Film Review: The Fate of the Furious, Stuck in Second Gear
So what did I learn from The Fate of the Furious (installment eight of The Fast and the Furious series, in case you’re counting, which you know you are)? When […]
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.
Film Review: The Ticket, Dan Stevens Leads a Challenging Yet Smartly Written Morality Tale
In this truly odd sophomore effort from director Ido Fluk (2011’s Never Too Late), we meet James (Dan Stevens, currently playing the Beast in Beauty and the Beast), a man […]
Film Review – Smurfs: The Lost Village, An Attempted Feminist Take on a Cartoon Classic
Now hear me out before you judge. This new, fully animated Smurfs movie is nothing like the two previous, mostly live-action films (The Smurfs, The Smurfs 2). If anything, Smurfs: […]
Film Review: Gifted, What is Best For A Child Prodigy?
The concept of the new film from director Marc Webb (500 Days of Summer) seems deceptively simple but as Tom Flynn’s deft screenplay (plucked from the 2014 blacklist) scratches the […]
Film Review: Going In Style, Zach Braff’s Latest Is An Underwritten Mess
Look, there’s no getting around the fact that when you bring together three of the classiest, most recognizable older actors currently working (Oscar winners all, I should add), there’s going […]
Film Review: Your Name, An Absolute Masterpiece
Before we get started I should warn you that this review contains potential spoilers. Animation’s latest living master is Japan’s Makoto Shinkai (The Garden of Words), who is frequently (if […]
Film Review: Ghost in the Shell, Formidable and Visually Stunning
In a novel approach to reviewing this film, I’m going not going to compare it to the groundbreaking 1995 anime of the same name or the manga comic that was […]
Film Review: Mr. Gaga, A Magnetic Look at a Provocative Genius
There are certainly great performers and choreographers in the world of dance, but Israel’s Ohad Naharin, artistic director of the Batsheva Dance Company, manages to turn dance into an aggressive, […]
Film Review: The Boss Baby – Not Great But Solid Enough
Sometimes the idea for an animated film is so out there that it actually works in an absurdist way. And in the world we’re living in right now, the idea […]
Film Review: The Zookeeper’s Wife, An Important Story of Nazi Resistance
There came a point while watching The Zookeeper’s Wife where a nagging but fundamental question kept tapping at my brain. The Polish married couple at the center of the Holocaust-era […]
Broaden Your Worldview at the 2017 Doc10 Film Festival
For the second year in a row, Chicago Media Project, a non-profit organization supporting social-impact documentary film, presents the DOC10 Film Festival, running Thursday, March 30 through Sunday, April 2 […]
Film review: Wilson, Daniel Clowes’ Graphic Novel, Deserves Better Treatment
What I remember about the graphic novel Wilson by Daniel Clowes (Ghost World), from which the movie Wilson is adapted by the author, is that it’s a series of humorous, life-altering […]