From left, Tawny Cypress, Juliette Lewis, Rukiya Bernard, Christina Ricci and Melanie Lynskey arrive at the premiere of "Yellowjackets" on Wednesday, Nov. 10, 2021, at Hollywood Legion in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)
Another weekend, another chance to binge some content! Cheddar's Digital Team recommends DC's 'Peacemaker,' the quirky 'Letterkenny' Season 10, the hot Showtime drama 'Yellowjackets,' and the overlooked Soderbergh heist-flick 'No Sudden Move.'
Peacemaker - HBO Max
Picked by Digital Editor Mike Nam
One of the many highlights of James Gunn's Suicide Squad movie was the delightfully earnest, sociopathic minor character codenamed Peacemaker played by former pro wrestler John Cena. He loves peace so much, he's willing to cause an extreme amount of violence to get it. Yeah, he's not subtle, but Cena's weirdly awkward take on the bloody D-list vigilante from DC Comics proved so enjoyable, HBO Max gave him his own series. Cena is also joined by a misfit group of government handlers and a trained pet bald eagle to round out the bizarre project. The series kicked off today with the first three episodes.
Letterkenny: Season 10 - Hulu
Picked by Sr. News Editor Dina Ross
I have no idea how Season 10 of Letterkenny slid into Hulu over the holidays without my noticing, but now that it's here, I can't wait to begin! The sitcom stars the series' co-creator Jared Keeso as Wayne, a folksy farmer in Ontario, Canada, who has strong morals, foul-mouthed friends, and lots of time to kill. The sitcom started as a YouTube series and was turned into a full-fledged TV program in 2016. Pro tip: Turn on closed captioning so you don't miss any of the hysterical one-liners in the fast-talking, slang-filled scenes.
Yellowjackets - Showtime
Picked by Producer Lawrence Banton
Can you imagine having to eat some of your best friends in order to survive in the remote wilderness? Showtime's Yellowjackets explores the story of a wildly successful New Jersey high school girls soccer team who survived a plane crash in a thick Ontario forest. In the beginning, hopes and spirits are high that the team would be rescued but after several days, that hope dwindles, despair sets in, and they go into survival mode. Days turned into 19 staggering months in the wilderness, during which time chaos and cannibalism became the norm. Over the course of the series, the survivors, over 25 years later, begin to reveal the truth behind their survival story. The season finale airs Sunday, January 16.
No Sudden Move - HBO Max
Picked by Reporter Alex Vuocolo
I'm still in 2021 catch-up mode over here, so this week I finally saw one of the year's most unheralded movies. No Sudden Move, which was quietly released on HBO Max back in June, is the latest from Steven Soderbergh, the prolific director-cinematographer behind Ocean's 11 and its sequels. This is also sort of a heist film, but it's set in postwar Detroit and is centered around a plot to steal GM's plans for the catalytic converter (the device that reduces emissions in automobiles). It's a funky period piece with a stellar cast, including Benicio Del Toro, Don Cheadle, David Harbour, and Julia Fox. If you like a good caper, don't sleep on this one.
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.
