Review: Compassion for Companionship in Silicone Soul
To make a film that examines people who have turned silicone companionship into an actual loving relationship seems almost too easy as a way to mock and belittle those who […]
Steve Prokopy is chief film critic for the Chicago-based arts outlet Third Coast Review. For nearly 20 years, he was the Chicago editor for Ain’t It Cool News, where he contributed film reviews and filmmaker/actor interviews under the name “Capone.” Currently, he’s a frequent contributor at /Film (SlashFilm.com) and Backstory Magazine. He is also the public relations director for Chicago's independently owned Music Box Theatre, and holds the position of Vice President for the Chicago Film Critics Association. In addition, he is a programmer for the Chicago Critics Film Festival, which has been one of the city's most anticipated festivals since 2013.
Review: Fun for Everyone in Spirited, Adventurous The Kid Who Would Be King
It’s almost impossible to believe that it’s been eight years since writer/director Joe Cornish gave us the thrilling sci-fi action work Attack the Block, which was as much about alien dogs […]
Review: Serenity Serves Up Too Much Style and Not Enough Substance
This one might literally be too difficult to dissect even a bit without running the risk is confusing you or unintentionally ruining something. The truth is, I can hear the […]
Review: Sweet, Intimate The Joneses A Vital Chronicle of Trans Life
Filmed over five years by director Moby Longinotto, The Joneses is a very different but no less vital take on transgender men and women living in America. While many of the recent […]
Review: Harrowing Of Fathers And Sons Shouldn’t Exist; Must Be Seen
Almost from its first frames, director Talal Derki’s (The Return to Homs) latest, Of Fathers and Sons, feels like a movie that shouldn’t exist. The filmmaker spent two years pretending to be […]
Review: Despite a Strong Start and High Expectations, Glass Cracks Under Pressure
I’m not going to go through the career peaks and valleys of writer/director M. Night Shyamalan, but I will say that I’ve long held that his 2000 film Unbreakable is among his […]
Review: Two Sharp Performances Create Comedy Magic in Stan & Ollie
In an odd sort of way, Stan & Ollie, a film that covers the later-period career of film stars Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, suffers from some of the same shortcomings […]
Review: One Man’s Struggle With Sexual Identity in The Sunday Sessions
What I thought might be a documentary companion piece to last year’s thought-provoking Boy Erased, about the abhorrent practice of teen gay conversion therapy, turns out to be a wholly different […]
Review: The House That Jack Built Is A Character Study Sans Morality
As often as writer-director Lars von Trier has made films about despicable people, there has almost always existed a kind of twisted morality about each of them that made even […]
Review: Bryan Cranston and Kevin Hart as an Odd Couple in The Upside
Present political climate not withstanding, we live in a fairly sophisticated society where we shouldn’t have to soft-pedal the truth about assisting the disabled via a movie with comedy, just […]
Documentary Shortlist Screenings Continue All Month at Music Box Theatre
As we previewed last week, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has partnered with a handful of movie theaters across the country (including Chicago’s own Music Box Theatre) to show […]
Review: Facing Changes As a United Front in Family in Transition
From January 4 through 31, the Gene Siskel Film Center celebrates the art of the documentary with its annual series Stranger Than Fiction: Documentary Premieres. This year, the theme of […]