Review: Return to Seoul Is an Evocative, Moving Search for Identity, Family and Home
With so much content to consume on any given platform on any given day, releasing movies these days is more a labor of love than a business endeavor. Some of […]
Lisa Trifone is Managing Editor and a Film Critic at Third Coast Review. A Rotten Tomatoes approved critic, she is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association. Find more of Lisa's work at SomebodysMiracle.com
Review: Oscar-Nominated Short Documentary Films Explore Issues of the Environment, Community, Family and Politics
In order to qualify for the Academy Awards for short films (in the live action, animation or documentary categories), a film must meet two main criteria: one, it must play […]
Review: Oscar Nominated Animated Shorts Make the Most of a Creative Medium, from the Humorous to the Heartfelt
Making any film is no small task; it can take years from start to finish. Making an animated film only complicates matters, and it’s a small miracle anytime the likes […]
Review: Oscar Nominated Live Action Short Films Offer Variety of Styles, Origins and Emotions
This year’s five films nominated for the Best Live Action Short Film Oscar hail from various regions in Europe (Ireland, Denmark, Italy, Norway and Luxembourg), and their style and subject […]
Review: Somebody I Used to Know Channels Classic Rom-Coms for an Art House Crowd
Co-written by spouses and frequent collaborators Dave Franco and Alison Brie (and directed by Franco), Somebody I Used to Know is essentially an art-house adaptation of My Best Friend’s Wedding, […]
Review: Lacking Momentum and Charisma, Rom-Com Your Place or Mine Squanders the Best of the Genre
As has been proven time and time again, making a contemporary rom-com that both entertains and endears itself onto its audiences is tricky business. All too often, recent entries into […]
Review: Close Explores Sexuality, Masculinity and Tragedy at a Fragile Crossroads in Teen Life
The second feature film from Belgian filmmaker Lukas Dhont, Close may be the most devastating film of recent memory, one that grapples with very serious, very painful subjects with such […]
Review: Wuthering Heights at Chicago Shakes Deftly Adapts Brontë’s Dense Novel with Innovation, Palpable Passion
Since its publication in 1847, Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights has been adapted into numerous film versions, but only a few brave souls have tried to wrangle her complicated, multi-generational story […]
Review: At Porchlight, an Entertaining Cabaret Features Plenty of Talent but Not the Seriousness the Show Requires
Every season on Broadway, new American musicals premiere in the hopes of entering the country’s long and storied canon of productions that can be revisited and revived for decades to […]
Review: Anna Kendrick Impresses as a Woman Confronting Her Toxic Relationship in Alice, Darling
At one point in Mary Nighy’s assured feature film directing debut Alice, Darling, Anna Kendrick’s distraught and defeated titular character says meekly to the two friends she’s on a weekend […]
Review: Gentle and Moving, Broker Creates Something Beautiful from Broken Characters and Risky Subject Matter
The themes and subject matter covered in Hirokazu Kore-eda’s latest drama, a moving, gentle story of chosen family, desperate connection and generational trauma, are not easily navigated. And in lesser […]
Review: A Poe-like Mystery Swirls at the Center of the Moody, Gripping The Pale Blue Eye
Trying to discern Netflix’s release strategy on any given film is about as productive an exercise as shoveling your sidewalk while it’s still snowing. You’ll never really get anywhere, and […]