I have a lot of good memories growing up of time spent with My Little Ponies and Barbies and Strawberry Shortcake dolls. It wasn’t necessarily about the dolls, all soft […]
Deepa Mehta’s filmmaking career spans decades, though she’s perhaps best known for her “Elements” Trilogy; Fire (1996), Earth (1998) and Water (2005) confront nearly every controversial or taboo subject in Indian culture, from homosexuality […]
Even if its overarching themes aren’t entirely unique, Breaking Surface, a chilling (and chilly) thriller about two sisters and their deep-water diving excursion gone very wrong, certainly gets points for […]
While 2020 has been rife with crappiness, Chicago-based Kartemquin Films is having a bit of a year (co-founder Gordon Quinn’s battle with COVID-19 early in the pandemic notwithstanding). In October, […]
In what may just hold the record for stage-to-screen adaptations, Ryan Murphy brings to Netflix a gaudy, busy, over-the-top film version of The Prom, the surprisingly well-received Broadway show that […]
Dark Black by Sam Weller Hat & Beard Press One of the opening paragraphs of Sam Weller’s short story “All the Summer Before Us” is this: “We were eighteen, me […]
There are certain things I aspire to like–cultural experiences I feel robbed of based on my tastes. Sushi. Baseball. Any sort of video game requiring me to actually think and […]
Hey folks, before we jump into the Record Store Day Black Friday details, I should warn you that there are an annoying amount of COVID-19 reminders throughout the post. We […]
Things still aren’t fully ok in the world and with Chicago tightening their rules more and more with travel restrictions, a stay-at-home advisory, and rolling back to tier 3 mitigations; […]
Chicago Protests: A Joyful Revolution by Vashon Jordan Jr. Self-published Joy is being free to say: “Look at me! Listen to me!” Joy is being free to join with others […]
Part 1 of Two Parts. Carl Smith’s Chicago’s Great Fire, published in August by Atlantic Monthly Press, is an important book of Chicago history, and a rousing crackerjack work that’s […]
It’s not uncommon for promising short films to be developed into feature-length productions, the extended runtime giving the filmmaker the chance to really explore the narrative that began in the […]