Movies/TV category, Page 22
Ed Blank, former Tribune-Review critic and reporter, dies at age 81
Ed Blank, former critic and reporter for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, passed away Wednesday at 81. No immediate cause of death is known, though he had been in ill health for some time, his family said. Edward L. Blank was the youngest of five children and moved from Shadyside to Mt....
CNN announces layoffs as part of a further shift to digital business
CNN announced a restructuring Thursday that includes some 200 layoffs, an accelerated pivot to digital operations and new TV roles for personalities such as Wolf Blitzer, Jake Tapper and Audie Cornish. It’s the boldest revamp yet in the 18-month tenure of CEO Mark Thompson, a former chief executive at The...
Oscar nominations snubs and surprises, from Daniel Craig to Selena Gomez
PARK CITY, Utah — In one of the more wide-open Oscar fields in recent history, there were plenty of nominations surprises Thursday. Not too long ago, it seemed that people like Angelina Jolie and Nicole Kidman were destined for best actress nominations, while general audience disinterest in the young Donald...
Netflix raises prices for subscription services
It’s going to cost more to watch your favorite movies and TV shows on Netflix, the subscription service announced Tuesday. Rates for most plans in the United States, Canada, Portugal and Argentina are increasing, The Washington Post reported. Netflix’s ad-supported plan increased from $6.99 to $7.99 monthly, and a standard...
From ‘The Brutalist’ to ‘Wicked,’ where to watch this year’s top awards movies
The 2025 movie awards season is in full swing but figuring out where to watch everything can be overwhelming. Are they streaming? For free? In theaters? Only in Los Angeles and New York? Take one of the big winners of the Golden Globes, “The Brutalist,” a film that’s been dominating...
‘Emilia Pérez’ leads Oscar nominations with 13Video
As fresh fires raced across the Los Angeles region, an embattled movie industry lined up behind the Netflix narco-musical about transgender identity “Emilia Pérez” in Oscar nominations Thursday. Jacques Audiard’s “Emilia Pérez,” a Spanish language, French-made film, dominated the nominations with a leading 13 nominations, including best picture and best...
TV Talk: ‘Star Trek’ does ‘Suicide Squad;’ ‘Watson’ worth watching?Video
“Star Trek: Section 31,” a new movie streaming Friday on Paramount+, is pretty much the “Star Trek” version of “Suicide Squad” as a group of rogues team up to save the galaxy. Initially intended as a series, “Section 31” is set during the early seasons of “Star Trek: Discovery,” a...
Everything you need to know about the 2025 Sundance Film Festival
PARK CITY, Utah — As many in the entertainment industry navigate the devastating effects of the California wildfires, some will soon be decamping to cleaner air in the mountains. The annual Sundance Film Festival begins Thursday in Park City, Utah. The 41st edition of Robert Redford’s brainchild will, as always,...
Estimated 24.6 million TV viewers watched inauguration coverage, fewest since 2013
NEW YORK — An estimated 24.6 million television viewers watched President Donald Trump’s second inauguration, the smallest audience for the quadrennial ceremony since Barack Obama’s second inauguration in 2013. The Nielsen Company said Tuesday that viewership was down from Joe Biden’s 2021 inauguration, which reached 33.8 million, and Trump’s first...
TV Q&A: Will WQED-TV improve its signal?Video
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen answers reader questions every Wednesday at TribLive.com in a column that also appears in the Sunday Tribune-Review. Q: Any word on the possibility of WQED-TV improving its signal strength? Between their reduced signal, my antenna not doing the job, and no PBS app...
Trevor Noah is tapped to once again host the Grammy Awards
The Grammy Awards are sticking with their man: Trevor Noah will host the show for the fifth consecutive time, the Grammys announced Tuesday. The comedian, best known for hosting Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” from 2015 to 2022, will once more be front and center Feb. 2, when the awards...
TV Talk: Pittsburgher absent from 4th season of ‘Joe Schmo’Video
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. Through its first three seasons — in 2003, 2004 and 2013 — there was always a Pittsburgher as the mark on “The Joe Schmo Show,” a faux reality competition where all the contestants are actors...
Tony Award-winning British actor Joan Plowright, widow of Laurence Olivier, dies at 95
LONDON — Award-winning British actor Joan Plowright, who with her late husband Laurence Olivier did much to revitalize the U.K.’s theatrical scene in the decades after World War II, has died. She was 95. In a statement Friday, her family said Plowright died the previous day at Denville Hall, a...
David Lynch, visionary filmmaker behind ‘Twin Peaks’ and ‘Mulholland Drive,’ dies at 78
David Lynch, the filmmaker celebrated for his uniquely dark and dreamlike vision in such movies as “Blue Velvet” and “Mulholland Drive” and the TV series “Twin Peaks,” has died just days before his 79th birthday. His family announced the death in a Facebook post on Thursday. “There’s a big hole...
TV Talk: ‘Severance’ back after delay; Manganiello’s Steelers cakesVideo
In the battle for viewers’ eyeballs, Apple TV+ remains a bit of a small fish in the large streaming pond, but Hollywood folks like to work for the service because Apple has more money to spend on shows than traditional Hollywood studios, although reports suggest even Apple is trying to...
Fox will stream next month’s Super Bowl on Tubi for free
LOS ANGELES — Fox will stream the Super Bowl on Tubi for the first time, giving streamers and cord cutters a chance to watch the big game on Feb. 9 for free. Tubi was acquired by Fox Corporation in 2020. It is a free, ad-supported streaming service. It is the...
Movie Review: ‘Wolf Man’ is a toothless reboot that’ll make you bark at the moonVideo
Blake Lovell thinks taking his wife and young daughter to rural Oregon to pack up his dead father’s belongings is a good idea. It’s a break from their urban life, might help repair his fraying marriage and reconnect them all with nature. “It would be good for us,” he argues....
Film class: 4 Shaler Area School District 6th graders part of statewide movie-making project
Four sixth graders in the Shaler Area School District are wearing some cool T-shirts. The image on the front is inspired by the “Wizard of Oz” film. The text on top reads “I am a proud member of the team making this movie.” “We sent the students who are part...
As Los Angeles burns, Hollywood’s Oscar season turns into a pledge drive
When the Palisades Fire broke out in Los Angeles last Tuesday, Hollywood’s awards season was in full swing. The Golden Globes had transpired less than 48 hours earlier and a series of splashy awards banquets followed in the days after. But the enormity of the destruction in Southern California has...
British author Neil Gaiman denies ever engaging in non-consensual sex as more accusers come forward
MELBOURNE, Australia — Best-selling British author Neil Gaiman released a statement Wednesday denying he had ever engaged in non-consensual sex after a magazine this week published allegations from several women, accusing him of sexual assault. The 64-year-old author of “The Sandman” comic book series and novel “American Gods” was responding...
TV Q&A: Did a KDKA-TV reporter switch stations?Video
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen answers reader questions every Wednesday at TribLive.com in a column that also appears in the Sunday Tribune-Review. Q: I was watching coverage of the Los Angeles fires on the CBS News website and saw KDKA-TV’s Barry Pintar in Los Angeles. He seemed to...
Pittsburgh pup to play in the Puppy Bowl
The Steel City will be well represented on the gridiron in February despite the Pittsburgh Steelers being out of the NFL playoffs. Centaur, a mixed breed from Animal Friends was one of the pups drafted from rescue groups nationwide to play in Puppy Bowl XXI. The original and longest running...
TV Talk: Pittsburgh native HGTV star loses home in L.A. fire
Pittsburgh native Leanne Ford, who starred with her brother Steve Ford for a few seasons on HGTV home makeover shows, posted to Instagram last week that less than a month after getting the keys to a new home in Los Angeles’ Rustic Canyon, the house was consumed by the Palisades...
Los Angeles landmarks from film and TV damaged by wildfires
The high school where Brian De Palma brought Stephen King’s “Carrie” to life, Will Rogers’ ranch house and a motel owned by William Randolph Hearst are among some of the famous structures that have been damaged or destroyed by the California wildfires. Los Angeles is a town full of landmarks,...
TV Talk: Dick Wolf gets serialized with ‘On Call’Video
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. For executive producer Dick Wolf’s first scripted streaming series, “On Call” co-creators Tim Walsh (“Chicago P.D.,” “Hightown”) and Elliot Wolf (Dick Wolf’s son who was an executive producer on the unscripted series “Law & Order:...
