North America’s longest-running competitive film festival, the 53rd Chicago International Film Festival begins on Thursday, Oct. 12 at the AMC River East 21 (where almost every CIFF screening will, once […]
Based on Nikolai Leskov’s novella Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk (and adapted by Alice Birch), Lady Macbeth confirms something that probably wasn’t that difficult to figure out: Things were pretty awful […]
This is a classic example of a host of talented people missing the mark because the resulting film places its emphasis on the least interesting characters. The Exception is the […]
You’ve likely never seen a story before like the one told in director Aisling (The Daisy Chain) Walsh’s Maudie, even though this particular one springs forth from real life, which […]
Writer-director Ana Lily Amirpour is one of the most provocative filmmakers working today, but you might not realize it because her films also happen to be works of art worthy […]
Making the transition from acting to directing is Amber Tamblyn, working from a book by Janet Fitch concerning Josie (Alia Shawkat), a young woman trying to cope with the sudden […]
It didn’t surprise me in the slightest to find out that the Scottish film Whisky Galore! was, in fact, a remake of a 1949 Ealing Studios work (which in turn […]
I’ll give actor Dan Stevens credit: after leaving the comfort of “Downton Abbey,” he’s done everything in his power to not only shake the image of simply being the safe, […]
Imagine if the couple in Once had ended up together, gotten married, and after about 10 years together, the spark that brought them together was in danger of going out. […]
This is a film about escalation, about small moments becoming larger ones, about pleasant conversation becoming hostile, and in a not insignificant way, it’s about the powerless overtaking the powerful, […]
Writer-director Brett Haley (along with his co-writer Marc Basch) make gentle films about a tough subject that a great many films are afraid to tackle—getting older. Their previous collaboration, I’ll […]
I liked every documentary I’ve ever seen directed by Steve James, from his epic-length, groundbreaking Hoop Dreams to his recent Roger Ebert biography, Life Itself. But not even in his […]