Stars

Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens and, to a lesser extent, Ashley Benson break out of their squeaky clean child star images in "Spring Breakers" playing three of four college students whose spring break in Florida takes them from parties to jail and a criminal underworld. (The fourth is played by writer-director Harmony Korine's wife, Rachel.) Best known for their roles in Disney Channel or ABC Family shows, the 20somethings have talked about transitioning into more adult roles. Selena Gomez Age: 20 Career: Started on the pre-school show "Barney & Friends" and spent her teen years...

Yes, the title character of “Frances Ha” is a New York woman in her 20s struggling with her professional life and the romantic and platonic tiers of her personal life. Still, don't ask Greta Gerwig, who plays Frances and co-wrote the film with director and Gerwig's reported boyfriend Noah Baumbach (“Greenberg”), how Frances would interact with the girls on “Girls.” She doesn't see an overlap.   “['Girls' deals] with a slightly earlier moment of life, but for me I just feel like films and television exist in their own universes and they have their own rules,” says the 29-year-old...

Considering my - um - history with Star Trek folks, you'd think that I wouldn't be so welcome in their universe. Let's face it, the first time I met William Shatner he tried drowning a Jean-Luc Picard Action Figure that he assumed was mine. Newsflash, Captain Kirk! It wasn't! Anyhoo... Despite my checkered past with the crew of the Enterprise , the funny folks of " Improvised Star Tre k " have invited me to be a part of their show this Friday! I'll be a contestant in "The Away Mission Game" where I will be selecting my favorite...

In “The Hangover: Part III,” Justin Bartha's Doug isn't just lost or sidelined while his pals and brother-in-law deal with constant mayhem. He's kidnapped and an organized crime boss threatens his life. “I think Doug is probably looking for new friends at this point,” says Bartha, who grew up in Michigan and remembers going to Dick's Last Resort as a kid when his family came to Chicago. “His life and his family have been in danger too often. He's too normal and grounded to be in this situation anymore.” Fortunately for Doug, he won't have to be. “The Hangover: Part...

Jessy Schram laughs when I suggest she's the hardest working gal on TV these days, but she shouldn't. In the past two years, she's had plum roles in three high-profile series. The Skokie native and former Buffalo Grove resident currently can be seen at 7 p.m. Thursdays in ABC's "Last Resort" as Christine Kendal, the wife of Scott Speedman's rogue Navy officer Sam Kendal. She also stars as human-turned-alien Karen Nadler in TNT's summer hit, "Falling Skies," and played the dual role of Ashley Boyd/Cinderella in the first season of ABC's "Once Upon a Time.

Squirrelfriends, the cast is out of the bag! New Now Next has released a video on its website listing the top 12 queens who'll be in the all-stars season of "RuPaul's Drag Race. " Fan fave Pandora Boxx was already announced to be one of the ladies-in-waiting for the title of America's Next Elite Drag Superstar, but the other names are new. (BTW, every runner-up contestant from the four seasons so far was picked.) The list is: 1. Manila Luzon (runner-up, season 3) 2. Mimi Imfurst (season 3)

Hoping to change it prime time fortunes, NBC announced a bold new schedule Sunday filled with new shows and familiar stars. The network plans to introduce 17 new series during the season, including six new comedies, eight new dramas and three new reality shows. The schedule, announced by NBC's chairman of entertainment Robert Greenblatt, shakes up the network's schedule every night of the week except Sundays in the fall, which remains devoted to NBC's only sure thing--NFL football.

In 2006, "Step Up" didn't just jumpstart the career of Channing Tatum (who's having a banner year with "The Vow," "21 Jump Street" and "Magic Mike") and introduce him to his wife, "Step Up" co-star Jenna Dewan . The film sparked a franchise whose fourth installment,"Step Up Revolution," opens Friday. "Revolution" features"So You Think You Can Dance"standout Kathryn McCormick and Ryan Guzman (a commercial actor and print model) in their first major film roles. McCormick plays Emily, aspiring professional dancer...

“Project X” puts you right in the center of the action - in this case, what may be the biggest onscreen party of all time. Or to put it another way, says “Project X” co-star Jonathan Daniel Brown, the movie has an “anti-authoritarian” vibe similar to the Occupy movement, “just without the whole reforming government thing. And getting drunk and meeting girls.” The R-rated teen comedy, produced by “The Hangover” director Todd Phillips, stars Thomas Mann as Thomas, whose 17th birthday celebration promises to...

I hail from Nebraska, where I earned a Bachelor of Journalism at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. I'm RedEye's entertainment/features editor as well as TV columnist. Because I split my time with multiple duties, I don't get to write about all the TV reviews and stories I'd like. But when I do, here's how I rate shows: 4 stars = A; 3 stars = B; 2 stars = C, and 1 star = D. No stars, of course, would be an F, which I rarely give. I feel almost every show has something positive in it. What I look for first and foremost in TV shows is the emotional connection characters make with me....

You just knew "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" wasn't going to be the last animated "Star Wars" series from Lucasfilm. On Monday, the company announced it is working on a brand new TV series set to debut in the fall of 2014 on Disney and Disney XD channels. "Star Wars Rebels" will give fans of George Lucas' sci-fi franchise fresh stories before the next live-action film hits theaters in 2015. "Rebels" is set in the two decades between events of the third and fourth films, where the Empire becomes a dominant force in the galaxy, Lucasfilm said in its release.

Leonardo da Vinci doesn't just battle his inner devils in the latest episode of "Da Vinci's Demons. " He takes on Vlad the Impaler. Yes, that Vlad - Dracula. No wonder the episode, debuting at 8 p.m. CT May 17 on Starz, is called "The Devil. " The Turk (Alexander Siddig) visits Leo (Tom Riley) to offer a clue about the Book of Leaves. Leo is inspired - or tricked of drugged or something - into rounding up Zoroaster (Gregg Chillin) and Nico (Eros Vlahos) and heading to Wallachia, where they encounter Vlad Dracula in all his morose glory.

As Jenny on FX's “The League,” Katie Aselton frequently engages in the foul-mouthed, trash-talking fantasy football obsession more commonly associated with the other, hairier half of humanity. In “Black Rock,” her second film as both star and director, the 34-year-old Aselton (“The Freebie”) also puts a female face on a traditionally male story. The thriller, opening Friday, is a genre piece about survival in the woods - but doesn't feature a bunch of buff dudes and their bubbly girlfriends.

Chicago brothers Zach and Josh Sharpe will abscond to Frankfurt, Germany, at the end of May to help preside over the World Pinball Championship. They're the president and vice-president, respectively, of the International Flipper Pinball Association, the organization putting on a tournament for the best 64 pinballers in the world--a pool of players that also includes the Sharpe brothers, two of the world's top-15-ranked players. "I feel like Sy Sperling, the Hair Club for Men guy who also uses the product," Josh, 33, said with a laugh.

***1/2 (out of four) And down goes “Iron Man 3.” Touching on similar themes with far greater depth and maturity, “Star Trek Into Darkness” sets the bar for the summer blockbuster movie season. Yes, action and character development can coexist. Yes, expensive movies can embrace moral complexity. Hell yeah, a villain can be both cool and scary. He's John Harrison (Benedict Cumberbatch, pure dynamite), a Starfleet officer who goes rogue, unleashing terror on 23rd century London and a major threat to Capt.

Capt. Kirk and his first officer, Spock, probably wouldn't belt out Bon Jovi's “Livin' on a Prayer” aboard the starship Enterprise. Yet Zachary Quinto, who returns as Spock in the exciting sci-fi/action sequel “Star Trek Into Darkness,” names that song as the hypothetical theme to Kirk (Chris Pine) and Spock's relationship. It feels appropriate - if you ignore the track's romantic implications - for the film opening in IMAX May 15. The iconic characters strengthen and challenge their bond while discovering that they're only, say,...

**1/2 (out of four) To an extent, any look behind the scenes of the adult film industry carries with it a certain level of judgment. You don't often see a documentary about finance that asks white-collar types, “So, how did you wind up in a place like this ordinary office building?” Obviously, acting in films whose names I can't print here involves a different routine than the usual 9-to-5. At the end of the day, though, it's both a cliche and a generally unrecognized fact that the men and, more lucratively, women with NSFW filmographies and typically...

Chicago comedy fans have the chance to meet the cast of TBS' latest sitcom, "Sullivan & Son," just a week after its July 19 premiere. Series star Steve Byrne and co-stars Owen Benjamin, Roy Wood Jr. and Ahmed Ahmed bring their "Sullivan & Son" Tour to UP Comedy Club at 8 p.m. July 26. The cast mates and comedy club headliners will perform their standup for Chicago fans. To get the $22 tickets, go to Up Comedy Club's website . The club is located at 230 W. North Ave, 3rd Floor in Piper's Alley.

Hoping to change it prime time fortunes, NBC announced a bold new schedule Sunday filled with new shows and familiar stars. The network plans to introduce 17 new series during the season, including six new comedies, eight new dramas and three new reality shows. The schedule, announced by NBC's chairman of entertainment Robert Greenblatt, shakes up the network's schedule every night of the week except Sundays in the fall, which remains devoted to NBC's only sure thing--NFL football.

**1/2 (out of four) To an extent, any look behind the scenes of the adult film industry carries with it a certain level of judgment. You don't often see a documentary about finance that asks white-collar types, “So, how did you wind up in a place like this ordinary office building?” Obviously, acting in films whose names I can't print here involves a different routine than the usual 9-to-5. At the end of the day, though, it's both a cliche and a generally unrecognized fact that the men and, more...