Review: Strong Actors Get Lost in a Contrived The Aftermath
For reasons I’ll never quite understand, a small section of the British film industry has been obsessed for roughly 70 years with telling love stories that take place during and […]
Steve Prokopy is chief film critic for the Chicago-based arts outlet Third Coast Review. For nearly 20 years, he was the Chicago editor for Ain’t It Cool News, where he contributed film reviews and filmmaker/actor interviews under the name “Capone.” Currently, he’s a frequent contributor at /Film (SlashFilm.com) and Backstory Magazine. He is also the public relations director for Chicago's independently owned Music Box Theatre, and holds the position of Vice President for the Chicago Film Critics Association. In addition, he is a programmer for the Chicago Critics Film Festival, which has been one of the city's most anticipated festivals since 2013.
Review: The Mustang Heralds a Promising New Filmmaking Voice
It will never cease to amaze me when a first-time feature director unleashes something as confident and sure-handed as Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre’s The Mustang, which joins an unexpected series of […]
Review: Jordan Peele’s Us Revels in an Ambiguity with Bite
There’s a line spoken early in Us, the sophomore feature from writer/director Jordan Peele (Get Out) that is important but doesn’t give anything away about the film’s true nature. It’s […]
Review: Coming Of Age with Resilience in Giant Little Ones
In this unexpectedly satisfying sophomore work from writer/director Keith Behrman (2002’s Flowers & Garnet), Giant Little Ones is the story of two fairly popular high school boys—Franky (Josh Wiggins) and […]
Review: Manipulative Five Feet Apart Hits New Low for Teen Romances
I have to admit, I was genuinely shocked when I learned that this romantic-drama about a pair of teenagers, both with cystic fibrosis (CF), wasn’t based on a novel by […]
Review: Animated Wonder Park Lacks Both Director, Inspiration
For a film that attempts to celebrate creativity and the power of imagination, the animated film Wonder Park is about as uninspired as you can get. This is the sort […]
Review: The Kid Feels Like a Familiar, Special Western
The tendency of most modern Westerns is to go about as dark as you can, but few in recent memory go quite as morose as The Kid, the sophomore effort from […]
Review: As An Endurance Test, Climax May Not Be Worth the Payoff
For a filmmaker who has made a career out of emphasizing fever-dream-like visuals, Gaspar Noé (Irreversible, Enter the Void, Love) may have topped himself with his latest, Climax. This film […]
Review: Captain Marvel Origin Story Hits New, Welcome Notes in the Marvel Universe
There’s a moment in the midst of Marvel Studio’s latest superhero spectacular Captain Marvel in which Brie Larson’s space warrior character Vers (her name at that point in the story; […]
22nd European Union Film Festival Presents 60 Films at Siskel Film Center
From March 8 through April 4, the Gene Siskel Film Center brings the creative diversity and excitement of Europe to Chicago, with the 22nd Annual Chicago European Union Film Festival. […]
Review: Icon Isabelle Huppert Deserves Better Than Greta
There’s a moment early in Greta, the latest from director Neil Jordan’s (The Crying Game, The End of the Affair, Interview with the Vampire), where the title character (played by one of […]
Review: Timely Immigration Drama Saint Judy is Worth Seeking Out
This timely and unexpectedly good-hearted biopic tells the story of Judy Wood (the always reliable Michelle Monaghan), an attorney who moved to California with her young son Alex (Gabriel Bateman), […]