http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/preview/index.xml News, sports and entertainment from Kansas City Star en-us Copyright 2008 Kansas City Star Preview Extra 60 Fri, 18 Jul 2008 13:22:21 CDT http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss McClatchy Interactive's PubSys feedback@kansascity.com http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/columnists/robert_w_butler/story/709031.html http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/columnists/robert_w_butler/story/709031.html Thu, 17 Jul 2008 14:22 CDT As colorful as a peacock feather and just about as insubstantial, “Mamma Mia!” bounces along on the music of ABBA and a cast of pros who sell like there’s no tomorrow. http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/columnists/timothy_finn/story/652543.html http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/columnists/timothy_finn/story/652543.html Wed, 11 Jun 2008 05:33 CDT After a quick trip back to his hometown of Blue Springs last weekend, “American Idol” winner David Cook is back in Los Angeles, where he started work this week on his first post-‘Idol” album. He talked with us on Wednesday about that record, his hometown and other “Idol”-related issues. http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/columnists/lauren_chapin/story/706792.html http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/columnists/lauren_chapin/story/706792.html Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:45 CDT •Chef/owner John McClure of Starker’s Restaurant, 201 W. 47th St., is offering “Three for $33.” The three-course meal deal is available Monday through Thursday until Aug. 28. Diners choose between two starters, two entrees and two desserts. Tax and gratuity are not included; for reservations, call 816-753-3565. http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/preview/story/708410.html http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/preview/story/708410.html Thu, 17 Jul 2008 23:47 CDT Theater as mass entertainment has set up shop in Kansas City this week with a simple goal: Fill 13,200 seats every night through Sunday. http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/movies/story/708950.html http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/movies/story/708950.html Thu, 17 Jul 2008 12:06 CDT Can there be any doubt that China’s monumental Three Gorges Dam will indeed change China forever? http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/movies/story/709040.html http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/movies/story/709040.html Thu, 17 Jul 2008 12:31 CDT Swedish pop band ABBA wins the Eurovision TV contest with the song “Waterloo” and catapults to international fame. The group dissolves in 1982. http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/movies/story/708954.html http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/movies/story/708954.html Thu, 17 Jul 2008 12:06 CDT “The Animation Show” can’t help but be a mixed bag. Curator Mike Judge (sans former partner Don Hertzfeldt) has assembled more than two dozen short films from around the world, representing virtually every animation technique ever invented. If even half of them are good, it should count as a success. (It opens today at the Screenland Crossroads.) http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/movies/story/708955.html http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/movies/story/708955.html Thu, 17 Jul 2008 12:06 CDT  THE  ANIMATION Compilation of recent animated shorts. BEFORE  THE DARK http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/movies/story/708959.html http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/movies/story/708959.html Thu, 17 Jul 2008 12:11 CDT Information for parents deciding which movies are best for kids ages 2 to 18: “The Dark Knight”: The violence is disturbing for a PG-13, with knives, guns, bombs, fistfights, torture, strong language and drinking. Recommendation: mature high-schoolers. http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/movies/story/708962.html http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/movies/story/708962.html Thu, 17 Jul 2008 12:11 CDT “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” (Nov. 21), www. HarryPotter.com. This site hasn’t been updated with Potter No. 6. But look beyond it for a “sneak peek” with the actors and director David Yates on YouTube and www.movieweb.com. Yates even says there will be some “slapsticky Quidditch” as Ron tries out for the position of keeper. http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/movies/story/708976.html http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/movies/story/708976.html Thu, 17 Jul 2008 12:16 CDT Somewhere, there’s a dimension where Pixar animation has never existed. In that dimension, “Space Chimps” is a monstrous box-office phenom and regarded as an instant classic. http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/story/708956.html http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/story/708956.html Thu, 17 Jul 2008 12:06 CDT The top five movies now showing, according to Star movie editor Robert W. Butler: •“The Visitor” http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/story/708945.html http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/story/708945.html Thu, 17 Jul 2008 12:06 CDT “War, Inc.” is gonzo moviemaking with a bleeding heart. A satirical farce that wants to be “Dr. Strangelove” for the age of terrorism, it is a zany, nihilistic free-for-all that goes soft. http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/story/708960.html http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/story/708960.html Thu, 17 Jul 2008 12:11 CDT “THE MUSIC MAN” We got trouble! Sing along at 7 tonight at the Lawrence Public Library. http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/story/708969.html http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/story/708969.html Thu, 17 Jul 2008 12:16 CDT The late Hunter S. Thompson was a hard man to pin down. His friends swore by him. But Thompson had an undeniable dark side. His abuse of drugs and drink could turn ugly. He lived like a hermit, had a cruel and confrontational streak and a world-class gun fetish. http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/story/708978.html http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/story/708978.html Thu, 17 Jul 2008 12:16 CDT In some earlier parallel universe of Batman’s Gotham City, it might have been Gary Oldman instead of Heath Ledger cackling and conniving as the maniacal Joker. http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/story/709084.html http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/story/709084.html Thu, 17 Jul 2008 13:26 CDT John Mellencamp’s new album, “Life Death Love and Freedom,” produced by Grammy-winning producer T Bone Burnett, has been described as personal and dark. http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/story/709058.html http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/story/709058.html Thu, 17 Jul 2008 12:36 CDT “Mad Men,” AMC’s sleek drama set in the advertising world circa 1960, and FX’s legal thriller “Damages” made Emmy nominations history Thursday as the first basic cable programs to gain best-series nods. http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/story/709045.html http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/story/709045.html Thu, 17 Jul 2008 12:31 CDT Films will be screened under the stars in City Market this summer and fall in a new program launched by the market and the KC Parks & Recreation Department. http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/story/709025.html http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/story/709025.html Thu, 17 Jul 2008 12:36 CDT BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. | There’s a new attack dog at Fox News Channel, and, no, it’s not recently hired contributor Karl Rove. http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/story/708999.html http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/story/708999.html Thu, 17 Jul 2008 12:26 CDT If clowns get a bad rap, it’s only because too few people have seen the clowns of Cirque du Soleil. http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/story/706420.html http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/story/706420.html Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:25 CDT A decade and a half after releasing its previous album, Guns N’ Roses plans to put out a new song in September — on the video game “Rock Band 2.” http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/story/706423.html http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/story/706423.html Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:25 CDT In 2028, when 3-D holodecks are in every strip mall and we’ll be able to have games downloaded directly into our brains, we’ll look back wistfully on the hits of 2008. Wasn’t “Grand Theft Auto IV” quaint, we’ll muse. Aren’t our alien overlords much nicer than that nasty Locust Horde in “Gears of War 2”? http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/story/706425.html http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/story/706425.html Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:25 CDT Activision’s impending merger with “World of Warcraft” publisher Blizzard means it’s about to become even more of an industry powerhouse. Besides the “Guitar Hero” series, two of Activision’s other big names, “Call of Duty” and “Spider-Man,” will return this fall, and the company is reviving a couple of franchises that have been dormant for a few years: James Bond and “Wolfenstein.”... http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/story/706431.html http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/story/706431.html Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:25 CDT “The Dark Knight” was the last film completed by Heath Ledger, who died Jan. 22 in New York City of a prescription drug overdose. http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/story/706440.html http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/story/706440.html Thu, 17 Jul 2008 07:10 CDT Emily Mortimer, who plays a woman involved with a murder and drugs in the new “Transsiberian,” is also signed up for another “Pink Panther” even though the first one was, well, critically unacclaimed. http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/story/706449.html http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/story/706449.html Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:30 CDT Steve Rhay, general manager of a multiplex in Clovis, Calif., said he could feel the power of “The Dark Knight”… and that was two weeks ago.