Chicago is currently fully reopened and a new normal is now rapidly coming as in-person events are overtaking the digital ones (having both as an option would be cool). However many venues […]
Your Chicago Curated Weekend: 7/22 and Beyond
Her Honor, Jane Byrne and Two Other Chicago Plays Win 2021 Steinberg-ATCA Awards
Chicago playwright J. Nicole Brooks has won the 2021 Harold and Mimi Steinberg / American Theatre Critics Association New Play Award for the play Her Honor, Jane Byrne. The Steinberg/ATCA Award, which carries a $25,000 […]
Review: Helluva Start, Modernist Middle and a Very Finnish Finish at Grant Park
Grant Park Music Festival Conductor Carlos Kalmar coyly hinted that the audience should expect the unexpected during his introduction to Jean Sibelius’ Symphony No. 5 in E-Flat Major, Op. 82. Kalmar, at […]
Review: Death’s Door Features Fast, Fun Combat and Great Design
Death’s Door wasn’t originally on my radar. I had heard murmurings about the new indie Zelda-like title from famed indie publisher Devolver Digital but nothing really stuck out to me. In fact, […]
Review: Wonky Ball Handling Makes In da Hoop! Almost Impossible to Enjoy
While virtual reality is mostly still a fledgling technology, it’s been around for a little bit. One of my first VR pleasures was jumping into Pierhead Arcade and playing different carnival-style games. […]
Review: Teatro Zinzanni Relaunches the Chicago Theater District With Fun, Fantasy and Food
“Of all the Spiegeltents in all the neighborhoods of Chicago, Cleopatra walks into Chef Caesar’s joint…” starts the Teatro Zinzanni program, and I think that statement sets the stage (the circular stage) […]
Review: Minimalist Mini Motorways Offers Simple Mechanics and a High Skill Ceiling
I love idle time wasters, especially if they’re fun and simple puzzle games. Mini Motorways is game that has been kicking around Apple Arcade for the last couple of years, and now […]
Review: Ragnarock Is my Current Rhythm Game Obsession
When virtual reality first debuted for consumers, and Audioshield released, it was almost like a transcendental experience. And it’s been getting even better since then with games like Audio Trip and Beat […]
Review: Goodman Theatre’s I Hate It Here Lets You Rage Against Your Own 2020 Machine
I Hate It Here: Stories From the End of the Old World is a play performed live and written as a concept album by Chicago’s Ike Holter with snappy direction by Lili-Anne […]
Review: Space Jam: A New Legacy Is a Mess of IP, Flat Jokes and Cringe-Worthy Performances
I want to call everyone’s attention to one very significant fact about Space Jam: A New Legacy, and that is: it took five people to write Space Jam: A New Legacy. Five. […]
Review: Fear Street: 1666 Finally Gets to the Origins of a Generations-Long Curse, Capping a Solid Horror Trilogy
Wrapping up director Leigh Janiak’s three-part horror cycle loosely based on the Fear Street books by R.L. Stine, Fear Street Part Three: 1666 begins by finally throwing us into the story of […]
Review: The Boys in Red Hats Documents How a Viral Video Becomes Misunderstood
When I was asked to review a documentary titled The Boys in Red Hats, my first thought was of that image that went viral in January 2019: a teenaged boy in a […]
