Elvis Mitchell and Movieline break up after a short affair

In January, longtime Hollywood journalist and KCRW host Elvis Mitchell signed on as co-chief film critic of the revamped Movieline — after not sticking on the new team for "Ebert Presents At the Movies." Now there are stories about why the Movieline gig didn't last. First, Nikki Finke — who works for the same company that runs Movieline — reported Saturday that Mitchell was terminated after mis-describing a scene in his review of "Source Code."

I've known Mitchell personally since 1996 and believe him to be a brilliant writer and reviewer. But controversy also has caught up with him again and again over the years.

At IndieWire, Anne Thompson also recalls some issues with Mitchell — she used to be his editor at Premiere — and says insubordination might have been his downfall at Movieline.

Elvis Mitchell is such a fascinating, complicated character that he deserves a mini-series. I am not kidding. I could have predicted—would have placed bets—that he wouldn’t last as film critic at Movieline, that it was a bad match—mainly because Mitchell is not internet savvy....

As I have reported before, Mitchell is not good with money. Or meeting deadlines. Filing expenses. Or doing what he says he’s going to do. He has left or lost one job after another, from NPR to the New York Times. Famously, he never turned up for a job he had accepted at the L.A. Times, nor for a job as a development exec for Sony.

Mitchell has been hosting "The Treatment" on KCRW for quite awhile, and used to write for LA Weekly.