Strategy: Last News

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic At last, a video game movie that’s more than just a video game movie. In theory, “Tetris” — that primitive and highly addictive block-stacking strategy game — doesn’t lend itself to the big-screen treatment any more than Rubik’s Cube or Tic-Tac-Toe might. But Noah Pink has found an ingenious solution to a classic puzzle. The screenwriter realized that there’s more to Tetris than most people knew. Namely, there’s a terrific backstory about how this Soviet-hatched computer software made its way over the Iron Curtain, and telling it could play like a Cold War thriller as three teams of Western rivals race one another to Russia to secure the rights.

A top trio from North Lanarkshire Council marked Scottish Apprenticeship Week by visiting a housing development.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Bruce Dixon and Hozefa Lokhandwala have been on the job for less than two weeks as co-CEOs of Vice Media Group. But despite the newness of their current roles, Lokhandwala and Dixon are already well versed in the inner workings of the Brooklyn-based company, having served for several years in senior roles under recently exited CEO Nancy Dubuc. Lokhandwala has been chief strategy officer at VMG since October 2018, and Dixon has held the position of CFO since 2021 and was previously CFO of Vice Studios. Both were brought in by Dubuc — who departed the company Feb. 24 after nearly five years as CEO — and now seek to follow in her footsteps while shaping the future of Vice, a company that has been seeking a buyer over the past year.

Dylan Mulvaney is ready for love!

A pilot scheme allowing bicycles on board Metrolink trams across Greater Manchester is now being drawn up, it's been revealed. The city region's new active travel commissioner, former Paralympian Dame Sarah Storey, has revealed she's working with transport bosses and the mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, to devise a trial.

Fears have been raised that dozens of affordable flats planned for a major housing development could ‘disappear’ within five years. Housing association Great Places wants to build 73 ‘rent-to-buy’ apartments on a former car wash site in Stockport town centre.The one and two-bedroom homes would be spread across two adjoining blocks on disused land at King Street West - part of the regeneration zone overseen by the town’s mayoral development corporation (MDC). These would be let to working households at a discounted rent, giving tenants the opportunity to save for a deposit to buy their first home.

Controversial plans to build a 'new community' of 3,500 homes on largely green belt land around Elton Reservoir have been put forward by a developer. Housebuilder Peel claim they want to invest £500m in community facilities, new primary schools, transport links, and a new public park at land west of Elton Reservoir.

EXCLUSIVE: Harvey Weinstein is looking for some new lawyers to lead his Los Angeles rape verdict appeal.

Dylan Mulvaney is opening up about those candid comments that Laverne Cox made to her at the Grammys and how she’s changed her TikTok posting strategy because of the advice.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor UPDATED: Reddit was suffering an hours-long issue on Tuesday that made the popular discussion site inaccessible for many users — and the company didn’t have an ETA on when it will be resolved. In an update at 2:43 p.m. PT, Reddit’s status page said, “We’ve identified a fix which may take some time to implement, in the meantime ready your bananas (or eat them!).” User reports of problems accessing Reddit’s website and apps spiked around noon PT on Tuesday, topping more than 60,000 outage reports, according to monitoring site Downdetector. The Reddit status page, at 12:18 p.m. PT, posted, “Investigating – Reddit is currently offline. We’re working to identify the issue” and subsequently said the problems stemmed from an “internal systems issue.”

A new family strategy has been launched by South Lanarkshire Council with the aim to bring a ‘positive impact’ to locals.

Saying that “writers are not keeping up,” the WGA said today that its upcoming negotiations for a new film and TV contract “must significantly address writer compensation.” The talks are set to begin March 20, and the current contract expires May 1.

Hilary Smith On the heels of Oscar night, I applaud the broad Asian representation among the winners and am particularly in awe of Michelle Yeoh, who made history as the first Asian woman to win the Academy Award for best actress. While this is welcome progress, we are all aware that many extraordinary filmmakers, cinematographers and craftspeople from underrepresented backgrounds remain undiscovered because they don’t have the right opportunity to break into the industry. The job market is daunting for filmmakers, media producers, editors and other early career talent, while the arts and media sectors lack a broad enough infrastructure to support accessible pathways for in-demand jobs. Job seekers need an impressive reel of visual stories just to get their foot in the door, and in a Catch-22 scenario, one can’t build that without professional experience.

Tyler Cameron was down to his last few dollars when he struck it big (from the perspective of his reputation, at least) in New York City!

Drivers could face higher prices or less choice as a result of Asda's £600m deal to buy 132 petrol stations from the Co-op, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) was warned.

Almost 150 employees of Greater Manchester Police were accused of behaviour relating to violence against women and girls in the last six months, the force has admitted.

The chances of a person developing dementia may be lowered if they adopt a certain kind of diet, according to scientists.

Jessica Alba recalled remembering a period when, in order to feel safe in Hollywood, she had to adopt a “tough” attitude.

The Last of Us” closed its first season with yet another triumph. With an audience of 8.2 million people for Episode 9, the series broke its own viewership record — a significant feat, considering that the finale was released during ABC’s telecast of the Oscars. Provided by Warner Bros. Discovery, this number accounts for those who tuned into the Sunday night airing on HBO’s cable channel as well as streams on HBO Max through the night. This isn’t the first time that “The Last of Us” has outdone itself while competing with a major awards show. Episode 4, titled “Please Hold to My Hand,” brought in 7.5 million viewers when it aired at the same time as the Grammys, which was then a series high: When “The Last of Us” debuted in January, it trailed “House of the Dragon” to become the second-most watched HBO premiere in over a decade with 4.7 million viewers. Episode 2 marked HBO’s biggest ever increase between a series’ first and second episode with 5.7 million viewers. The series then brought in 6.4 million viewers with Episode 3.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The Far East Film Festival in Udine, Italy, is back in full force in 2023, celebrating its 25th anniversary edition from April 21–29. A key component of the celebrations will be a focus on the Asian films of the 1980s. “We have never programmed these films, nor put together this kind of program before,” says Thomas Bertacche, the FEFF’s co-head. “But these were the films and directors that inspired us to shape Udine into the festival that it is today.” Pitching the historical lineup as “hidden treasures,” the selection is expected to include early works by Japan’s Kurosawa Kiyoshi, Thailand’s Nonzee Nimibutr and South Korea’s Jan Sung-woo.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Jessica Alba said on a recent episode of HBO Max and CNN’s “Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace?” that she adopted a more masculine persona as a teenager and young adult in Hollywood in order to deliberately avoid being preyed upon by various Hollywood predators. Alba started acting at age 13 and landed her breakthrough role as Max Guevara on Fox’s “Dark Angel” when she was 19 years old. The James Cameron-created series made Alba both a feminist TV icon of the early 2000s and a sex symbol. “I guess I understood that I needed to help sell the product,” Alba told Wallace when asked if it bothered her how the media objectified her as a sex symbol. “And they sell it how they do so I understood it as a business decision and a strategy. And so I was able to distance myself from it. But I guess, you know, you can’t change other people’s minds about what they may or may not think of you. I don’t think that there’s anything wrong with owning your sexuality. I just frankly was definitely not that person. I was very nervous about all of that, and I was quite uncomfortable in my own skin.”