Review: Theater Kids Rally to Save Theater Camp, a Mockumentary with Humor and Heart
It’s possible that at some point in grade school or junior high, you graced the stage for a school theater…
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…
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…
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…
Review: Loosely Tied to the 2018 Film, Bird Box Barcelona Revisits a Compelling Premise in Tense, Interesting New Ways
One of the first event movies in the relatively brief history of Netflix was 2018’s sci-fi adventure film Bird Box,…
Review: A Father and Daughter Navigate the Passage of Time in Classical Fable Scarlet
Originally titled “L’Envol” (or, Flight), the more ravishingly named (for English audiences) Scarlet is a sweeping, romantic story of the…
Review: Tom Cruise Returns with More Action, Heart and Humor in Mission: Impossible—Dead Reckoning Part One
In the two weeks leading up to my screening of Mission: Impossible—Dead Reckoning Part One, I did something I rarely…
Review: Adam Sandler Produces a Lackluster, Overly Broad Heist Comedy in The Out-Laws
I don’t want to spoil anything up front about how I feel about the new Adam Sandler-produced Netflix comedy The…
Review: Biosphere Tackles the Apocalypse, plus Gender Politics and Reproductive Rights, with Humor and Originality
For many years, Mel Eslyn has been president of Duplass Brothers Productions, one of the most prolific indie film companies…
Review: Chicago- (and Food-) Centric Series The Bear Improves in Every Way with a Miraculous Second Season
Perhaps the hardest part of making a good show is having a second season that can, at the very least,…
Recap: The Idol (S1, Ep2) — Series’ Second Episode Remains a Stale, Uncomfortable Mess
After last week’s episode of The Idol, I had no idea what to expect when I turned on the second…
Review: Joy Ride Sees Four Friends on a Journey with Plenty of Laughs, Heart and Sex
So apparently the morality police have fully returned to power, and the ’80s have officially returned in every corner of…
