Film Review: Heist Film Den of Thieves Makes Grit, Sleaze and Chaos Work
I don’t often do this, especially after a movie starring Gerard Butler, but after watching his latest, Den of Thieves, I turned to a fellow critic sitting near me and […]
Film Review: Hedy Lamarr Gets Her Due in Revealing Bombshell
Even if you’re not a fan of classic Hollywood cinema, you know the name Hedy Lamarr. According to IMDb, Lamarr has only 35 film credits, but among them are the […]
Film Review: 12 Strong Is Not Your Average War Film; It’s Better
In the immediate aftermath of 9/11, there was that rare sense across not just America but the globe that there was a common enemy in the Taliban. According to fairly […]
Film Review: Don’t Miss the 4k Restoration of Renoir’s The Crime of Monsieur Lange
I shouldn’t have to convince you to see a beautifully restored, 4K presentation of a great French film by the director of Grand Illusion and The Rules of the Game, […]
Film Review: Rose Marie’s Iconic Comedy Career Chronicled in Wait for Your Laugh
By what I think is complete coincidence, Facets Cinémathèque is opening the documentary Wait for Your Laugh just two weeks after the passing of its subject, the legendary comic talent […]
Film Review: Starring Anton Yelchin, Porto Is Melancholy and Marvelous
Porto, the feature debut by former Chicago film critic Gabe Klinger (his follow-up to the engaging 2013 documentary Double Play: James Benning and Richard Linklater), is a film about being […]
Film Review: As Liam Neeson’s January Action Flicks Go, We’ve Seen Worse Than The Commuter
As the seasoned moviegoers that I’m sure most of you are, you don’t need me telling you that the month of January has long been considered a dumping ground for […]
Film Review: Paddington 2 Is a Star-Studded Family Affair
How can you not love Paddington Bear, or at the very least feel a strong sense of like for the little guy? The bear cub (again voiced by Ben Whishaw) […]
Film Review: Paul Thomas Anderson Continues to Impress with Phantom Thread
I make no excuses about the fact that I adore every Paul Thomas Anderson film to varying (often excessive) degrees. And while all of them have felt very “adult” in […]
Film Review: The Master of Deadpan Comedy Returns with The Other Side of Hope
Editor’s Note: This review was also recently posted by our friends at Music Box Theatre. You can read it here. A master of comedic deadpan for more than 30 years, […]
Film Review: Quiet The Fencer Teaches Compassion At the End of a Sword
Nominated a year ago for Best Foreign Language Film at the Golden Globe Awards and also the official Finnish contender for the 2016 Academy Awards, The Fencer is a surprisingly […]
Film Review: Despite Predictability, Biopic Tom of Finland Draws Compelling Portrait of Gay Icon
At some point right around the time the artist Tom of Finland (real name Touko Laaksonen) died in the early 1990s, I remember seeing Daddy and the Muscle Academy, a […]