Review: Let’s Talk Womxn Event Lets Chicago Businesses Shine
On Sunday, March 2, I had the pleasure of attending an event run by Let’s Talk Womxn, a national organization that supports women and nonbinary entrepreneurs in the food and […]
How Will We Know It’s Summer Now?—A Eulogy for Pitchfork Festival
In the Chicago mega-festival ecosystem, it always felt like Lollapalooza was for the suburbs, Riot Fest was for our parents, and Pitchfork was for us. Jersey-clad frat boys headed for […]
Car Crashes, Discount Codes and Chicago Lore: Lou Malnati’s Celebrates 54 Years
Say the name “Malnati’s” and the ears of Chicagoans in any room will likely perk up, no matter where you are. Whether you’re a fan of the legendary Lou’s or […]
Review: Letters From Home Is Music for Body and Soul at Nova Linea Musica
Nova Linea Musica (NLM) has a mission as an incubator for music and for giving a platform to those who bring that music to the world. Wednesday, March 12, was […]
Review: The Drowning Girls by Three Crows Theatre Tells a True Crime Story With Dramatic Style
The three drowning girls are young women in their 20s and 30s, desperate to marry and avoid spinsterhood. The time is the early 20th century, and Bessie Mundy, Alice Burnham […]
Review: A Spirited CSO and Chorus Perform MacMillan, Beethoven, and Haydn
Under the nuanced direction of conductor Manfred Honeck, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus gave a spirited performance at Symphony Center on Thursday night. The first half of the program […]
Dialogs: Paul Reiser Reflects on His Career —“I Didn’t Plan Any of This Shit”—at Chicago Humanities Event
“I didn’t plan any of this shit.” That was Paul Reiser’s hilarious and refreshingly honest assessment of the long—and still ongoing—list of accomplishments in a career spanning over four decades. […]
Review: A Spirit of Discord, Reform and Unorthodoxy, The English Soul: Faith of a Nation, by Peter Ackroyd
Peter Ackroyd’s The English Soul: Faith of a Nation, is a rich and odd book. Rich because of the author’s storytelling skill and odd because it doesn’t tell the story […]
Review: With a Star-Studded Cast, The Russo Brothers’ The Electric State Is Fittingly Epic Yet Still Hollow
In terms of actual box office dollars, brothers and directors Anthony and Joe Russo have to be the most successful filmmaking team in history, with such hits as Captain America: […]
Review: A Bit of a Mess of a Movie, Borderline Follows a Celebrity, Her Stalker and the Men Protecting Her
When is stalking a celebrity funny? The right answer is “never,” but writer/director Jimmy Warden (who scripted Cocaine Bear) tries his damndest to convince us otherwise with Borderline, in which […]
Review: Jack Quaid is Just Naive Enough in Novocaine, a Slight but Action-Packed RomCom
The concept of having an action movie featuring a lead character who can feel no pain (thanks to a genetic condition) has a great deal of potential, especially when said […]
Review: Steven Soderbergh Crafts a Spy Thriller with Relationship Drama and a Dash of Comedy in Black Bag
Early in Black Bag, the latest from director Steven Soderbergh and screenwriter David Koepp (who together made this year’s fantastic ghost story Presence, as well as the 2022 thriller Kimi), […]