Movies and TV

MAMMA-MIA-2.jpeg. Christine Sherrill (Donna Sheridan), and the Company of MAMMA MIA! 25th Anniversary Tour
Photo by Joan Marcus

Things to Do in Chicago April 25-May 1: The Mix

‘Mamma Mia!’ at the Nederlander Theatre, the spring One of a Kind Show at the Mart, and the Joffrey Ballet’s “Midsummer Night’s Dream” are among some of the entertainment highlights in the week ahead.

By Mary Houlihan - For the Sun-Times

Movies and TV

'Challengers' as sexy as a tennis movie can be

Movies and TV

'Downtown Owl': '80s period piece doesn't know what it wants to be

Columnists

Watch and learn: Chicago Palestine Film Festival aims to entertain, educate

Sports Saturday

Solid FX doc 'Broken Horses' offers answers on why the animals keep dying young

Pictured is Chesa Boudin, former district attorney of San Francisco

Movies and TV

New film explores former Chicagoan Chesa Boudin’s upbringing with incarcerated parents

“Beyond Bars” includes extensive interviews with Boudin’s parents, once members of the Weather Underground radical group. It also covers his path to becoming San Francisco district attorney, and his recall in 2022.

By Erica Thompson

YE-Pop Culture Moments Gerry Turner and Theresa Nist celebrate their engagement in a scene from the finale of ABC's "The Golden Bachelor."

Entertainment and Culture

'Golden Bachelor' divorce: Gerry Turner and Theresa Nist announce split

The former couple noted that deciding where to settle down contributed to their decision to go their separate ways.

By USA TODAY

Hoa Xuande (left) stars in "The Sympathizer" alongside Robert Downey Jr., who plays four roles.

Movies and TV

A man from Vietnam feels rooted nowhere in bold HBO series 'The Sympathizer'

Adaptation of the Pulitzer-winning novel boasts intriguing characters, glorious dialogue and lots of Robert Downey Jr.

By Richard Roeper

Movies and TV

'The Absence of Eden' a border drama that's compelling and only slightly political

Zoe Saldaña and Garrett Hedlund star in a story absorbing enough that the viewer is left wanting more.

By Richard Roeper

Entertainment and Culture

Ito, Kato and the getaway Bronco: How O.J. Simpson's murder case spawned a circus

Frenzy over the star’s alleged crimes turned many side players — from Faye Resnick to Johnnie Cochran — into dubious celebrities.

By Richard Roeper

Movies and TV

Michael Douglas turns on the charm as the cheeky Founding Father in 'Franklin'

Intriguing but overlong Apple TV+ series saved by star’s multi-layered portrayal of the indulgent diplomat lobbying the French for aid.

By Richard Roeper

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in Alvin Ailey's Revelations. Photo by Dario Calmese_012.jpg

Things To Do

Things to Do in Chicago April 11-18: The Mix

Expo Chicago, a Kane Brown concert and the Chicago Latino Film Festival are among the entertainment highlights of the week ahead.

By Mary Houlihan - For the Sun-Times

Omar Chaparro (left) stars with Mercedes Hernández and Max Arciniega in "The Wingwalker."

Movies and TV

Omar Chaparro steps out of comfort zone for Chicago Latino Film Festival opener

‘These types of characters force you to go deeper,’ says the comedian, who stars in ‘The Wingwalker’ as a deported man desperate to get home to his ailing daughter.

By Gisela Orozco | Special to the Sun-Times

La Voz Chicago

Omar Chaparro estrenará ‘The Wingwalker’ en la apertura del Festival de Cine Latino de Chicago

El actor y comediante mexicano estará en la noche de apertura y en la segunda proyección del filme.

By Gisela Orozco | Special to the Sun-Times

In a post-apocalyptic America, Lucy (Ella Purnell) is forced to leave the safety of the underground shelters and venture into the outdoor wasteland in “Fallout.”

Movies and TV

'Fallout' an awesome, sometimes gruesome trip into America's wild future

On Prime Video, the hit video game transforms into a clever mix of action, social commentary and constant plot twists.

By Richard Roeper

Former police partners (Vincent Cassel, left, and Samuel L. Jackson) reunite to stop a killing spree in Scotland in "Damaged."

Movies and TV

Brooding noir 'Damaged' takes cop from Lake Shore Drive to lochs of Scotland

Samuel L. Jackson commands the screen again as Chicago detective investigating serial murders in Edinburgh.

By Richard Roeper

In this still shot from the movie "Civil War," Cailee Spaeny wears a bulletproof vest that says "press" and sits against a spray-painted wall as men in military fatigues carry guns and escort other people wearing black hoods.

Movies and TV

'Civil War': Powerful depiction of combat on U.S. soil shocks the senses

Searing saga stars Kirsten Dunst as one of the journalists witnessing explosions and executions in New York City, Pennsylvania and elsewhere.

By Richard Roeper

Anytime Harriet (Lucy Boynton) hears a song she shared with her late boyfriend, she time-travels back to that moment in "The Greatest Hits."

Movies and TV

'The Greatest Hits': Music turns on the time travel in charming love story

Story of a woman torn between two lovers — one of them dead — lands in just the right place.

By Richard Roeper

A "Chicago Fire" stunt that features a car crashed into the side of a building in the West Loop, with camera operators beneath it.

Movies and TV

'Chicago Fire' stunt featuring car crashed into West Loop building goes viral on social media

Madison Ranta, a 24-year-old TikTok user, posted a video of the stunt that garnered millions of views and had viewers wondering whether the stunt was reality.

By Katie Anthony

Movies and TV

'The First Omen' intensely depicts madness that brought us baby Damien

Chilling prequel to the 1976 horror classic is blessed with a heroine, Nell Tiger Free, who’s greatness incarnate.

By Richard Roeper

"Monkey Man" director Dev Patel also stars as a driven young man called Kid who's determined to infiltrate the city’s inner circle.

Movies and TV

'Monkey Man' pulls no punches in elaborate, entertaining fight scenes

Dev Patel stars as a revenge-minded man scheming and jabbing his way through a chaotic, highly charged city in India.

By Richard Roeper

The title character of "Ripley" (Andrew Scott) sees a grifting opportunity when he's dispatched to Italy to retrieve a shipping magnate's son.

Movies and TV

Netflix 'Ripley' remake miscalculates on actors' ages

Series looks great, but casting men in their 40s as the callow expats hurts the story.

By Richard Roeper

Things To Do

Things to do in Chicago April 4-10: The Mix

A Matthew Sweet concert, a one-man show about Chopin and exhibitions by Chicago artists Robert Earl Paige and Christina Ramberg are among the city’s entertainment highlights in the week ahead.

By Mary Houlihan - For the Sun-Times

Movies and TV

17th century social climbers canoodle their way to power in lush Starz series 'Mary & George'

Julianne Moore excels as a ruthlessly ambitious mom guiding her son into an affair with the promiscuous but paranoid king.

By Richard Roeper

Joe Flaherty performed at Second City theaters in Chicago and Toronto as well as on the company's TV series "SCTV."

Entertainment and Culture

Joe Flaherty, funnyman from 'SCTV' and Chicago's Second City, dies at 82

On ‘SCTV’ he was known as station owner Guy Caballero and monster movie host Count Floyd.

By Darel Jevens

Movies and TV

'Wicked Little Letters' a frothy showcase for Colman, Buckley as neighbors at war

The two brilliant actors lighten up in a period-piece comedy about poison-pen letters from a mysterious culprit.

By Richard Roeper

Obituaries

Chance Perdomo, star of 'Chilling Adventures of Sabrina' and 'Gen V,' dies in motorcycle crash at 27

Perdomo, who was Black and Latino, was born in Los Angeles and raised in England. Perdomo also acted in several of the ‘After’ movies and is credited in the upcoming ‘Bad Man’ alongside Seann William Scott and Rob Riggle.

By Associated Press

Chris Kennedy (left) participates in a debate in Chicago in 2018; Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (right) attends a campaign event in Oakland, California, on March 26, 2024.

Columnists

Sibling rivalry: Kennedys back Biden over one of their own — with plans to 'make up afterwards'

In an exclusive Sneed interview, Chicago businessman Chris Kennedy talked about not supporting the independent White House bid of his brother Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the family’s Oval Office chat with Joe Biden.

By Michael Sneed

Movies and TV

'A Thousand Pines' documentary delves into the lives of migrants regrowing America's forests

“The most important thing for us was to dignify these men. It is a love letter for them,” said filmmaker Sebastián Díaz Aguirre.

By Gisela Orozco | Special to the Sun-Times

Louis Gossett Jr. attends a Legacy of Changing Lives Gala on March 13, 2018, in Los Angeles. Gossett Jr., the first Black man to win a supporting actor Oscar and an Emmy winner for his role in the seminal TV miniseries “Roots,” has died at the age of 87.

Movies and TV

Louis Gossett Jr., Oscar winner who starred in 'Officer and a Gentleman,' 'Roots,' dies at 87

In 1983, Gossett became the third Black Oscar nominee in the supporting actor category. He won for his performance as the intimidating Marine drill instructor in “An Officer and a Gentleman” opposite Richard Gere and Debra Winger.

By Beth Harris | Associated Press

Giancarlo Esposito as Gray Bourgeois in Parish on AMC.

Movies and TV

Giancarlo Esposito the driving force in AMC's high-octane thriller 'Parish'

Over the course of just six fast-paced episodes, Esposito creates a memorable character in this crime drama based on the BBC One series “The Driver.”

By Richard Roeper

Movies and TV

'Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire' delivers same old monster song and dance

Despite the addition of some new characters (human and otherwise) the film comes across as a relatively uninspired and fairly forgettable chapter in the Monsterverse saga.

By Richard Roeper

Movies and TV

Carol Burnett recalls 'awful' experience performing before Elvis on 'Ed Sullivan Show'

The Emmy winner’s TV career has spanned more than 60 years, and her latest role is opposite Kristen Wiig in the Apple TV+ series “Palm Royale.”

By USA TODAY

Jussie Smollett

Illinois Supreme Court agrees to hear appeal from former 'Empire' actor Jussie Smollett

In December, an appeals court upheld the actor’s conviction and sentence for lying to Chicago police about being the victim of a hate crime in a staged attack.

By Matthew Hendrickson

Movies and TV

'Asphalt City' a dark dive into the grueling, gruesome work of NYC paramedics

Sean Penn broods effectlvely as the jaded old pro dealing with shooting victims, junkies and hostile onlookers.

By Richard Roeper