Joel and Ethan Coen's quietly amusing, philosophically rich tale about a beset family man ("A Serious Man") is set in a Minnesota suburb 1967, a time when the Coens themselves were coming of age outside Minneapolis.

After decades in high-society entertainment circles, Bobby Zarem is moving home. "I've been wanting to do it for a good while," Zarem said Thursday while packing memorabilia in his New York high-rise apartment. "I never wanted to leave (Savannah), actually. I love it there." The 73-year-old film promoter and Savannah native expects to move here by the end of the month, after 51 years in New York.

A Serious Man is the story of an ordinary mans search for clarity in a universe where Jefferson Airplane is on the radio and F-Troop is on TV. It is 1967, and Larry Gopnik, a physics professor at a quiet Midwestern university, has just been informed by his wife Judith that she is leaving him.

Morning, readers. *In the Guardian , Mark Lawson writes that with the death of J.D. Salinger , an era in American literature is coming to a close.

Immaculate Conception High School art students were treated to visit from Pulitzer Prize winning political and editorial cartoonist Jack Higgins last month. Higgins spent more than an hour with the lucky group of students, talking about his inspirations, motivations and the actual process of creating his award-winning cartoons for publication.

Action film director has broken through the glass ceiling.

La Crosse County will again consider the possibility of addingassisted living to the Hillview nursing home and apartment campusalong the bluffs on the east side of La Crosse.

Iowa Athletics Director Gary Barta has asked WHO-TV in Des Moines for an apology over a digital short the station ran on its weekly sports show "SoundOFF."

When you hear the title Easy Rider, there's a good chance you start humming "Born to be Wild," the rock anthem on the soundtrack that has come to represent the movie's philosophy of youth, freedom, and drugs. Peter Biskind considered the movie so significant that he put it in the title of his New Hollywood ...

Can we think of Mel Gibson simply as an action hero? A star whose personal baggage doesnt upstage his performances? I find that I can.

A weekly calendar of locals arts, film, music and CCSU events.

Clare has been in love with Henry her entire life.

The Black River Falls wrestling team continues to battle its damaged roster, but things arent all gloomy for the Tigers.

Pee-wee Herman -- aka comedian Paul Reubens -- is apparently making a comeback, reviving the red bow tie and too-small gray suit for a stage show in Los Angeles. Good timing, then, for the Gateway Film Center, which will resurrect midnight screenings at the University District theater with Pee-wee's Big Adventure .

Lasse Hallstrom's "Dear John" tells the heartbreaking story of two lovely young people who fail to find happiness together because they're trapped in an adaptation of a Nicholas Sparks novel.

Michael Cera's comic turn as a teenage nerd and his suave French alter-ego has convinced the critics he can finally front a film. Do you agree? Michael Cera has always been something of a favoured son in critical circles, despite often finding himself in the shadow of more celebrated co-stars when it comes to awards season. And yet there's a sense that the critics were all set to dismiss Nick ...

An epidemic of boredom and incivility in an age of too many options.

Roger Ebert : Lasse Hallstrom's "Dear John" tells the heartbreaking story of two lovely young people who fail to find happiness together because they're trapped in an adaptation of a Nicholas Sparks novel. Their romance leads to bittersweet loss that's so softened by the sweet characters that it feels like triumph. If a Sparks story ended in happiness, the characters might be disappointed. They ...