Review: Rainforest Thriller Quicksand Offers Just Enough Tension, Believability to be Entertaining
‘I’m just now realizing that I kind of adore horror films in which the main threat to human life is in the title of the film. Why bother with a […]
Review: Revelatory New Documentary The League Chronicles Baseball’s Negro League and Its Deep Impact on the Sport, the Country and Chicago
One of the most insightful and talented documentary filmmakers producing works on the Black experience in America, Sam Pollard (Citizen Ashe, MLK/FBI), brings us The League, an in-depth journey through […]
Review: Loosely Tied to the 2018 Film, Bird Box Barcelona Revisits a Compelling Premise in Tense, Interesting New Ways
One of the first event movies in the relatively brief history of Netflix was 2018’s sci-fi adventure film Bird Box, starring Sandra Bullock, in which a presumably alien force comes […]
Review: A Father and Daughter Navigate the Passage of Time in Classical Fable Scarlet
Originally titled “L’Envol” (or, Flight), the more ravishingly named (for English audiences) Scarlet is a sweeping, romantic story of the passage of time, a young woman’s coming of age and […]
Review: Tom Cruise Returns with More Action, Heart and Humor in Mission: Impossible—Dead Reckoning Part One
In the two weeks leading up to my screening of Mission: Impossible—Dead Reckoning Part One, I did something I rarely do leading up to seeing a sequel of a long-running […]
Review: The Lesson Offers a Few Surprises in a Sharp Noir Thriller
Class warfare and family drama are at the heart of first-time feature director Alice Troughton’s The Lesson, which centers on young, aspiring writer Liam (Daryl McCormack, Good Luck to You, […]
Review: Adam Sandler Produces a Lackluster, Overly Broad Heist Comedy in The Out-Laws
I don’t want to spoil anything up front about how I feel about the new Adam Sandler-produced Netflix comedy The Out-Laws, but it stinks to high heaven. Your reaction may […]
Review: Biosphere Tackles the Apocalypse, plus Gender Politics and Reproductive Rights, with Humor and Originality
For many years, Mel Eslyn has been president of Duplass Brothers Productions, one of the most prolific indie film companies in existence. But the new sci-fi/dramedy Biosphere marks Eslyn’s directing […]
Review: Chicago- (and Food-) Centric Series The Bear Improves in Every Way with a Miraculous Second Season
Perhaps the hardest part of making a good show is having a second season that can, at the very least, live up to the first. (Unless your show is on […]
Recap: The Idol (S1, Ep2) — Series’ Second Episode Remains a Stale, Uncomfortable Mess
After last week’s episode of The Idol, I had no idea what to expect when I turned on the second one. I didn’t expect it to get better, but some […]
Review: Joy Ride Sees Four Friends on a Journey with Plenty of Laughs, Heart and Sex
So apparently the morality police have fully returned to power, and the ’80s have officially returned in every corner of the entertainment world. On the rare occasion that an R-rated […]
Review: New Documentary Charts Surprisingly Short Lifespan of ’80s Pop Duo Wham!
Although there’s a great deal about the short lifespan on the pop duo Wham! in the recent George Michael documentary Freedom Uncut, I admittedly know very little about the 1980s […]