Review: Halloween Comes Early in a New, Animated The Addams Family
The first thing I noticed about this new iteration of The Addams Family is that the characters look a lot like the original iteration of the Charles Addams’ cartoon series […]
Review: Netflix’s Dolemite is My Name Lands The Laughs—And Strong Performances
It’s almost impossible to watch Eddie Murphy take on the character of world-famous stand-up performer/blaxploitation actor/rap pioneer Rudy Ray Moore and not wonder what took him so long to do […]
Review: A Scientist’s Lifelong Dedication in The Woman Who Loves Giraffes
Several years before Jane Goodall went into the jungle to study primates, a 23-year-old Canadian woman named Anne Innis Dagg traveled alone to South Africa to begin what would become […]
Review: Special Effects Aside, Action Star Will Smith Can’t Save Gemini Man
The latest from director Ang Lee (Life of Pi, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), Gemini Man is actually based on a screenplay that has been bouncing around Hollywood for more than 20 […]
Review: Aaron Paul Stars in The Parts You Lose, a Low-Key Thriller About Outsiders
On the way home from school one afternoon, a 10-year-old North Dakota boy named Wesley (newcomer Danny Murphy) stumbles upon a man (Breaking Bad’s Aaron Paul, playing a character who […]
Review: Part Crime Drama, Comedy and Romance, First Love Finds Room For It All
Next month, the world will get a new Martin Scorsese movie, one that’s already being hailed as a return to his best gangster-movie ways (and even featuring a reliable cast […]
Review: A Whirlwind of Emotion, Tragic and Comic, in Fleabag One Woman Show
Although not technically a movie, this filmed version of writer/performer Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s recent revival of her one-woman show Fleabag (which then inspired the massively successful two-season BBC series) is available […]
Review: A Man, His Music and a Movement in Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool
I always look forward to documentaries made by Stanley Nelson, a filmmaker who seems to have taken it upon himself to tell some of the most fascinating and necessary stories […]
Review: Lucy in the Sky‘s Glimpse of a Unique Psychology Over-Fictionalizes Real Life Events
Inspired by the 2007 events when astronaut Lisa Nowak drove nearly 1,000 miles to attack a rival for another astronaut’s affection, Lucy in the Sky attempts to dive into the […]
Review: The Laundromat Marks a Rare Miss from an Otherwise Reliable Filmmaker
Steven Soderbergh (Ocean’s Eleven, Traffic, Magic Mike) is one of those filmmakers who can make even the driest material seem remarkably entertaining. For proof of this, take a look at […]
Screens Monthly: Spooky Stories and Chicago’s Biggest Film Festival
There’s something about flipping the calendar over to October that feels different from earlier months. It’s as if the space between September 30 and October 1 is a mini time […]
Review: Monsters are Made, Not Born, in Gritty, Sinister Joker Origin Story
At this point, it feels like any actor who wants to play the Joker—arguably the most famous comic book villain in history—can take a crack at him. At some point […]