My Favorite Performance in the History of Cinema
It all starts with that helicopter shot. The Twentieth Century Fox logo twinkles in silence before fading out, as a billowing wind starts to sound. Suddenly, the audience finds itself […]
Tag Archives: Jack Nicholson
Indie Flashback: One Hour Photo
If any film was ever built for the 1.33:1 aspect ratio, it is music video director Mark Romanek’s deeply unsettling 2002 feature debut, “One Hour Photo.” I hadn’t seen the […]
Seven Scenes by Joe Swanberg
In a recent interview with Moviemaker Magazine, Chicago’s trailblazing indie auteur Joe Swanberg was praised by writer Sean Hood for creating a “sustainable production model” based on creative tribalism. The […]
Top Twenty Films of 2013: Part I
Audacity reigned at both mainstream multiplexes and art house theaters in 2013, proving once and for all that cinematic storytelling is best experienced on a big screen with a large […]
CIFF Exclusive: Tenderness and Cruelty on Barren Landscapes
Elusive dreams of fortune evaporate like the morning dew in several of this year’s CIFF selections. Poverty and violence are commonplace themes on the festival circuit, yet it takes a […]
Haunted “Room 237” is Worth a Return Visit
There’s no question Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining” was one of the seminal moviegoing experiences of my life. I saw it at a young age with my beloved Uncle Chuck in […]
The Greatest: Meryl Streep and Daniel Day-Lewis
When Meryl Streep presented Daniel Day-Lewis with his third Oscar (making him the first performer in history to receive three Best Actor statuettes) on last month’s telecast, I suddenly realized […]
All Things “Shining”
The camera creeps stealthily toward the open door of a bathroom as a young boy named Danny looks intently into the mirror. His voice alternates between normal tones and a […]
