There is nothing quite like heading into the creative mind of Quentin Dupieux, a filmmaker known for quirky, sharp indies like Rubber, about a homicidal car tire, and Deerskin, about a man’s borderline inappropriate obsession with his favorite deerskin coat.…
With so much content to consume on any given platform on any given day, releasing movies these days is more a labor of love than a business endeavor. Some of the best films (or at least most notable) open theatrically…
In order to qualify for the Academy Awards for short films (in the live action, animation or documentary categories), a film must meet two main criteria: one, it must play at a film festival specially sanctioned to qualify films for…
Making any film is no small task; it can take years from start to finish. Making an animated film only complicates matters, and it’s a small miracle anytime the likes of Pixar or Laika release one of their masterpieces. In…
This year’s five films nominated for the Best Live Action Short Film Oscar hail from various regions in Europe (Ireland, Denmark, Italy, Norway and Luxembourg), and their style and subject matter are just as diverse. Now playing in theaters, the…
Co-written by spouses and frequent collaborators Dave Franco and Alison Brie (and directed by Franco), Somebody I Used to Know is essentially an art-house adaptation of My Best Friend’s Wedding, that frenetic, late-’90s rom-com that’s endured as a contemporary classic…
As has been proven time and time again, making a contemporary rom-com that both entertains and endears itself onto its audiences is tricky business. All too often, recent entries into the genre come off flat and uninspired, and attempts to…
The second feature film from Belgian filmmaker Lukas Dhont, Close may be the most devastating film of recent memory, one that grapples with very serious, very painful subjects with such grace and tenderness that one might wish to be able…
Since its publication in 1847, Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights has been adapted into numerous film versions, but only a few brave souls have tried to wrangle her complicated, multi-generational story of two well-to-do families in England’s Yorkshire Moors (and the…
Every season on Broadway, new American musicals premiere in the hopes of entering the country’s long and storied canon of productions that can be revisited and revived for decades to come. Some are more successful than others, and, in the…
At one point in Mary Nighy’s assured feature film directing debut Alice, Darling, Anna Kendrick’s distraught and defeated titular character says meekly to the two friends she’s on a weekend getaway with, “It’s not like he’s hurting me.” It’s clear…
The themes and subject matter covered in Hirokazu Kore-eda’s latest drama, a moving, gentle story of chosen family, desperate connection and generational trauma, are not easily navigated. And in lesser hands, Broker would only succeed as a smarmy, mediocre gangster…
Trying to discern Netflix’s release strategy on any given film is about as productive an exercise as shoveling your sidewalk while it’s still snowing. You’ll never really get anywhere, and you’ll just feel bad about yourself for trying. So far…
It’s said that one key to an artist’s success is knowing when to put down the paintbrush. Any work of art could go on and on, could be revised again and again, could tolerate another layer of paint or another…
The Irish vocal group Celtic Woman is more concept than band, as a glance at the member timeline on its Wikipedia page would indicate. Founded in 2004 for what was supposed to be a single concert event, the group has…
Filmmaker Noah Baumbach has made a career out of films that explore the absurdity of humanity, the seemingly arbitrary connections we forge and the ways we exhaust ourselves trying to make any of it mean anything at all. A contemporary…
I had to check the archives to be sure, but I can now say with certainty I’ve seen American Blues Theater’s It’s a Wonderful Life: Live in Chicago! no fewer than five times. As a happily returning customer, I can…
For all the theater I’ve attended in Chicago—since childhood, really—I’m slightly embarrassed to admit that this weekend marked my first visit to Michigan Avenue’s Lookingglass Theatre, the 35-year-old ensemble company that marks a lofty few accomplishments, including one Tony as…
In case there’s any question as to where I stand on this, let me start by saying plainly: Harvey Weinstein is a serial rapist and abuser and he should rot in jail. Now that that’s out of the way…on to…
I haven’t been lucky enough to manage a seat at Alinea, Chicago’s only three-star Michelin restaurant, but friends who’ve been still talk about the experience years later. They remember the creative plating, the inventive courses, the tastes and textures unlike…
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