Enter Shrinking, the latest from Ted Lasso co-creator and writer Bill Lawrence, Ted Lasso star and writer Brett Goldstein (yes, Roy Kent himself) and How I Met Your Father‘s Jason Segel (not to be confused with Ted Lasso‘s Jason Sudeikis).
Segel stars as a grieving therapist who breaches ethical barriers by confessing his true feelings to his patients, leading to massive life changes for everyone. Star Wars legend Harrison Ford co-stars in a rare TV appearance.
Like Ted Lasso, Shrinking will stream exclusively on Apple TV+ when it premieres on January 27th.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced the full list of nominees for this year’s Academy Awards, and Canada made quite a big appearance.
Notably, two of the ten Best Picture nominees were directed by Canadians: Avatar: The Way of Water (Kapuskasing, Ontario’s James Cameron) and Women Talking (Toronto’s Sarah Polley). As a producer on The Way of Water, this means Cameron himself is one of the people up for the award, while Polley — who isn’t a producer on Women Talking — scored a nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. It’s also worth noting that Women Talking is based the eponymous 2018 novel by Steinbach, Manitoba’s Miriam Toews.
It should be noted that Avatar: The Way of Water and Women Talking were both released in theatres in December so they’re not yet available to stream at home.
The eight other Best Picture nominees are All Quiet on the Western Front (notably, a Netflix film), The Banshees of Inisherin, Elvis, Everything Everywhere All At Once, The Fabelmans, Tár, Top Gun: Maverick and Triangle of Sadness.
Meanwhile, Pixar’s Turning Red, which was co-written and directed by Toronto’s Domee Shi, is up for Best Animated Feature. Also nominated in that category is The Sea Beast, which was directed by Waterloo, Ontario-raised Chris Williams. Elsewhere in the field of animation, The Flying Sailor from Calgary’s Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis is nominated for Best Animated Short.
Acting-wise, American-Canadian Brendan Fraser snagged a nomination for Best Actor for The Whale. (Fraser was born in the U.S. to Canadian parents and spent some of his formative years in Toronto.)
The full list of this year’s nominees can be found here. The 95th Academy Awards will be held on March 12th, 2023.
The nominees for the 95th annual Academy Awards were announced on Tuesday morning, and Everything Everywhere All At Once led the pack with 11 nominations.
It was a surprisingly strong showing for the critically-acclaimed A24 movie, which some wondered might be too quirky or over-the-top for the Academy. After all, it’s a high-concept genre-bending multiverse action-drama featuring, among other things, Michelle Yeoh with literal hot dogs for fingers.
But here we are. On top of being up for Best Picture, EEAAO nabbed nominations for Best Director (Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert), Best Actress in a Leading Role (Yeoh), Actor in a Supporting Role (Ke Huy Quan) and Actress in a Supporting Role (for both Jamie Lee Curtis and Stephanie Hsu), among other categories.
The movie follows a struggling Chinese-American business owner (Yeoh) who must connect with alternate universe versions of herself to thwart a threat to the entire multiverse.
If you haven’t seen the movie or are just looking to rewatch after its early 2022 theatrical release, you’re in luck. The movie is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video in Canada. You can also rent or purchase it on premium video on demand (PVOD) platforms like iTunes and Google Play (starting at $6.99 CAD).
The full list of 2023 Oscar nominees can be found here. This year’s ceremony will be held on March 12th.
Every week, MobileSyrup outlines some of the most notable movies and TV shows that recently hit Canadian streaming platforms.
Our ‘Streaming in Canada’ column typically focuses on new content from Amazon Prime Video, Crave and Netflix, but other services like Apple TV+ and Disney+ are mentioned when relevant. Premium video on demand (PVOD) platforms are also fair game as movies continue to come to digital early.
Finally, we’ll highlight shows or movies that are made by Canadian companies, involve notable Canadian cast or crew and/or are filmed in Canada.
Amazon Prime Video
The Legend of Vox Machina
Amazon Prime Video Canada premiere date: January 20th, 2023 (first three episodes, three new episodes every Friday) Genre: Animated fantasy Runtime: 12 episodes (around 30 minutes each)
Vox Machina must stop the Chroma Conclave from spreading its evil across Tal’Dorei.
The Legend of Vox Machina is based on the popular Dungeons & Dragons webseries Critical Role and features Matthew Mercer, Ashley Johnson, Travis Willingham, Laura Bailey, Liam O’Brien, Taliesin Jaffe, Marisha Ray and Sam Riegel reprising their respective roles.
An Amazon Prime Video subscription is included at no additional cost with an Amazon Prime membership, which is priced at $99/year.
The full list of movies and shows hitting Amazon Prime Video Canada this month can be found here.
Apple TV+
Truth Be Told (Season 3) [Apple Original]
Apple TV+ Canada: January 20th, 2023 (first episode, new episodes every Friday) Genre: Drama Runtime: 10 episodes (around one hour each)
Poppy’s latest case involves the disappearance of several young Black girls and the lack of mainstream media attention each case has received.
Based on Kathleen Barber’s 2017 novel Are You Sleeping, Truth Be Told was created by Nichelle Tramble Spellman (The Good Wife) and stars Octavia Spencer (The Help), Gabrielle Union (She’s All That) and Mekhi Phifer (ER).
Vancouver’s Jason Priestley (90210) examines the legacy of Harold Ballard, the controversial former owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
CBC Gem release date: January 22nd, 2023 at 8pm ET Genre: Documentary Runtime: 1 hour, 28 minutes
Stream Offside: The Harold Ballard Story here. CBC Gem offers free streaming with ads or an ad-free experience for $5.99/month.
Crave
Ambulance
Original theatrical release date: April 8th, 2022
Crave release date: January 20th, 2023 Genre: Action thriller Runtime: 2 hours, 16 minutes
After a heist goes wrong, two adoptive siblings turned bankrobbers hijack an ambulance and take two first responders hostage.
Ambulance was directed by Michael Bay (Transformers franchise) and stars Jake Gyllenhaal (Brokeback Mountain), Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Eiza Gonzalez (Baby Driver).
Directors Dan Gellar and Dayna Goldfine (Ballets Russes) take a look at the life and career of famed Montreal-born singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen (“Hallelujah”).
Crave release date: January 16th, 2023 Genre: Music documentary Runtime: 1 hour, 57 minutes
Stream Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen: A Journey, A Song here.
Oldboy
After receiving rave reviews last year for Decision to Leave, Park Chan-wook’s iconic 2003 South Korean film is hitting Crave. (The movie wasn’t on any Canadian streaming service until it landed on PVOD platforms late last year).
Choi Min-sik (I Saw The Devil) stars as a man who’s released from captivity after 15 years and becomes tangled in a web of conspiracy upon seeking his revenge.
A standard Crave subscription is priced at $19.99/month, with Starz costing an additional $5.99/month. A mobile-only subscription is also available for $9.99/month.
The full list of movies and shows hitting Crave this month can be found here.
Netflix
That ’90s Show [Netflix Original]
Netflix Canada release date: January 19th, 2023 Genre: Sitcom Runtime: 10 episodes (22 to 29 minutes each)
Fifteen years after the event of That ’70s Show, Red and Kitty Forman (Kurtwood Smith and Debra Jo Rupp) spend the summer with their granddaughter, Leia (Callie Haverda).
That ’90s Show was created by Bonnie and Terry Turner (That ’70s Show), their daughter Lindsey and Greg Mettler (That ’70s Show) and also features the return of Topher Grace (Eric), Laura Prepon (Donna), Ashton Kutcher (Kelso), Mila Kunis (Jackie), Wilmer Valderrama (Fez) and Tommy Chong (Leo the hippie). Danny Masterson (Hyde) is currently facing rape charges and is not back for That ’90s Show.
Netflix came in well above Wall Street’s expectations for subscriber growth during the fourth quarter of 2022.
In its latest earnings release, the company confirmed that it added 7.66 million paid subscribers between October and December, well above the 4.57 million analysts expected. The company now reports 231 million paid memberships.
At the start of November, Netflix introduced a low-cost ad-supported membership, although it’s unclear how much that drove growth. Meanwhile, revenue came in exactly as Wall Street expected: $7.85 billion USD (about $10.56 billion CAD).
In terms of major Q4 releases, Netflix pointed to strong performance from the likes of Wednesday (its third most popular English series ever), Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (its fourth most popular film) and Harry & Meghan (second most popular docuseries).
Additionally, Netflix has confirmed that Reed Hastings has stepped down from his role of co-CEO. The Netflix co-founded had been CEO for more than 20 years and became co-CEO in 2020 with chief content officer Ted Sarandos. Now, Sarandos and former COO Greg Peters will share CEO duties.
Going forward, Hastings will serve as executive chairman, a role he notes that founders like Microsoft’s Bill Gates and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos have taken in later years.
Netflix’s solid Q4 performance comes after a rough 2022 in which the streamer reported multiple quarterly losses and cancelled a slew of shows. To help recoup costs, the streamer launched the aforementioned ‘Basic with Ads’ membership and announced a password sharing paywall, which is expected to come early this year. Netflix did not provide any further details on these plans as part of its Q4 2022 release.
The highly anticipated third season of Ted Lasso will officially premiere on Apple TV+ this spring.
Apple confirmed the news during a Television Critics Association event on Wednesday. Along with the release window, Apple also shared the first image from the new season, featuring Jason Sudeikis’ titular coach and Nick Mohammed as Nate Shelley.
The second season of Ted Lasso ran from July to October 2021, making the wait for the third season a bit longer than expected. Last year, it was reported that production on the season had been delayed due to a variety of rewrites and other behind-the-scenes changes led by Sudeikis.
The leading man, who also serves as producer and writer on the comedy series, has previously suggested that the third season will be its last. Brett Goldstein, who stars as Roy Kent and also writes for the show, has also said the crew has been approaching this latest season as the final one. Apple, however, has not yet commented on the future of Ted Lasso.
While we don’t yet know exactly when in the spring Ted Lasso Season 3 will land, Apple does have another show coming up before then from some of the same talent. Premiering on January 27th is Shrinking, a new comedy series Goldstein, Ted Lasso co-creator Bill Lawrence and How I Met Your Mother‘s Jason Segel. The series stars Segel and Harrison Ford (in a rare TV role).
Netflix has released a new sizzle reel containing first looks at a variety of its big 2023 original movies.
Some of the most notable titles include the Adam Sandler-Jennifer Aniston comedy Murder Mystery 2 (March 31st), the Chris Hemsworth-led action flick Extraction 2 (June 16th), the David Fincher thriller The Killer (November 10th) and Zack Snyder’s sci-fi epic Rebel Moon (December 22nd).
Disney has revealed the full list of movies and shows that are hitting Disney+ Canada in February 2023.
Highlights this month include the streaming premiere of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and the second seasons of The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder and Dollface. Note: Star content is typically adult-oriented fare and may be unsuitable for some audiences, so we’ve marked all of that accordingly. Parental controls are available for this content.
See below for the full list:
February 1st
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
The Chorus: Success, Here I Go (O Coro: Sucesso, Aqui Vou Eu) (Season 1, all episodes available)
The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder (Season 2)
February 3rd
Norman Lear: 100 Years of Music and Laughter [Star]
Soul of a Nation Presents: Mi Gente: Groundbreakers and Changemakers
February 8th
Alone (Season 6, all episodes available) [Star]
American Pickers: Best of Season 3 and 4 (all episodes available) [Star]
American Pickers (Seasons 21-23, all episodes available) [Star]
Arranged (Season 1, all episodes available) [Star]
Atlanta Plastic (Season 1, all episodes available) [Star]
Broke-Ass Bride (Season 1, all episodes available) [Star]
Dance Moms: Miami (Season 1, all episodes available) [Star]
Dance Moms (Season 7, all episodes available) [Star]
Empire of Light [Star]
The First 48 (Seasons 17-18, all episodes available) [Star]
Forged in Fire (Seasons 2-3, all episodes available) [Star]
Ice Road Truckers (Season 11, all episodes available) [Star]
Intervention (Seasons 19, 21-22, all episodes available) [Star]
Kindred [Star]
Love at First Flight (Season 1, all episodes available) [Star]
Me and Mickey (Season 1, all episodes available) (Shorts)
Miraculous Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir (Seasons 1-3)
Santo Maldito (Season 1, all episodes available) [Star]
Storage Wars (Season 2 and 14, all episodes available) [Star]
Storage Wars: Unlocked (Season 1, all episodes available) [Star]
February 10th
Crocodiles Revealed
Dug Days: Carl’s Date
Marvel Studios Legends (Season 2 premiere)
Winnie the Pooh: A Valentine For You
February 15th
Dollface (Season 2, all episodes) [Star]
The Hair Tales (Season 1, all episodes) [Star]
Mila in the Multiverse (Mila No Multiverso) (Season 1, all episodes available)
Prime Time (Horario Estelar) (Season 1, all episodes available) [Star]
Wu-Tang: An American Saga (Season 3 premiere) [Star]
February 22nd
The Low Tone Club (El Club De Los Graves) (all episodes available)
Trafficked with Mariana Van Zeller (Season 3, all episodes available)
PlayStation has released a demo for The Last of Us Part Ito coincide with the premiere of HBO’s live-action adaptation of the game.
Now, PlayStation Plus Premium members can now download a two-hour trial of The Last of Us Part I, a remake of the original PS3 game, as part of their subscription. PlayStation Plus Premium starts at $21.99 CAD/month, while The Last of Us Part I costs $89.99.
HBO’s The Last of Us premiered on Sunday, January 15th, with the series streaming exclusively on Crave in Canada. It’s a direct adaptation of the first The Last of Us game and its Left Behind expansion — both of which are included in Part I. Neil Druckmann, the writer and co-director of the original PS3 game, serves as showrunner alongside Chernobyl‘s Craig Mazin.
In The Last of Us, a weary smuggler named Joel is hired to smuggle 14-year-old Ellie across a zombie-infested America, facing all kinds of horrors along the way. The series stars Pedro Pascal (The Mandalorian) and Bella Ramsey (Game of Thrones) as Joel and Ellie, respectively. New episodes of the series premiere on Crave every Sunday at 9pm ET.
For more on The Last of Us, read our reviews of both the remake and the TV show and check out our interview with Druckmann, Mazin, Pascal and Ramsey. It’s also worth noting that the series was filmed in Alberta in what’s believed to be the biggest TV production in Canadian history.
HBO’s The Last of Us hits Crave tonight, Sunday, the 15th, at 9pm ET.
The show is based on the 2013 PlayStation video game of the same name. At the time of writing, I haven’t seen any episodes yet, but I will be watching it tonight. So this week’s question is: will you watch the first episode of The Last of Us?
If you want to learn more, then here are some things to read before watching the series.
