Review: The Beanie Bubble Charts a Toy Phenomenon and Its Founders’ Epic Rise and Fall
You can add Beanie Babies to the growing list of cultural phenomena of a particular era that are getting a film origin story. Or, in the case of The Beanie […]
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: Another Month, Another Nicolas Cage Movie That Sees the Actor Lean Into the Unhinged
Well, a month has gone by, so it’s time for a new Nicolas Cage movie. Sometimes they’re good, sometimes they’re bad, sometimes they’re crazy. But usually they’re bad. The latest, […]
Review: Disney’s Haunted Mansion Gives the Beloved Theme Park Ride a Welcome New Narrative
When I was a kid, one of the first pieces of vinyl I ever owned was an audio version of Disney’s The Haunted Mansion, containing all the music, voices and […]
Review: Ellie Kemper and Cast Don’t Get Much to Work With in Mediocre Rom-Com Happiness for Beginners
Much like with her debut film, The Volunteer, writer/director Vicky Wright chooses to place a woman in an apathetic fog at the center of her sophomore effort, Happiness for Beginners […]
Review: They Cloned Tyrone Pops Visually, and as a Sharp Parody of Conspiracy Movies
There’s just enough crazy going on in this directing debut from Juel Taylor (writer of Creed II, Shooting Stars, and of course, Space Jam: A New Legacy) to make it […]
Review: Family Secrets and Childhood Anxiety Don’t Add Much to Second-Rate Horror Film Cobweb
Adding to the long list of family dramas couched in the framework of a horror movie, Cobweb (the feature filmmaking debut of Samuel Bodin) tells the story of 8-year-old Peter […]
Review: Earth Mama Follows a Young Mother Determined to Do Right by Her Kids, Even When It’s Hard
Although many of the details are different, writer/director Savanah Leaf’s directorial feature debut portrait of Black motherhood, Earth Mama, feels like it’s cut from the same layered cloth as A.V. Rockwell’s […]
Review: New Documentary Joke Man Chronicles Comic Jackie Martling from Stand-Up to The Howard Stern Show
As someone who has been listening on and off to various incarnations of The Howard Stern Show since Stern was a local DJ in Washington, D.C. in the very early […]
Review: Christopher Nolan Gets Personal, Emotional and Political in a Sprawling, Engrossing Oppenheimer
Although it sometimes feels like we’re watching a history textbook or a lengthy biography, writer/director Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer is a sprawling, visually engrossing cinematic lesson in technology, innovation, American hubris, […]
Review: Final Cut Remakes a Japanese Cult Hit and Deftly Satirizes Low-Budget Filmmaking
You might not think the director of the Oscar-winning The Artist was the best choice for a zombie movie, but Final Cut isn’t exactly your standard-issue zombie movie. In fact, […]
Review: Rainforest Thriller Quicksand Offers Just Enough Tension, Believability to be Entertaining
‘I’m just now realizing that I kind of adore horror films in which the main threat to human life is in the title of the film. Why bother with a […]
Review: Revelatory New Documentary The League Chronicles Baseball’s Negro League and Its Deep Impact on the Sport, the Country and Chicago
One of the most insightful and talented documentary filmmakers producing works on the Black experience in America, Sam Pollard (Citizen Ashe, MLK/FBI), brings us The League, an in-depth journey through […]