Farewell to 2021! If you're staying home to celebrate the switchover to 2022, Cheddar's Digital Team recommends some dark humor, bright hopes, throwback thrillers, and a veritable icon of the romantic comedy genre — and no, it's not 'New Year's Eve,' which would be a bit on the nose. Happy New Year!
Picked by Digital Editor Mike Nam
Don't Look Up - Netflix
This dark, absurd satire about scientists (Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence) trying to convince politicians, television personalities, and the global population that a planet-killing comet is about to strike the Earth had some critics poo-pooing the Adam McKay (Step Brothers, The Big Short) comedy as a too-pessimistic allegory regarding climate change. They charged that it's relatively unfunny and insulting to certain political ideologies. But, since the "doomsday glacier" is potentially going to raise sea levels by 10 feet within the next five years, to me, this mixed bag of a film seems understated and still worth a watch.
Station Eleven - HBO Max
But what if the world does end — but we don't end with it? Station Eleven, a limited series based on the bestselling novel by Emily St. John Mandel, imagines a post-apocalyptic future of people rebuilding after the old world comes crashing down. Unfortunately, originally written in 2014, the story imagines civilization grinding to a halt due to a massive flu pandemic, which might not be everyone's cup of tea as 2021 winds down. However, it's reassuring that while there is darkness in the subject matter, the series looks to uplift and provide hope that humanity doesn't JUST survive but is somehow worthy of survival.
Dexter: New Blood - Showtime
Picked by Producer Lawrence Banton
WARNING: If you have not watched the original series, this could be a spoiler. Eight years after Showtime put a bow on its hit show, Dexter, showrunners have returned with a continuation series Dexter: New Blood. It's the same premise just with a twist. First off: Dexter Morgan? He's dead. Sort of. The blood-spatter expert for Miami metro's police department, who doubled as a serial killer of known criminals, had to cut ties with the Sunshine State after his part-time killing spree was nearly exposed. After faking his death, he relocated to rural New York where his "dark passenger" took a backseat for more than a decade. But as the saying goes, the past has a way of creeping up on you. Dexter thought he left it all in Miami, including a son who ends up tracking him down. And if you can remember how his mother died and Dexter's own traumatic experience of witnessing her death, then you can paint a picture of where this series is headed. #SinsOfTheFather
Copshop - Amazon Prime Video (Rent or Purchase)
Picked by Reporter Alex Vuocolo
Copshop, which hit theaters without much fanfare earlier this year, feels like it was teleported from the early 2000s, and I mean that in the best way possible. The film takes place in a remote police station in the Southwest United States, where a man (Frank Grillo) has gotten himself arrested for protection from an assassin who is hot on his tail. Unfortunately for him, the assassin (Gerard Butler) gets himself arrested as well, and naturally chaos ensues on the cell block. Caught between it all is a rookie cop (Alexis Louder), who is just trying to survive the night. The balance of comedy and action is reminiscent of the best Tarantino knockoffs, and the single-location mayhem feels like an homage to John Carpenter's Assault on Precinct 13. If you're a fan of the action films of yesteryear, Copshop is as unreconstructed as it gets.
When Harry Met Sally… - Showtime
Picked by Sr. News Editor Dina Ross
New Year's Eve makes its debut at the very end of this 1989 classic romantic comedy about two strangers and their not-so-fast friendship. Harry (Billy Crystal) and Sally (Meg Ryan) take a post-collegiate road trip together as they both prepare to start their new lives in New York City. Over the next dozen years, as the grads explore love and life in the big city (bringing us this famous NSFW clip), they find out that the Big Apple can feel really small as they run into each other time and time again. If you haven't seen it, or it's been a while, it's a hopeful way to kick off 2022 (whether you're single or not).
AT&T announced earlier today it is spinning off its media properties in WarnerMedia in a merger with Discovery in a $43 billion deal.Scott Rostan, founder and CEO at Training The Street, joined Cheddar to talk about what the unwinding of the telecom giant's Time Warner media properties means for investors. "I think the investor sentiment is they're digesting the new information, and they're looking into the dividend, especially the reduction of the dividend," said Rostan, noting the transaction allows AT&T to focus on its core telecommunications business.
A 2021 report from UK Research and Innovation found that the shipping industry makes up at least 2.5 percent of the world's total CO2 emissions. It's a problem that energy solutions company, Leclanché, is trying to solve. Founded in 1909, the company has been developing and producing batteries for more than 100 years. Today, Leclanché's lithium-ion battery is used to electrify not just ships, but also railroad locomotives, trucks, and specialty vehicles. Cheddar News spoke with Pierre Blanc, chief technology and industrial officer of Leclanché, to discuss.
Amazon is betting that ammonia could be the fuel of the future, participating in a Series A round for the Brooklyn-based company Amogy in December. Amogy aims to de-carbonize transportation with a clean energy system that uses ammonia as a renewable fuel. Amogy is partnering with Amazon on its first commercial product - an ammonia-powered cargo-shipping vessel. Amogy CEO Seonghoon Woo joins Cheddar Climate to discuss.
One of the world's largest transport companies is kicking off Black History Month with a new initiative aimed at the next generation of business leaders. Today, FedEx announced the launch of its Student Ambassador Program. Participants selected from eight historically black colleges and universities will receive career guidance from FedEx executives. The program is part of FedEx's ongoing commitment to HBCUs and will also help the company expand its pipeline for diverse talent. Cheddar News welcomes senior vice president at FedEx, Jenny Robertson, and Jerryl Briggs, President of Mississippi Valley State University, to discuss.
"Sing 2" has overthrown "Spider-Man: No Way Home" as the number one film at the UK box office. The animated sequel brought in $8.1 million, in just its two first weekends. However, "No Way Home" is still on track to beat "Avatar" as the number one grossing movie of all time.
Big Brothers Big Sisters of America has been a driving force for youth mentorship since 1904. The nonprofit organization is launching its annual Big Draft campaign this month in partnership with the NFL, and Artis Stevens, the first Black CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, joined Cheddar to discuss the push for adding more "Bigs" as mentors on his one-year anniversary leading the non-profit organization. "While the NFL is recruiting and drafting more players, they're also helping us to draft more mentors and, particularly, men all the way from across February to all the way to April of this year," Stevens explained.
The Supreme Court will reconsider race-based affirmative action in college admissions. The court will examine admissions policies at Harvard University and The University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, which count the race of applicants as a factor in admissions. The court has upheld affirmative action policies in the past, saying it helps to create more diverse student bodies. However, the conservative Supreme Court could be skeptical and even possibly hostile to such policies. Nick Anderson, Higher Education Writer, Washington Post joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss.
The value of most cryptocurrencies have plummeted in recent months since reaching all-time highs in November, wiping out more than $1 trillion in value globally. The steep crash has some talking about the possibility of a crypto winter, a term referring to a prolonged bearish period where asset prices persistently fall over many months. This all comes as the Fed is expected to raise interest rates, and the Biden administration is working on an executive order to regulate Bitcoin and other assets. Josh Goodbody, COO of Qredo, joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss the crypto crash, and how the industry might recover from it.
Recent data reveals that streaming giants are struggling to retain subscribers in the months following a major release.
According to data from Antenna, subscriber trends show that users will subscribe to a given streaming service just to watch a particular show, and then cancel those subscriptions shortly after. This comes as the streaming space continues to heat up as new entrants crowd the space. Jon Christian, Founding Partner + Digital Supply Chain Leader at OnPrem joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss.
