Top 20 Films of 2021
It has only been within the last few months that I began seeing movies in a theater again. Attending press screenings has felt akin to a family reunion, allowing me […]
It has only been within the last few months that I began seeing movies in a theater again. Attending press screenings has felt akin to a family reunion, allowing me […]
The mind boggles when attempting to summarize the careers of Austin Pendleton and Ann Whitney. They are two of the finest actors ever to grace the stage in Chicago, and […]
A few years ago, I was asked by a friend to rank my Top Five Favorite Films. It was so daunting to limit my list to only five titles that […]
To demonstrate just how spectacular a year it has been for film, this Top 10 list is followed by three “special honorable mentions,” which should be considered a tie for […]
“Apparently I like to have people not understand each other,” mused Charlie Kaufman during our conversation prior to the Chicago International Film Festival’s October 21st screening of his latest masterpiece, […]
There comes a point when a film festival turns from a casual diversion and into an obsession. That happened to me last year during the Chicago International Film Festival, when […]
“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 […]
Throughout her extraordinary career, Julianne Moore has often excelled at playing characters who are ostracized. Consider her 1950s housewife who develops forbidden feelings for her black neighbor in “Far from […]
Writer/director Drew Tobia’s “See You Next Tuesday” is in-your-face in all the right ways. It’s a mature film about immature people who are unapologetically themselves and we can’t help loving […]