General view at the venue during Prime Video's "Harlem" After Party at Harlem Parish on December 01, 2021 in New York City. (Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Amazon Studios)
New Year, new things to stream! Cheddar's Digital Team recommends modern romance in the Big Apple, the instant Disney classic with yet another slapping soundtrack, a ghost story/murder mystery for the chills of January, and the feature-film return of a fearless girl adventurer.
Harlem - Amazon Prime
Picked by Producer Lawrence Banton
Let's kick off 2022 with a New York City love story, Harlem. The story follows a young Columbia University professor named Camille Parks (played by Meagan Good) and the path she takes in life after a heartbreaking split with her longtime boyfriend Ian ( Tyler Lepley) who stumbled upon a job opportunity in Paris. Several years and new relationships later, the two again cross paths in Harlem. So, how does it end up? It's messy to say the very least. Love, new relationships, and familiar sex? Sounds like a disaster worth diving into for your viewing pleasure, if you ask me. Not only does the story follow these two and their friend groups, but the neighborhood of Harlem itself plays a major character in the series, often finding itself at the intersection of authenticity and gentrification.
Encanto - Disney+
Picked by Sr. News Editor Dina Ross
I jumped on the Encanto train last weekend and was not disappointed. The latest animated Disney movie is filled with joy and hope, bright colors, and beautiful music. It tells the tale of a Colombian girl who is the only person in her family without a magic power of her own. The young Mirabel (voiced by Stephanie Beatriz) has an unstoppable optimism, despite constant criticism from her firm grandmother (María Cecilia Botero), which she uses for better or worse. It's a fun, uplifting film that viewers of any age can enjoy.
Seance - Amazon Prime Video, Shudder
Picked by Alex Vuocolo
Most hardcore film fans like to have their best-of lists wrapped up before the turn of the new year, but for me, January has always been a catch-up month — helped in no small part by all the great rankings and round-ups floating around. By that token, I've caught up with several 2021 releases this week, and my favorite was a little horror film called Seance. Directed by Simon Barrett, the screenwriter behind The Guest and You're Next, Seance is a murder mystery crossed with a ghost story, which is set inside a prestigious boarding school. Someone or something is picking off the students one by one, and it's up to a recent transplant (played by Suki Waterhouse) to figure out if it's a ghost or one of the other students. While the concept may sound familiar, the filmmakers give it a fresh twist with some excellent casting, sharp dialogue, and surprising plot turns. Overall, Seance is a modest but effective horror flick, well worth cozying up with on a cold winter night.
Hilda and the Mountain King - Netflix
Picked by Digital Editor Mike Nam
**SPOILERS** if you haven't caught up with the series.
This absolutely delightful animated show about an adventurous girl named Hilda, who grows up in a fantastical woodland but eventually moves to the walled city of Trollberg, ended on a cliffhanger in Season 2. This new feature-length special on Netflix picks up where the series left off with the young adventurer magically swapped with a troll changeling and forced to navigate a new world while a conflict between the maltreated magical creatures and the humans of Trollberg gathers steam. The entire show should be a family staple for years to come, and the movie alone is a 90-minute, emotional lesson about a mother's love and true tolerance rising out of a history of oppression and fear. Season 3 is also still in the works!
Looking for more to watch? Check out our recommendations from last week and the week before.
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.
