Movies/TV category, Page 80
Pittsburgh Pop podcast: Talking a former Steelers player on ‘The Masked Singer;’ reviewing ‘Weird,’ ‘Blockbuster’Video
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 the unmasking of Milkshake on Fox’s “The Masked Singer” to reveal former Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell. None of the judges correctly guessed the...
Review: Movie fans will roar, growl over ’50 MGM Films’ book
“The 50 MGM Films that Transformed Hollywood: Triumphs, Blockbusters, and Fiascos,” by Steven Bingen (Lyons Press) The title of film historian Steven Bingen’s new book is reminiscent of B-movie trailers of the 1950s that breathlessly hype “The Most Important Picture of the Year!” But like many of those overripe flicks,...
Review: Serial killer thriller ‘Holy Spider’ gets stuck in its own morally murky webVideo
On April 8, 2002, Saeed Hanaei was executed for the murders of 16 women between 2000 and 2001 in the Iranian city of Mashhad. The media dubbed him the “Spider Killer” for the way he lured his victims into his lair — the same apartment he shared with his unsuspecting...
Michael Rapaport on his first film role, disrupting and 52 years of talking trash
Michael Rapaport has always been a disruptor. As a kid growing up in New York, Rapaport had a big mouth and could make people laugh, though teachers continually noted his “disruptive behavior” in class. “That’s just a genetic disposition,” says Rapaport, on the phone last month from New York. “That’s...
Phil Spector killed her. The press tarred her. Her mother wants to ‘set the story straight’
LOS ANGELES — It’s been nearly two decades since Lana Clarkson, the statuesque sword-wielding star of “Barbarian Queen” and other action films by Roger Corman, was murdered by songwriter and music producer Phil Spector at his sprawling faux French chateau in Alhambra known as the Pyrenees Castle. For most of...
From ‘Enola Holmes’ to ‘Extraction,’ Netflix bets on sequels
It’s easy to forget that the Netflix original film department is still rather young. Five years ago, the streaming service didn’t even really have one. But things move quickly in the competitive streaming world, especially when starting from scratch. Now with a robust library of proprietary and commercially minded films...
TV Talk: ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic movie debuts on Roku ChannelVideo
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. Now available on free, ad-supported streaming service Roku Channel, “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story” lives up to the first word in its title. But the suggestion in those last four words? Not so much. Yankovic...
CNBC pulls the plug on ‘The News With Shepard Smith’
NEW YORK — CNBC is ending its nightly newscast with Shepard Smith, the former Fox News anchor who moved to the business channel in 2020. KC Sullivan, who recently took over leadership of the NBCUniversal-owned outlet, told staffers in a memo Thursday that Smith’s final program will air at the...
David Duchovny and Rosemarie DeWitt embrace roles as awful people in ‘The Estate’Video
David Duchovny and Rosemarie DeWitt play cousins who are completely and utterly awful people in the new black comedy “The Estate.” But then, every major character in “The Estate,” which also stars Toni Collette, Anna Faris and Kathleen Turner, is just as terrible. And that, DeWitt and Duchovny say, is...
TV Talk: Pittsburgh-filmed ‘Dear Zoe’ debuts; ‘Blockbuster’ streams; ‘Liaisons’ comes to StarzVideo
Filmed-in-Pittsburgh coming-of-age-in-grief drama “Dear Zoe” certainly earns its Western Pennsylvania bonafides thanks to Pittsburgh native Marc Lhormer’s attention to local detail. It’s also a pleasant, heart-warming movie that, while about grief, doesn’t succumb to it. In addition to the main story — teenager Tess’ letter to deceased little sister Zoe,...
‘Causeway’ review: Jennifer Lawrence is a veteran readjusting to life, but Brian Tyree Henry is the real drawVideo
One of the top actors of his generation, it’s only a matter of time before Brian Tyree Henry lands a project that puts his talents front and center. But even in supporting roles, whenever he’s on screen, suddenly you’re locked in to what he’s doing regardless of genre. In the...
Andrew Duncan, ‘Slap Shot’ announcer Jim Carr, dies
Actor Andrew Duncan, better known to Johnstown hockey fans as fictional Charlestown Chiefs broadcaster Jim Carr, has died, according to Second City Theater, which announced the news on Monday. His age and cause of death had not been announced as of Tuesday, but Duncan told The Tribune-Democrat he was 90...
Alejandro G. Iñárritu returns with his most personal filmVideo
In 2016, Alejandro G. Iñárritu found himself walking up to the Oscars stage to pick up the best director award for the second time in two years. “I can’t believe this is happening,” he said. With his consecutive wins for “Birdman” and “The Revenant” he had become one of only...
TV Q&A: Why so many promos for WTAE’s Kristen Powers?
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: Why is WTAE-TV playing a commercial over and over and over about Kristen Powers?! I am up late and it plays so much I could...
TV Talk: Filmed-in-Pittsburgh ‘Mayor of Kingstown’ gets premiere date, trailer; WQED-TV schedules vaccine documentaryVideo
The second season of “Mayor of Kingstown,” filmed-in-Pittsburgh and starring Jeremey Renner and Dianne Wiest, will premiere on streaming service Paramount+ on Jan. 15, 2023. The drama series from executive producers Taylor Sheridan (“Yellowstone”), Hugh Dillon (“Flashpoint”) and Homewood native Antoine Fuqua (“Southpaw”) is scheduled to wrap filming later this...
Review: Mars rovers steal the show in fresh, imaginative ‘Good Night Oppy’Video
Great true stories about space exploration don’t come around too often anymore. Our pop cultural representations about NASA’s achievements (or failures) tend to be period pieces and retreads of the greatest hits. But the new documentary “Good Night Oppy,” directed by Ryan White, is an exciting and fresh story about...
TV Talk: Pittsburgh-filmed movie ‘Dear Zoe’ releases on demand, in theatersVideo
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. It’s difficult to imagine a more Pittsburgh-y movie than the indie feature “Dear Zoe.” With scenes filmed at Kennywood, on the North Shore, in the Strip District, in Squirrel Hill and Braddock; with a glimpse...
What doors will open in the next season of ‘House of the Dragon’?
When Princess Rhaenys Targaryen and her dragon Meleys busted through the floor of the Dragonpit, casually murdering hundreds of civilians during an escape from captivity at the hands of Team Green, I was not...
Pittsburgh Pop podcast: Talking Halloween costumes, where to watch ‘Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown’ for free
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 the arrival of two new reporters at KDKA-TV and the Pittsburgh premiere of locally-filmed “Dear Zoe” this week. In this Halloween podcast, the pair...
Why are we fascinated by serial killers like Jeffrey Dahmer?
When it comes to the most popular Netflix shows, only the latest season of “Stranger Things” can claim to be more widely watched than “Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story,” which racked up more than 701 million hours watched since its initial release Sept. 21. Producer Ryan Murphy’s docu-drama about the...
Review: War is hell (again) in Netflix’s new adaptation of ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’
“All Quiet on the Western Front,” directed by Edward Berger, is hardly the first movie to argue — quite persuasively — that war is hell. It is, however, the first filmed adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque’s seminal World War I novel in which the Germans actually speak German. The book’s...
Pittsburgh’s character comes out in local filmmakers’ festival shorts
When Lily Ragheb of Washington, D.C., and her husband, Ahmed, a native of Cairo, Egypt, moved to Pittsburgh in 2019, they barely had time to get acquainted with the city before the covid-19 pandemic shut most of it down. As they began to talk walks and explore Lawrenceville and the...
How horror became Hollywood’s safe bet in a scary box office climate
LOS ANGELES — Zach Cregger’s movie “Barbarian” already had to be brought back from the dead once — by film company New Regency after its financing fell apart before the start of production. So the actor-turned-director was categorically not expecting a theatrical release for his twisted horror film when he...
Netflix releases teaser trailer for filmed-in-Pittsburgh ‘Pale Blue Eye’Video
Netflix released a teaser trailer for “The Pale Blue Eye,” a film that marked a return to filming in Western Pennsylvania for star Christian Bale and director Scott Cooper, who previously filmed the 2013 “Out of the Furnace” locally. Bale also starred in the 2012 hit “Dark Knight Rises,” which...
TV Talk: ‘White Lotus’ goes to Sicily, new reporters join KDKA-TVVideo
The Hawaii-set first season of HBO’s “The White Lotus” got off to a slowish start, but became more involving and addictive as it went. Season two, again written/directed entirely by Mike White, relocates to a White Lotus property in Sicily and begins stronger and then becomes more rote through five...
