The first top 10 list of 2021

When should publications start releasing their Top 10 of the year lists? Back in the day you would find magazines and other publications which had very structured release times publishing lists near the start of December for practical reasons. But it seems that even with the advantages of digital, websites seem to go earlier still with their lists. Never mind that some of the biggest titles of the year haven't been released yet. Nor have all of the advance screeners for critics.

Ben Travers at Indiewire is the first I've seen to go live with a top 10 list. Predictably, The Underground Railroad lands in the top spot. And predictably for Indiewire, Tuca and Bertie (inexplicably) also makes the list.

Just a thought I'm throwing out into the world: No serious movie website, Indiewire or otherwise, would release a top 10 film list that only included North American movies without any foreign consideration. So how is that acceptable in 2021 with so much access to TV from across the globe?

FYI, Always Be Watching will publish its top 10 list at a sensible mid December date.

TeeVee Snacks

The Indiana Jones films are now available in 4K on Paramount+ in the US. I'm not sure if Paramount+ supports 4K outside of the US. Does anyone know? (I still don't have a 4K TV) Read: HD Report
Art house cinema exhibitors are PISSED that Netflix opted to release only 250 prints of a promised 400 to Italian cinemas screening the upcoming Netflix film from Paolo Sorrentino's film Hand of God. Read: Variety
Season 2 of La Brea will put characters into "different worlds". Maybe one of them will be a fantasy world of decent dialogue and more interesting characters. Read: Deadline
HBO Max inadvertantly published a censored version of the Birds of Prey movie on platform, upsetting tens of fans of the film. Read: The Verge
Spotify is getting rid of its car view feature. Read: The Verge
Want to read a bizarre, head-scratching list of the supposed all-time top 20 episodes of Seinfeld? Variety has you covered. Read: Variety

Interesting ad format

Thanks to the Black Friday sales, a year-long Hulu subscription was activated in my household. I haven't checked out Hulu for at least a year, so this may just be a standard ad format that has been around for a while, but I was particularly taken with this Chevy ad that has an interactive element that enables viewers to send more information to their phones. It is especially clever being able to click a button and get an email sent to the account used to log into Hulu with.

I hear local Australian TV networks promoting their ad-tech, but I've never seen an ad as effectively interactive as this on local services like 9Now, 10 Play, SBS On Demand, or 7Plus.

RIP former Password contestant Stephen Sondheim

Stephen Sondheim may have had a career behind the scenes in showbiz, but he will forever be remembered as a contestant on a 1966 episode of CBS game show Password.