On a clear, frigid evening last week, despite the rush of traffic outside on Michigan Avenue and the fifteen hundred people seated inside, their breath still visible in the chilled air, there […]
Andrew Bird Hosts Annual Gezelligheid in Chicago
The Christians Dramatizes a Crisis at a Megachurch–With Music
Lucas Hnath’s play The Christians at Steppenwolf Theatre challenges the belief systems of its characters on stage as well as those of religious and nonreligious audience members. The heart of The Christians is a […]
Tranny: Confessions of Punk Rock’s Most Infamous Anarchist Sellout Is a Heartbreaking Trans Memoir
Standing onstage, Laura Jane Grace is the embodiment of a punk rocker. Part Joan Jett, part Debbie Harry, Grace commands her pop-punk band Against Me! with ease and a crooked smile. Yet, after […]
Review: Moholy-Nagy: Future Present Reveals a Multimedia Master
The major retrospective examining the works of László Moholy-Nagy at the Art Institute of Chicago presents not only his prolific output, but also the amazing range of his art despite his life ending […]
Review:Illusions of Magic: Love and intrigue in 1933 Chicago
Illusions of Magic: Love and Intrigue in 1933 Chicago resurrects three little-known aspects of history: the 1933 assassination attempt on Franklin D. Roosevelt that killed Chicago mayor Anton Cermak, the resulting political […]
Film Review: Long Way North: A Beautifully Subtle Animated Story
One of the better purely hand-drawn animated films of 2016, Long Way North tells the tale of Sasha (voiced by Christa Théret), a Russian teenager circa 1882, whose grandfather was a renowned […]
Film Review: Collateral Beauty, Gross and Ill Conceived
Sometimes a movie is bad just because it’s bad, and sometimes it’s bad because it wants so passionately to be good that it chokes on its noble intentions. The last time I […]
Film Review: La La Land, A Modern and Nuanced Take on the Classic Hollywood Musical
Despite what you may have been led to believe, writer-director Damien (Whiplash) Chazelle’s La La Land is not some type of homage to the Hollywood musicals of old. It only starts out […]
Film Review – Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, A Thrilling Ride
I’ve had a lot of people ask me variations on “How can there be any suspense within Rogue One if we already know how it ends?” But it became evident in the […]
Your Chicago Curated Weekend: 12/15 – 12/18
We’re midway through the month and winter has finally arrived. There’s a fair amount of snow on the ground and it’s regularly well below freezing. While I’m sure huddling up away from […]
Review: Ron Faiola’s Wisconsin Supper Clubs Another Round
Ron Faiola is no stranger to supper clubs, especially those scattered throughout our neighbor state to the north. Wisconsin Supper Clubs: Another Round is his second glossy coffee-table book focusing on these out […]
Promethean’s Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde Takes Gender-Bending Approach to Art and Justice
Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde is a documentary-style play set in a courtroom. Lest you think that sounds dry, it isn’t. The script is flush with the wit of […]
