By Chris Willman So, you say you like melodies? Putting your priorities there may consign you to minority status among 2025’s wider bloc of pop fans. But for the sonorously starved among us, a bit of manna from a more euphonious heaven has arrived in the form of “What the World Needs Now: …read more
By J. Kim Murphy HBO’s “Harry Potter” television series has honed in on a British vet for its vast ensemble of Wizarding World characters. Nick Frost, known for his turns in Edgar Wright’s comedic Cornetto trilogy, is nearing a deal to play Rubeus Hagrid, the kindly half-giant groundskeeper of Hogwarts, Variety has confirmed with …read more
By Matthew Minton In the wake of the news that “The Bachelor” showrunners Claire Freeland and Bennett Graebner are negotiating their exits from the franchise, Season 29’s Grant Ellis admits that things could have been done better. “They definitely instilled confidence in me. You know, I’m the second Black Bachelor ever. There’s some …read more
By Pat Saperstein David Steven Cohen, an Emmy-winning writer and composer who served as head writer on “Courage the Cowardly Dog,” died March 15 of cancer in Brooklyn, N.Y. He was 66. Born in Brooklyn, Cohen started out working with Steve Martin on a comedy-anthology series for CBS. He then became a writer …read more
By Naman Ramachandran DELHI DEBUT BookMyShow Live is set to bring rap superstar Travis Scott to India for the first time as part of his “Circus Maximus” world tour, with a performance scheduled for Oct. 18 at New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. The India show will be produced and promoted by BookMyShow Live, …read more
By Manuel Betancourt Seeing oneself through someone else’s eyes can be illuminating, but it can also be quite intoxicating — especially when said eyes belong to an artist eager to look at everything around him as fodder for his own artmaking. Koya Kamura’s “Winter in Sokcho” (an adaptation of Elisa Shua Dusapin’s novel …read more
By Steven J. Horowitz A judge has granted and denied charges brought against Sean “Diddy” Combs in a $30 million lawsuit from former producer Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones alleging sexual assault. Jones initially filed his suit against Combs in New York in Feb. 2024, stating that Combs made unwanted sexual advances and forced him …read more
By Abigail Lee In the upcoming second season of “The Last of Us,” the brotherly bond between Pedro Pascal’s Joel and Gabriel Luna’s Tommy continues to be a significant relationship that grounds the characters amidst the surrounding apocalyptic horror. During a press conference moderated by Variety‘s Jazz Tangcay in Los Angeles, the actor …read more
By Katcy Stephan Amazon MGM Studios’ film adaptation of the Colleen Hoover-penned psychological thriller “Verity” will be released wide in theaters on May 15, 2026. Anne Hathaway, Dakota Johnson, Josh Hartnett, Ismael Cruz Cordóva and Brady Wagner star in the movie from director Michael Showalter. The current script is written by Nick Antosca …read more
By Alissasimon Propounding one specific pro-Israel, American Jewish point-of-view, the independently financed social-issue documentary “October 8” charts and laments the alarming increase in antisemitism — particularly on university campuses and in social media — following the Oct. 7 Hamas incursion into Israel that resulted in over 1,200 deaths and the taking of …read more