Michael Cavna –

Are you Charlie Brown or Lucy? ‘The Peanuts Papers’ examines the many facets of Charles Schulz’s beloved comic strip

November 20, 2019 at 2:39 p.m.

Good ol' Charlie Brown will go trick-or-treating again soon, receiving only rock after rock. Shortly afterward, following the rituals of holiday TV, Snoopy will pop his Thanksgiving popcorn, and then...

Nick Cave has been singing about mortality for decades, and he's really good at it. Whether the narratives are biblical or pulpy, the victims innocents or death row convicts, the circumstances comprehensible or cruelly random, Cave's songs are on intimate terms with the infinite ways a life can be extinguished. And yet, "Skeleton Tree", his latest album with his estimable band, the Bad Seeds, is a relatively concise song cycle shadowed by death that feels different than all the rest. <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/music/kot/sc-music-nick-cave-skeleton-tree-ent-0916-20160916-column.html" target="_blank">Read the full review.</a>

The porgs are becoming the new stars of ‘Star Wars’

June 1, 2018 at 11:15 p.m.

Just in time for the holidays, the porgs are having their moment in the Ahch-To sun. This week's release of the latest "Last Jedi" trailer lets us hear just what...

Mike Campbell, left, and Tom Petty of the Heartbreakers perform at Wrigley Field on June 29, 2017, in Chicago.

A look back at Tom Petty’s memorable ‘Simpsons’ appearance

June 2, 2018 at 3:07 a.m.

As a screen actor, Tom Petty, the Hall of Fame rocker who died Monday, popped up in an array of eclectic places over the decades, from Kevin Costner's apocalyptic "The...

Google creates epic hip-hop Doodle to kick off 44th birthday jam

June 3, 2018 at 12:15 a.m.

The dawn of hip-hop can be traced to a fateful Bronx back-to-school party in August 1973, so to celebrate the symbolic 44th birthday Friday, Google has teamed with two superstars...

A scene from "War for the Planet of the Apes."

Is Andy Serkis our most underrated box-office draw?

June 3, 2018 at 6:47 a.m.

As Fox's "War for the Planet of the Apes" scales a $102.5 million global opening, the question also rises: Is Andy Serkis, well-known as a motion-capture actor, still underrated as...

The scene in ‘Wonder Woman’ where you can’t help but think of Syria

June 4, 2018 at 2:58 p.m.

Ninety-nine years ago, in France's Belleau Wood, American soldiers launched their first large-scale battle in "the War to End All Wars." By month's end, after nearly 10,000 men died, the...

Zack Snyder turns over ‘Justice League’ to Joss Whedon after daughter’s suicide

June 4, 2018 at 6:34 p.m.

Come November, fans and reviewers will likely see WB/DC's Justice League" and weigh the work as directed by Zack Snyder and completed by Joss Whedon. The wheels of commerce and...

‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2’ has one of the most joyous opening sequences in years

June 4, 2018 at 10:31 p.m.

James Gunn was working on a treatment for "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2? when he got the idea for what he envisioned as "the greatest opening sequence of all...

Were Walt Disney’s dying words really ‘Kurt Russell’? As Disney’s ‘Guardians’ opens, the urban legend persists

June 4, 2018 at 11:46 p.m.

James Gunn loves a good Hollywood story, so he weighs for a moment whether to embellish a bit of ol' entertainment lore. The urban legend has persisted for decades: Were...

‘Captain Marvel’ film finds its directors, the duo behind ‘Half Nelson’

June 5, 2018 at 3:44 a.m.

Much as Warner Bros. and DC sought a top female director to guide one of its main superheroines, Marvel has studiously sought one for its Captain Marvel movie. Patty Jenkins's...

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