Bites: What Author Marisa Walz Eats in a Day
If you’re looking for moral ambiguity, passion, and raw emotion, look no further. Marisa Walz’s debut novel, Good Intentions, landed on shelves several weeks ago and offers all that and […]
Quick Spins: PONY, Department, Snowcuffs, MX LONELY, Grace Inspace, and Mirah
Quick Spins takes a quick look at recently released albums to make certain you’re listening to all the quality music being released these days. And with today being Bandcamp Friday, […]
Review: Satyajit Ray’s Days and Nights in the Forest Shimmers in New Restoration
Days and Nights in the Forest has emerged from the wilderness. Sayajit Ray’s film was not widely available following its 1970 release, but with special thanks to Wes Anderson and […]
Review: Chicago Opera Theater’s Der Silbersee Has a Prescient Sychronicity for Today’s World
Wednesday was a significant anniversary for Kurt Weill’s Der Silbersee, ein Wintermärchen (The Silver Lake, A Winter’s Fairy Tale). It was banned by the Nazis on that date in 1933, and Weill […]
Review: The Latest Pixar Animated Offering, Hoppers, Features the Studio’s Signature Mix of Entertainment and Emotion for All Ages
It’s certainly not unusual for a Disney/Pixar animated work to get emotional; hell, the two Inside Out movies are literally about emotions. But it’s difficult to recall a Pixar release […]
Review: Filmmaker Maggie Gyllenhaal Re-Imagines a Frankenstein Tale with Feminism, Romance and Rebellion in The Bride!>
Following up her exceptional directing debut, The Lost Daughter (which also featured a staggering turn from Jessie Buckley), filmmaker Maggie Gyllenhaal has created a version of a familiar horror story […]
Review: Chicagoan Amy Landecker Writes, Directs and Stars in For Worse, A Late-in-Life RomCom with Heart
Although it takes a great many broad strokes when it comes to its comedy, actor-turned-first-time feature writer-director Amy Landecker’s (Transparent) For Worse gets a great deal right when it comes […]
Ratcheteer DX Review: A Playdate Classic Gets a Colorful Upgrade
Originally released along with Season 1 of the Playdate, Ratcheteer has been sitting on my device, mostly unplayed, for the last couple of years. You can’t blame me. Despite the Playdate […]
Review: New Mechanics Elevate a Familiar Journey in Planet of Lana II
Planet of Lana was a game that flew a little under the radar when it released in 2023. It’s part of a platforming adventure game subgenre that was made popular (and […]
Preview: The Onion Co-Founder Scott Dikkers Brings FunnyCon to Chicago
As a co-founder of the venerable satirical newspaper The Onion, Scott Dikkers is no stranger to launching comedy institutions. His latest endeavor is the biggest yet—the first annual FunnyCon, a […]
Your Chicago Curated Weekend: 3/5 and Beyond
It’s the calm weekend before the big holiday coming up next weekend. So why not fill it up with some wonderful events happening throughout the city! There something for everyone […]
Review: Music of the Baroque Plays a Baroque Blockbusters Program That Starts Strong But Ends With a Dud
When I consider the notion of “Baroque Blockbusters!”, I think of Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos, or Handel’s Messiah, or Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, or Pachelbel’s Canon, or several other things. With Richard […]