Film Review: Alone in Berlin, An Inspiring Rebellion
The 1947 novel “Every Man Dies Alone,” by author Hans Fallada, is best known for being one of the first anti-Nazi books published by a German writer after World War […]
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 Red Turtle, Magnificently Realized
The natural inclination after watching the Oscar-nominated, timeless, and slightly surrealistic The Red Turtle is to wonder what centuries-old mythology serves as its source material. In truth, this wordless story […]
Film Review: Fifty Shades Darker, Stupid and Loathsome
It’s true what they say: familiarity breeds contempt. And the more I get to know the characters in the Fifty Shades film, the more I find them stupid and loathsome. […]
Film Review – John Wick: Chapter 2, Unflinchingly Brutal
During the course of the first John Wick film (released in 2014), writer Derek Kolstad and first-time director Chad Stahelski (a former stunt man and coordinator) hinted at a vast […]
Film Review: The Lego Batman Movie, Is it Possible to Have Too Much of a Good Thing?
Sitting through the high-energy, brightly colored, million-jokes-per-minute The Lego Batman Movie, I was reminded of a question that I haven’t had the opportunity to ask myself in recent months: Is […]
Film Review: Saving Banksy, A Glimpse Into the Clandestine Grey Market of Purchasable Street Art
Although it doesn’t end the debate about whether street art/graffiti art/anonymous art is a fancy term for vandalism, the documentary Saving Banksy lays out the captivating story of a handful […]
Film Review: The Autopsy of Jane Doe, Richly Textured and Truly Terrifying
The richly textured and truly terrifying The Autopsy of Jane Doe has been impressing festival audiences for months now and has slowly been creeping its way across the country since […]
Film Review: The Salesman, A Methodical Examination of the Human Condition
Nominated for this year’s Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award, The Salesman reveals to us something that is rarely portrayed in movies from Iran: a detailed look at the country’s […]
Film Review: Julieta, Emotionally Gripping
Returning to his more plot-heavy yet still quite emotionally gripping style of filmmaking, writer-director Pedro Almodóvar (Talk to Her, Volver, All About My Mother) brings up Julieta, the complex, time-jumping […]
Film Review: I Am Not Your Negro, A Powerful Odyssey Into the Heart of Civil Rights
One of the many Oscar-nominated films in theaters right now is the documentary I Am Not Your Negro, a kind of personal history of the American black experience, as told […]
Film Review: Rings, No Fear or Tension to be Found
I’ve said this countless times before, but having now seen Rings, the ill-advised second sequel to the impressive Gore Verbinski-directed remake The Ring, I clearly need to say it once […]
Film Review: The Space Between Us, Missed Opportunities and Bad Decisions
I think the biggest shock about this teen-oriented science fiction adventure is that it’s not based on a YA novel. From an original screenplay by Allan Loeb and directed by […]