Review: American Blues Theater’s The Last Wide Open Is a Charming Romantic Comedy
“You know what I wish? Just once for my life to be like the movies.” Lina and Mikołaj sit on the ground of the Polish diner where they both work. […]
Review: Romeo and Juliet Simmers With Young Love and Tragedy in Midsommer Flight’s Theater in the Park
Is there anything as lovely as theater in the park on a warm summer evening? That’s the concept behind Midsommer Flight’s annual summer series of Shakespeare in the park. This […]
Review: Grant Park Orchestra and Chorus Offers Stephenson, Beethoven, and a Beautiful Requiem by Maurice Duruflé
On yet another lovely evening, the Grant Park Orchestra and Chorus gave an equally lovely performance on Friday at Jay Pritzker Pavilion. Leading the orchestra and chorus was Giancarlo Guerrero […]
Review: Sun-Drenched French Family Drama Last Summer Is as Sexy as It Is Complicated
Writer/director Catherine Breillat returns to cinemas this week with her first film in a decade, and what a return it is. Last Summer is so quintessentially French, so perfectly seductive, […]
Review: Guy Pearce Stars as a Historical Figure Inserted Into Indigenous Affairs in Smart, Beautifully Rendered The Convert
New Zealand-born director Lee Tamahori has a proven track record for character-driven action films (The Edge, Once Were Warriors)—he even made a Bond movie (Die Another Day). With The Convert, […]
Review: Memories, Missed Connections and What Could Have Been in Touch, a Moving, Emotional Story of Searching
Why anyone would release an awards-worthy drama like writer/director Baltasar Kormákur’s Touch in the heart of the summer is a mystery to me, but don’t let this deeply moving film […]
Review: Fly Me to the Moon Stars Channing Tatum and Scarlett Johansson in NASA Moon Landing as America’s Marketing Campaign
Blending comedy, drama and a touch of historical fiction, director Greg Berlanti (Love, Simon and the showrunner of the CW’s Arrow-verse) sends us skyward with Fly Me to the Moon, […]
Review: Goodman Theatre’s Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil Needs Pruning
The new and eagerly awaited production of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil at Goodman Theatre fails to present a unified story and collapses under its own weight […]
Review: Eddie Murphy Heads Back to California in Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, a Nostalgia-Heavy Cop Comedy
I sometimes feel guilty about coming down on a film that hits all the nostalgia buttons and makes people feel good about the things they enjoyed growing up. But with […]
Review: Grant Park Orchestra Continues to Delight With Contemporary Works and a Tchaikovsky Classic
Returning to Jay Pritzker Pavilion from a weekend next door at Harris Theater, on Wednesday evening Ludovic Morlot led the Grant Park Orchestra in a delightful follow-up to last week’s […]
Preview: The Underground Society for Music Portrays a World Where Music Is Banned
“The Underground Society for Music is a play with music about a group of musicians fighting to keep their artform alive. In spite of constant threats from government actors to stop […]
The Thing: Fire Chicken at Dancen
Picture this: it’s 9pm on a Sunday night, all is quiet and closed, and everyone else has popped their edible to lull themselves into a deep enough sleep to forget […]