Here are the early blooms of the spring arts season. Make a bouquet and share them with someone you love. National Public Housing Museum Grand Opening – 919 S. Ada St.

Val Kilmer, the brooding, versatile actor who played fan favorite Iceman in “Top Gun,” donned a voluminous cape as Batman in “Batman Forever” and portrayed Jim Morrison in “The Doors,” has died. He was 65.

Chicago-based film critic Marya E. Gates will make a book tour stop for a 35mm screening of Jane Campion’s “Bright Star” on Saturday at 11 a.m. at the Music Box Theatre. The event includes a book signing and a post-screening discussion.

Gene Hackman, the prolific Oscar-winning actor whose studied portraits ranged from reluctant heroes to conniving villains and made him one of the industry’s most respected and honored performers, has been found dead along with his wife at their home. He was 95.

Michelle Trachtenberg, a former child star who appeared in the 1996 “Harriet the Spy” hit movie and went on to co-star in two buzzy millennial-era TV shows — “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Gossip Girl” — has died. She was 39.

The movie is about Harith Augustus, a 37-year-old barber who was shot and killed by police in South Shore in July 2018. The shooting sparked immediate public outcry and legal fights for full access to police body camera video.

“We thought the best way to get into the conversation was to bypass all of the stereotypical conversations that people imagine having with people serving long-term sentences and really dive into questions that no one asks them,” said Melissa Lorraine, director and co-founding artistic director of Theatre Y.

The Chicago-area native recently returned to the city to celebrate natural hair and Black Heritage Month at the DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center. She’s on a high after starring alongside SZA in the country’s No. 1 comedy flick “One of Them Days.”

Jacques Audiard’s “Emilia Pérez,” a Spanish language, French-made film, dominated the nominations with a leading 13 nominations, including best picture and best actress for Karla Sofía Gascón, making her the first openly trans actor ever nominated for an Oscar.

David Lynch was celebrated for his uniquely dark vision in such movies as “Blue Velvet” and “Mulholland Drive” and the TV series “Twin Peaks.”

Audiences have wondered for years how the family in “Home Alone” was able to afford their beautiful Chicago-area home and now we know.

The movie, which premiered at Sundance Film Festival earlier this year and has since been nominated for several awards, is returning to theaters next week with screenings at the Gene Siskel Film Center on Dec. 23 and 28.

The Chicago International Film Festival kicks off Wednesday and will commemorate its 60th anniversary. But at the time of its founding, director and founder Michael Kutza, couldn’t have imagined what it would become.

Visionary filmmaker George A. Romero started the zombie apocalypse genre in 1968 when “Night of the Living Dead” rewrote the rules for horror movies. Romero films featured social commentary, strong minority characters and a cargo of carnage.

John Amos played James Evans Sr. on “Good Times,” which featured one of television’s first Black two-parent families. Produced by Norman Lear and co-created by actor Mike Evans, who co-starred on “All in the Family” and “The Jeffersons,” it ran from 1974-79 on CBS.

Maggie Smith, the masterful, scene-stealing actor who won an Oscar for 1969 film “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie” and gained new fans in the 21st century as the dowager Countess of Grantham in “ Downton Abbey” and Professor Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter films, died Friday. She was 89.