Review: Music as a Diplomatic Tool in Jimmy Carter: Rock & Roll President
In a truly unique and appropriate way to view politics of the 1970s, filmmaker Mary Wharton has made a film about the campaign and one-term presidency of Jimmy Carter that […]
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.
Interview: John Leguizamo on Working with Spike Lee, Thinking a Few Moves Ahead, and Filming Chess Like a Boxing Match
I’ve been lucky enough, since the early 1990s, to have seen every one of John Leguizamo’s one-man shows either in New York or in Chicago (where he often previews his […]
Review: A Harmless Comic Harnessed for Harassment—and the Fight to Save it—in Feels Good Man
By the time I ever heard of or laid eyes upon the cartoon character known as Pepe the Frog, created by artist Matt Furie, the character was already firmly entrenched […]
Review: Measure for Measure Skillfully Shifts Shakespeare to a Modern Day Gang War
Modern updates of Shakespeare are always a mixed bag. But for the most part, I’m in favor of them because they open up the Bard’s work to a new generation […]
Review: With a Standout Central Performance, Mulan Gorgeously Reimagines a Centuries-Old (and Disney Classic) Myth
One of the first things I noticed about the new live-action version of Disney’s 1998 animated feature Mulan is that there is a tremendous amount of bloodless death. So much, […]
Review: Visual Gymnastics, Laid-Back Cool and a Signature Grand Scale in Christopher Nolan’s Tenet
In many ways, writer/director Christopher Nolan’s latest blend of action, science fiction and all things massively scaled, Tenet, is a greatest hits package for the filmmaker, in all the good […]
Review: Charlie Kaufman’s I’m Thinking of Ending Things Twists Timelines, Stretches Believability and Demands Repeat Viewings
As he seems to excel at doing in one screenplay after another (Being John Malkovich, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Adaptation., Confessions of a Dangerous Mind), as well as […]
Review: Vinyl Nation Revels in the Joys of Tangible, Browsable Record Collections
As someone who has fairly recently rediscovered my own vinyl collection and stopped being nervous about adding to it (thanks to annual events like Record Store Day, which finally happens […]
Review: Buried in Snow, Centigrade Avalanches into a Battle Against the Elements and Personal Tensions
Director/co-writer Brandon Walsh (marking his feature film debut) and story originator/co-writer Daley Nixon have composed an intriguing idea that is a variation of other tense thrillers we’ve seen before—only Centigrade has […]
Review: House of Cardin Puts the Iconic Designer at the Center of His Own Legacy
For reasons I’m not even completely sure of, I really and truly get a kick out of documentaries about history’s greatest fashion designers, and the one who has never been […]
Review: Life, Strife and a Colorful Cast of Characters in Exuberant The Personal History of David Copperfield
In his previous works, director/series runner Armando Iannucci (The Death of Stalin, “Veep,” In The Loop) has finely tuned his R-rated satire about the warped state of politics into a […]
Review: Kinder and More Mature, Bill & Ted Face the Music Is a Fittingly Funny Sendoff
Lest you’ve forgotten, the Bill & Ted movies—1989’s Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure and 1991’s Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey—were never exactly exercises in deep thought. I’m actually not big […]