Review: Zombieland Sequel Reunites Original Cast, Finds Laughs Along the Way
I’m not a big fan of the lazy question “Who asked for this sequel?” If the sequel in question is, you know, good, then I guess the answer to that […]
Dispatch: Selections from Chicago Int’l Film Festival’s First Weekend of Screenings
The 55th Chicago International Film Festival is officially underway, and with ten full days of screenings to go, there’s more to see than any one person could possibly make time […]
Preview: What To Watch (and Do) at the 55th Chicago International Film Festival
A 55th anniversary is no small thing; most marriages don’t make it to that milestone, let alone annual arts events. But here we are, with the Chicago International Film Festival […]
Interview: Chicago International Film Festival From the Inside, with Artistic Director Mimi Plauché
North America’s longest-running competitive film festival, the 55th Chicago International Film Festival kicks off on October 16 at the AMC River East 21 (where nearly every festival screening will, once […]
Review: Pedro Almodóvar Directs an Antonio Banderas at His Best in Achingly Beautiful Pain and Glory
The final shot of Pedro Almodóvar’s achingly beautiful Pain and Glory is the stuff that cinematic perfection is made of. Not only is it gorgeously staged and framed, but there’s a […]
Review: Halloween Comes Early in a New, Animated The Addams Family
The first thing I noticed about this new iteration of The Addams Family is that the characters look a lot like the original iteration of the Charles Addams’ cartoon series […]
Review: Netflix’s Dolemite is My Name Lands The Laughs—And Strong Performances
It’s almost impossible to watch Eddie Murphy take on the character of world-famous stand-up performer/blaxploitation actor/rap pioneer Rudy Ray Moore and not wonder what took him so long to do […]
Review: A Scientist’s Lifelong Dedication in The Woman Who Loves Giraffes
Several years before Jane Goodall went into the jungle to study primates, a 23-year-old Canadian woman named Anne Innis Dagg traveled alone to South Africa to begin what would become […]
Review: Special Effects Aside, Action Star Will Smith Can’t Save Gemini Man
The latest from director Ang Lee (Life of Pi, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), Gemini Man is actually based on a screenplay that has been bouncing around Hollywood for more than 20 […]
Review: Aaron Paul Stars in The Parts You Lose, a Low-Key Thriller About Outsiders
On the way home from school one afternoon, a 10-year-old North Dakota boy named Wesley (newcomer Danny Murphy) stumbles upon a man (Breaking Bad’s Aaron Paul, playing a character who […]
Review: Part Crime Drama, Comedy and Romance, First Love Finds Room For It All
Next month, the world will get a new Martin Scorsese movie, one that’s already being hailed as a return to his best gangster-movie ways (and even featuring a reliable cast […]
Review: A Whirlwind of Emotion, Tragic and Comic, in Fleabag One Woman Show
Although not technically a movie, this filmed version of writer/performer Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s recent revival of her one-woman show Fleabag (which then inspired the massively successful two-season BBC series) is available […]