Review: The Kickback Is Back! One Song at a Time.
It’s been a couple years since we’ve heard anything new from the band, but we have some exciting news: The Kickback has started to make noise publicly again! Currently, the group is releasing […]
Review: Aoife O’Donovan Enchants at Old Town School of Folk
Aoife O’Donovan is special. It’s easy to say that about many musicians, especially ones we hold dear, but there is something about O’Donovan that can’t be denied. Whether it be her easy […]
Dispatch: Chicago Int’l Film Festival’s Second Weekend Features Great Films for Every Taste
As the Chicago International Film Festival heads into its second (and final) weekend, there’s still plenty worth exploring at cinemas across the city. From high-profile early screenings of films like Spencer and Julia to […]
Review: Broken Nose Theatre’s Audio Play, Kingdom, Tells a Black LGBTQ Story With Heart
Arthur and Henry are long time partners; they’ve lived together for 40 years in Orlando, in the shadow of the “Magic Kingdom.” Now same-sex marriage has been legalized and the question that […]
Review: In Chronicling His Life and Work, Becoming Cousteau Paints a Complex Portrait of a Complicated Man
Like Jane Goodall and Richard Attenborough, the name Jacques Cousteau is known around the world for its association with environmental causes. Where Goodall is closely tied to primates and Attenborough to nature […]
Review: Filmmaker Wes Anderson Goes Full-Tilt Wes Anderson in Charming, Quirky The French Dispatch
Filmmaker Wes Anderson, with 10 feature films to his name (his 11th is in production), has become such a known quantity that those keeping track of these things know relatively what to […]
Review: In a Busy Year for Benedict Cumberbatch, He’s the Best Part of an Entertaining The Electric Life of Louis Wain
As we have learned from art and film history, most profoundly inspired and influential artists are also insane or at least unstable to an uncomfortable degree. From director Will Sharpe (Black Pond) […]
Preview: WTTW Celebrates Mother of Invention Viola Spolin in Inventing Improv
Tonight WTTW’s Chicago Stories premiers “Inventing Improv,” a one-hour special about “Chicago’s greatest export,” improvisation, and its visionary creator, Viola Spolin. Writer/producer Jude Leak chronicles the journey of Spolin, the daughter of […]
Preview: Sands of Aura Is a Soulslike with a Sandship
It seems like the term “soulslike” has a bit of a stigma to it. I don’t mean the term itself (though that enjoys its own controversy) but instead the genre. Some games […]
Review: Switch Perspectives in Dark Puzzler Tandem: A Tale of Shadows
I’ve been playing the slightly Tim Burton-esque Tandem: A Tale of Shadows off and on for a little while now—I even put up a couple of previews about it (here and here). […]
Review: Limited Production Value Aside, Smoke and Mirrors: The Story of Tom Savini Gives a Great Effects Artist His Due
Although it sometimes feels like a beefed-up DVD extra, the latest documentary on special makeup effects guru, actor, stuntman, director, and teacher Tom Savini is so packed full of great information and […]
Review: Unseen Reality Through the Eyes of Post 9/11 Veterans at National Veterans Art Museum
The latest exhibition at the National Veterans Art Museum (NVAM) is Scene|Unseen, featuring the works of four post 9/11 veteran/artists—Jake Baker, Jenn Hassin, Brian Kennedy and Aaron Webb. This exhibition allows viewers […]
