Movies/TV category, Page 78
‘City of Steel’ lets former workers chronicle the rise and fall of Pittsburgh steel industry
When Bruce Spiegel was a child, he would look out his Greenfield window at the heart of American industry: the U.S. Steel Homestead Works. “I would look out into the night and watch the Homestead furnaces blowing blue flames,” Spiegel said. “I thought steel-making was never going to end.” In...
TV Q&A: When will KDKA-TV’s Jon Delano escape his attic?
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’m wondering if you could find out when KDKA-TV will let Jon Delano out of his attic? — Ken, South Park Rob: In fairness, he...
TV Talk: ‘QED Cooks’ returns with first episode since the pandemic, ‘When in Rome’Video
WQED’s Saturday morning cooking franchise series “QED Cooks” returns with its first new episode since the March 2020 onset of the covid-19 pandemic with “When in Rome” (10 a.m.-12 p.m. Saturday and airing in the same time slot Dec. 17 and 20). Taped in late October and once again featuring...
Pittsburgh Pop podcast: Talking local TV news ratings, ‘Greg Donny,’ Top 10 TV of 2022
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 return of Yinzer-accented web comedy series “Greg Donny.” Owen and Benz also discuss November sweeps ratings for local TV newscasts, which station came...
‘Wakanda Forever’ is No. 1 for 4th straight weekend
NEW YORK — “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” kept the box-office crown for the fourth straight weekend, and the comic holiday thriller “Violent Night” debuted with $13.3 million, according to studio estimates Sunday. But the biggest talking point on the weekend was a movie conspicuously absent from theaters. Had Netflix kept...
Robert Downey Jr. talks of one last film with his dad, ‘Sr.’Video
NEW YORK — Robert Downey Jr. set out to make an objective portrait, a tribute to his father, the underground filmmaking maverick Robert Downey Sr. His dad had other plans. “The key point in this is when he goes, ‘OK, I think we should split into two camps: The (expletive)...
‘George & Tammy’ pulls back the curtain on country iconsVideo
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — In preparation for their upcoming series “George & Tammy,” Michael Shannon and Jessica Chastain spent months learning the songs that George Jones and Tammy Wynette made famous, working with a vocal coach and making the pilgrimage to Nashville to record. “The studio we recorded at butted up...
Review: Will Smith-led ‘Emancipation’ is an action thrillerVideo
It comes as some relief that Antoine Fuqua’s “Emancipation,” starring Will Smith as a runaway slave in Civil War-era Louisiana, is not, at least traditionally speaking, an Oscar movie. Despite the film’s important historical backdrop, its awards-season timing and its inevitable connection to last March’s Academy Awards ceremony, the site...
TV Talk: Best scripted TV/streaming series of 2022
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. While TV and streaming offer fresh programming year-round, December remains one of the quieter TV months — that makes it a good time to catch up on shows you’ve missed. Below, you’ll find my favorites...
Pitt student wins big during ‘Wheel of Fortune’ College Week
University of Pittsburgh sophomore Noah Stockwell got the idea of competing on the popular TV game show “Wheel of Fortune” sort of as a joke. He wound up having the last laugh after winning a massive prize on an episode that aired on Nov. 24. “I figured it would be...
Hollywood can make you ‘miserable.’ ‘White Lotus’ star Aubrey Plaza just laughs it offVideo
In the second season of HBO’s “The White Lotus,” Aubrey Plaza plays Harper Spiller, a lawyer with a penchant for sarcasm who is vacationing in Italy with her husband and his friends. She’d rather read Valeria Luiselli’s “Lost Children Archive” than talk about “Ted Lasso.” And she’d rather not associate...
TV Talk: ‘Greg & Donny’ returns; sweeps ratings favor KDKA-TV, WTAE-TVVideo
Yinzerific web comedy series “Greg & Donny” hasn’t produced regular episodes since 2016, save for two pandemic specials in March and April 2020, but the series returns Dec. 6 with the first in a batch of new episodes. Unlike in past seasons where episodes were shot in advance and rolled...
New frothy TV drama series ‘Riches’ mixes money and bloodVideo
NEW YORK — There’s a new TV drama about the exploits of a stylish, privileged and super-successful fictional family whose scheming members are at each other’s throats. They make the folks at “Succession” look almost functional. “Riches,” which premieres Dec. 2 on Amazon Prime Video is set in the corporate...
‘Dateline’ profiles murder in Africa of Bianca Rudolph by former Westmoreland dentist
“Dateline” on NBC will cover a murder in Africa with connections to Westmoreland County during Friday’s episode. The long-running investigative series will focus on the 2016 death of Bianca Rudolph while on safari in Zambia with husband Larry Rudolph, who founded and once operated Hempfield-based Three Rivers Dental Group. Larry...
TV Talk: ‘Willow’ returns as Disney+ fantasy seriesVideo
In the ongoing quest to revive and dump everything-and-the-kitchen-sink onto streaming platforms, Disney+ introduces “Willow,” a series follow-up to the 1988 fantasy film about young farmer Willow Ufgood (Warwick Davis) who is tasked with protecting the baby Elora Danan from evil queen Bavmorda. At the time, “Willow” was a modest...
Tilda Swinton reunites with childhood pal Joanna Hogg for ‘Eternal Daughter’Video
As a child, Tilda Swinton always felt like an outsider, an observer of others, sometimes even in her own family. One day at the British boarding school she loathed, she met another girl, Joanna Hogg, who shared a similar worldview. (Another classmate was Diana Spencer, the future princess.) “We were...
TV Q&A: How do evening newscast hours differ from one another?
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: Local news now starts at 4 p.m. weekdays and goes for several hours. At the top of each hour, the anchors sometimes change and they...
Movie review: ‘Violent Night’ can’t decide if it wants to play naughty or niceVideo
Sometimes the holiday season can just be a little too sweet. It’s why stories like “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” endure, or movies like “Bad Santa” find success — not everyone wants to gulp down saccharine sentiments at Christmastime. Enter “Violent Night,” in which David Harbour plays a murderous Santa...
Clarence Gilyard, ‘Die Hard’ and ‘Matlock’ actor, dies at 66
NEW YORK — Clarence Gilyard Jr., a popular supporting actor whose credits include the blockbuster films “Die Hard” and “Top Gun” and the hit television series “Matlock” and “Walker, Texas Ranger,” has died at age 66. His death was announced this week by the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where...
‘Nanny’ review: Anna Diop shines in an eerie, assured feature film debutVideo
Some movies, mostly to do with how they’re marketed, keep the audience guessing as to what the hell it is, exactly, right up until the moment the lights go down or they click the play button. Horror movies do better business, so the ads tend to play up the horror...
TV Talk: Gift ideas for TV fans of Mister Rogers, ‘Downton Abbey,’ ‘Stranger Things’ and ‘V’
For the TV fan on your gift-giving list, consider one of these options: “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” — For those who crochet, this Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood crochet set ($25, Thunder Bay Press) includes 12 colors of yarn and step-by-step instructions to crochet Mister Rogers and finger puppet characters from the Neighborhood...
TV Talk: WPXI-TV off DISH Network just in time for Steelers game
It was odd enough that the ESPN “Monday Night Football” game featuring the Steelers is being simulcast locally on WPXI-TV — for years WTAE-TV has carried the local simulcast — but now it’s even stranger because Channel 11 is no longer being carried by DISH Network. Again, a retransmission fee...
Movie review: ‘White Noise’ puts a loud, brash and enjoyable spin on a Don DeLillo classicVideo
“White Noise,” Noah Baumbach’s jittery and inventive adaptation of Don DeLillo’s 1985 novel, begins with what you might call a love letter to cinema. We’ve had a lot of those recently, but this one — a college lecture on car crashes in American movies — is appreciably sharper, funnier and...
Pittsburgh Pop podcast: Talking Steelers Monday night move from WTAE to WPXI, ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ holiday specialVideo
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 why the local simulcast of tonight’s ESPN Steelers game, usually on WTAE-TV, is on WPXI-TV. It seems likely that WTAE parent company Hearst lost...
Love holiday movies? Here’s this year’s schedule
DEC. 1 8 p.m. Dolly Parton’s Mountain Magic Christmas: NBC National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation: (1989, Comedy) Chevy Chase, Beverly D’Angelo. A traditional Griswold yuletide backfires in comic fashion. AMC A Tale of Two Christmases: (2022, Romance) Katherine Barrell, Chandler Massey. A woman gets to experience two different Christmases. HALL Serving...
