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 […]
Tag Archives: Indie Outlook
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 […]
Reflections of Synthetic Skin
On April 17th of last year, I posted a piece entitled “Under Her Skin” that compared the heroines of Jonathan Glazer’s “Under the Skin” and Spike Jonze’s “Her.” One was […]
Jim Hemphill on “The Trouble with the Truth”
He was the American journalist who vanishes after the Chilean coup d’état in Costa-Gavras’ 1982 classic, “Missing.” She was Marty McFly’s mother in Robert Zemeckis’ ageless 1985 crowd-pleaser, “Back to […]
“Life Just Is” Is Just Lovely
Alex Barrett’s “Life Just Is” navigates its way through the sort of miniature epiphanies that commonly occur during the rather nerve-racking decade comprising one’s twenties. These small realizations may not add […]
“Cinderella” (1950) VS “Cinderella” (2015)
It was the holiday season of 1987. Disney had rereleased its 1950 feature, “Cinderella,” in theaters on November 20th, and my parents decided to take their one-year-old son (full disclosure: […]
