Knoxville.com

What an appropriate title writer-director Lisa Cholodenko chose for her family comic drama "The Kids Are All Right."

Move over, Michael Scott. Steve Carell's character in "Dinner for Schmucks" is even more oblivious than the socially inept manager that the actor plays on NBC's "The Office."

KNOXVILLE — A man with a handgun and a cloth covering his face took more than a sackful from an area Krystals fast-food restaurant tonight, according to police.

LOS ANGELES — Ellen DeGeneres is dancing off “American Idol” after one season, leaving Fox’s hit show with two vacancies on its judging panel. If the singing contest intends to revamp itself to stem a ratings slide, it has the opportunity to bring in two new faces for season 10 in January.

Musician Jon Worley says to get a real appreciation of what he does, you might have to go somewhere else. “If you take what I do in the context of East Tennessee, it’s one thing. If you take what I do and put it in the context of the Northeast, it’s a total ’nother. They ain’t never seen anything like me!”

One of the first things you notice about Mary Gauthier's new publicity photo is that she's smiling. And you can almost hear her smiling across the mobile phone.

Cadillac Sky guitarist-songwriter David Mayfield did his time playing country music before joining the bluegrass-based Cadillac Sky. He was in the touring group of country singer Andy Griggs and (Mayfield's sister) Jessica Lea Mayfield.

Kings of Leon is still on the road promoting its 2008 CD, “Only by the Night,” which features the Grammy-winning “Use Somebody.” But the band is itching to break out new material. The Nashville rockers completed a new album in May and are touring while awaiting its release, with a show the band members describe as beautiful, big and bold.

After years of experimenting with different names, musicians and sounds, Knoxville quartet Tabula Rasa had to go back to the drawing board. Now the band looks to make up for lost time, putting out a two-disc EP to be followed almost immediately with a full-length concept album.

As Prospero said in Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” : “We are such stuff as dreams are made on” — and that’s a message deeply embedded in movies. Movie dreams (and nightmares) have long entranced, delighted, confused and scared us, the latest being Christopher Nolan’s summer hit “Inception,” which has baffled and mesmerized critics and audiences since its release earlier this month.

MINNEAPOLIS - Young girls adore two things: long-lashed boys resembling girls, and unicorns.

Dogs and cats, living together ... mass hysteria? Maybe not so much. While these animals were resourceful and well-equipped enemies in the original “Cats & Dogs” from 2001, now they’re forced to band together to fight a common foe in the sequel “Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore.”

MILAN ROUGE

We compare two pop-culture subjects to see which you like better. To be included in next week's tally, vote for your favorite before noon Monday. This week's match: Cats vs. Dogs.

Blues musician EG Kight will entertain at the Great Smoky Mountain Heritage Center in Townsend.

Johnny Knoxville wasn’t cool with the idea of doing a “Jackass” movie in 3-D. “I was the last one to come on board,” he said during a party to promote the film, out in October. “I thought it might affect the relationships of the guys and what we do, and it would take forever.”

In the first five minutes of "Dinner for Schmucks" there's no doubt what will happen. However, a reliably fine ensemble of comedians make it great fun getting to where you knew you were headed all along.

To start with a cliche, where has summer gone? Despite the mid-summer hot, hot temperatures burning East Tennessee, it's nearly August. And with August comes back to school, regular bedtimes for the kids and a general lack of good-time fun and all-round laziness. It is probably still going to feel like July. That's why Dollywood Nights sounds like one of those last efforts at summer fun.

'American Idol' contestant Didi Benami was happy to be back home in Knoxville.

“American Idol” contestant Didi Benami was happy to be back in her hometown Wednesday. “It’s awesome! I love all the orange and white,” said Benami, at a media gathering backstage at Thompson-Boling Arena. “I remember coming here to see the Lady Vols. I always wanted to sing the National Anthem for a Lady Vols game ... I’d still like to.”