Screens Monthly: August 2018
Finally August. Summer is winding down and we’re one month closer to the best time of year: Fall Movie Season. As we await the awards bait and end-of-year blockbusters, there’s […]
Review: An Immigration Story from a Different Perspective in En el Séptimo Día
En el Séptimo Día (On the Seventh Day) is set in the summer of 2016, and in a way, this timing—recent as it may be—is a small grace as we spend […]
The Abandoned Kingdom: Movie Palaces and Chicago’s Lost Film History
By Adam Prestigiacomo News last month regarding plans to restore the Uptown Theatre came as a welcome surprise to Chicagoans and cinema lovers nationwide. It was hailed by theater enthusiasts […]
Review: Dark Money Delves into the Scary Reality of Money in Politics
It seems like it has been a while since a really effective documentary has struck fear in me for the future of our country on an issue that, on the […]
Review: Fallout Is a Genuinely Great Addition to the Mission Impossible Series
Tom Cruise is 56 years old, and I choose to believe he could keep making Mission: Impossible movies for the rest of his life. (Or Jack Reacher films or maybe […]
Movies with a View: Elevated Films Returns This Week
Outdoor movies in Chicago abound in the summer months, as the park district, Gallagher Way at Wrigley Field and many, many more present movies in the open air. Though their […]
Review: Despite Exploring a New Genre, Unfriended: Dark Web Lacks Creativity, Inspiration
As the age of the found footage films seems to be taking its final few breaths, the era of movies composed of nothing but windows popping up on a computer […]
Review: Joaquin Phoenix Carries a Moving, if Stilted, Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot
When Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot, the latest from Gus Van Sant (Good Will Hunting, To Die For, Milk) defies expectations, it’s a glorious thing. But when […]
Review: Creative Duo Crafts Heartbreaking, Uplifting Story of Change in Blindspotting
At its heart, Blindspotting is a film by and about friends. Longtime music collaborators and Oakland natives Daveed Diggs (best known for his Tony-award-winning dual role in Hamilton) and poet […]
Review: The Torture and Triumph of Teenagedom in Wonderfully Inspiring Eighth Grade
When I was in eighth grade (many moons ago), the internet barely existed, let alone social media. The idea of everyone having their own handheld computer that connected them to […]
Review: The King Will Have You Rethinking A Legend, and Perhaps Democracy Itself
Eugene Jarecki is a documentary filmmaker who’s never been afraid to go there, to ask the hard questions and investigate from every angle. His 2005 film Why We Fight, about America’s seemingly insatiable need […]
Review: Denzel Washington Returns to The Equalizer A Changed Man
In the 2014 Equalizer movie (as the sequel is, directed by Antoine Fuqua and starring Denzel Washington), Washington’s Robert McCall was a man trying to put his deadly past behind […]