Review: 3100: Run and Become Intrigues More Than It Inspires
It’s easy to be impressed by someone who completes, or even runs, a traditional marathon. Now try to imagine running one that is 3,100 miles long and takes more than […]
Review: Actress Judy Greer Disappoints in Directorial Debut, A Happening of Monumental Proportions
The title of this film betrays its true nature, but the fact that A Happening of Monumental Proportions marks the directing debut of actress Judy Greer is something to celebrate. […]
Review: A Comedian Gone Too Soon Remembered Fondly in Love, Gilda
Love, Gilda, a documentary about the life and way-too-early death of “Saturday Night Live” cast member Gilda Radner, is almost too easy a subject to make a film about. Naturally, anyone with an […]
Review: Life Itself Lacks Any Signs of Actual Human Life, or Heart
If you’ve been paying any kind of attention to advance reviews on this film, then you know that it’s one of the worst-reviewed movies of 2018—and deservedly so. Writer/director Dan […]
Review: Michael Moore Explores the Path to Trump in Fahrenheit 11/9
The latest from documentary filmmaker Michael Moore, Fahrenheit 11/9 (the date refers to the day in 2016 when we all learned that Donald Trump would be America’s next president and […]
Review: A Few Scares, a Few Fart Jokes Make for an Uneven House With a Clock in Its Walls
The House With a Clock in Its Walls is a very bad title for a movie. The unfortunate tagline—”This house knows what makes you tick.”—is even worse. Fortunately, the film to […]
Reeling 2018: The Chicago LGBTQ+ International Film Festival
With 31 features and 19 short film programs being screened—all of them Chicago premieres—the 36th edition of Reeling (the second-oldest LGBTQ film festival in the world) runs Sept. 20-30 at […]
Dispatch: Oscar Buzz Abounds at Toronto International Film Festival
In my first dispatch from Toronto International Film Festival, a selection of six films offered a diverse taste of the hundreds of films screened at the 2018 edition (which officially […]
Review: Mandy, Soaked in Blood, a Contorted, Awful Version of the World
Chaos bathed in menacing, colorful light, featuring a lead performer who spends much of the film’s two-hour running time soaked in dark red blood, Mandy is that film horror fans have […]
Review: The Area Puts a Face on How Chicago Lets a Neighborhood Die
“Who is willing to try to save a community that’s destined to die?” When I heard long-time Englewood resident Deborah Payne utter these desperate words near the end of the […]
Review: American Chaos, More Like a Bad Memory of 2016 Than a Call to Arms
My issues with the new documentary American Chaos have more to do with the timing of its release than anything else. The film was shot during the six months leading up […]
Review: A Simple Favor, Deceptively Titled, Dark and Thrilling
Although director Paul Feig’s go-to milieu is female-driven comedies (Bridesmaids, The Heat, the recent remake of Ghostbusters), there is something thrillingly bold, dark and eventually thrilling about his latest work, […]