We're more than halfway through January and the only big movie at the box office so far has been Kevin Hart's "Ride Along" featuring Ice Cube. 

Don't expect that to change this weekend with Lionsgate's "I, Frankenstein" starring Aaron Eckhart as the monster. 

Reviews are only trickling in now since reviews were held until this morning — always a bad sign for a film — and, as expected, they're pretty awful. 

Currently, the film is sitting at 0% on Rotten Tomatoes. 

This is the second film of the year to bring in awful reviews after recent releases "The Legend of Hercules" and "Devil's Due." 

Personally, I never really understood what this film was trying to do. Yes, it's telling the story of Frankenstein, but this film is based on a graphic novel which finds the monster caught in a war between gargoyles and demons fighting over him. (What?)  

For some reason Frankenstein (Eckhart) is also really attractive despite being created from corpses and electricity.  

Something else that will hurt this movie at the box office is the "I" in the title. It seems pretty unnecessary.  

Everyone I've spoken to about the movie has agreed it reminds them of another similarly titled movie, "I, Robot" and for that reason it's become a turnoff — not because "I, Robot" wasn't an enjoyable Will Smith movie, but because it feels like "Frankenstein" borrowed from a title that's already been done years ago and is trying to replicate its success. 

The film cost an estimated $65 million to make and is expected to bring in figures in the mid-teens opening weekend with comparisons to the "Underworld" franchise starring Kate Beckinsale. 

Here's what critics are saying:

Variety says the movie is pretty dull. 

"Utterly witless, listless, sparkless and senseless, this supernatural actioner makes one long for the comparative sophistication of the conceptually identical 'Underworld' franchise (with which it shares producers and a writer)." 

"... the film never attempts to explore, exploit, or elaborate on Adam’s origins in the Frankenstein story, to the extent that it’s easy to occasionally forget the film’s entire premise while watching it."

RogerEbert.com notes that Eckhart's Two-Face in "The Dark Knight" looked more grim.

"This particular envisioning of Frankenstein's monster might just as well be called Scarface, for a cut-up visage, and, for the 18th-Century-set intro, some Seattle-grunge-rocker hair, are all that disguise Eckhart's fratinee-idol good looks here."

The effects aren't great either.

"All this and elaborately mediocre production design, oodles of mediocre CGI-action scenes, and, in the version I personally paid about 20 dollars to see, really uninspired 3D."

The Village Voice: 

"Noisy and repetitive dullness, its many confounding plot developments and character motivations, or its tossing out the philosophical complexity of Shelley's novel in favor of Underworld–style good-versus-evil claptrap. It's not good enough, but it is slightly better than it has to be."

Still, Cinemablend offers that at least Eckhart is enjoyable — at times — to watch on screen and is better than "Hercules" (which isn't saying much): 

"To his credit, Eckhart digs into the role with a surly bravado, sneering behind the prosthetic scars and deftly wielding scowls as well as the dual-fisted weapons Adam picks up. In action sequences, he's pretty awesome, barreling forth with an effusive rage that punctuates his intimidating physicality. But aside from brawling and brooding, Eckhart is given little else to do."

The Toronto Star:

"There’s very little left of Mary Shelley’s 19th-century morality tale in this video game-like version, clearly geared to the fan-boy/fan-girl set."

"By going to the unusual length of insisting reviewers hold opinions until 9 a.m. opening day, clearly the movie studio behind I, Frankenstein sees this as a “critic-proof” effort that will easily separate genre lovers from their premium ticket money (it’s in IMAX and 3D) no matter what the reaction to the movie may be."

If you are looking for something to see this weekend, check out one of the Oscar-nominated flicks like "Her," "Nebraska," or "Philomena" that you probably haven't seen.

SEE ALSO: What movies you should check out this year

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U2 will release a new single in a Super Bowl ad for The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria co-sponsored by Bank of America and (Red), the nonprofit founded by U2 lead singer Bono.

The ad will feature the new U2 song "Invisible," which will be available for free on iTunes for 24 hours immediately following the Feb. 2 game. Bank of America will donate $1 to The Global Fund for every download, up to a total donation of $2 million.

The charity works to provide HIV/AIDS treatment, testing, and prevention services to to tens of millions of people in the world's poorest countries.

Bank of America has pledged to commit an additional $10 million to The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria over the next two years. After hearing of Bank of America's donation, Bill Gates' nonprofit, The Gates Foundation, tech giant SAP, and the family of South African mining magnate Patrice Motsepe have collaborated to pledge an additional $10 million.

"Bank of America coming on as a (RED) partner to help the Global Fund's efforts to eliminate AIDS is great news," Bono said in a statement. "It's the kind of game-changing influence that will not just deliver millions of dollars but raise consciousness and keep public pressure on putting an end to this devastating pandemic which has already taken the lives of 35 million people."

Here's more of what Bono had to say about the ad and his partnership with Bank of America:

SEE ALSO: Here's A Preview Of The Ads You'll See On Super Bowl Sunday

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Chris Christie should be too busy to second-guess the judgments of cable-TV news.

His latest term as Republican governor of New Jersey began on January 21st. Months of fund-raising lie ahead, as chairman of a Republican committee supporting governors' election campaigns in 36 states. A darling of his party's business-friendly Establishment wing, he is a putative contender for the White House in 2016.

If all that were not enough, he suddenly finds himself battling multiple allegations of petty bullying. Mr Christie, a swaggering giant of centre-right politics, has suffered no direct hits. But just now--like King Kong swatting at biplanes--he is struggling to keep his balance.

Mr Christie denies wrongdoing. His aides reject recent claims by the Democratic mayor of Hoboken, who says she was told that post-Hurricane Sandy aid might not flow to her city unless she backed a development scheme favoured by the governor. Carl Lewis, a former Olympic athlete, says Mr Christie tried to "intimidate" him in a politico-sporting dispute. The governor has apologised for just one case, after underlings—he insists without his knowledge—ordered a bridge partly closed, apparently to snarl traffic in a town deemed disloyal.

Amid all this, the governor's spokesman somehow found time to issue a long, extravagantly detailed denunciation of MSNBC, a lefty cable news channel which has been especially tough on his boss. The statement called MSNBC's reporting "almost gleeful", grumbled about presenters comparing Mr Christie to Richard Nixon and accused the channel of devoting excessive airtime to the governor's woes.

The Left is just as irked by Fox News, a conservative outlet launched in 1996. Even Barack Obama, an exceedingly self-possessed man, was rattled by coverage of his first months in office, calling Fox News a "megaphone" devoted to attacking his administration. A new, hostile biography of the channel's head, Roger Ailes, calls him a man of almost unrivalled political power, who has "divided a country".

In part, self-interest explains the hyperbole. Mr Christie has prospered in a largely Democratic state by governing as a fiscal conservative who is moderate on some issues (gun control, immigration and--after Hurricane Sandy--working with Mr Obama). Conservative purists duly distrust him. But they hate MSNBC and the "lamestream media" still more. That makes it shrewd for the governor to portray himself as the victim of an ambush by fact-twisting lefty hacks. As for Gabriel Sherman, Mr Ailes's breathless biographer, he has a book to sell.

For many, the hysteria is sincere. Ask Democrats why they struggle to win support for such policies as Obamacare, immigration reform or action on global warming, and they often blame Fox News for misinforming voters. Noting the role that Fox News played in promoting the anti-government Tea Party in 2009, many accuse the channel of helping extremists seize control of the Republican Party. Among Republicans, it is an article of faith that America is, deep down, a conservative country, and that if elections do not always reflect that truth, it is because the Right is denied a fair hearing by the elite media, which hides a deep liberal bias beneath pious talk of objectivity.

Plenty of pundits fret that too many Americans inhabit partisan echo chambers, hearing only news that confirms their prejudices. They point to evidence that the country is more divided, and that such changes coincide with the rise of cable TV and the internet. Over the past 30 years of presidential elections, the number of swing states has fallen sharply (just four states were really close in 2012), and the number of landslide states has soared. Ticket-splitting districts--which back one party for the White House but the other for Congress--have become as rare as hen's teeth. Though voters' views of "their" party have not much changed, more say they fear or are enraged by the other one.

Those same years saw cable TV spread nationwide (talk radio boomed too, notably after the Reagan-era abolition of rules requiring political "balance" on air). In polls, well over half of Americans report watching cable news at least sometimes. Those channels are growing shoutier. The Pew Research Centre, a think-tank, found Fox News more negative about Mr Obama in 2012 than four years earlier, and found similar changes in MSNBC's coverage (just 3% of its Mitt Romney stories were positive).

Sean Hannity v "The Real Housewives of Atlanta"

Yet those who blame Fox and MSNBC for dividing the country should check their sums. Markus Prior of Princeton University has dug into data, much of it unpublished, from ratings companies who remotely track viewing habits in sample households. His conclusion is that Americans fib about what they watch, and that large majorities simply shun cable news. Perhaps 10-15% of the voting-age population watch more than 10 minutes of cable news a day, a share that rises modestly before exciting elections. For most individual news shows (including hybrids like Jon Stewart's satirical "Daily Show"), 2m viewers counts as a wild success. That is the equivalent of 0.8% of voting-age Americans.

In 1969 half of American homes tuned into the big networks' evening newscasts (it helped that their cautiously high-minded, eat-your-greens reporting was all there was to watch at dinner-time). The advent of cable gave those bored by politics somewhere to flee. If obsessives now dominate political debate, Mr Prior suggests, the real culprit is not Fox but choice. Fiery partisans continue to watch lots of news, but other Americans prefer football or "The Real Housewives of Atlanta".

The changes are not over. News-lovers are greying (hence all those arthritis ads on TV). For several years most young Americans have told Pew that they do not "enjoy" following news, in any medium. They don't seem to be changing their minds as they age. In time, politicians may be begging for any coverage at all.

Click here to subscribe to The Economist.

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Sony Pictures has acquired the film rights to "Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead," the 2013 book written by Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, according to Deadline.

Sony chose Nell Scovell, a TV and movie writer responsible for "Sabrina, The Teenage Witch," among others, to write the script. 

Scovell actually helped Sandberg write the book, and will be creating a screenplay that's not a biography of Sandberg, but a narrative about some of its larger themes. 

Sandberg will donate her proceeds from the project to her foundation.

SEE ALSO: Sheryl Sandberg is a billionaire

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At just 19 years old, Justin Bieber has already won seven American Music Awards, six Billboard Music Awards, 10 MTV Awards, has been nominated for two Grammys, and was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal by the Prime Minister of Canada.

But with great success at such a young age, can also come trouble.

On Thursday, the pop star was arrested on suspicion of DUI and drag racing during a wild night out in Miami. But that's just the tip of the iceberg with his recent run-ins with the law.

From a break-up with Selena Gomez to controversial new friendships, see where Bieber may have stepped off course.

1994: Justin Drew Bieber was born in Ontario, Canada. His mother was just 17 years old when she became pregnant and raised Bieber as a single mother in low-income housing. He is still close with his father, who has two other children.

As he grew up, Bieber taught himself to play the piano, drums, guitar, and trumpet.

2007: At age 12, Bieber sang Ne-Yo's "So Sick" for a local singing competition and placed second. His mom posted a video of the performance on YouTube.

If you're looking for a job, you might want to consider going to a live taping of "The Daily Show."

At the top of Monday's show, Boston University grad Adam Even Engel got a personal on-air job recommendation from Jon Stewart after telling the host he'd had bad luck finding a job in chemistry during the pre-show Q&A.

“I told him I was a recent college grad and asked how to get my Jewish mother off my back about getting a job,” Engel told the university-run news website BU Today.

When the show began, Stewart introduced the day's guest and then made a plea on Engel's behalf:

If your school is currently looking for a chemistry teacher, I want you to call us.

I got a guy over here, Boston University, seems smart — could have shaved. He’s a chemistry major, he’s looking for a job teaching chemistry … so if you need a chemistry teacher, contact us, and I will finally get this [expletive] kid out of his parents' house. That’s what I’m going to do.

While his name wasn't mentioned, Engel told BU Today that a producer stopped by during a break in the taping and took down his name and contact information in case anyone called in.

“I had no idea he would do that,” Engel said.

So far there's been no word on whether Engel's gotten any calls, but if he does, he'll have a great story to tell his new students.

Check out the full segment below:

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Justin Bieber's first statement since his brief arrest Thursday comes in the form of an Instagram message comparing himself to King of Pop Michael Jackson.

The photo is coupled with "What more can they say" which is believed to be a reference to Jay Z's single off "The Black Album."

SEE ALSO: The downward spiral of Justin Bieber

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A bunch of men get violently kidnapped in the new ad for an expansion to "Call of Duty: Ghosts." But whether they're being dragged by motorcycles or suspended from a helicopter, they all greet their captors with smiles.

The live-action commercial stars British actor Stephen Graham ("Boardwalk Empire") as the head of a "Call of Duty" syndicate. It stages kidnappings for bored men who cannot bear watching another reality show with their girlfriend or sitting through a fancy business dinner with their boss.

They are then taken to an undisclosed location where they can sit in a comfy chair and play COD to their heart's content. There's also snacks, and the kidnappers even accommodate those with peanut allergies:

72andSunny produced the ad, which is once again targeting COD players who are young professional men rather than hardcore gamers.

The "Onslaught" downloadable content package features new maps — including a foggy "Halloween"-themed one complete with homicidal Michael Myers — as well as new weapons and an Extinction mode where players fight an onslaught of aliens.

It's available for the Xbox One on Jan. 28 and other consoles shortly after.  

SEE ALSO: 18 Games You Need To Play In 2014

Join the conversation about this story »

A bunch of men get violently kidnapped in the new ad for an expansion to "Call of Duty: Ghosts." But whether they're being dragged by motorcycles or suspended from a helicopter, they all greet their captors with smiles.

The live-action commercial stars British actor Stephen Graham ("Boardwalk Empire") as the head of a "Call of Duty" syndicate. It stages kidnappings for bored men who cannot bear watching another reality show with their girlfriend or sitting through a fancy business dinner with their boss.

They are then taken to an undisclosed location where they can sit in a comfy chair and play COD to their heart's content. There's also snacks, and the kidnappers even accommodate those with peanut allergies:

72andSunny produced the ad, which is once again targeting COD players who are young professional men rather than hardcore gamers.

The "Onslaught" downloadable content package features new maps — including a foggy "Halloween"-themed one complete with homicidal Michael Myers — as well as new weapons and an Extinction mode where players fight an onslaught of aliens.

It's available for the Xbox One on Jan. 28 and other consoles shortly after.  

SEE ALSO: 18 Games You Need To Play In 2014

Join the conversation about this story »

WHEN some of Hollywood’s biggest studios were pitched a film based on a book series in which young people fight to the death at the behest of a totalitarian government, they passed on it. Bad call. Lionsgate, a fast-growing independent studio, grabbed it, and five years later "The Hunger Games" is one of the most successful film franchises in cinema history.

Like the films’ heroine, Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence, pictured), Lionsgate has achieved a level of success no one predicted. American box-office figures for 2013 are now in, and they show that the second "Hunger Games" film helped Lionsgate to overtake Paramount and Fox (see table). Other than the surviving six "majors", all dating from the age of Gloria Swanson and Rudy Valentino, the young challenger, founded only 17 years ago in Canada, is the only studio to have grossed more than $1 billion in a year, as it did in 2012 and 2013.

Until recently Lionsgate was best known for its cheap but profitable horror and "genre" flicks, such as the gory "Saw" series and comedies featuring Tyler Perry, a black man who impersonates an old lady. In 2011 it fought off Carl Icahn, an activist investor, who had waged a three-year campaign to oust Lionsgate’s leaders and merge it with MGM, a legendary studio that had long lost its roar.

Lionsgate has risen by melding risk aversion with serious ambition. Jon Feltheimer, its boss, and Michael Burns, its dealmaking vice-chairman, have made a series of wise transactions, most notably a 2003 merger with Artisan Entertainment, which had a big film library, and the 2012 takeover of Summit Entertainment, another independent studio, for about $413m. Summit brought into Lionsgate’s den the "Twilight" franchise, an extraordinarily lucrative film series about a love affair between a brunette and a vampire. Since then Lionsgate’s market capitalisation has more than tripled, to over $4.1 billion.

Lionsgate’s television unit, which brings in about one-seventh of its revenues, has also had a run of hits, from "Mad Men", about 1960s advertising folk, to "Nashville", a tale of country-music stars. Its bosses want to keep expanding the TV side until it is about a third of the entire business.

Unlike the old Hollywood majors, it has no studio backlot: its offices are in a dull office block in Santa Monica. It licenses out most of the international rights to its films in advance, and thus it usually has no more than $15m at stake in films that may cost several times as much to shoot. This protects it against catastrophic losses like those that sank past challengers to the Hollywood majors (such as United Artists when "Heaven’s Gate" flopped in 1980). However, it also limits Lionsgate’s upside when its films do well abroad.

Lionsgate is lean, with only 550 or so employees compared with around 10,000 at Warner Bros. That means quicker decisions, and less chance that good ideas get stuck in "development hell". The lemming-like majors all shove their blockbusters onto the market simultaneously in the summer holidays and at Christmas; Lionsgate slips out releases at times when punters are less overwhelmed with choice. It has been bolder than its rivals at releasing films for "on-demand" home viewing at the same time as they open in the cinemas: it did so with "Margin Call" and "Arbitrage", two tales about dodgy financiers.

The majors are nowadays all part of large conglomerates, but Lionsgate has no sugar-daddy to run to if it hits hard times. However, its independence has also freed it to pursue opportunities others might neglect. Kevin Beggs, the boss of Lionsgate’s TV business, calls it "the Switzerland of television: we look everywhere, and we don’t have a conflict." Other studios were slower to make programmes for Netflix and similar digital firms, because their parent companies owned broadcast networks and big cable channels that could be threatened by such services, says Alan Gould of Evercore, an investment bank.

Other studios are all doing, with varying degrees of success, some of what Lionsgate has been doing. They are investing in expensive, special-effect-laden "franchise" films featuring familiar characters: Lionsgate’s recent hits are proof that Hollywood is now a franchise business, says David Ellison, the boss of Skydance Productions, a film-financing company. They are also expanding their television sides, to offset the lumpiness of earnings from films. And some are, like Lionsgate, seeking to hedge risks. One way to do this is to sell stakes in big-budget productions to outside firms and wealthy individuals, the "modern Medicis", in the words of Amir Malin of Qualia Capital, a private-equity firm.

With more "Hunger Games" films to come, analysts expect big profits for Lionsgate through to 2017. Some worry that it may then run out stardust. So Lionsgate needs to keep looking for new franchises. Mr Feltheimer hopes that "Divergent", a book adaptation about a society that categorises citizens into different groups, could be its next mother lode. He will know in March, when its first film is released. But blockbusters’ ability to bust blocks is as unpredictable as ever. Lionsgate had great expectations for "Ender’s Game", a military sci-fi film, but it grossed only $112m worldwide, barely covering its $110m production budget, let alone the marketing costs.

It is in the nature of Hollywood that unknowns rise rapidly to fame, only to burn out. A young studio can keep costs lean in the beginning, but when it hits a high, it becomes harder to plead poverty to actors and directors asking for more money. Look at New Line Cinema, founded in 1967, and latterly the "indy" division of Warner Bros. It rose in the 1980s, and went on to claim hits like the "Lord of the Rings" film trilogy, but it overstretched and spent too much on films that no one much wanted to see. Diverse revenue streams can help insulate failures, but do not insure against them. As Katniss Everdeen and any film fan knows, one can win one "Hunger Games" only to be thrown back in, and be forced to fight another round.

Click here to subscribe to The Economist

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A jury has decided that rocker Courtney Love did not libel her lawyer on Twitter, according to ABC News.

Love's former law firm sued her over a 2010 tweet that implied her attorney took a bribe to back off a fraud case against the managers of her late husband Kurt Cobain's estate.

The tweet read:

[From the now-suspended Twitter account @CourtneyLoveUK] @noozjunkie I was f---ing devastated when Rhonda J Holmes Esq of san diego was bought off @fairnewsspears perhaps you can get a quote.

Law firm Gordon & Holmes claimed the tweet was defamatory and that Love was trying to damage Holmes' reputation and reach "millions of people," according to the lawsuit.

But Love claims she thought she was sending a direct message to two "wannabe reporters," Spin reported. She said her tweet wasn't defamatory because it reflected her personal opinion.

The jury ruled that the law firm didn't prove that Love knowingly made a false statement in the tweet, according to ABC.

There have been other Twitter defamation cases before, including a different one involving Courtney Love, but this case is the first to go before a jury.

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Several hundred channels seems like a lot. So why is there nothing to watch?  

That’s where Hola, a browser extension for Chrome and Firefox, comes in. The program disguises your device’s location, allowing you to sneak past geoblocking tools like those employed by overseas TV networks.

You got it, Sherlock….

That means you can stream certain beloved series (think “Dr. Who,” “Downton Abbey” and yes, “Sherlock”) when they air in the U.K. rather than waiting months for the U.S. airdates.  

How to Watch Whatever TV Program You Want Anywhere in the World » 

A note of caution: Some sites require users to register with an email address, and it might be prudent to create a new address for the purpose. Although using Hola and other VPN proxies is not illegal, it does violate the Terms of Service for many sites. Business Insider does not advocate doing that ever, under any circumstances. As for the links below, you'll need to live in the U.K. (or install Hola), to make them work.

In any case, there’s also a ton of great TV that most Americans have never heard of. It’s not all must-see TV — far from it — but there are a few gems out there. Some of our favorites:

"Black Mirror" (Channel 4)

Named 2012’s best TV movie/miniseries at the International Emmys (who knew?), the show — often compared to a latter-day “Twilight Zone” — consists of individual dramas examining the excesses of the digital era. In the jaw-dropping premiere, an anonymous hacker kidnaps the British princess, then demands that the prime minister have sex with a pig on live TV or watch the royal be murdered on YouTube.

"Uncle" (BBC)

British comic and musician Nick Helm makes his TV debut as a loser musician who has to keep an eye on his young nephew.

"Dates" (Channel 4)

Think “My Dinner With Andre,” only way sexier. Each episode follows a different couple on a date. It’s a wee bit slow by American standards, but brilliantly written, expertly acted (including a great turn by “Game of Thrones’” Oona Chaplin), and highly addictive. (s1e3)

"Educating Yorkshire" (Channel 4)

A documentary series following a beleaguered British middle school for a year, as a new administrator works to turn it around. One Direction’s Louis Tomlinson is a fan.

"Secrets of the Living Dolls" (Channel 4)

Back off, Barbie. Men who dress up as dolls, known as “female maskers” are the subject of this much-blogged-about documentary, coming soon to Logo. 

"Vicious" (ITV)

Sir Ian McKellen and Sir Derek Jacobi play a deliciously venomous old gay couple in this otherwise by-the-book sitcom from a former “Family Guy” producer. Rarely has so much Shakespearean firepower been put to less high-minded use — which in itself makes this worth a look.

"Dead Set" (Channel 4)

The stars and producers of a fictional season of “Big Brother” must fight for their lives when a bizarre outbreak begins turning London residents into cannibalistic monsters. It’s a weird mashup of reality TV satire and zombie thriller, but it works.

"Blackout" (Channel 4)

What if cyberterrorists took out Britain’s electricity grid? This chilling speculative TV movie — stitched together with supposedly found footage from cellphones — is so realistic it’s guaranteed to have you stockpiling provisions.

"The Bridge" (BBC)

The Danish/Swedish crime drama was remade for FX, but the original is way creepier, because, of course, it’s Scandinavian.

"The Undatables" (Channel 4)

In this popular reality series expert matchmakers work with lonelyhearts considered “undateable,” due to various physical and mental differences, like Ruth (pictured), a jazz singer with Tourette's Syndrome.

"Sun, Sex and Suspicious Parents" (Channel 4)

Wayward British youth are sent off for booze-soaked vacations in Thailand in this reality series. The catch: their parents secretly make the trip as well, and spy on their every indiscretion.

"Benidorm" (ITV)

An amusing sitcom set in a Spanish resort hotel frequented by middle class Brits.

"The Fried Chicken Shop" (Channel 4)

Set in a down-at-the-heels fast food joint that attracts a colorful (and often intoxicated) clientele, this documentary series has surprisingly poignant charm.  

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Since Justin Bieber's arrest for allegedly drag racing and driving drunk, Americans may be wondering whether the 19-year-old heartthrob could get deported to his native Canada.

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I love Netflix's streaming service, but recently, as the company has been investing in original programming like "House of Cards" and "Orange Is the New Black," I've noticed that finding really great movies on the service has become something of a challenge. Fortunately, it turns out there's a way to vastly increase the size of Netflix's catalogue. 

Say hello to Hola. 

A free browser extension, Hola allows you to visit websites that are otherwise blocked in your country. 

For Netflix subscribers, that includes the UK version of the site, along with a bunch of other versions, all of which have their own ever-evolving libraries of TV and movies. 

You're probably wondering: Is this legal? 

That was my first question before using it.

Basically, Hola let's you use a virtual private network (VPN) to watch the site in other countries.

How Hola lets you to watch Netflix overseas and other programming anywhere in the world » 

While not illegal, using a VPN proxy may violate the Terms of Service for some sites, including Netflix. It's not clear if the company has a way of knowing what you're up to, but in theory they could deactivate your service for breaking the rules.

In practice, of course, Netflix is in a battle for subscribers, and punishing violators is not in their interest. Especially with Richard Plepler, CEO of Netflix rival HBO, publically admitting that he doesn't mind a bit if people share their HBOGo passwords with nonsubscribers. 

Still, it must be said, violate Netflix's TOS at your own risk.

I took a chance, and after playing around with the tool — with an assist by a great online content search tool, Moreflicks.com— I quickly realized the international Netflix sites have a ton of movies the U.S. site doesn't.

We've gone through seven other countries, picking out a few new and classic films you can see right now overseas on Netflix. We were surprised by how many recent movies we found. 

Netflix Canada

"Amour"
"An Education"
"Taken 2"
"Monsters Ball"
"Vicky Cristina Barcelona"
"Jerry Maguire"  

Netflix Chile

"Lee Daniels' The Butler"
"The Way Way Back"
"The Bling Ring"
"The Godfather"
"A Clockwork Orange"
"Slumdog Millionaire"

Netflix Norway

"Argo"
"Cloud Atlas"
"The Dark Knight Rises"
"The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly"
"The Goonies"
"Halloween" 
"Kill Buljo" -- Norwegian parody of Quentin Tarantino's "Kill Bill"
"The Matrix" 
"Pale Rider"
"The Reader"
"Rush Hour"
"The Shining" 
"Superman"
"Taken"
"The Terminator" 

Netflix UK

"3:10 to Yuma"
"Donnie Brasco"
"Gone Baby Gone"
"The Help"
"Erin Brockovich"
"Kill Bill Vol. 2"
"Pretty Woman"
"Snatch"
"When Harry Met Sally"

Also, if you didn't see it in theaters, "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" is streaming there, too.

Netflix Uruguay

"Amadeus" 
"American History X"
"Anchorman"
"Chicago"
"Crash"
"Gladiator"
"Glory"
"The Master" 
"Place Beyond the Pines" 
"Rocky" 
"Seven Psychopaths"
"Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy"  

Netflix Sweden

"Airplane"
"Blood Diamond"
"Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"
"Lethal Weapon"
"Moon"
"Ocean's Eleven"
"Rambo"
"The Hurt Locker"
"Volver" 

Netflix Venezuela

"American Beauty"
"Chinatown"
"Cleopatra"
"District 9"
"Dirty Harry"
"Iron Man"
"Iron Man 2"
"Kill Bill"
"Out of Africa" 
"Scarface"
"Schindler's List"
"The Dark Knight"
"True Grit" (1969) 
"Up in the Air" (gone after 1/25)
"V for Vendetta"
"Zombieland"

Check out more movies: 21 films to see this year

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Suspected trespasser arrested at Selena Gomez's home in Southern California

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles police have arrested a 19-year-old man on suspicion of trespassing at the home of singer-actress Selena Gomez.

Officer Rosario Herrera says a family member called 911 Saturday morning after seeing an intruder on the property in the San Fernando Valley's Tarzana area.

She says Juan Daniel Garcia, of El Mirage, Ariz., was booked on suspicion of trespassing. Police don't know if he has a lawyer yet and a telephone number for him couldn't be located.

Herrera says it's unclear if Gomez was home at the time.

An email message seeking comment from her publicists was not immediately returned.

Gomez and her family have a three-year restraining order against a man accused of threatening to kill her and traveling from Illinois to meet her. A judge granted it in January 2011.

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Jonah Hill hosted "Saturday Night Live" for the third time this weekend, but his opening monologue kept getting interrupted by audience members asking what it was like to work with Leonardo DiCaprio in "The Wolf of Wall Street."

After fielding questions from the audience about DiCaprio while insulting the actor,  DiCaprio himself surprised an embarrassed Hill onstage.

DiCaprio said, “I have a question: What the hell are you doing?”

Hill then tried to backtrack, but all was smoothed over between the co-stars after a "Titanic" re-enactment. Watch below: 

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In an interview with GQ last February, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings and Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos fired the first shots in the escalating war between their company and HBO.

When GQ's Nancy Haas interviewed Sarandos about the upcoming release of House of Cards as well as their plans for building a slate of original series, the Netflix exec outlined his strategy pretty clearly with this quote:

"The goal," he says, "is to become HBO faster than HBO can become us."

Last week, on his Q4 earnings call, Hastings upped the war of words by suggesting HBO CEO Richard Plepler's HBO Go password was "Netflix bitch."

While the combination of critical acclaim and award nominations for House of Cards and Orange Is The New Black have posed serious competition to HBO's reputation for prestige programming, Netflix is perhaps focusing its attention on the wrong adversary.

Amazon Prime Instant Video is essentially the online retail giant's own version of Netflix. Customers put down one payment of $79 for the year to access a slew of movies and TV shows to stream. Although this may sound like it's just a Netflix clone, Amazon Prime has a few weapons in its arsenal that could help it force Netflix off the throne of its cord-cutting kingdom.

Amazon's Strategy For Streaming Shows Could Build Better Relationships With Subscribers

Amazon Studios, the division responsible for creating original series, posted a selection of comedy pilots on Amazon's site. Once viewers watched the pilots and voted for the best ones, Betas and Alpha House were selected as the two Amazon original series.

While Netflix achieved considerable success when it came to binge watching, Amazon's decision to stick to a somewhat traditional TV schedule could pay off in the future.

The first three episodes of Betas and Alpha House were available to stream for everyone. Episodes were posted weekly but if a viewer wanted to watch the rest of the series, a subscription was necessary.

Although Betas and Alpha House premiered to mediocre reviews, this was the first experiment at using feedback to create content. Subscribers, presumably, like being involved in the creative process.

If Amazon thoroughly studies customer data and pinpoints the strengths and weakness for its next set of shows, producing a string of engaging episodes for prospective customers before cutting them off could boost Prime subscriptions faster than Netflix can persuade people to buy something they may never have seen.

The Service Is Creating Strong Relationships With Content Providers

CBS scored a big ratings hit with Under The Dome thanks to a partnership with Amazon Prime. Every week, members could stream an episode four days after it aired on TV. The success of this initiative has led to both companies creating an exclusive content licensing agreement for the second season of Under The Dome as well as other original series.

Relationships like this are going to be key for Amazon Prime's success since it's mutually beneficial. Licensing fees for content can be expensive and Amazon may have found a way to manage the damage it could do to their financials.

CBS is a relic of TV's golden age but it gives Amazon a massive resource of creative talent and content to pull from in order to create shows and bolster its library.

Also, the ratings bonanza for Under The Dome demonstrated how useful Prime can be for networks to build an online audience since the pilot episode of was watched by 13.5 million viewers. The last time those figures appeared for a summer show on a broadcast network was 1992.

 Netflix doesn't have this type of relationship.

Here's Where Amazon Prime Seems Weak

The house that Bezos built barely puts any marketing power behind it. Amazon Prime was created in 2010 but the first advertisement for it may have just appeared on cable earlier this month.

Plus, Amazon typically doesn't reveal how many members use the service. Subscribers are a point of pride for HBO and Netflix. If Amazon Prime wants to prove that it's a superior service, it should divulge how many subscribers use it to watch movies.

Amazon Has A Long Term Advantage

By slowly building licensing agreements and studying ways to please prospective viewers, Prime Instant Video can create the ultimate archive of movies and original content that will satisfy any viewer. And Amazon has 164 million customers or more that it can repeatedly advertise Prime to, and 10 million Prime customers already according to analyst projections.

Reed Hastings can mock HBO as much as he wants. Amazon is just getting started, and has a built in user-base it can convert — which Netflix does not.

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Jonah Hill plays the Joaquin Phoenix character in an amazing spoof of Spike Jonze's "Her."

But in the parody called “Me,” the operating system voice is that of Hills and he immediately falls in love with himself.

And then Michael Cera makes an amazing cameo as Hill's doppelganger. Watch below:

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Not surprisingly, last night's "Saturday Night Live" took shots at Justin Bieber's recent arrest in Miami.

In a funny "Weekend Update" segment, Bieber's arresting officer Frank Medina, played by Kenan Thompson, makes an appearance to talk about the arrest.

"It's always tense when you pull over a yellow Lamborghini because it's either a millionaire in charge of a ponzi scheme or a guy who sells exotic animals to drug  dealers," explained the officer. "But I'll be damned if it wasn't Justin Bieber!"

During the arrest, the officer says Bieber "was so mad he must have said the F-word at least ten times, it was like being barked at by a puppy who smells like Smirnoff Ice.”

The officer then took a swing at Justin Bieber's dad, who was reportedly partying with the pop star before his arrest, saying, "He's what you get if Ed Hardy released a line of people." Watch the full report below:

SEE ALSO: Jonah Hill Falls In Love With Himself In 'Her' Spoof On 'SNL'

MORE: Leonardo DiCaprio Crashes Jonah Hill 'SNL' Monologue

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Getting arrested for the first time doesn't seem to faze Justin Bieber.

After the 19-year-old singer was arrested Thursday for suspected DUI and drag racing, he came off all smiles in his mugshot.

However, Bieber's not the only celebrity to show off his pearly whites after getting cuffed.

We've compiled a list of the sexiest celebrity mug shots, courtesy of The Smoking Gun.

Among the celebs are porn star Jenna Jameson, Carmen Electra, and Lindsay Lohan.

Abby Rogers contributed to this slide show.

Porn star Jenna Jameson seems unfazed in her May 2012 mug shot, smiling seductively after she was arrested on suspicion of DUI.

Photogenic "Gossip Girl" star Chace Crawford looks good even in an orange jumpsuit. He was arrested in 2010 on suspicion of marijuana possession.

Sexpot Carmen Electra was arrested in 1999 and charged with battering NBA wild child Dennis Rodman, her husband at the time.