Indie Outlook: Third Anniversary
Nothing excites me more than discovering an artist whose work is unlike anything I’ve seen before. The third year of Indie Outlook, my labor of love devoted to covering cinema’s […]
Joanna Arnow on “Bad at Dancing,” “i hate myself :)”
There’s a scene in Joanna Arnow’s galvanizing 2013 documentary, “i hate myself :)”, where her ex-boyfriend, fearless poet-provocateur James Kepple, defends his use of offensive words, arguing that they exert […]
Stephen Cone, Cole Doman, Nina Ganet, Pat Healy and Elizabeth Laidlaw on “Henry Gamble’s Birthday Party”
“Henry Gamble’s Birthday Party,” the seventh feature from director Stephen Cone, is a masterpiece of nuance. It assembles a large cast of characters, observes their behavior as they interact during […]
Cheer Up Charlize: Eight Essential Roles
Few performers in modern cinema have managed to reinvent themselves with as much spectacular success as Charlize Theron. Her various transformations over the last two decades have been astonishing to […]
Jeffrey Westhoff on “The Boy Who Knew Too Much”
There were three film critics whose work I read on a weekly basis while growing up in Northern Illinois: Roger Ebert at the Chicago Sun-Times, Michael Wilmington at the Chicago […]
Here’s to You, Mrs. Henderson: Albert Brooks’s “Mother”
At nearly two decades old, Albert Brooks’s wonderful film, “Mother,” offers many nostalgic staples of ‘90s Americana: cutting-edge “picture phones,” gasoline priced at $1.21 per gallon and smart comedy for […]
Top Ten Spielberg Summer Movies
Steven Spielberg is not only the undisputed king of summer movies, he invented them. Films were no longer mere entertainments, they were grand cultural events. The highest compliment one can […]
All Things Shining in Terrence Malick’s “The Tree of Life”
Four years ago this month, Terrence Malick’s “The Tree of Life” premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. I published the following piece at HollywoodChicago.com on June 3, 2011. “Where is […]
Why The Latest “Star Wars” Trailer Gives Me New Hope
Like most “Star Wars” fans who grew up with the original trilogy, I have felt a great deal of skepticism regarding the new Disney-produced film. In an article I wrote […]
Frank Mosley on “Her Wilderness”
Frank Mosley’s entrancing hour-long picture, “Her Wilderness,” is a cinematic meditation comprised of fragmented narrative threads. A young blonde woman (Lauren McCune) teeters on the edge of self-destruction. A pregnant […]
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