Review: Michael Mann Drives Ferrari, Offering Thrilling Race Scenes and Compelling Family Drama
When you go deep into the woods on a public figure, you better be damn sure that their life outside of whatever it was that made them famous is a […]
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: Young People Thrive—and Crumble—Under Pressure in Competition Doc Pianoforte
Taking a page from the Spellbound playbook, Polish-born director Jakub Piatek (Prime Time) follows a handful of young contestants in the world-famous International Chopin Piano Competition, held every five years […]
Review: Immediate Family Chronicles the Legendary Musicians Backing Some of the 1970s’ Best-Known Tracks
It’s rare that documentaries get sequels, but director Denny Tedesco follows up his remarkable 2008 music doc The Wrecking Crew!—about a sizable group of L.A.-based studio musicians who played on […]
Review: Conspiracy Theories, Trust Issues Abound in Leave the World Behind, Starring Julia Roberts, Ethan Hawke and Mahersahala Ali
I’m guessing that the societal subtext of author Rumaan Alam’s National Book Award-nominated novel Leave the World Behind is a bit more subtle and sinister than the current adaptation by […]
Review: Iconic Animator Hayao Miyazaki Gifts Us a Magical, Meaningful The Boy and the Heron
Last week, I waxed poetic about the latest documentary from the legendary Frederick Wiseman, who at 93 is still making some of the most vital work of his decades-long career. […]
Review: Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget Revisits a Stop-Motion Animation Classic for a New Generation
Easily one of the most reliable and joyful animation houses functioning today, Aardman Animations delivers a sequel to one of its most beloved works, 2000’s Chicken Run (the highest-grossing stop-motion […]
Review: Werner Herzog: Radical Dreamer Attempts to Capture the Work (and Humor) of the Consummate Creator
Naturally, it’s impossible to tell the story of German-born filmmaker Werner Herzog in only 90 minutes. So what documentarian Thomas von Steinaecker has done with his film Werner Herzog: Radical […]
Review: Steeped in Religious Frenzy, Everyone Will Burn Offers a Chilling Revenge Story
From director/co-writer David Hebrero (Dulcinea), Everyone Will Burn is a terrifying revenge story, the likes of which I have never seen. The film opens in a small village in Leon, […]
Review: Eddie Murphy Faces Off with a Rogue Elf in Laughless Family Holiday Comedy Candy Cane Lane
The latest collaboration between Eddie Murphy and director Reginald Hudlin (after 1992’s Boomerang) is one of those holiday “comedies” that depends on everyone involved being stupid, a liar, and so […]
Review: Godzilla Minus One Is a Monster Movie with Heart, Direct from Japan
When the new Godzilla movie from its original Japanese production studio, Toho, opens with kamikaze pilot Kōichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki) going through an existential crisis and faking mechanical trouble so […]
Review: A Master of Action Films, John Woo has Directed Better than Dialogue-Free Revenge Thriller Silent Night
For as long as I’ve been watching films by the legendary director John Woo (I vividly remember sitting in a small New York theater in 1990 watching The Killer), I’ve […]
Review: In Menus Plaisirs – Les Troisgros, Documentarian Frederick Wiseman Brings His Usual, and Sumptuous, Knack for Intense Observation
I have written at length about the works of master documentarian Frederick Wiseman, whose style of filmmaking is passive in the filming and quite active in the editing. There’s no […]