DT’s weekly entertainment show, Between the Streams, is your guide to all of the hottest, most important, and (of course) dumbest new developments in streaming and entertainment, providing a handy recap of the week that was and a preview for what’s ahead. Follow us here at 2 p.m. PT every Friday, or add us via RSS, iTunes, or Stitcher at the links below to take BtS on the road!
We’ve got a lot to talk about this week, including some cool new movies to see, the approaching holidays, and our carefully curated list of all the best stuff you can stream this weekend to get you in ye olde Christmas spirit. But first, we’ve unfortunately got to address this odd and seemingly illogical online backlash against The Last Jedi, which, full disclosure, we adored. The vast majority of critics loved the film too, and as the $500 million the film has already made at the box office (before even opening in China) would suggest, audiences are flocking to see it.
So what’s the problem? For one thing, the loudest voices are naturally getting the most attention, and there’s plenty of Star Wars nerds kicking up all sorts of dust about their issues with the film online. Now, this is to be expected for any Star Wars venture, but what’s even stranger for some is that “audience scores” for the film on sites like Rotten Tomatoes and IMDB are ridiculously low and completely out of sync with the critics scores. We’ll talk about how those scores are total BS and also take a spoiler-free look at the supposed issues with the film, and, as this author’s spoiler-filled Last Jedi op-ed spells out, why we are completely confident that it is a fun and thrilling addition to the Star Wars canon.
But it’s not all Star Wars today, of course. There are actually other things happening in the galaxy not so far away, including the new Jumanji movie starring The Rock and a star-studded crew of cohorts, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. According to our reviewer Rick Marshall, the film is not terrible — in fact, he liked it. We actually had to chuckle in spite of ourselves when we saw the trailer, so it’s nice to know that there’s no bait and switch going on here. While this film isn’t going to change any lives or win any major awards, it’s apparently a fun romp filled with plenty of laughs and some decent action. Honestly, we couldn’t have asked for more, and neither should anyone else.
Also this week, we’ll talk about the highly anticipated release of the Matt Damon sci-fi film Downsizing, Dark season 2 on Netflix, The Office revival, Ocean’s 8, and much more.
So tune in and hit us up live at 2 p.m. PT today, or take us along for the ride with our podcast version by following the links at the top of this story.
Some of the best shots in Grok Imagine’s AI-made Odyssey don’t contain actors. Ancient landscapes stretch into the distance. Close-ups of grimy hands suggest people who have touched something rougher than a keyboard. For a few seconds, the illusion holds.
https://twitter.com/imagine/status/2113712964419063911
YouTube videos could soon look better without eating quite so much data, right? Thankfully, the platform plans to introduce a new video format called AV2 on its web player in early 2027, promising more efficient streaming and potentially fewer playback hiccups on slower internet connections. The big headline is a roughly 30% improvement in compression efficiency over AV1, YouTube's existing video format. That doesn't guarantee every video will use 30% less data, but it could make streaming a little easier on both internet connections and data allowances.
What is AV2, and why should viewers care?
YouTube is changing how its Home page works, giving viewers more control over what shows up there and making some of the app’s most-used sections easier to reach. Custom Feeds are now replacing the existing topic chips for eligible users, while YouTube is also testing a redesigned top bar on mobile that moves Subscriptions closer to the Home feed.
YouTube first started experimenting with Custom Feeds earlier this year, letting you type out what you wanted to watch and turning that request into its own stream of recommendations. Now, the feature is starting to look less like a side experiment and more like something YouTube actually wants people to use as part of their everyday Home page.