Movies/TV category, Page 65
TV Q&A: Is Celina Pompeani Mathison leaving ‘Pittsburgh Today Live’?
Q: Is Celina Pompeani Mathison leaving PTL? She was at the Pens practice on the show earlier this month, and they were saying goodbye to her. I know she is pregnant and didn’t think she was taking time off already. — Deb, via Facebook Rob: Pompeani Mathison isn’t expected to...
Netflix to bring down the curtain on its DVD-by-mail service
SAN FRANCISCO — Netflix is poised to shut down the DVD-by-mail rental service that set the stage for its trailblazing video streaming service, ending an era that began a quarter century ago when delivering discs through the mail was considered a revolutionary concept. The DVD service, which still delivers films...
‘Flashdance’ at 40: Director Adrian Lyne’s films are in again
“Flashdance” was one of those lighting-in-a-bottle movies that somehow perfectly captured its moment. Directed by Adrian Lyne, the movie’s atmospheric, neon-saturated style, brisk pacing, infectious music, dynamic dancing and a starmaking performance by Jennifer Beals — whose off-the-shoulder sweatshirt became an immediate fashion sensation — all helped to define the...
Fox, Dominion reach settlement over false election claimsVideo
WILMINGTON, Del. — Fox and Dominion Voting Systems reached a settlement Tuesday in the voting machine company’s defamation lawsuit, averting a trial in a case that exposed how the top-rated network chased viewers by promoting lies about the 2020 presidential election. An attorney for Dominion said the settlement was for...
TV and film writers authorize strike over pay, other issues
LOS ANGELES — Unionized film and television writers have voted overwhelmingly to give their leaders the authority to call a strike if a new contract agreement is not reached with producers. In an email to members Monday, the negotiating committee of the Writers Guild of America said nearly 98% of...
Review: ‘Beau Is Afraid’ is stuck in a 1-note nightmareVideo
Beau may be afraid but Ari Aster certainly isn’t. Of the many words used to describe the writer-director’s previous two films — “Hereditary” and “Midsommar” — timidity was never of them. This is a filmmaker who has sent Toni Collette skittering across the ceiling and intricately arranged mutilated bodies the...
Pittsburgh Pop podcast: ‘Love is Blind’ delay, pre-Emmy program deluge, ‘Beef,’ Boris Becker doc and Bert Kreischer stand-up
In this episode of the “Pittsburgh Pop” podcast, host Tim Benz and TV Talk columnist Rob Owen discuss Pittsburgh pop culture news of the moment, including updates on several shows filmed in Pittsburgh: “Mayor of Kingstown,” “American Rust,” “The Deliverance,” “Rustin.” The pair also discuss the Netflix delay of the...
TV Talk: Pinhead actor from ‘Hellraiser’ lives in Pittsburgh, guest stars on ‘Gotham Knights’
Doug Bradley, the British actor who made Pinhead a horror icon in the “Hellraiser” films that began in 1987, now resides in Pittsburgh. And this month, Bradley gets introduced as Joe Chill on The CW’s “Gotham Knights.” Chill is in prison for the murders of Bruce Wayne’s parents. Bradley, 68,...
Netflix keeps ‘Love Is Blind’ fans waiting for live reunion
LOS ANGELES — Love isn’t patient, love isn’t kind — at least if you ask the fans of Netflix’s “Love Is Blind.” Viewers had to wait more than an hour to watch the Season 4 reunion special set to stream live Sunday — Netflix’s second-ever live event on its own...
‘Mario’ tops charts again; ‘Beau is Afraid’ wins in limited
“The Super Mario Bros. Movie” scored the best second weekend ever for an animated movie in North American theaters with $87 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday. The family-friendly Universal release dropped a slim 41% from its record-making opening weekend. With $94 million from international showings, “Mario’s”...
Judge delays trial over Fox News and 2020 election lies
NEW YORK — The Delaware judge overseeing a voting machine company’s $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News announced late Sunday that he was delaying the start of the trial until Tuesday. He did not cite a reason. The trial, which has drawn international interest, had been scheduled to start...
TV Talk: Jennifer Garner returns to TV in ‘Last Thing He Told Me’ adaptationVideo
Actress Jennifer Garner came to fame on TV — notably in ABC’s “Alias” (2001-06) — and 2023 marks her return to the medium, first on Starz’s “Party Down” revival and now taking the lead in Apple TV+’s “The Last Thing He Told Me,” now streaming. Based on the 2021 novel...
Actor Drake Bell found safe after being declared missing
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Jared “Drake” Bell, an actor best known as a star of the Nickelodeon television show “Drake & Josh,” was found safe on Thursday, hours after authorities in Florida said he was “missing and endangered.” Bell was in touch with police officers and wasn’t in danger, Daytona...
Look who’s back: Donald Trump’s big return to Fox News
NEW YORK — For several months, Fox News treated Donald Trump like yesterday’s news. But now the former president has come roaring back at the popular network for conservative viewers, most notably since his indictment in New York on hush-money charges. The Trump revival was on display Tuesday night, when...
Local production updates on ‘American Rust,’ ‘Mayor of Kingstown,’ ‘Deliverance’; ‘Piano Lesson’ goes to AtlantaVideo
Production will wrap next week on season two of Amazon Freevee’s “American Rust,” which was filming Tuesday at South Second Street and Grant Avenue in Duquesne. The familiar sounds of Hollywood on the Mon echoed up the grassy slope of Grant Avenue Park: “Last looks,” “Rolling! Quiet please!,” “Cut!,” “Going...
New streaming app to ‘Max’ programming from HBO, Discovery
Warner Bros. Discovery unveiled a streaming service Wednesday combining iconic HBO programming such as “The Sopranos” with a mix of unscripted TV series in a push to reap more subscribers from what so far has been a muddled media merger. The $16-per-month service, called Max, will be released May 23...
TV Talk: Morningside woman talks about competing on ‘Jeopardy!’
For Morningside resident Laura Caton, it’s always been a goal to compete on the syndicated TV game show “Jeopardy!” and in January she did just that, flying to Los Angeles to film tonight’s episode (7:30 p.m. WPXI-TV) at the Sony lot in Culver City. “Jeopardy!” tapes a week’s worth of...
Jeremy Renner attends premiere, months after snowplow crush
LOS ANGELES — Jeremy Renner attended the premiere for his new series Tuesday, capping a remarkable recovery less than four months after the “Avengers” star was nearly killed in a snowplow accident. Renner was surrounded by family and supporters at the “Rennervations” premiere in Los Angeles, where he posed for...
TV Q&A: Is KDKA-TV’s Chris DeRose related to former anchor Gabrielle DeRose?
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: Is KDKA-TV’s Chris DeRose any relation to Gabrielle DeRose? — Jim, Brookville Rob: I have to admit, reading quickly I first thought this was another...
Why are there so many good TV shows to watch right now?
Picture May 17, 2001. In the final seconds of the season seven finale of “Friends,” Jennifer Aniston’s Rachel reveals she’s pregnant — but who’s the father? This was a classic May sweeps cliffhanger, luring viewers and reaping advertising dollars for NBC. Most shows used to kick off in the fall,...
As streamers cut costs, TV shows — and residuals — vanish
Actor Diana-Maria Riva is all too familiar with one of her shows being canceled. For a performer, it’s a painful, unfortunate part of show business. But this was different. In December, Riva was floored when she found out that “Gordita Chronicles,” her recently canceled family comedy, would be removed from...
The anime hit ‘Suzume’ and Shinkai’s cinema of cataclysmVideo
NEW YORK — Makoto Shinkai was never the same filmmaker after the 2011 earthquake stuck Japan. When the tsunami and quake ravaged the Tōhoku region of northern Japan and prompted a nuclear meltdown, Shinkai, a now 50-year-old director and animator of some of the most popular anime features in the...
Pittsburgh Pop podcast: ‘Succession’ shocker, ‘Unscripted’ book, new ‘Star Wars’ slate, ‘Ahsoka’ trailer
In this episode of the “Pittsburgh Pop” podcast, host Tim Benz and TV Talk columnist Rob Owen discuss pop culture news of the moment, including Sunday’s surprising turn on HBO buzz magnet “Succession.” Spoilers included! Owen also discusses the new book “Unscripted: The Epic Battle for a Media Empire and...
‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’ is a box office smash
Audiences said let’s go to the movie theater for ” The Super Mario Bros. Movie ” this weekend. The animated offering from Universal and Illumination powered up with $204.6 million in its first five days in 4,343 North American theaters, including $146.4 million over the weekend, according to studio estimates...
‘A Thousand and One’ is Teyana Taylor’s answered prayer
NEW YORK — Pulpits across America this Easter Sunday are sure to be filled with pastors preaching the longtime adage that “God may not be there when you want Him, but He’s always on time.” If they’re in need of a witness, Teyana Taylor would surely testify. “I just have...
