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Nina Metz

@ninametz.bsky.social

12K followers 570 following 8.6K posts

TV and film critic for the Chicago Tribune https://www.chicagotribune.com/author/nina-metz/ Newsletter: Nina Watches Everything https://buttondown.com/NinaWatchesEverything

www.chicagotribune.com

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Nina Metz @ninametz.bsky.social · Aug 1

I'm launching a newslettah! Please read/subscribe!

It's called Nina Watches Everything (well, not everything but a lot) about the way TV and film shape how we think and talk about the world

First up: Gambling on Rotten Tomatoes scores (and the absence of gambling in recent sports shows/movies)

Apparently you can bet on anything. But a film’s Rotten Tomatoes score?

Gambling (especially sports gambling) is everywhere ... except ironically in TV and film

buttondown.com

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Nina Metz @ninametz.bsky.social · 6m

Congratulations, Tonika Lewis Johnson!

Chicago Tribune @chicagotribune.com · 11m

Tonika Lewis Johnson’s artwork includes the acclaimed Folded Map Project. She’s one of 22 new MacArthur Fellows, announced on Wednesday.

MacArthur 2025 ‘genius grant’ winners include a Chicago photographer

Tonika Lewis Johnson’s artwork includes the acclaimed Folded Map Project. She’s one of 22 new MacArthur Fellows, announced on Wednesday.

trib.al

Reposted by Nina Metz

Democracy Now! @democracynow.org · 25m

“Stripped for Parts”: Secretive Hedge Fund Accused of Plundering U.S. Newspapers

“Stripped for Parts”: Film Explores How Hedge Fund Plundered U.S. Newspapers

The new documentary Stripped for Parts: American Journalism on the Brink looks at how hedge funds have gutted newsrooms across the country. The hedge fund strategy of “distressed asset investing” invo...

www.democracynow.org

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Mikki Kendall @karnythia.bsky.social · 19m

Just saw a Tootsie Pop commercial...talk about getting full value, they have aired that same owl my entire life

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Daniel Thomsen @saltcityheavy.industries · 1h

Speaking as another showrunner, I was very curious to read “how the sharpest showrunners are using GPT-5” and was, uh, baffled when the answer turned out to be “as a sparring partner.” The entire Ankler article feels like the only source is GPT-5 itself.

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Robert King @robertking.bsky.social · 1h

For what it’s worth:

Speaking as a showrunner with two writers rooms going on now, this article from Ankler is insane. I don’t know who the insider is, but the reporter should call bullshit. This is a GPT press release.

The Ankler @theankler.com · 19h

The “GPT-5 pass” has gone from curiosity to mandate. Scripts, trailers, pitch decks are all being filtered through an AI model that remembers every draft and forgets what originality looks like. @erikbarmack.bsky.social on Hollywood’s uneasy reset:
theankler.com/p/run-it-thr...

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stacy-marie ishmael @smi.bsky.social · 1h

criticism is not the same thing as "being mad at" for the love of all the things

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Nina Metz @ninametz.bsky.social · 2h

How Kevin Costner Lost Hollywood: On-set brawls. Courtroom battles. Epic bombs. Why the world's most bankable cowboy is suddenly shooting blanks

Via THR

How Kevin Costner Lost Hollywood

On-set brawls. Courtroom battles. Epic bombs. Why the world's most bankable cowboy is suddenly shooting blanks.

www.hollywoodreporter.com

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Nina Metz @ninametz.bsky.social · 2h

"Killing Faith" starring Guy Pearce, DeWanda Wise and Bill Pullman is in theaters. I talk with the filmmaker about making a Western, which features many scenes of gunfire, in the wake of the "Rust" tragedy

Gift link

A Chicago filmmaker talks about making a Western in New Mexico in the wake of the ‘Rust’ tragedy

Chicago writer-director Ned Crowley’s indie Western “Killing Faith” stars Guy Pearce and Bill Pullman. It’s tough to make Hollywood movies when you live in the Midwest, he said.

www.chicagotribune.com

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Reposted by Nina Metz

Aisha Harris @aishaharris.bsky.social · 11h

I wish Judy Garland would have lived long enough to guest star on an episode of MURDER, SHE WROTE. Would’ve made for a clutch HARVEY GIRLS reunion

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Andy Dehnart @andydehnart.com · 19h

I keep meaning to recommend @ninametz.bsky.social's newsletter, for gems like buttondown.com/NinaWatchesE... and buttondown.com/NinaWatchesE...

“The Golden Girls” and the death of regularity

Streaming blew regularity to pieces. It's time streamers re-embrace it.

buttondown.com

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Nina Metz @ninametz.bsky.social · 18h

Thank you for sharing, Andy 😭

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Nina Metz @ninametz.bsky.social · 20h

🤷‍♀️

this is the trailer

The Forsytes Trailer

YouTube video by MASTERPIECE PBS

www.youtube.com

Nina Metz @ninametz.bsky.social · 20h

*shows that are uncritical of the ruling classes, let's note!

Nina Metz @ninametz.bsky.social · 21h

It's no small irony that PBS — which is being targeted by a ruling class that wants to wipe it off the face of the planet — consistently serves up television shows about the ruling classes (old school tho and therefore less "tacky")

Not saying they can't offer these shows. It's just ... ironic

MASTERPIECE PBS has released the first on-set images from the upcoming period drama The Forsytes. If your readers are fans of Downton Abbey, The Gilded Age, Bridgerton or other romantic, costumes dramas, they’ll want to tune in when this series is released next year. The new photos can be seen here.

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Nina Metz @ninametz.bsky.social · 21h

In a general sense, this is a good thing

Also worth checking out the Netflix documentary “Bob Ross: Happy Accidents, Betrayal and Greed" which paints a complicated story of the company that has no connections with (or obligations to) Ross’ surviving son

www.chicagotribune.com/2021/08/24/b...

Bob Ross died in 1995, which means there haven’t been new episodes of his show, “The Joy of Painting,” in more than 25 years. And yet his celebrity might be bigger than ever. On Amazon, you can buy Bob Ross cupcake wrappers printed with his smiling face. The product includes this promotional fodder: “We suggest attempting to style your cupcake topper icing to look like a Bob Ross Afro. Color with food coloring to match his brown hair color.”

So, who profits if you plunk down money on Bob Ross merchandise, be it paint supplies or kitschy items like cupcake wrappers? That would be Bob Ross Inc., a corporate entity that has no connections with (or obligations to) Ross’ surviving son, Steve. Whether or not that’s a fair turn of events is a central question of the Netflix documentary, “Bob Ross: Happy Accidents, Betrayal and Greed.”

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Nina Metz @ninametz.bsky.social · 22h

Oh that's so interesting about video games, but it makes sense

The gerontocracy is not just for politics anymore! I wrote about this in my newsletter not long ago

Hollywood used to be run by young hotshot power brokers. Not anymore.

The Emmys this year could make history if some of the oldest nominees are winners

buttondown.com

Reposted by Nina Metz

nicole froio @nicolefroio.bsky.social · 23h

the poynter institute's embrace of AI in journalism is absolutely wild and so deeply unethical

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Denali @denali.bsky.social · 23h

“No one is wired to live with sustained stressors and traumas in our life,” Hilado said. “Prolonged chronic stress [and]exposure to trauma does change how we see ourselves, how we see the people around us, how we see our futures.”

Chicago Sun-Times @chicago.suntimes.com · 1d

A mental health expert offers coping tips for those experiencing stress from immigration operations, as the climate has created widespread fear and uncertainty.

Expert says threats of militarization and immigration enforcement fuel anxieties

One mental health expert offers tips on how to cope with the stress of immigration operations in the Chicago region.

trib.al

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Nina Metz @ninametz.bsky.social · 23h

So this is in a new book coming out this week and I’ve never seen an entire graf devoted to extolling the virtues of respecting copyright

Is this new … and a response to AI? Or have publishers been doing this for a while and I just didn’t notice?

Penguin Random House values and supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin Random House to continue to publish books for every reader. Please note that no part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner for the purpose of training artificial intelligence technologies or systems.

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Nina Metz @ninametz.bsky.social · 23h

My theory is that because executives right are, for the most part, "old" (older than Hollywood executives once were; it used to be a game of young hotshots!) that's why we're seeing so many reboots of IP that nobody under 40 remembers or has an emotional connection to

Nina Metz @ninametz.bsky.social · 1d

btw: The Mobile Criterion Closet will be at CIFF this year

There are some caveats. You gotta pay for those DVDs. There's a limit of 3 per person. And it's still not wheelchair accessible

www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/07/c...

The Criterion Mobile Closet comes to CIFF: Cinephiles will be familiar with Criterion, the home video distribution company that frequently invites actors and directors to browse the now-famed Criterion Closet in its New York offices and fill a tote bag with Criterion DVDs while they are filmed talking about their picks. These clips abound online and have become an excellent branding device for the company, which recently decided to make the experience available to the average viewer with the Criterion Mobile Closet, which will also be part of this year’s CIFF.

“When you go to the Criterion Mobile Closet, do you have to buy stuff?” someone asked on social media. “Is it just … a store?” A legitimate question. When famous people make their selections, the assumption is that they’re getting those DVDs for free.

That will not be the case here; yes, it is a store. Prices start at $19.99 and individuals will be limited to just three picks, but they do come with a 40% off coupon code.

One more note: Last year, Los Angeles-based critic Kristen Lopez, who is a wheelchair user, pointed out that the mobile closet is not wheelchair accessible. According to a festival rep, that does not appear to have changed.

Nina Metz @ninametz.bsky.social · 1d

It's probably dependent on the right lighting but the way her skin shimmers beneath the fabric is gorgeous

eve’s law @blueve.bsky.social · 1d

pretty privilege personified, anok yai

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Nina Metz @ninametz.bsky.social · 1d

Here's a look at the 61st Chicago International Film Festival, which begins next week

It's starts with a Chicago documentary about the controversy that overtook the Jackie Robinson West Little League baseball team in 2014 ... and ends with an Elizabeth Olsen comedy about the afterlife

Gift 🔗

The 61st Chicago International Film Festival opens with a very Chicago documentary, closes with an Elizabeth Olsen comedy

If moviegoing habits have diminished in recent years, that hasn’t adversely affected the Chicago International Film Festival.

www.chicagotribune.com

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Nina Metz @ninametz.bsky.social · 1d

It just seems pointless to set it in Paris (because they don't do anything specific or interesting with the setting ... so, I dunno, set it somewhere in England instead? Just a thought!)

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Gravel Influencer @gravelinfluencer.bsky.social · 1d

This is the main issue I have with so much of the coverage around e-bikes. It's not that there aren't legitimate issues. But there is a panic around e-bikes and crickets regarding the daily toll of cars. And that's because the harm of cars is just accepted. It's baked into our society.

AB @ab-cabra.bsky.social · 1d

The deference we give to drivers is astonishing: speeding, blowing through red lights, crashing without a whisper; yet we jump on non-drivers the moment they step out of line.

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