Cinema, Theater & TV news

• Distinct radio voices: why we need local heroes

  26-02-2019 23:25
  Global radio is extending its geographical homogenisation by ending many local showsWhen the creators of Alan Partridge exiled the disgraced fictional BBC TV presenter to Radio Norwich, the decision saw the comedy in the idea that local radio was a home for hosts who had lost, or couldn’t win, a national slot.Later, Partridge was further humiliated by service on North Norfolk Digital, where the subjects discussed were even more parochially petty. Continue reading...
  
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• Mark Bramble, Book Writer of Broadway’s ‘Barnum,’ Dies at 68

  26-02-2019 22:52 via nytimes.com
  Mr. Bramble was a Broadway jack-of-all-trades best known for his work on the books for “Barnum” and “42nd Street,” blockbuster musicals of the 1980s.
  
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• JACK Arts Venue Finds a New Home and Some New Leadership

  26-02-2019 22:45 via nytimes.com
  This space, in Brooklyn, plans to move into new quarters by midsummer. JACK also will have a new full-time co-director, Jordana De La Cruz.
  
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• The Carpetbagger: The Oscars Work Through an Identity Crisis — for Now

  26-02-2019 21:58 via nytimes.com
  After so many scrapped plans, the fact that the show found an appealing groove is encouraging. But the academy faces many unresolved questions.
  
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• The Carpetbagger: The Oscars Finds Its Way Through an Identity Crisis — for Now

  26-02-2019 21:58 via nytimes.com
  After so many scrapped plans, the fact that the show found an appealing groove is encouraging. But the academy faces many unresolved questions.
  
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• ‘Styx’ Review: The Refugee Crisis as Moral Thriller

  26-02-2019 20:06 via nytimes.com
  A German doctor sails off on a peaceful, solitary adventure only to come across a boat filled with desperate African refugees.
  
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• Cohen to detail potential criminal conduct by Trump

  26-02-2019 19:47 via ft.com
  President's former personal lawyer and fixer will testify before House committee
  
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• Brody Stevens, Comic Who Explored His Darker Side, Dies at 48

  26-02-2019 19:04 via nytimes.com
  His subject matter included his own struggles with depression, although he said he didn’t want to be known as “the guy who had this breakdown.”
  
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• Emma Thompson Letter Explains Why She Backed Out of Movie Over Lasseter

  26-02-2019 19:02 via nytimes.com
  Thompson left the film “Luck” and criticized Skydance Animation for hiring John Lasseter, who had left Walt Disney after complaints of unwanted touching.
  
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• Exit Interview: Jeremy Pope Says Goodbye to ‘Choir Boy,’ and Hello to the Temptations

  26-02-2019 18:42 via nytimes.com
  Without missing a beat, the 26-year-old actor is moving from one Broadway show to another — and leaving behind a role he has owned since 2013.
  
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• Scores of UK radio stations to lose local programmes

  26-02-2019 17:16
  Global Radio changes likely to result in job losses as local breakfast shows are axedDozens of radio stations across the UK are to lose almost all of their local programming in a move likely to result in hundreds of job losses, the closure of dedicated radio studios and regional voices being replaced by programmes hosted from London.Global Radio has announced that it will replace the 40-plus local breakfast shows across its Capital, Smooth and Heart networks with just three nationwide programmes
  
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• Green Book producer sent angry emails to critics of the film

  26-02-2019 16:33
  Charles B Wessler, one of the Oscar-winning film’s producers, wrote to journalists at NBC and Vanity Fair in response to critical articlesA producer of Green Book, the feelgood race-relations drama that won the best picture Oscar, has sent angry emails to writers who have criticised the film.Jenni Miller, a journalist at NBC, posted the text of an email sent to her by Charles B Wessler, one of the film’s credited producers, in response to a comment piece she posted on NBC News titled
  
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• ‘Greta’ Review: Isabelle Huppert as Sweet Surrogate Mom Turned Psycho Stalker

  26-02-2019 16:30 via nytimes.com
  Huppert is the spider and Chloë Grace Moretz the fly in this psychological thriller from Neil Jordan.
  
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• 'Centuries of entitlement': Emma Thompson on why she quit Lasseter film

  26-02-2019 16:11
  In her resignation letter from the film Luck, the actor questions whether any company should work with disgraced film executive John LasseterWhen the actor Emma Thompson quit the forthcoming animation Luck last month, many assumed it was because John Lasseter had been announced as the new head of Skydance Media, the production company behind the film. This was confirmed by her publicist, but a letter shared with the Los Angeles Times on Tuesday makes plain Thompson’s level of discomfort.In
  
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• Derry Girls join Northern Ireland abortion protest

  26-02-2019 15:38
  Cast members march on Westminster to lobby secretary of state for change in lawStars of the hit television show Derry Girls have joined a group of female MPs in a march on Westminster calling for the extension of abortion rights to Northern Ireland. Related: Pro-choice activists hope Ireland’s success can be replicated in NorthContinue reading...
  
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• Angelina Jolie and Her 6 Kids Step Out for Movie Night in NYC

  26-02-2019 14:58 via feeds.eonline.com
  The gang's all here for a movie night!Such was the case for Angelina Jolie and her famous family on Monday night. Of course, it wasn't just any ordinary movie night for the star...
  
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• Spike Lee rounds on Donald Trump over Twitter attack

  26-02-2019 14:57
  Oscar-winning director responds to the president’s claim that his acceptance speech was ‘a racist hit’Spike Lee has addressed Donald Trump’s claim that his Oscars acceptance speech was a “racist hit” aimed at the president.When Lee won his first Oscar on Sunday night, he used his speech to attempt to mobilise the crowd ahead of the 2020 elections, saying: “Let’s all be on the right side of history. Make the moral choice between love versus hate. Le
  
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• Lego Movie 2 keeps How to Train Your Dragon at bay at UK box office

  26-02-2019 14:29
  Family-friendly releases draw strong half-term crowds, while Liam Neeson thriller Cold Pursuit receives a lukewarm receptionThe final days of the half-term holiday saw strong performances from family films at the UK box office. The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part led the way, declining a slim 2% from the previous weekend, and adding £6.6m for the seven days ending Sunday night. UK total after three weeks is a decent £14m. Continue reading...
  
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• 'Barely one star, at best' – fans review the return of Alan Partridge

  26-02-2019 12:49
  Can Alan still cut it in 2019, or did he fluck it up? Here are your verdicts on This Time With Alan PartridgeI thought, while it was not a ‘five star’ episode at all (I realise we are all happy Mr Partridge is back at the BBC, but enough with the hyperbole already), there was a lot of promise. And I’m sure there were things I missed that will reveal themselves on additional viewing. This seems like a more subtle Alan. Obviously, in the realms of normal people, he’s as sub
  
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• Oscars TV ratings improve for 'hostless' show

  26-02-2019 11:43
  After 2018’s record low, viewing figures increased by 11.1% – despite the shortened broadcast being without comedy skits or a hostThe much argued-over changes to the Oscars TV show format appear to have paid off, with an increase of more than 11% in audience ratings for this year’s edition.With no main host, a shortened running time, and an absence of convoluted comedy skits, the telecast looked considerably different from the year before, which had scored record low viewership
  
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• Holy joke: how God became an unlikely TV comedy staple

  26-02-2019 10:00
  In Miracle Workers and God Friended Me, God is threatening earthlings and using Facebook just months before Frances McDormand takes on the roleAs of late, the old God is more old hat than Old Testament. The image of the serious-faced Caucasian man clad in a long, flowing white beard and an even longer white robe is passé, as is the worshipful distance religious art tends to keep from him. The TV landscape of 2019 has allowed more room for an omnipotent deity than usual, all the while demy
  
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• Tuesday’s best TV: Storyville: Defying the Cutting Season, Vice Live

  26-02-2019 07:30
  An important film follows girls escaping to a safe house to avoid FGM, while the yoof channel launches an intriguing two-hour show10.30pm, BBC Four Continue reading...
  
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• Tuesday, February 26

  26-02-2019 06:00 via ft.com
  The UK’s opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn opens the door to a new referendum on Brexi…
  
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• Hugh Jackman announces Australian arena tour, as The Greatest Showman looks set for sequel

  26-02-2019 04:03
  ‘My knees are bending in ways they haven’t in a while,’ says the 50-year-old actor, of his all-singing, all-dancing live showHugh Jackman’s first world tour will be coming to Australia in August, with special guest appearances from actor and singer Keala Settle, who played the bearded woman in 2017’s Jackman-starring The Greatest Showman.The Australian actor will be accompanied by an orchestra and special guests during the global arena tour, in which he will perform
  
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• Critic’s Pick: Review: ‘Marys Seacole’ Puts Biodrama Through a Kaleidoscope

  26-02-2019 03:45 via nytimes.com
  Jackie Sibblies Drury’s sparkling new play, about the Jamaican-born nurse Mary Seacole, reinvents a dramatic trope as a dizzying hall of mirrors.
  
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• Critic’s Pick: Review: After Apartheid, Who Are ‘Boesman and Lena’?

  26-02-2019 03:45 via nytimes.com
  The fine Signature Theater revival of Athol Fugard’s 1969 play shows how a classic seemingly fixed in one era nevertheless keeps evolving.
  
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• In ‘Green Book’ Victory, Oscar Critics See an Old Hollywood Tale

  26-02-2019 02:50 via nytimes.com
  Critics of the film say it oversimplifies race relations. Its best-picture win complicated a night when the academy honored a diverse set of winners.
  
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• On Pro Basketball: The Oscars Shine an Unwanted Spotlight on … Tanking in the N.B.A.?

  26-02-2019 01:26 via nytimes.com
  Like many Knicks fans these days, Spike Lee is openly rooting for his team to lose. The N.B.A. would probably prefer he didn’t say so at the Academy Awards.
  
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• An Accident and a Penalty Renew Attention to Stunt Safety

  26-02-2019 00:02 via nytimes.com
  Two producers of “L.A.’s Finest” were hurt on the job last week, after a CBS subsidiary was cited over a “MacGyver” accident and the widow of a stunt double sued.
  
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