Movies/TV category, Page 73
‘A Thousand and One’ wins Sundance grand jury prize
“A Thousand and One,” a drama about an impoverished single mother and her son in New York City, won the Sundance Film Festival’s grand jury prize in the U.S. dramatic competition, while “Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project” was awarded the top prize in the U.S. documentary category. This...
Harrison Ford inspires cast in new comedy ‘Shrinking’
NEW YORK — When Bill Lawrence was developing his new Apple TV+ comedy “Shrinking,” he introduced one character in the pilot script as a “Harrison Ford-type” — but never dreamed he would get the real deal. Although the showrunner has had comedy success working with big names and executive-producing hits...
Review: Even J.Lo can’t save this ‘Shotgun Wedding’Video
Spoiler alert: J.Lo looks fantastic in a wedding dress. You surely knew that, given not only the plethora of wedding-themed movies Jennifer Lopez has made over the years, from “The Wedding Planner” to “Monster-in-Law” to the recent “Marry Me,” but also her own offscreen life, of course. And now comes...
Jay Leno breaks bones in motorcycle wreck months after fire
Two months after undergoing surgery for serious burns, Jay Leno is now contending with a number of broken bones after being knocked off a motorcycle. The comedian and former “Tonight Show” host told a Las Vegas Review-Journal columnist Thursday that he broke his collarbone and two ribs and cracked his...
TV Talk: ‘Gilmore Girls’ veteran proves the MVP of ‘The Watchful Eye’Video
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. Teen-targeted TV has largely moved to online streaming — see: Amazon Prime Video’s “The Summer I Turned Pretty” — because that’s where teens are consuming entertainment. Surely the fact that Freeform’s “The Watchful Eye” will...
College basketball broadcaster Billy Packer dies at 82
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Billy Packer, an Emmy award-winning college basketball broadcaster who covered 34 Final Fours for NBC and CBS, died Thursday. He was 82. Packer’s son, Mark, told The Associated Press that his father had been hospitalized in Charlotte for the past three weeks and had several medical issues,...
‘Maybe I Do’ review: Love on the rom-com rocks, for couples both young and oldVideo
In the romantic comedy “Maybe I Do,” a young couple played by Emma Roberts and Luke Bracey debate whether marriage is in their future. She’s all in; he’s all “What?!” But this bland, beautiful duo might as well be an afterthought. The star attractions are their respective parents, played by...
TV Talk: ‘Poker Face’ gives ‘Columbo’ vibe; WPXI-TV reporter exitsVideo
PASADENA, Calif. — Miss “Columbo?” Then you might appreciate Peacock’s “Poker Face,” a modern take on the episodic detective show that’s less whodunnit (that’s shown in the opening scene of each episode) and more “howcatchem,” as premiere episode writer/director Rian Johnson (“Knives Out”) calls the show’s formula of starting with...
TV Talk: Pittsburgh native talks about her exit from ‘The Bachelor;’ ‘The Ark,’ ‘Wolf Pack’ premiereVideo
Pittsburgh native Cara Ammon made her debut and her exit on Monday’s season premiere of ABC’s “The Bachelor.” Ammon got little screen time and then she didn’t secure a rose that would have kept her on the reality competition. She wasn’t the woman who made bachelor Zach Shallcross guzzle maple...
Conservative news network Newsmax dropped by DirecTV
Many right-wing media consumers got a surprise Wednesday morning when they turned on their televisions to find Newsmax was no longer on the air. The far-right-leaning cable station was cut from DirecTV’s lineup at midnight after negotiations between the satellite service and the media outlet fell apart. “On multiple occasions,...
Review: Fleeting joys in the sublime ‘One Fine Morning’Video
Like most things, the title of Mia Hansen-Løve’s “One Fine Morning” sounds better in French. “Un Beau Matin” doesn’t have that same rom-commy ring. But it’s kind of nice to imagine a moviegoer, expecting a Hallmark movie, strolling instead into Hansen-Løve’s sublimely melancholic drama about the ineffable impermanence of life....
Lloyd Morrisett, who helped launch ‘Sesame Street,’ dies
NEW YORK — Lloyd Morrisett, the co-creator of the beloved children’s education TV series “Sesame Street,” which uses empathy and fuzzy monsters like Abby Cadabby, Elmo and Cookie Monster to charm and teach generations around the world, has died. He was 93. Morrisett’s death was announced Tuesday by Sesame Workshop,...
Movie review: Cronenberg’s son continues heritage of film freakdom with ‘Infinity Pool’Video
Infinity pools are built as optical illusions, where water seemingly has no boundary, slipping into nothingness, bleeding into the horizon. There could be no better title for Brandon Cronenberg’s latest identity crisis-as-body horror film, “Infinity Pool,” which arrives hot on the heels of 2020’s “Possessor.” Set at a high-end all-inclusive...
TV Q&A: Why was there an exclamation mark on the door of ‘The Golden Girls’ home?
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’ve been watching reruns of “The Golden Girls” and noticed on the inside of the front door there is an exclamation point. Does this mean...
Review: Star-crossed lovers tackle history in ‘You People’Video
Ezra Cohen and Amira Mohammed don’t exactly meet cute. He jumps into the backseat of her red Mini Cooper, mistaking it for his Uber and she starts punching him, thinking he’s an intruder. “Help I’m being attacked!” she screams. He apologizes and offers to guide her out of the concrete...
Pittsburgh native and Penn State grad eliminated on season premiere of ‘The Bachelor’
Season 27 of “The Bachelor” debuted Monday on ABC. One of the 30 women that was going to date star Zach Shallcross was a Pittsburgh native and Penn State University graduate. But, Cara Ammon, 27, a corporate recruiter at J.P. Morgan in New York City, did not make it past...
Oscars: Why streaming’s big nominee is an obscure German WWI epic
LOS ANGELES — The streaming business had a weaker turnout in Tuesday morning’s Oscar nominations than it has in recent years, when the pandemic kept movie fans at home and technology companies were outspending traditional studios for the buzziest titles. But Netflix’s awards season got a major boost with a...
Pittsburgh Pop podcast: Talking ‘Pradeeps,’ filmed-in-Pittsburgh ‘American Rust’
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 Pittsburgh-set but Toronto-filmed “Pradeeps of Pittsburgh” and locally-filmed “American Rust” and “Justified: City Primeval.” Owen also talks about the end of the winter 2023...
Oscar nominations 2023: All the snubs and surprises
There are always a few big surprises and heartbreaks come the morning of Oscar nominations, as much as awards strategists try to mitigate those. But the batch of nominees for the 95th Academy Awards seemed to have more than its fair share of shockers, good and bad. Here are some...
‘Everything Everywhere’ tops Oscar nominations with 11Video
The multiverse-skipping sci-fi indie hit “Everything Everywhere All at Once” led nominations to the 95th Academy Awards as Hollywood heaped honors on big-screen spectacles like “Top Gun: Maverick” and “Avatar: The Way of Water” a year after a streaming service won best picture for the first time. Daniel Scheinert and...
TV Talk: ‘How I Met Your Father’ returns with more romantic complicationsVideo
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — Sometimes it’s easy to get a recurring guest star back. For “How I Met Your Father” (Hulu’s sequel series to the 2005-14 “How I Met Your Mother”), recurring guest star Josh Peck...
Sundance doc looks into Brett Kavanaugh investigation
PARK CITY, Utah — A new documentary looks into the sexual misconduct allegations against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and raises questions about the depth of the FBI investigation in 2018. “Justice,” from filmmaker Doug Liman, debuted Friday night at the Sundance Film Festival to a sold-out theater surrounded by...
Here’s what to expect from upcoming Oscar nominations
NEW YORK — There were, admittedly, some notable distractions at last year’s ceremony, so you might have missed it: The old Oscar rules have gone out the window. A film, streamed by Apple TV+, won Hollywood’s top award without a penny of box office. But this year — plot twist!...
Coroner says actor Leslie Jordan died of natural causes
LOS ANGELES — Leslie Jordan, the actor whose wry Southern drawl and versatility made him a standout on TV series including “Will & Grace” and “American Horror Story,” died from natural causes and not from a car accident last year, the Los Angeles County coroner’s office has concluded. The 67-year-old...
TV Talk: Fox tries to woo true crime fans with ‘Accused,’ including Billy Porter-directed episodeVideo
Ever since Fox announced the anthology series “Accused,” a one-hour drama that each week introduces a new story and new characters caught up in a criminal legal case, I’ve pondered why Fox wanted this series. While season-long anthology series have thrived in recent years – think: “American Horror Story,” “American...
