The two streaming giants, Netflix and Amazon, were both busy for a second straight year at the Sundance Film Festival ending this weekend, and both took some of the most talked-about titles at the fest.

Following its $10 million buy of current Oscar best picture nominee “Manchester by the Sea” last year, Amazon has come back to Park City with a bigger wallet. The company bought the comedy “The Big Sick” for $12 million, the biggest buy of this year's fest. Meanwhile, Netflix has taken some of the most coveted documentaries at the fest, like “Chasing Coral” and “Icarus.”

Though a few of the traditional distributors have also grabbed some big fish from the fest, filmmakers are clearly gravitating to Netflix and Amazon.

Here’s a breakdown of all the Sundance movies Netflix and Amazon bought that will be showing on their services later this year (plus a few of the standout buys from other distributors):

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“Berlin Syndrome” — Netflix (“Low-to-mid seven figures” buy)

This thriller about an Australian photographer who finds herself unable to leave the apartment of her romantic encounter will be getting a North American theatrical release through Vertical Entertainment before it goes to streaming on Netflix.

Source

“The Big Sick” — Amazon ($12 million buy)

Produced by Judd Apatow and starring “Silicon Valley” cast member Kumail Nanjiani (who cowrote the script), this comedy about a couple dealing with their cultural differences is one of the biggest hits at this year’s festival. Amazon will handle a theatrical release of the film before streaming it later this year.

Source

“Casting JonBenet” — Netflix

Netflix nabbed the worldwide rights to the film before Sundance started. This unique look at the murder of JonBenet Ramsey will be available to stream in the spring.

Source

Netflix has said repeatedly that investing in new original shows and movies spurs subscriber growth, which is the main reason the company has swung increasingly in that direction over the past few years.

But the exact relationship between the release of a new show, and signing up a new subscriber, hasn't always been clear.

On Netflix's last quarterly earnings call, UBS analyst Doug Mitchelson asked Netflix's top executives to lay that relationship out in a bit more detail. 

"Is it tangible title by title?" Mitchelson asked. "Are you making just an overall estimate based on spending or number [of shows] released?"

Here's how Netflix CEO Reed Hastings responded:

"Think of it as, it is a cumulative effect. Very few people will join Netflix just because of a single title, but there is a tipping point. You have one more title that has great excitement, that you are hearing a lot about, and that triggers you to finally sign up for Netflix. So it is a cumulative effect of all of these ... the basic demand creation is increasing as people get more comfortable and more aware of the idea of internet television. Where you do not get the commercial interruptions, where you just get to watch when and where you want. So those are the big drivers. And then the things that capture the demand are really these big launches that we are doing of particular title franchises."

So Netflix gets subscribers a bit like one of Ernest Hemingway's characters famously goes bankrupt: "Two ways ... Gradually and then suddenly."

Netflix CFO David Wells added that the company has found returning shows do a better job of boosting subscriber growth than brand-new ones.

"If they are brand new shows ... if they are having to punch into the consciousness of the consumer, they do not tend to draw new subscribers in as great of numbers as some of our existing shows," Wells said.

Netflix had a huge beat on its Q4 subscriber growth numbers, both in the US and internationally, trouncing both Wall Street expectations and its own guidance.

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Netflix has no shortage of content. Going through its growing original material along with other shows and movies, you could binge endlessly and never crack the surface.

It's become harder on the movie front, as Netflix boosts its TV side, but you can put a good dent in some classic films if you have the right guide.

That's why we're here.

We have searched through all of the latest titles on the streaming giant so you don’t have to, and we've put together the 100 movies streaming on Netflix right now that you have to watch in your lifetime.

Note: Numerous Netflix titles drop off the streaming service monthly so the availability of titles below may change.

SEE ALSO: 20 modern classic TV shows everyone needs to watch in their lifetime

1. "10 Things I Hate About You" (1999)

Heath Ledger and Julia Styles have an incredible love/hate vibe that fuels the movie. And a baby-faced Joseph Gordon-Levitt looking for love is great, too.

2. "13th" (2016)

This Netflix original documentary from director Ava DuVernay ("Selma") explores the history of racial inequality in the US, particularly the key moments that have led to a disproportionate prison population in the country (one out of four people in prison around the world, and many of them African-American).

3. "Adventureland" (2009)

Director Greg Mottola takes us back to that feeling of our first summer job. Where the experience prepares you for the real world. But really all that happens is hitting on your coworkers.  

The INSIDER Summary:

• "Stranger Things" won a SAG award for Outstanding Performance in an Ensemble in a Drama Series.
• David Harbour (Chief Hopper) gave a rousing speech on behalf of the cast.
• He spoke about their dedication to sheltering "freaks and outcasts — those who have no hope."
• Though Harbour never mentioned President Trump, the speech was clearly directed at the current political climate. 

The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards took place Sunday, January 29, and among the big winners of the evening was the entire cast of Netflix's summer hit "Stranger Things." The cast won the award for Outstanding Performance in an Ensemble in a Drama Series, and it was clear by their joyous reactions that they couldn't be happier. 

David Harbour — who plays Chief Hopper in the show — wound up in front of the mic and spoke on behalf of his "Stranger Things" family. Based on their reactions (especially Winona Ryder's confounded expressions) nobody was expecting Harbour to burst into a prepared tirade about inclusion and the actors' responsibility to help cultivate a better world. 

After thanking the "Stranger Things" creators and their casting director Carmen Cuba, Harbour switched the subject and started a run-on sentence that blew everyone away:

I would just like to say that in light of everything that's going on in the world today, it's difficult to celebrate the already celebrated "Stranger Things," but this award from you who take your craft seriously and earnestly believe, like me, that great acting can change the world, is a call to arms from our fellow craftsmen and women to go deeper, and through our art to battle against fear, self-centeredness, and exclusivity of our predominately narcissistic culture, and through our craft to cultivate a more empathetic and understanding society by revealing intimate truths that serve as a forceful reminder to folks that when they feel broken and afraid and tired, they are not alone.

Harbour continued as the crowd began cheering and fellow cast mate Finn Wolfhard (Mike) jumped up and down next to him:

We are united in that we are all human beings and we are all together on this horrible, painful, joyous, exciting, and mysterious ride that is being alive. Now, as we act in the continuing narrative of "Stranger Things," we 1983 midwesterners will repel bullies. We will shelter freaks and outcasts — those who have no hope. We will get past the lies. We will hunt monsters.

The next section of Harbour's speech seemed to point at the recent viral video showing Richard Spencer — a prominent white supremacist — getting punched in the face while he was doing a TV interview. Reactions to the attack were mixed, and recent headlines covering the event ask "is it okay to punch a Nazi?"

"When we are at a loss amidst the hypocrisy and casual violence of certain individuals and institutions, we will, as per Chief Jim Hopper, punch some people in the face when they seek to destroy the meek and the disenfranchised and the marginalized," Harbour said. "And we will do it all with soul, with heart, and with joy. We thank you for this responsibility."

The audience of actors and SAG members were on their feet, cheering on Harbour and his psyched "Stranger Things" family.

After leaving the stage, the rest of the "Stranger Things" cast took to Twitter to show their support of Harbour's message. 

Noah Schnapp (Will Byers) called it the "best speech of the night."

And Shannon Purser (Barb) called Harbour "the best leading man we could have hoped for."

Caleb McLaughlin (Lucas) said the speech made him feel "unstoppable."

Harbour later posted a selfie of himself with the SAG award, saying: "My fellow artists. There is no greater honor than to be counted among you in the fight to bring us together. And the Winona memes are epic."

Winona Ryder's facial expressions throughout Harbour's speech were some of people's favorite part. Dave Itzkoff, culture writer for the New York Times, captured four of her best faces in a tweet:

But Winona memes aside, Harbour's speech was memorable for its strong message of inclusion and standing up for the marginalized people around us. 

Watch the full speech below:

SEE ALSO: 100 movies on Netflix that everyone needs to watch in their lifetime

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NOW WATCH: Watch President Obama tear up while addressing Michelle in his farewell speech

The INSIDER Summary:

• On January 29, "Stranger Things" won a SAG award and David Harbour (Chief Hopper) gave a fiery speech on behalf of the cast.
• As he spoke, Winona Ryder stood next to him and reacted with a huge range of confused facial expressions.
• Her erratic response quickly became the best meme of the 2017 SAG Awards.

The 2017 SAG Awards were filled with political acceptance speeches and memorable red carpet looks, but actress Winona Ryder stole the show when she made a series of very GIF-able facial expressions when "Stranger Things" won the award for outstanding performance in an ensemble in a drama series, David Harbour (Chief Jim Hopper) gave a rousing speech about standing up to bullies. 

As Harbour began speaking, and his message became increasingly passionate and slightly political, Ryder seemed both taken aback and enthused. 

Here's just a taste of her response to his words:

As GIFs and screenshots of Ryder began popping up on Twitter, it was clear that Ryder was the most entertaining part of the show.

Some people believed Ryder's expressions were a perfect summation of 2017 so far.

Emily Nussbaum, TV critic for the New Yorker, expressed a desire to see Ryder's real-time reactions to President Trump.

While others wanted to make sure she was doing all right up there.

Many people simply wanted a dose of whatever Ryder might be taking.

Actresses Melanie Lynskey and Sarah Hyland gave Ryder props on Twitter, while others were in awe of her extreme range of emotions.

We're also hoping for a Winona Ryder emoji keyboard.

The man who started it all — David Harbour — tweeted a selfie later in the night and said "the Winona memes are epic."

Watch the full video of Harbour's speech (and Ryder's reactions) below:

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NOW WATCH: Watch President Obama tear up while addressing Michelle in his farewell speech

The INSIDER Summary

• New episodes of "Making a Murderer" are coming this year to Netflix.
• The streaming service has no set premiere date yet.
• Netflix's VP of original content Cindy Holland says the series's filmmakers are shooting regularly right now.
• Very few people at Netflix "know the details of what we're getting."

It's been just over a year since Making A Murderer first lit the internet ablaze, and fans have been begging for a second season for roughly the same amount of time.

Netflix announced new episodes were on the way back in July, but details have been few and far between about when they may arrive. Now, the streaming giant has confirmed Making A Murderer will be back in 2017, but with one caveat: they're not sure when.

"The story is still ongoing, so you will see new episodes coming sometime this year as this story continues to unfold,” Netflix's VP of original content, Cindy Holland, told USA TODAY in a recent interview. “We don’t know when for sure new episodes will be coming."

Why the hold up? Well, filmmakers Lauren Ricciardi and Moira Demos spent a decade making the first round, so they're not in any rush to speed through such a complex story.

"Laura and Moira are [in Manitowoc] shooting regularly and working on what the right story is to tell in the next set, so we’re deferring to them on when it will be ready,” Holland continued to USA. “Very few people inside of Netflix actually know the details of what we’re getting, because we’re wanting to keep it really under wraps, and it is an ongoing case so we’re trying to be sensitive to that.”

Viewers will recall that the docu-series took an in-depth look at America's criminal justice system, following the case of Steven Avery and his nephew, Brendan Dassey, both of whom are serving time in prison for the 2005 murder of photographer Teresa Halbach.

The series made the case that Avery was wrongfully convicted by the Manitowoc County police department and that Dassey was coerced into confessing; the Manitowoc County police department has adamantly denied such claims. Avery obtained a new defense team, and a federal judge in Milwaukee overturned Dassey's conviction last August. However, a federal appeals court blocked Dassey's release in November, according to CNN. Both men remain in prison.

According to a Netflix press release from July, the second batch of episodes will focus on those new developments, including "exclusive access to Avery's new lawyer Kathleen Zellner and Dassey's legal team." It will also broadcast "intimate access to the families and characters close to the case."

Such details are understandably hard to sift through, especially as the case continues to unfold. However long the wait, it will be worth it to get the story right.

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NOW WATCH: A Nobel Prize-winning biologist reveals how to slow down the effects of aging

On Saturday, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings wrote on Facebook that President Trump's actions were "hurting Netflix employees around the world, and are so un-American it pains us all."

It was a strong statement, especially compared to many other tech CEOs who came out against Trump's immigration ban, but were more measured in the wording of their criticisms.

Here's the rest of Hastings' statement:

"Worse, these actions will make America less safe (through hatred and loss of allies) rather than more safe. A very sad week, and more to come with the lives of over 600,000 Dreamers here in a America under imminent threat. It is time to link arms together to protect American values of freedom and opportunity."

This isn't the first time Hastings has lambasted Trump.

In June, during the campaign, Hastings said that "Trump would destroy much of what is great about America," if he were elected president.

Again, strong words, strong enough to potentially provoke Trump's wrath.

For the CEO of a public company, it can sometimes be hard to reconcile a moral position with a duty to shareholders, but one reason Hastings likely feels free to speak his mind about Trump is that Netflix, as a company, thinks it's immune to the Trump administration on one very important issue: net neutrality.

Too big to matter

Net neutrality is the idea of having a free and open internet, in which no website's data is favored over another's. Practically, this means that internet service providers (ISPs) can't charge a site like Netflix a fee to make sure its data runs at a speed that makes streaming video possible.

Under the new Trump administration, the FCC is widely expected to roll back net neutrality laws. At one time, this would have been seen as a huge blow for Netflix, since it could open the company up to paying big fees.

That's still possible, but in Netflix's last quarterly earnings letter, it told shareholders not to worry. 

“Weakening of US net neutrality laws, should that occur, is unlikely to materially affect our domestic margins or service quality because we are now popular enough with consumers to keep our relationships with ISPs stable,” Netflix wrote.

Netflix's position is that it is simply too popular, and too large, to be hurt by a weakening of net neutrality rules. That type of change could actually favor the established players in the market, and Netflix now considers itself one of them. It would make it harder for upstart streaming services, which compete with Netflix, to get off the ground.

Still, Netflix is against such a policy change, precisely because the company thinks it is anti-competitive. (It could also hurt Netflix's margins.)

“On a public policy basis, however, strong net neutrality is important to support innovation and smaller firms,” Netflix wrote. “No one wants ISPs to decide what new and potentially disruptive services can operate over their networks, or to favor one service over another. We hope the new US administration and Congress will recognize that keeping the network neutral drives job growth and innovation.”

If Netflix felt more vulnerable to a change in FCC policy regarding net neutrality, Hastings' strong opposition to Trump might be a trickier business proposition for shareholders. But since Netflix's public position is that such a change won't affect its business, Hastings likely feels that staying cordial to Trump isn't vital for Netflix's future.

That means he has more latitude to speak from the heart.

The FCC once could have been used as a big stick against Netflix, but it's too late now, and Netflix is too dominant.

Additional reporting by Jeff Dunn. 

SEE ALSO: How to turn a viral video hit into 250-person business, from someone who did it

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NOW WATCH: Here’s how the top Silicon Valley companies are responding to Trump’s immigration ban

With Netflix bulking up on its collection of documentaries, it may be hard to figure which ones to watch.

In addition to various documentaries on everything from health care to the drug trade, the streaming service has a small but worthy set of titles centered on the global financial system and its tumultuous history.

Here are five of the best money-themed documentaries currently available to watch on Netflix.

SEE ALSO: Americans spend most of their money on only 3 things

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1. 'The True Cost'

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This 2015 documentary film by director Andrew Morgan exposes the harsh reality of the clothing industry’s unsustainable business practices. Speaking with current and former employees, this documentary lifts the curtains on the systemic poor treatment of underpaid workers who make the clothes we wear.

The True Cost has earned critical acclaim for spurring public debate and currently holds a 63% fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes.

2. 'Money for Nothing: Inside the Federal Reserve'

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Written and directed by Jim Bruce, this 2013 indie documentary traces 100 years of the Federal Reserve’s history and follows its repercussions on the US economy, leading up to the late-2000s financial crisis.

Narrated by Liev Schreiber, the film uses extensive interviews with federal officials, economists, historians, investors and traders to pose questions about the global financial system and how it landed on the brink of collapse, as well as whether it may end up there again.

3. 'Hank: Five Years From the Brink'

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The 2013 documentary chronicles how the former Goldman Sachs CEO and Secretary of the Treasury, Hank Paulson, persuaded banks, Congress, and presidential candidates to sign off on a nearly $1 trillion rescue package for the U.S. financial system during the economic crisis in 2008.

Directed by Academy Award nominee Joe Berlinger (Paradise Lost Trilogy, Some Kind of Monster), the film features both Paulson and his wife Wendy, presenting a compelling portrait what it’s like to balance leadership and a marriage under inconceivable pressure.

Warning: Spoilers ahead for "The OA" season one.

The first season of "The OA"— Netflix's divisive new sci-fi series — ended on an ambiguous and (depending on which fandom group you're in) frustrating note. The conclusion was enough of a cliffhanger that fans are now dying to know if and when they'll get to see a second season. 

By the end of the finale, we are led to believe that Prairie (a.k.a. the OA) was killed by a school shooter and has now been transported through space and time to her lost love, Homer. 

Or was she? The finale also offered up the possibility that OA had been lying all along, and had told her five new friends a fictional story about her blindness and captivity that she made up using books she purchased off Amazon. OA had taught them all a series of movements which — when performed together in the exact right circumstances — would heal the sick, bring back the dead, or transport OA herself to a different location.

The final scene simply shows OA standing in a brightly lit room with tears running down her face. She looks into the camera, the screen goes black, and we hear her say: "Homer?"

So either the movements worked and she was standing in front of Homer, or she had been taken from the ambulance to a hospital and was now just in a regular room, alone and confused.

We've already unpacked everything you need to know about the finale, so now we're going to look ahead. 

What "The OA" creators have said about season two

"The OA" is a creative collaboration between Brit Marling (who also stars as the title character) and Zal Batmanglij. In various interviews since the premiere of "The OA" season one back in December 2016, the two have spoken about their plans and desires for a second season. 

"We spent a good year and a half upfront, before we even wrote the first chapter, designing the labyrinth and making sure there was something at its center that would feel worthwhile to arrive at," Marling told Entertainment Weekly.

This means they know what would happen in a second season, but Netflix has yet to announce a renewal for the series.

"So there is a there there, but whether or not we'll be able to get there is another question," Marling told EW. "But we always had an intention for where a second season would start and where it would end. It was important to know all those things upfront. So I guess we'll just have to see if we get to tell it."

Marling's cocreator Batmanglij reiterated this sentiment during an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.

"I think this is a story that's carefully planned," Batmanglij said "I don't think any of us have thought about a second season right now because we're exhausted, but yeah, when we started, Brit and I spent two or three years conceiving of a whole world before we brought it to anybody, before it ever left our bedrooms. Things are going on there."

So we know that Marling and Batmanglij are prepared to continuing telling OA's story. They know they left the season finale on a hazy note — one that might frustrate fans who want to know more. Marling told Variety that the ambiguous ending was intentional.

"I think there is something really delicious in the mystery about questioning the storyteller's truth," Marling said. "[...] I think the place it kind of ultimately arrives at is that it maybe doesn't matter as much the details are true, because there's some essential core that she's imparting that smacks of honesty."

Netflix hasn't said anything about a second season

For now, no news is good news for fans of "The OA." Netflix has yet to officially renew the series, or make any comment about discussions for a second season, but fans remain hopeful. After all, the first season of "The OA" was not publicized or marketed very much by Netflix.

As Thrillist's Dan Jackson points out, "the project was initially announced in March of 2015, but most people didn't find out about it until the trailer 'surprise-dropped' a few days before the show was released on December 16th, 2016."

So perhaps the mysterious marketing plan will continue, and we won't know much about a season two until production is under way.

"The OA" received a mixed bag of reviews from viewers and critics alike. While some were enthralled and sold on the entire sci-fi drama, others believe the show took a turn for the worse with its school shooting scene in the finale. 

We'll have to wait and see if the naysayers were enough to keep Netflix from greenlighting a second season. For now, you can stream the entire first season of "The OA" on Netflix.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: A Nobel Prize-winning biologist reveals how to slow down the effects of aging

If you are too lazy to use a remote to navigate Netflix, the company has a cheeky solution: mind control.

Netflix periodically holds "hack days," in which employees have 24 hours to come up with wacky Netflix-centric projects to show off.

The best project to come out of Netflix's most recent "hack day" was MindFlix, a special headband to help you surf Netflix using nothing more than your mind. With MindFlix, you can move you head to the side to scroll, and then think "play" on a particular Netflix title and, the video will begin playing.

Netflix's hackers achieved this magic trick by customizing a brain-reading headband made by Muse, which is usually used for guiding meditation.  To be clear, the headband is not actually reading your thoughts, it's simply sensing brain activity and using the feedback to control certain pre-established actions.

Here's the video put together by the Netflix engineers:

And here are the rest of the hack day projects.

If you liked the idea of MindFlix, you might also like a previous Netflix project: socks that automatically turn your Netflix off when you fall asleep.

SEE ALSO: Netflix has created 'smart' socks that sense when you fall asleep and pause the show you're watching

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NOW WATCH: Trump says he shaved $600M off America’s most expensive weapons system

A group of technology companies plans to meet on Tuesday to discuss filing an amicus brief in support of a lawsuit challenging U.S. President Donald Trump's order restricting immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries, said a spokesperson for a company organizing the gathering.

The meeting is being called together by GitHub, which makes software development tools.

Amicus, or friend of the court, briefs are filed by parties who are not litigants in a case but want to offer arguments or information to the judge.

Google, Airbnb, and Netflix are among the companies invited, a separate person familiar with the situation said.

Representatives for Google and Netflix could not immediately be reached for comment. An Airbnb spokesman declined to comment.

The technology sector has become the clearest corporate opponent to the ban announced last week. The industry depends on talent from around the world, and companies have been considering the best way to muster their resources, with efforts so far including statements condemning the move and financial support for organizations backing immigrants, such as the American Civil Liberties Union.

The Trump administration says the rules will increase national safety and are well within its powers.

Michal Rosenn, general counsel for fundraising company Kickstarter, which will be involved in a filing, said the effort began on Monday.

"We're all very shaken. We're shaken to see our neighbors and our families and our friends targeted in this way," Rosenn said. "All of us are trying to think about what we can do."

The discussions among the tech companies come after Amazon.com and Expedia filed declarations in court on Monday supporting a lawsuit filed by the Washington state attorney general. Amazon and Expedia said Trump's order adversely impacts their business.

A separate lawsuit challenging Trump's order as unconstitutional was filed on Monday by the Council on American-Islamic Relations. If the tech companies decide to file an amicus brief as a group, it is unclear which case they would weigh in on.

Other companies invited to meet include Adobe Systems, AdRoll, Automattic, Box, Cloudera, Cloudflare, Docusign, Dropbox, Etsy, Evernote, Glu Mobile, Lithium, Medium, Mozilla, Pinterest, reddit, Salesforce.com, SpaceX, Stripe, Yelp, and Zynga, the source said.

A representative for internet communications company Twilio confirmed it will be involved in filing an amicus brief.

Cloudflare Chief Executive Matthew Prince said the internet security company is willing to consider and sign an amicus brief. Denelle Dixon, chief legal and business officer for Mozilla, said the immigration order was "misplaced and damaging, to Mozilla, to the technology industry and to the country."

Spokespeople for Box and AdRoll said they would attend the meeting. An Etsy spokeswoman said the company received Github's invite but could not confirm if it would move forward with the group.

Salesforce declined to comment. Representatives for the other companies could not immediately be reached for comment. 

(Additional reporting by Stephen Nellis and Kristina Cooke; Editing by Peter Henderson, Bill Rigby and Richard Borsuk)

SEE ALSO: 'Outraged by this order' — Here's the speech Google cofounder Sergey Brin just gave attacking Trump's immigration ban

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Here’s how the top Silicon Valley companies are responding to Trump’s immigration ban

The INSIDER Summary

•February is going to be a big month for Netflix releases from new original series to our favorite movies of all time.
•New additions to watch this February include American Crime Story: The People V. O.J. Simpson, Superbad, Michael Bolton’s Big Sexy Valentine’s Day Special, Finding Dory, and Santa Clarita Diet.

Look, there’s a lot of things that we at Screen Rant love about life. A nice walk through fresh snow, a cozy dinner with friends or family, curling up in front of the fireplace with a good book. But – let’s be honest – there’s no better moment in a day than sitting in front of your television or laptop and finally seeing that red and black Netflix logo pop up. Anything bad about our day fades away and all we’re left with is the excitement of endless streaming entertainment.

Last month – despite January generally being a horribly depressing month – was full of exciting new Netflix content that literally filled our lives with joy. And we say literally because we’ve been watching a lot of A Series of Unfortunate Events lately and the dialogue has both literally and figuratively caused us to change the way we speak. But since those eight episodes went by too quickly, and we’ve already binged our way through every movie and special that Netflix has released, we can’t wait to get streaming on everything that Netflix has to offer this February.

February is going to be a huge month for Netflix. With new movies and some very flashy series debuting this month, we can’t wait to blow off all of our responsibilities and watch everything we can as soon as it’s all available. As we do every month, we are sorting through the best things coming to Netflix this month and telling you what you need to watch.

15. The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) – Feb 1

Somewhere in the world at any given time an eternal debate rages regarding The Nightmare Before Christmas. Is it a Halloween film? Is it a Christmas film? If this is truly a Tim Burton film, then where in the hell is Johnny Depp? Regardless of your answers to any of the above answers, the fact remains that The Nightmare Before Christmas is a great film that you can never see too many times.

Sure, the film may be best viewed around the holidays (Halloween, Christmas, whatever), but watching it in February doesn’t diminish it in any way. The songs are still as magical as ever, and the animation is pure nostalgic goodness. To throw this film up on Netflix is to get a good dose of childhood cheer, and you could do much worse than starting off the month by watching something that feels like hot chicken soup thawing your winter-ravaged veins.

14. The Blair Witch Project (1999) – Feb 1

Something about the cold, desolate months of January and February are perfect for horror – a fact that movie studios have caught onto in recent years with the release of horror classics often coming in the winter. So there’s perhaps no better way to spend a dreary February day then holed up inside with one of the best horror movies of the last two decades. Wrap a blanket around you, hide from any type of forest that may be near you, and start streaming The Blair Witch Project.

Although found footage horror has exploded since Paranormal Activity, it was really The Blair Witch Project that proved the merits of the horror subgenre. Famously, many viewers had no idea if what they were watching was real when it debuted in theaters, and the film still holds up today as being shockingly realistic. While we now know that this is simply a scripted micro-budget film, seeing the shaky-camera and hearing the behind-the-scene screaming of the main characters still sends chills down our spine that no horror movie has been able to match since.

13. Babe (1995) – Feb 1

Out of context, Babe is a headscratcher of a movie and an even more confusing footnote in history. It’s a kid’s film about a talking pig that grossed $254 million at the box office against a $30 million budget. It was also nominated for seven Academy Awards, including best picture and best director. And, this bears repeating once again, it’s a kid’s film about a talking pig.

But, look, Babe is a f***ing delight! Everything about this film is handcrafted to be one of the most enjoyable experiences you’ll ever have with a family film. Regardless of your age or your experience with talking pigs, there’s nothing but joy to be had within the confines of Babe’s running-time. The perfect film to click play on no matter who’s in the room watching with you, Babe is everything you remember it being and more. They just don’t make movies like this anymore.

Netflix is leading its streaming video competitors when it comes to value and original content, according to a new survey of cord-cutters and likely cord-cutters by Forrester.

Forrester found that only 5% of US adult respondents thought that Netflix ($9.99-a-month) was too expensive, compared to 11% for Hulu ($7.99-a-month), and 18% for HBO Now ($14.99-a-month). Bringing up the rear, in terms of value, were the streaming services put out by broadcast networks. CBS All Access and NBC's SeeSo (its comedy offering) saw 23% and 24% of respondents think they were too expensive, respectively. All Access costs $5.99-a-month for the base plan, and SeeSo costs $3.99.

One thing driving this sense of value could be Netflix's bounty of original content.

Netflix will release a whopping 1,000 hours in 2017 (and spend $6 billion). That means you'd have to spend an insane 41 days binge-watching Netflix to see it all. Its royal drama about the life of Queen Elizabeth II, "The Crown," also recently picked up Netflix's first Golden Globe in a best show category, when it won best drama series.

This push seems to have worked.

60% of Forrester respondents said Netflix had interesting original content, compared to just 36% for Amazon Prime, which has less selection, but has historically done well in awards shows, especially with its original comedies like "Transparent" and "Mozart in the Jungle." Though HBO has made its name on its marquee shows, it also trailed Netflix at 45%.

Here is a full chart of how some of the top streaming services stack up against each other, from Forrester:

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Demand for Netflix originals was eight to nine times higher than demand for Amazon Video and Hulu originals in 2016, according to research company Parrot Analytics.

And the gap grew bigger as the year went on, with second-half Netflix hits like "Stranger Things,""Luke Cage,""The Get Down," and "The OA."

Check the chart:

Also interesting: Amazon seems to be emerging as the top competitor.

Parrot measures demand by tracking a range of factors from file sharing to social-media chatter.

Netflix and Co. are focused on building up originals to stand out in a crowd of streaming services and to avoid overpaying for other people’s content.

One bit of analysis from Parrot suggests that this approach is working, with a 0.51 correlation between demand for Netflix originals and Netflix stock.

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Earlier this week, Facebook seemed poised to take on traditional TV and Netflix by reportedly planning to license "long-form, TV-quality programming," to be housed in its own set-top box app, and on your phone.

But on its Q4 earnings call, Facebook execs played down the company's TV aspirations and presented a vision of Facebook's video future that seemed more in line with YouTube's present.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that while the introduction of mid-roll video ads would take Facebook's video offerings "to the next level," as video creators become able to make real money, the focus for Facebook is still very much on short-form content, rather than the longer programs typical of Netflix.

Zuckerberg said people would "experiment" with longer stuff on Facebook, but it would not be the main event — especially because mobile viewers, with small-screened smartphones and costly wireless data plans, would still be the anchor of its video business.

Chill ... 'til the next episode

Facebook CFO David Wehner went further in distancing Facebook from companies like Netflix, by dispelling the notion that Facebook would buy a bunch of TV shows.

"Our focus is on kickstarting the ecosystem here," Wehner said. To the extent that Facebook would license any shows, it would only be to seed the ecosystem. Facebook wouldn't be "doing big deals," he said. One reason is because Facebook, like YouTube, is committed to a revenue-share model, according to Wehner.

Still, Facebook's video ambitions could bring it into competition with TV networks and streaming services like Netflix.

Zuckerberg described an explosion in the amount of video on Facebook, especially of the "premium" variety. He said he sees "much more video inventory and content coming in, as we make the business model click."

At one point, Zuckerberg described some of that premium video as "episodic," though its unclear how long those episodes would be, and whether that just means a regular release schedule for videos like we have seen for years from many creators on YouTube.

But even if Facebook isn't going to look like Netflix, or traditional TV, Zuckerberg's focus on "premium" and episodic content feels like a direct move to attract TV ad budgets.

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Warning: There are spoilers ahead if you haven't watched "Santa Clarita Diet."

Netflix just launched a quirky new zombie comedy Friday that feels like a lighthearted "Dexter," that is, if Dexter was really bad at covering his tracks.

"Santa Clarita Diet" follows realtor couple Joel (Timothy Olyphant) and Sheila (Drew Barrymore). After a property showing gone wrong, Sheila winds up dead before mysteriously coming back to life appearing no worse for the wear.

While Sheila and Joel fumble through assimilating to zombie life, the show ends up leaving viewers with a lot of unanswered questions about Sheila's mysterious illness by the end of the season's ten episodes. (We still don't know how she was infected!)

INSIDER watched the first season and rounded up everything we learned about zombies on "Santa Clarita Diet."

The undead are driven by their Id.

This is one of the first things we learn in the season premiere after Sheila discovers she's undead. The couple's brainy teenage neighbor Eric explains that the undead are driven by their desires.

"One thing we know about the undead is they're completely driven by the Id," he explains to them and their daughter. "It just wants whatever it wants." 

The undead have a lot of extra energy to expend .

As Sheila mentions in the premiere episode, being undead has done wonders for her sex life with her husband. Her libido is quite active all of the time, especially right after she eats.

She also finds that she rarely needs to sleep — only about two hours each day. 

It's uncertain what causes the virus.

In the season one finale, Dr. Wolf (Portia de Rossi) offers a few suggestions including a mutation of the rabies virus or a resurgence of an ancient plague, but she said speculation was pointless.

Eric suggests in the premiere that most new viruses come from animals such as monkeys or bats.

The virus supposedly occurred in Serbia years ago.

When Joel seeks out the translations of two pictures he discovers that appear to depict his wife's ailment, he learns that her symptoms mirror an ancient Serbian plague.

The grandmother of Joel's daughter's principal Novak translates the two images he found. 

The first means, "Man eat man to live" while the second, showing a person vomiting means, "Without cure, man will die."

Novak's grandmother tells Joel the images are representative of a story she was told as a little girl about a village that turned into monsters in Serbia. (In the series, the grandmother calls the village "Pozega." However, when watching the series with the captions on, Netflix refers to the village as "Pozica." For what it's worth, there is a Pozega and a Bozica in Serbia.) According to Novak's grandma, the story was told to frighten children. 

When Joel presses to learn more about a possible cure, Novak's grandmother says she's unsure if it's even real. She tells him the pictures he found come from an old, rare book that supposedly contains a cure. 

The diet of the undead consists of raw meat and human flesh.

When Sheila first discovered she was undead, she was fine eating raw meat straight out of the freezer. That changed when she took a bite out of her former coworker Gary (Nathan Fillion). From that point on, she needed fresh human meat.

It's not certain how long Sheila can go without eating. In an early episode, she tells her husband she hadn't eaten in two days before they find her someone to sink her teeth into.

The undead can't be injured or feel pain.

We see Sheila stabbed numerous times in season one with objects ranging from knives to dinner plates, but they never cause her any harm. She doesn't bleed nor does she receive any evident wounds from sustained injuries. 

The infected can infect others.

In episode five, Sheila and Joel are blackmailed into killing a drug dealer/murderer Loki Hayes by their neighbor, LAPD Sheriff Deputy Dan, after he discovers the couple murdered one of their real estate coworkers.

Though they try to make an elaborate plan, Sheila and Joel aren't methodical killers like Dexter who can get rid of a body quietly. After an embarrassing showdown, Loki makes the slip and Sheila and Joel lose sight of him. Though he escapes, Sheila thinks she remembers biting him. 

"I may have bit him," she tells Joel. “But if I did bite him, will he become like me? We don't know how this spreads. I never got bitten."

Ultimately, she convinces herself she didn't bite him saying, “I didn't taste any blood.”

By the episode's end, we learn that wasn't the case. Loki is seen in a motel room covered in a heinous shade of yellow vomit, similar to Sheila in the show's premiere. Loki is seen waking up meaning the virus Sheila managed to get can be transferred to other people. 

The undead's flesh starts to deteriorate.

Or at least fall off, it appears.

At the end of episode seven, Sheila finds that one of her own toes has fallen off while taking a bath. She then makes multiple attempts at reattaching it involving hot glue and needle and thread until she damaged it completely with a hammer and nail.

They eventually start to go feral.

It turns out Sheila can't be a tame zombie forever. In the finale, Dr. Wolf warns Sheila and Joel to be careful of any unprovoked aggression. Soon after, Sheila starts exhibiting signs of becoming feral when she nearly chomps down on her husband's fingers in the bedroom. Dr. Wolf tells Sheila she may be entering a "new, more feral stage" of the virus. When Sheila asks how long she has before she ultimately loses control, Dr. Wolf says she's unsure but that it will be a progression.

The news ultimately causes Sheila to have herself chained in her basement away from everyone.

The zombies can be killed.

We know Sheila can't be injured; however, when she and Joel go after a zombified Loki, they're able to end his life by impaling him through the head. Just like "The Walking Dead," it takes a blow through the brain to kill the undead.

There's a cure — sort of!

Dr. Wolf offers hope in the finale when she starts prepping a remedy for Sheila from a copy of a book from hundreds of years ago filled with a Serbian cure. It's been effective on rats, but she has never tried it on humans. Unfortunately, it's believed the cure probably won't reanimate the dead. 

When Sheila asks how long it will take the remedy to cure her, Dr. Wolf emphatically tells her it will never cure her.

"It's not a cure. You're dead and you're going to stay that way," she says. "All we can do is halt your deterioration so you'll remain as you are now.

It's not clear what exactly the cure will do or if it will work. It's possible it could cure Sheila of the virus, but then just kill her. Dr. Wolf also says that the cure has only been effective on rats before they've gone completely feral and Sheila's well on her way. However, when Joel gets taken in by the cops, Dr. Wolf leaves the family to their own devices and the recipe for the cure. We'll have to wait until season two to find out if the cure works — or if it even gets properly made.

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Warning: Spoilers ahead for "The OA" season one.

Netflix's polarizing sci-fi drama "The OA" is one of the most ambitious and divisive projects released by the streaming service. From the complicated season finale shooting scene to the mystical "movements" (choreographed by Sia's music video magician Ryan Heffington), there is plenty to be unpacked after experiencing the journey of OA. 

Keep reading for a look at the 13 most important details you probably missed.

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OA did a movement in episode three — before the audience knew what the movements looked like.

While at the dinner table with her parents and the journalist who wants to write a book about her, OA gets flustered and puts her hands up to her forehead. Upon a first viewing, it simply looked like OA was distressed about the idea of reliving her experience, because at that point in the show the audience had no idea what the movements were.

Here's OA doing that same movement in her cell:

Redditor Treyokay pointed out that OA was performing this movement at the dinner table in episode three. Since the movements are so intimately linked to her relationship with Homer, it makes sense for OA to reflexively do them during times of distress. 

In that same episode, OA bought a purple wolf sweatshirt.

Though it seemed just like a quirky wardrobe choice, the sweatshirt likely had a much more personal meaning to OA. Some fans believe it was a direct callback to her time with Homer.

Netlfix's new zombie comedy, "Santa Clarita Diet," really benefits from binge-watching.

I say that because the premiere episode is not good. If the show, which premieres on Friday, were on some kind of weekly schedule, I wouldn't be back for for the second episode. Thankfully for "Santa Clarita Diet," Netflix is about binge-watching and there's a marked improvement from the first episode to the second, which are both directed by Ruben Fleischer ("Zombieland"), and that may hook viewers. Smartly, Netflix sent critics the entire first season of 10 episodes to review.

Created by Victor Fresco ("Better Off Ted"), "Santa Clarita Diet" stars Drew Barrymore, who is also an executive producer, as suburban wife and mom Sheila; Timothy Olyphant as her husband Joel; and Liv Hewson as their teen daughter Abby. They live in the cookie-cutter city of Santa Clarita, a suburb about an hour north of Los Angeles for those who want to escape the urban jungle and raise their family.

Reserved and skittish when we first meet her, Sheila begins to feel ill. As her illness escalates, so does her impulse to act on her raw desires. She's diagnosed as undead by the geeky boy across the street, Eric (endearingly played by Skyer Gisondo). Sheila pulls her family into the spiral of finding ways to satiate her hunger for human flesh while upholding the appearance of normalcy that defines Santa Clarita.

The problems with the first episode include a search for the right balance between a gory zombie show and family comedy. Barrymore and Olyphant don't help matters. She seems a little too flippant about her zombie transformation and Olyphant, a veteran of dramas like "Deadwood," is way too intense in moments.

Plus, if we're to make the connection between being undead and the monotony of suburban life, then we need to get a better feel for that life. Are they unhappy with their marriage? Is the sex bad? Will Sheila lose it after one more PTA bake sale? How bad are their jobs as real-estate agents? The opening episode has to establish Sheila's malady (in a whole lot of disgusting ways) so quickly that we don't really get a sense of any of that.

Things begin to fall into place on the episodes that follow as Barrymore and Olyphant sink into their roles. She gets to play to her goofy and irreverent side and Olyphant's inclination for severity begins to fit the situation better. That's not to say that the show's problems get ironed out, but there's great improvement.

Through it all, Hewson as daughter Abby is a pretty solid player and makes the most sense in the context of the show. Like a teen who decides nothing really matters when there's trouble at home, Abby begins to withdraw from school and follow her wilder side.

Fans of the zombie-comedy genre will enjoy the show's more gory and disgusting elements. Sheila vomits... a lot, tears into people with her teeth, and does things like point to part of a man's severed arm and say, "This is the filet mignon for humans." The show is vague about what exactly caused Sheila's transformation, so zombie aficionados may enjoy theorizing about that.

In the end, "Santa Clarita" is both a zombie show and a comment on suburban life, though it never quite nails either tone. It's best when it plays to the comedy/heist/murder elements of both keeping Sheila's hunger at bay and hiding her strange secret from the neighbors.

Watch a trailer for "Santa Clarita Diet" below:

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Hit Netflix series "Stranger Things" is set to return for a second season in October 2017, and fans just got an awesome peek at what's to come. A new trailer premiered on February 5 during the Super Bowl, and it threatens a whole new set of Upside Down problems for the Hawkins town folk. 

The first teaser for the upcoming season revealed what we believe were nine episode titles, but details of the plot have been scarce. We know that the new season takes place one year after the season one finale, and we'll be seeing new characters and locations. The Duffer Brothers have even promised a return to the Upside Down, though they assured Entertainment Weekly the Demagorgon was definitely destroyed.

So what new evils will face our brave young heroes? Will Eleven be reunited with Mike and the others? Can justice for Barb finally be delivered? Was that Eleven that we saw in this trailer?

Read our full trailer breakdown to learn more.

Watch the new trailer below:

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Warning: Possible spoilers ahead for "Stranger Things" season two.

"Stranger Things" season two will hit Netflix on October 31, 2017 — just in time for some spooky Halloween antics. Netflix released a 30-second teaser trailer during Super Bowl 51, and fans are more excited than ever to see the "Stranger Things" crew back on screen. We went through the trailer frame by frame to spot clues about what to expect from season two.

Keep reading for a look at what paranormal adventures are in store. 

The trailer began with a fake out — people at home thought it was a retro commercial for Eggo waffles.

But "Stranger Things" fans know Eggos are Eleven's favorite food.

You hear Mike's voice scream "Eleven!" and then see El's eyes open. Her nose is bleeding — maybe this picks up right after she destroyed the Demagorgon in the finale?