Lisa Trifone
Review: A New Documentary Honors Leonard Cohen and “Hallelujah,” His Greatest Gift to Us All
It’s a credit to Leonard Cohen, the great Canadian author, poet, songwriter and performer, that his song, “Hallelujah” plays across a significant portion of Daniel Geller and Dayna Goldfine’s new […]
Review: It Came from Outer Space Is an Irreverent Good Time at Chicago Shakespeare Theater
From its home base at the far end of Navy Pier, the Chicago Shakespeare Theater routinely presents some of the best independent live theater in the city. In between innovative […]
Review: Mr. Malcolm’s List Aims for Regency-Era Romance, Lands on Something More Polite
Based on her 2009 novel of the same name, Suzanne Allain adapts Mr. Malcolm’s List for the big screen in the first truly original Austen-ite period romantic comedy in ages. […]
Review: A Star is Born in Baz Luhrmann’s Busy, Imperfect and Wildly Entertaining Elvis
It seems only right to preface this review by acknowledging that Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet, that frenetic, overdramatic, brilliantly contemporary adaptation of Shakespeare’s classic tragedy, is a formative film […]
Review: Cha Cha Real Smooth, On Learning the Dance Steps as You Go
Filmmaker Cooper Raiff (Shithouse) is only 24 years old, yet he’s delivered one of the most emotionally mature, fully formed dramas of this year’s Sundance Film Festival in Cha Cha Real […]
Review: The Franchise’s Sixth Installment, Jurassic World Dominion Makes a Case for Sticking to the Original
When it was released in 1993, one of the reasons Jurassic Park became the mega hit it remains today is the sense of wonder and grand scale filmmaker Steven Spielberg […]
Review: Despite a Slightly Dimmer Storyline, Downton Abbey: A New Era Captures Much of the Franchise’s Charms Yet Again
If you had told me over a decade ago that a prim and polished television drama from PBS set within the gilded walls of a great British estate during the […]
Review: Gender-Centric Horror Flick Men Struggles to Find Depth Beyond Trauma
A film like Men, the latest from writer/director Alex Garland (Annihilation, Ex Machina), is not going to be everyone’s cup of tea. I’m not even entirely sure it’s my cup […]
Review: With The Old Man and the Pool, Mike Birbiglia Returns to a Winning Formula of Heart and Humor
Over the last 15 years or so, chances are you’ve come across comedian, author, filmmaker, podcaster and storyteller Mike Birbiglia. It could be you’ve been a fan of his (like […]
Review: Set in the 1960s, Happening Is a Starkly Contemporary Story of Reproductive Rights
If everything in the news lately about reproductive rights (and the effort to restrict and remove them) has you feeling despondent and worried, perhaps a screening of Happening, the story […]
Review: A Breezy French Romantic Comedy, Anaïs in Love Finds Honesty, Authenticity
Perhaps because I just saw Joachim Trier’s The Worst Person in the World for a second (and just as impressive) time, Anaïs in Love, the feature directorial debut from actor […]
Review: Hatching Is Part Creature-Feature, Part Social Commentary
Part social commentary, part creature-feature, Finnish thriller Hatching succeeds in large part because it commits so diligently to its conceit, as out there as it is. Tinja (Siiri Solalinna) is the teenage […]