Our monthly round-up of trending entertainment news.

Jared Leto to star as bony villain Skeletor in Masters of the Universe

The hotly anticipated film adaptation of Masters of the Universe (‘80s kids, we’re looking at you) has cast its iconic villain. Jared Leto will star as the hyper-muscled but bony-faced Skeletor in the upcoming 2026 big-screen entry to the franchise. Notorious for his dedication to method acting, Leto will, unfortunately (or fortunately), not be able to fully apply his favourite acting style here. Reportedly, actors will go through mo-cap CGI for some of their performances, unlike the 1987 live-action adaptation, which featured serious make-up and gym work.

Horror movies galore for Valentine’s Day

Attention, Valentine’s scrooges and singles alike! Here’s a great way to banish the loneliness and bitterness: Scare your pants off with bone-chilling horror movies. First up on the gory platter is your classic slasher. Releasing this month is Heart Eyes, which features — what else — a serial killer targeting couples. On the arthouse front is Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu, releasing on V-Day itself, which lonely souls might find solace in.

For K-horror lovers, catch Song Hye-kyo’s return to the big screen in Dark Nuns, in which she plays one of two nuns determined to save a possessed young boy from an evil spirit. Who needs a sweetheart when you’ve got a bloody Valentine’s to look forward to?

Joe Alwyn tells people to move on from breakup with Taylor Swift

Two years on, and poor Joe must still field questions about his ex, Taytay. In an interview with The Guardian, the actor says regarding moving on from the relationship: “That’s something for other people to do. We’re talking about something that’s a while ago now in my life. So that’s for other people. That’s what I feel.” In the classiest way possible, he’s asked everyone to MYOB and stop obsessing, and we agree.

Demi Moore wins her first acting award

After nearly five decades in the acting industry, Moore finally got a medal — the Golden Globe for Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Musical or Comedy. In a rousing, beautiful speech, she explains how much the Golden Globe meant to her after so many years of being underestimated, especially after being dismissively dubbed a “popcorn actress” by a film producer.

Moore won the award for her starring role in body horror The Substance, an apt win considering the film’s themes. In it, a faded film star takes a black-market drug meant to transform her into a ‘better’ version of herself, and inevitably, horrors show up. Moore had considered leaving the industry — perhaps due to the lack of opportunities for older actresses — until the film’s script landed on her lap. May this win inspire better attitudes towards senior actresses within the industry.

Justin Baldoni sues The New York Times for US$250M over Blake Lively smear campaign story

The lawsuit includes a group of 10 plaintiffs, including Baldoni, publicists Jennifer Abel and Melissa Nathan (who was also a part of Johnny Depp’s PR team), and It Ends With Us producers Jamey Heath and Steve Sarowitz. Filed just before the new year, the 87-page complaint details a rebuttal to the narrative presented by The New York Times article “‘We Can Bury Anyone’: Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine.” Following this lawsuit, Baldoni is also suing both Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, their publicist Leslie Sloane, and Sloane’s PR firm for US$400 million over alleged defamation and extortion. It looks like it never ends with them, ever.

David Lynch has passed

The visionary director, storyteller, and all-round creative genius has passed away at the age of 78. Famed for his penchant for the surreal, his much-lauded works include cinematic classics like Eraserhead, Mulholland Drive, the first movie adaptation of Dune, and cult classic TV series Twin Peaks. So distinctive was his style that the term ‘Lynchian’ now describes something that has a dark secret lurking underneath an innocent veneer — characteristic of much of his work. He will be greatly missed by film and TV geeks, and those who were simply charmed by his regular weather forecasts.

TikTok banned, then unbanned the day after, in the US

When the social media giant TikTok announced that it would pull out of the American market, there was a mass exodus of American users looking for an alternative. Xiaohongshu, or RedNote, as it is known among English speakers, is a TikTok-esque app from China that recently experienced an influx of American users.

Gamely embracing the phenomenon, Chinese users have been making cheeky content targeting new users, with some that are surprisingly optimistic and positive. Duolingo, the language-learning app, has even seen an uptick in learners for its Chinese course. Social media helping people find common ground — colour us surprised.

Of course, this was before newly inaugurated US President Trump lifted the TikTok ban on 18 January, the day after the app went dark. How long will the un-ban last? Your guess is as good as ours.