next week: Rick and Morty (405), The Mandalorian (106), Watchmen (109), Mr. Robot (411), The Larry Sanders Show (204-205)
CordKillers: The Math Is In: They're All Terrible
Recorded: December 9 2019
Guest: Chris Mancini
Intro Video
AJ and the Queen
Primary Target
Golden Globe Nominations: ‘Marriage Story,’ ‘Chernobyl’ Land on Top
Netflix Leads Both Film & TV Golden Globe Fields, Streaming Dominates TV Nominations As Broadcast Is Shut Out
- The Golden Globe nominations are out. The Golden Globes are unusual in combining TV and film into one awards show. They're also unusual because they're selected by the "Hollywood Foreign Press" which nobody can quite agree what that means. But all that aside it's usually the next buzziest awards show to the Oscars, and winning one is always good for the winner's marketing efforts.
- Netflix got 34 nominations across TV and film. It's the first company ever to lead both the TV and Film, nominations at the Golden Globes.
- Streaming dominated the TV side with 30 nominations combined between Netflix, Hulu, Prime Video and Apple TV+. HBO and Showtimes combined for 15 nominations and FX, BBC America and USA combined for 7. The broadcast networks got 0.
- This is the third time in 20 years that HBO has not finished as the most nominated network. All three times have been within the past four years
- Netflix Movies
- Marriage Story 6
- The Irishman 5
- The Two Popes (in theaters Streaming Dec. 20) 4
TV NOMINATIONS
- Netflix 17
- HBO 15
- Hulu 5
- Prime Video 5
- FX Networks 4
- Apple TV+ 3
- Showtime 3
- BBC America 2
- USA Network 1
How to Watch
Plex launches a free, ad-supported streaming service in over 200 countries
- Plex launched its ad-supported free streaming service with movies and shows from MGM, Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution, Lionsgate, and Legendary. Plex's service will stream in 220 countries worldwide. Users will not need a subscription to access the service. Plex says the ad load will be 50-60% less than broadcast television.
What to Watch
Full trailer for Disney's live action Mulan. Comes to theaters March 27.
Daniel Craig Returns as James Bond in ‘No Time to Die’ Trailer
-Trailer for No Time to Die, the latest James Bond film and last with Daniel Craig as 007. Directed by Cary Fukunaga and written by Danny Boyle and Phoebe Waller-Bridge. Coming to the US April 8 (UK April 3)
Trailer for Black Widow, set between the events of Civil War and Infinity War. In theaters May 1.
Wonder Woman 1984 trailer featuring Gal Gadot-- and Chris Pine--. Wonder Woman 1984 comes out June 5.
Ghostbusters Afterlife trailer out coming July 10.
The first three episodes of Truth Be Told arrived on Apple TV+. Octavia Spencer, Lizzy Caplan, and Aaron Paul star in the story of a podcaster who reopens the murder case that made her famous.
HBO's SciFi comedy starring Hugh Laurie, Avenue 5, will arrive Sunday January 19.
HBO Max gave its first series order for Len Dunham-produced Generation created by Zelda Barnz and her father Daniel Barnz. It's a dreamed about high school students.
IMDb TV is now Streaming ‘Chicago Fire,’ ‘and Friday Night Lights’ for Free
Roku is promoting "streamathons" on its Roku channel with season 1 of Game of Thrones, “Warrior,” “Billions,” “The Affair,” and “Ray Donovan,” streaming free from 12/26 to 1/1.
Disney Plus has ordered a kids game show called "Star Wars: Jedi Temple Challenge" hosted by Ahmed Best - the man who played Jar-Jar Binks. Coming in 2020.
Apple's Foundation show has added Lou Llobell, Leah Harvey, Laura Birn, Terrence Mann, and Cassian Bilton as series regulars. They join previously announced leads Lee Pace and Jared Harris.
Locke and Key has finally got a premiere date, arriving on Netflix February 7.
Eyes On
Brian: Gattaca, Larry Sanders 202 and 203, Rick and Morty, Watchmen, Mr Robot
Tom: The Morning Show
Chris: The Irishman
On the Lookout: Nobody's Looking
Front Lines
Disney Crossing Record $10 Billion At Worldwide Box Office; First Studio In History To The Mark
- Disney has racked up more than $10 billion in box office receipts this year, the most by any studio in a calendar year. The previous high was $7.6 billion in 2016. These numbers don't include Fox movies which will throw in an additional 2 billion or so.
Swiss cable company offering alternative remote to control Apple TV, like Apple’s own IR remote
- A Swiss broadband provider called Salt uses the Apple TV to deliver television to its home fiber customers. MacRumors reports Salt is offering an alternative remote control for the Apple TV to its customers. It has a physical four-way D-pad, a menu button, volume and playback controls. It does not include a microphone.
Studio Ghibli's entire catalog will soon be available to buy digitally
- Studio Ghibli will make its movies available for digital download on "all major digital transactional platforms." The films have not been available digitally with a recent agreement bringing them to streaming on HBO Max. Purchases in Japanese and English will be available December 17.
Comcast and NBCUniversal to Unveil Peacock Streaming Strategy at Investor Meeting
- Similar to what AT&T did with HBO Max, Comcast will present details about NBC's Peacock to investors at a meeting January 16. The event will be held at 30 Rock with a stream available on the Comcast investor relations site. Peacock is scheduled fro launch in April.
Immersive Theater Technology Debuts in U.S. With ‘Jumanji: Next Level’
- France's CGR Cinemas chose Jumanji: The Next level as its first US showing with its Immersive Cinema Experience or ICE theaters at Regal's LA Live cinema in downtown Los Angeles. CGR puts up five LED panels on the sides of the auditorium that fill peripheral vision with complementary colors. It may not sound like much but CGR said ICE makes up 32 of its 680 screens but generated 75% of its revenue.
Netflix to spend Rs 3,000 Cr on content in India
- Netflix CEO Reed Hastings announced the company plans to invest roughly $420 million on content in India across fiscal years 2019 and 2020, with a majority on original content. Netflix has already commissions 15 original series and over 20 original local-language films in the country. Hastings previously stated the company plans to invest $15 billion in content in 2019, and identified India as a key part of Netflix's international subscription growth.
Dispatches from the Front
Hey Tom, Brian, Bryce, and Guests
Since I got Disney+, I’ve noticed something with it that I don’t think I’ve heard anyone talk about and wanted to bring it up in case anyone runs into the same situation my household is in.
I live in a house with 4 people and our ISP (Mediacom) gives us a 1TB data cap. Normally, this has been fine. We’re all-in on cord cutting and gaming and occasionally working from home, but typically we come close to the cap without going over. After getting Disney+, we blew through our cap inside of two weeks.
Near as we can tell, the culprit is the 4K TV in the living room. We’ve discovered that if Disney+ detects a 4K display, it automatically plays the (available) content in 4K with NO OPTION to downgrade it to 1080. So we’ve been killing our data plan with Marvel movies and The Mandalorian. In two years before this with a combo of Youtube TV, ESPN+, Hulu, etc, we’d gone over our cap maybe twice.
The only way I’ve discovered to downgrade the app from 4K to 1080 is to run it through a non-4K device, such as a lower end Roku or something like my laptop. If we’re using the native app on the Living room TV or the Xbox (which is a 4K console), it appears it has to stream in 4K.
Just thought I’d pass that along in case there were other listeners out there who had seen a spike in their data usage and couldn’t figure out why.
Keep up the good work
- Jon
Hey guys,
After cutting the cord a couple weeks ago, I realized I had forgotten about Mr Robot. I figured sense I was saving $70 a month, I could easily follow Brian's advice and buy it but then a made a discovery: if you sign up for an NBCUniversal Profile and you get credits to unlock three episodes so that's $9 I can save before needing to buy the last few episodes. I don't see any other freebies for signing up, but maybe they'll give out some credits in the future but I'll take the three!
Also, I was missing news but it looks like both ABC and NBC have added channels to dedicated news channels to Amazon so I've got that itch scratched.
Anyway, that's the latest on cord cutting over here in Visalia.
Take care,
Your Boss
- Norm
Hey CK crew,
On the last episode you asked how people watch TV and movies at home after Martin Scorsese asking people not to watch on their phones, so I thought I’d let you know my viewing habits. I don’t own a television, so I end up watching the majority of content on my 34” ultrawide monitor hooked up to my PC. For most content this is great. The only time I’ve recently run into issues is that Disney+ has encoded black bars into their movies and shows, and therefore their stuff only shows on about 1/3 of my screen. Because of that, I’m forced to watch the mandolorian on my phone due to it being the better experience. For me, my computer screen is the best and biggest in the house, and I’ll continue to watch most content there. But sometimes, watching on my phone can be better.
Thanks for all your hard work,
- Alex
Earlier this year, I wrote to you guys, professing that *I* still bought disks!! "Brian was wrong! Tom was right!" I believe I wrote...
Buy > Rip > Plex
Since that time, I have all but quit buying movies on disks.
[brief pause to do some searches]
ACTUALLY, I just went back and searched Amazon for DVD, BluRay, and Blu-Ray...... and I haven't bought a movie on a disk since 2017.
I generally wait for sales, but yeah... I've pretty much gone all digital for my movies. Amazon, Vudu, etc.
Later!
- Michael
I am accepting your invitation to explain why I’m still using disks. I cut the cord in 2008, (Frame Rate days?) and that is also the year I purchased a Panasonic plasma TV, an AV receiver, a TIVO, a roof-mounted antenna and 3 more speakers to attain a 5.1 audio capability. I also bought a PS3 because it was the least expensive BluRay player at the time. I paid more for a Plasma screen and an AVR because I thought the increase in quality would be worthwhile. I sought out a BluRay player knowing it was the only truly HD source available at the time.
I signed up for a Netflix account which was disk-only in 2008. When the streaming service became available, I decided to add it to my disk service. While I really liked the somewhat meager selection of movies and TV shows available through the new streaming service, it was nowhere near what was available on disks. And although things have changed substantially in the following eleven years, it is still the case that Netflix’s disks offer wider and more recent selections than what is available on it’s streaming service. I do really like Netflix’s later offering of original shows and movies, so I continue to pay for both.
I can clearly see and hear the difference in video and audio quality of BluRay versus streaming. Even my antenna provides a superior signal to most streaming services. No compression in HD broadcast signals.
My Netflix subscription (one BluRay disk plus streaming) is $25/mo and TiVo is $16/mo, so my total monthly cost for this setup is $41 per month. So higher quality plus bargain price is why I keep disks in the mix.
More will be revealed
- Michael
I thought I'd chime in on the discussion.
I'm totally not a fan of physical media. I'd rather live without it. Brian was spot on with how much moving impacts the desire for things.
However, I've found more and more of these discs in my life. We buy DVDs (not Blu-Ray) so my kids can watch them in the car. We do have a lot of blu-ray discs because that's the bundle that had both DVD and digital.
When it comes to games, we're in an odd scenario with 3 PS4 systems in the house. Discs allow us to move the games around between systems, so I find myself buying more games with physical media.
Hope that helps. In a perfect world, I wouldn't use physical media at all. It's such a pain, but it has it's advantages.
- Mitch
Hi Tom and Brian,
I'm one of the shrinking minority that still purchases physical media. I don't do it because I collect shiny discs in clam-shell packaging. I do it because I want to see the movie in the best possible quality that my budget can afford. I suppose that makes me a videophile, but then again why buy a TV for a few thousand dollars if I'm not going to use it at it's full potential. I still watch lots of streaming shows and movies, but when it is movie night I reach for a disc. Anyway just my two-bits.
On a slightly personal note I find it a little disappointing when hosts and guests act as if people who still buy physical media are freaks or just don't get the new tech. This is especially true for a show that has the tag line "to help you watch the stuff you love--when you want, where you want, however you want". Seems like Brian says it different in the show. Sorry, guess I'm more sensitive to that than I thought.
Anyways, still love the show.
- John
Joseph LeBlanc says:
Hi Tom I was just watching cordkillers 292 and Fraser commented that there was no way to get Rick and Morty besides paying for something huge, I just got my mom a Amazon fire TV and as we all do I subscribe to Prime, in Canada there is something called stack TV this adds six channels where's the content to Amazon Prime including Rick and Morty from adult swim.
since this only cost $12.99 and actually covers most of my mother's viewing habits judge Judy dr.pol etc the only thing I need for her now is a digital antenna for local news.
Love the show from your neighbours to the north.
- Joseph
Albert Sims
I still buy discs for the stuff I really like and know I'll want to rewatch, since a lot of stuff I like has never been on streaming, and the stuff that IS on streaming won't be there forever. For instance, I just ordered a 5-disc Sid Caesar DVD set from Shout Factory.
I refuse to buy "digital downloads". They just don't seem to be as "permanent" as a physical disc. Also, several digital download sites have shuttered.
- Albert
Hello Cordkillers!!
Ask for a response on Discs, and you shall receive one.
I am one of those weird people who likes both streaming and discs. For reference, I own approximately 250 discs, ranging in quality from DVD to 4K, and have a digital collection on VUDU of about 500 movies/TV shows. Most of the movies I own on disc I also have digital copies of either from the digital codes or disc to digital programs from VUDU. My favorite movies I have upgraded from Blu-ray to 4K when it is available. I also stream from various services services such as Netflix, HBO, and Disney+.
When I am watching a movie to enjoy it, I will often pop in the disc in order to get the highest quality picture and audio. If I am "distracted viewing", I will stream the content.
A couple reasons why I still like discs.
1. While I have fast internet speeds, there is a data limit of 1 TB from my service provider. Streaming 4K eats through the data cap quickly. So if I want to watch in 4K, it is almost always through a disc.
2. I'm still afraid to be burned by online collections. Right now Wal-Mart is considering selling VUDU. I have approximately 100 movies or TV shows that are not part of the Movies Anywhere digital locker. If something where to happen to VUDU, 20% of my collection is in jeopardy.
3. I have some discs that are not available as digital copies and likely never will be. For example, Kevin Smith's movie Dogma will likely never be available for streaming and a disc is the only way to watch the movie.
As for streaming services, I treat them like a carousel. I will have HBO for a few months and then switch to Disney+, and then switch to another service. I typically only watch new content on the services. If it is a catalog title, I likely already own it or have no interest in watching it.
Hope this helps. Keep up the good work.
- Tim
Links
2019 Winter Movie Draft
patreon.com/cordkillers
Rise of the Kung Fu Dragon Master