Top 20 Films of 2025
Let’s face it, 2025 was a cataclysmically awful year—certainly the worst in our nation’s history that I’ve been alive to witness. Since free expression is a clear threat to authoritarianism, […]
Tag Archives: Sean Penn
Phil Joanou on “The Veil”
The career of filmmaker Phil Joanou would make for a great film in its own right. He has directed some of U2’s most beloved music videos. He was Michael Apted’s […]
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 […]
Malick, Lincoln and “The Better Angels”
I saw A.J. Edwards’ “The Better Angels” on a double bill with “The Thin Red Line,” Terrence Malick’s 1998 war epic that deserves to be experienced in its full majesty […]
Top Ten Female Performances in a Woody Allen Film
If there is anything that has remained consistent in the films of Woody Allen, it has been the juicy complexity of his female characters, from Tina Vitale and Linda Ash […]
Indie Outlook 