Review: Learning to Love the Feel of Words in The Braille Encyclopedia
“I grew up in a nest feathered with words, texts, and books,” Naomi Cohn writes in the first essay of her lyrical debut memoir, The Braille Encyclopedia: Brief Essays on […]
Review: Based on a True Story, Last Breath Builds Tension and Good Will as Ordinary Men Attempt the Extraordinary
Based on the 2019 documentary of the same name, Last Breath (directed by Alex Parkinson, who co-directed the doc with Richard da Costa) tells the remarkable story of a trio […]
Photos: Phantogram Warms up a Snowy Chicago Night at Byline Bank Aragon Ballroom
Valentine’s Day this year was a little more special as Phantogram made their way to Byline Bank Aragon Ballroom to warm up the city. With a big smattering of flurries […]
Review: Filter and Jerry Cantrell Eclipse ’90s Nostalgia at the Vic
Review by Anthony Cusumano. Acclaimed ’90s rockers Jerry Cantrell and Richard Patrick have every reason to rest on their laurels. On Sunday night at the Vic Theatre, they chose not […]
Your Chicago Curated Weekend: 2/27 and Beyond
We’re in that miraculous false spring season so let’s take advantage of the warmer temps and brighter days! There’s so much coming up this weekend including all the fun concerts, […]
Review: My Dead Friend Zoe Navigates Grief and Family Ties with Humor and Heart
It uses a strange but fairly effective film device to tell the story of a young Army veteran’s struggle with PTSD; My Dead Friend Zoe could be looked at as […]
Review: Riff Raff Draws on a Stacked Ensemble Cast including Ed Harris, Bill Murray and Jennifer Coolidge, for an Action Pic with Family Drama
Filmmaker Dito Montiel has always worked on the outskirts of Hollywood yet has still found a way to pull together impressive casts for his humanistic stories, often about those living […]
Interview: Chicago-Made Filmspotting to Fulfill a 20-Year Dream With This Weekend’s Filmspotting Fest
“A force for good in the universe.” This was filmmaker Rian Johnson’s decree on Filmspotting, Chicago’s premier movie talk show of the century. Born as Cinecast in 2005, just months […]
Review: Titus Andronicus Up Close and Intense at Redtwist Theatre
The last time I saw Titus Andronicus, it was promenade-style, staged in the attic of an old Gilded Age mansion in Morgan Park. The audience walked through the play as […]
Review: Molchat Doma’s Soaring Synths Dominate the Salt Shed
Belarusian post-punk group Molchat Doma have enjoyed one of those meteoric rises so unlikely you can’t help but poke your head in to see what the fuss is all about. […]
Review: Raven Theatre Creates a Sizzling Production of the Sam Shepard Masterwork, A Lie of the Mind
A Lie of the Mind, Sam Shepard’s 1983 play about two families and the tragedy that binds them, is a sizzling 2.5 hours of solid acting, direction and pacing. At […]
Review: Driehaus Museum’s Materialities Exhibit Uses Art to Reevaluate the Priorities of the Past
Review written by Mitchell Oldham. Zoë Schlanger’s 2024 bestselling book, The Light Eaters, reveals a world few of us can fathom: One where lifeforms we dismiss as primitive or rudimentary are being […]