What to Watch on the Small Screen: March 2019
March supposedly marks the beginning of spring. Since this is Chicago, however, that really means that the weather will just go from extremely cold to very cold. Here are some […]
Review: Icon Isabelle Huppert Deserves Better Than Greta
There’s a moment early in Greta, the latest from director Neil Jordan’s (The Crying Game, The End of the Affair, Interview with the Vampire), where the title character (played by one of […]
Review: Timely Immigration Drama Saint Judy is Worth Seeking Out
This timely and unexpectedly good-hearted biopic tells the story of Judy Wood (the always reliable Michelle Monaghan), an attorney who moved to California with her young son Alex (Gabriel Bateman), […]
Review: A Provocative, Prolific Photographer’s Life Is Focus of Mapplethorpe
Documentary filmmaker Ondi Timoner has long been one of my favorite observers of life, in that she doesn’t just point a camera at her subjects—like comedian/activist Russell Brand (Brand: A […]
Review: As Chiwetel Ejiofor’s Directorial Debut, The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind is an Inspiration
In a time when science is considered opinion and a token in political games, it’s heartwarming to get a film that celebrates ingenuity inspired by a love of science and […]
Review: Restored Footage and Intimacy Bring Apollo 11 Mission To Life
One of the unquestionable documentary highlights of this year’s Sundance Film Festival was director Todd Douglas Miller’s (Dinosaur 13) latest, Apollo 11, a narration-free account of the NASA mission that […]
Review: The Hidden World Another Impressive Installment in the Dragon Franchise
Despite the fact that they take four years or more to make, the How To Train Your Dragon movies are some of the most consistent, visually impressive and outright engaging […]
Review: The Unexpectedly Heartfelt Fighting With My Family
I know very little about the sports-entertainment practice of the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment), outside of the movie stars it sometimes gives rise to, such as Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson […]
Review: Mourning, Belief and Unlikely Buddies in To Dust
A strange and haunting work, To Dust is the feature debut from Shawn Snyder, a veteran sound mixer who has made many shorts over the years. His latest film begins as a […]
Review: An Epic, Ambitious Never Look Away Comes Up Short
For those of us who pay attention to this sort of thing, this year’s contenders for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film are collectively the strongest group of […]
Review: A Stilted Storyline Saved by Strong Performances in Asghar Farhadi’s Everybody Knows
What’s most striking about writer/director Asghar Farhadi’s (A Separation, The Salesman) new film, Everybody Knows, even with strong performances and its setting in lush Spanish wine country taken into account, is […]
Review: Stunning Visuals Make for an Impressive, if Predictable Alita: Battle Angel
There’s almost no way to fully take in everything on display in Alita: Battle Angel, the latest from director and co-writer Robert Rodriguez. He also worked on this long-on-the-shelf script […]