“Mother’s interrupted the course of our journey. She’s programmed to do that should certain conditions arise.”—Dallas (Tom Skerritt) 40 years ago today, Ridley Scott’s horror classic, “Alien,” went into wide […]
Few films in recent memory have made me melt quite as often as “Mercy’s Girl,” Emily Lape’s debut feature as a writer, director, producer and editor. It was shot four […]
Ever since its debut in October of last year, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa’s Netflix series “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” has only gotten more bewitching as its plot continues to unfold. Hooking my […]
On May 7th of last year, I was fortunate enough to catch Amy Scott’s splendid documentary, “Hal,” at the Chicago Critics Film Festival. I had already been a fan of […]
As “Avengers: Endgame” continues to break box office records around the globe, let’s take a look back at the previous franchise that succeeded in completing an epic narrative spanning multiple […]
Of all the interviews I’ve conducted over the past 14 years of my career as a published critic, the one I am asked about the most is my peculiar chat […]
Ever since Morgan Saylor’s galvanizing portrayal of a drug-addled college student in Elizabeth Wood’s “White Girl” blew the roof off the Gene Siskel Film Center upon its Windy City premiere […]
For as long as I’ve loved Victor Fleming’s 1939 Hollywood landmark, “The Wizard of Oz,” John Fricke has been The Man Behind the Curtain, and like the wizard himself, he […]
The more movies one sees during a given year, the more maddening one finds the conspicuous omissions during awards season, where voters’ memories fail to extend past the month of […]
There’s a certain magic that occurs when a film so thoroughly fulfills your long-held wishes that it seems as if the director had made it especially for you. Some films […]
