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 […]
Review: Who We Lost Meets the Loss and Sorrow of COVID with Grace and Fury
Who We Lost: A Portable COVID Memorial, edited by Martha Greenwald and published by Belt Publishing, started out on Greenwald’s website WhoWeLost.org, an online, crowd-sourced memorial to those who perished […]
Feature: CHF’s Ruth E. Carter Interview Celebrates Black History Via Costumes
Costume designer Ruth E. Carter spoke at the Music Box Theatre in June during the Chicago Humanities Festival about her rich film career and her historic Academy Award wins for […]
Preview: Inspiration for Burned-Out Writers at Northwestern’s Summer Writers’ Conference, July 21–22
When the world is literally on fire, who can think about writing? The present writer was reminded of Chicago author Rebecca Makkai’s 2018 Electric Literature essay on the topic (“The […]
Review: Stewart Goodyear and Valentina Peleggi Team Up Wonderfully at Grant Park
While driving in central Wisconsin one winter night several years ago, I tuned in to Symphony Hall, the classical radio station on Sirrius/XM. I was greeted by an incredible performance […]
Review: Brian Cox and Kate Beckinsale Excel as an Estranged Father and Daughter in Serviceable Prisoner’s Daughter
You could have knocked me over with a sparkly vampire when the end credits of the new film Prisoner’s Daughter revealed that the director was Catherine Hardwicke (Thirteen, Twilight), a […]
Review: Confidential Informant Is a Perfect Mess of a Film Perfect for Mel Gibson’s Biggest Fans
I dare you to watch Confidential Informant, the latest from South African filmmaker Michael Oblowitz (Frank and Ava), and not wonder what the hell is going on. And I don’t […]
Review: Sensitive, Inspiring and Essential, Every Body Amplifies Intersex Voices, Activism
With world-class documentary filmmaker Julie Cohen (RBG, Julia, I Am Pauli Murray, Gabby Giffords Won’t Back Down), Every Body is an absolutely essential and sensitive investigation into the lives of […]
Review: Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny Brings Back the Fedora, the Whip and (Most of) the Adventure of Cinema’s Favorite Archeologist
In case you hadn’t been keeping score, this fifth installment in the Indiana Jones franchise is the first to be made since Lucasfilm was purchased by Disney in 2012. While […]
Review: See, Feel, Hear and Touch The Who’s Tommy at Goodman Theatre
Poet Maya Angelou suffered violence and didn’t speak for years. Tommy Walker witnessed murder and similarly shut down his senses to deal with that trauma. His fictional narrative was created […]