Author: Press Room

Independent film fans unite! One of the better movie theater-going experiences one can have is heading to an indie film house and seeing a movie not many people are going to see at the same time as you. You go to an independent film to be impressed with the story and the acting rather than the overall spectacle of going to a film. Independent films are not always the easiest to track down, unless you make trips to an independent movie theater or attend a film festival. Ever since streaming services became a bigger part of the culture, the reach…

I’ve hit my breaking point with Spotify. Between the relentless price hikes and its annoying AI-generated music, I couldn’t justify the monthly bill anymore. So I went hunting for alternatives. Not the usual suspects like Apple Music or YouTube Music, which would just swap one subscription for another, but free options that wouldn’t nickel-and-dime me into submission. In the process, I discovered an ecosystem of open-source music streaming apps, all of which are YouTube Music clients that deliver ad-free streaming without subscriptions, logins, or guilt trips about premium features. Each one has a distinct personality and a reason you might…

The Sopranos. Sex and the City. The Wire. Veep. Game of Thrones. For decades, HBO was the place people went to see what was on the cutting edge of TV. The shows were deeper, denser, and bolder than anything else around. HBO still has a reputation for quality, but a new challenger is on the verge of stealing its prestige TV crown: Apple TV+. As HBO has embraced trends and therefore become a little more ordinary, Apple has reached into its cavernous war chest and spent money on challenging, original programming. We’re watching it turn into the creative powerhouse that…

Once upon a time, the only streaming app people really had to think about was Netflix, which is still the one most worth your money. Nowadays, every studio with even a shallow library has its own app, and it’s becoming hard to keep up. And not all streaming apps are created equal. Netflix has had the most time to figure things out, so you can usually count on it to at least work when you load it up. Others are busted to the point where it feels like the studios should pay you to watch them. One streaming app in…

When you’re looking into subscribing to a new streaming platform, you are likely to pay attention to the big-ticket movies and TV series. Those are probably why you’re interested in the service in the first place. Whether it’s Stranger Things for Netflix or Reacher for Prime Video, people flock to streaming services to watch the latest seasons of the biggest shows and releases of the newest movies. But the reason you might stay subscribed to a streaming service is for all the hidden gems that it offers. These can be shows and movies that you hadn’t heard of until you…

Ah, large language models. The latest miracle of humankind and the latest buzzword of the industry. Society can’t decide what to think of them. Some treat them as tools, some confide in them like old friends, and some have already built full-blown religions around them. What a mess. Regardless of the use case, one thing I’ll always enjoy is getting large language models like ChatGPT to break. And despite their supposed virtual omniscience, there’s still plenty that can shatter them. I mean, it’s a language model fed on the entire internet. What did you expect? I’ve talked before about prompts…

I really love the idea of a piece of media that takes place over different generations, whether it’s a family or just a group of people and their offspring. Often times, we don’t get to see the long-term repercussions of events that unfold in a narrative. While that can be fine for a lot of media, especially movies that have limited time in which to tell a story, there’s something fun about seeing a fictional world change over time. Personally, I think this allows a writer or writers to really expand their creativity or come up with interesting themes that…

When it rains trailers, it pours trailers. This week, studios from far and wide decided to drop an avalanche of coming attractions on us. We’ve got trailers for the hotly anticipated new seasons of spectacular sci-fi dramas, long-awaited sequels to beloved classics, and more. We’ve even got a new movie from Taylor Swift, who is essentially an industry unto herself. To make sure you don’t miss anything, we’ve gathered all the hottest trailers into one place—this is what you’ll be watching in the next couple of months. The End of an Era It’s Taylor’s world, we’re just living in it…

Black Mirror is one of the premier sci-fi series on TV, and has been for a long time. Each episode tells a standalone story about technology, which has changed a lot in the 14 years since the show first premiered on Netflix in 2011; Black Mirror never lacks for new material. That said, as many great episodes of Black Mirror as there are, mileage can vary. For every “San Junipero,” there’s a “Waldo Moment.” For every “USS Callister,” there’s a “Mazey Day.” But Black Mirror isn’t the only place you can get your fix for smart, edgy sci-fi. Devs What…

I will admit that I’m something of a sports nerd, especially when it comes to my home state’s teams (it’s so nice to have a good Detroit Lions team after so many years of suffering). So, naturally, I’m also a fan of sports movies, especially the ones that try and do something unique with the concept rather than just following the conventional clichés of the genre. But that’s just my own tastes, which aren’t exactly universal. Sometimes I like to recommend sports films to my friends who aren’t exactly fans of any particular sport (most of my friends, then). This…