Media

A statement from the editors, who were first alerted by a reader, says that “the reviews by Covert in question span many years, but one was published as recently as November 1.” He had been on staff at the paper for more than three decades. — The Star Tribune (Minneapolis)

That’s more than double the revenue from last year, and analysts say that the figure should more than double again by 2020. — The Hollywood Reporter

How have we gotten to the point where we somehow feel like we’ve seen it all before, even as movies desperately keep trying to show us things that we’ve never seen before? – New York Magazine

The podcast “My Favorite Murder” started two years ago, and “unleashed the Murderino fandom community onto the internet. Facebook is the space where the murder-minded come out to play; take any hobby, profession or pop culture touchstone and add ‘erino’ to find the niche, murder-minded community you never knew you needed. There are Teacherinos and Bakerinos, Weight Watcherinos and Brooklyn 99erinos. I typed ‘Pooperino’ into my Facebook search bar just to see if it would yield a result. It did.” – HuffPost

Sooooo, CNBC brought back the game show Deal or No Deal?, and along with it, “26 female models in matching high heels and short, skintight dresses.” Game shows might just need a bit of a rethink. – The New York Times

The director of Best Picture-winner Moonlight has loved Baldwin’s work for decades – and his new movie, If Beale Street Could Talk, is the first Hollywood big-screen production of Baldwin’s fiction. How did he do it? Persistence and delicacy (and winning an Oscar or two). – The Atlantic

The story at Washington, DC, headquarters is not super great. “Temps do almost every important job in NPR’s newsroom: they pitch ideas, assign stories, edit them, report and produce them. Temps not only book the guests heard in interviews, they often write the questions the hosts ask the guests.” – The Washington Post

The Los Angeles Film Critics Association pick Alfonso Cuarón’s ode to his childhood – and Netflix original – as Best Picture, with Best Cinematography, and runner-up awards for directing and editing. – Los Angeles Times

Shameik Moore was in the middle of filming 2015’s Dope when he wrote in his journal, “I am Miles Morales, I am Spider-Man.” That was aspirational – and it came true. Movie director Bob Persichetti says, “I can’t now imagine anyone else being that voice.” – Los Angeles Times

Director Steve McQueen and his co-writer Gillian Flynn might say the movie, starring Viola Davis at the head of a very fine cast of badass women, is feminist, or deals with racism and sexism at every level of society, but … well. “Their dialogue starts to read like promotional materials for the newest brand of Feminism Lite.”  – Vice

We’re living in a time of perpetual, distracting, cheap cliffhangers provided by a ratings-conscious president. America’s relationship to many of its long-standing institutions, from the U.S. government to the Olympics, the Super Bowl, the Emmys and the Grammys — it’s all eroding. And maybe inevitable. – Chicago Tribune

“Wednesday afternoon, comedian Kevin Hart was announced as the host for the upcoming 91st annual Academy Awards. By Thursday night, he had stepped down. The turn of events followed outcry over previous anti-gay tweets, and comments Hart made during stand-up routines nearly 10 years ago. Some of the tweets were feverishly deleted throughout the day on Thursday, leading to an Instragram video from the comedian that only made matters worse for him.” — Variety

“When the classic-movie streaming service FilmStruck shuttered last month, it caused a palpable panic among cineastes. Overstuffed with exceptional big-studio films and arthouse gems, the service represented a viable alternative to the big streamers, many of which offer relatively meager film catalogs. And FilmStruck’s demise was especially troubling when you realize just how many movies, from Oscar-winners to low-budget oddities, are completely missing from streaming services altogether. What are America’s raging Cocoon-heads supposed to do?” Ladies, gentlemen, and non-binary folks, meet Kanopy. — Wired

“Vice,” Adam McKay’s scathing Dick Cheney biopic, walked away with a leading six nominations. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the organization behind the Globes, also awarded “A Star Is Born,” “The Favourite,” and “Green Book” with three nods apiece. On the television front, “The Assassination of Gianni Versace” picked up four nominations. “Barry,” “The Kominsky Method,” and “Homecoming” scored three nominations, as did “Sharp Objects,” “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” and “A Very English Scandal.” – Variety

Comparing the platform’s decision to “hammering a nail with a skyscraper, only to have it slip through an open window,” April Glaser argues that “what banning ‘adult content’ will do, however, is eradicate one of the few mainstream, safe, and non-taboo places where people could participate in communities that openly congregate around sex and sexuality.” — Slate

Despite the growing popularity of gaming among girls, there remains a large gender divide in how many children claim it as their favourite activity: for boys it is second only to football, with 14% of four- to 12-year-olds and 21% of 13- to 18-year-olds saying it was their favourite activity, compared to 3% of girls. – The Guardian

“The director Ryan Coogler’s 2015 film, … was an act of subversion by Coogler and his co-writer Aaron Covington, and an oddly moving act of humility by Sylvester Stallone, who allowed his career-defining character, an avatar of white masculinity, to be transformed into a vehicle of redemption for Creed’s black protagonist — a role traditionally played by black actors [for white protagonists]. … This is how the meaning of the series itself, particularly the first four films, changed: from the story of an indomitable white boxer, to one about the roots of a friendship that created a debt Rocky must repay.” — The Atlantic

“One of the biggest criticisms of the Peak TV era is the phenomenon of Netflix Bloat. We’ve all constantly got so much good television to watch that we’ve become much less tolerant when serialised programmes take their foot off the . … But with an anthology series, you can just dip in and out.” Problem is, “by their very nature, anthologies are notoriously patchy affairs. Every episode requires a brand new idea, and good ideas are hard to come by.” — The Guardian

Wait, what? Yes, after Sinclair fell afoul of the FCC, it’s Nexstar swooping in. “The deal would create a new king of local TV, unseating Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. … Nexstar had been interested in Tribune last year before Sinclair had agreed to buy it.”

Whoa. The film about Queen Anne and two of her courtiers – and their rivalry – won “a record haul of 10 prizes, including best film, best actress for Olivia Colman, best supporting actress for Rachel Weisz and best director for Yorgos Lanthimos.”

Spike Lee says, “This is a good time to be a filmmaker … the more places that stream, they need product. They need people, they need young people. And it gives filmmakers an opportunity because there’s just more outlets.”

Sometimes it takes real-life models to get more realistic animation, and this animator just happened to have two of his own on hand.

Hengdian claims to be the world’s largest outdoor set – but there are 13 sets, and a creation of the Forbidden City that is only a bit smaller than the real thing in Beijing.

This canine-welcoming cinema and coffeeshop (with dog-friendly treats) in Wales is for you.