Top 20 Films of 2022
2022 was, without question, the greatest year of my life. On July 1st, I married the love of my life, Rebecca, while surrounded by so many of our loved ones […]
Tag Archives: Spike Jonze
Margaret Betts on “Novitiate”
I’ve never tired of my parents’ stories detailing their Catholic education. Their vivid memories of the nuns who taught them run the gamut from endearing and hilarious to flat-out terrifying. […]
Why the Choreography of Ryan Heffington Has Become My New Obsession
Edgar Wright’s “Baby Driver” is the most euphoric cinematic mix tape I’ve seen since Quentin Tarantino’s “Kill Bill.” Its hero, Baby (Ansel Elgort), copes with his chronic tinnitus by blaring […]
Top 100 Favorite Films: 2017 Edition
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 […]
CIFF 2016 Preview: “La La Land,” “Moonlight” and More
Movie lovers in the Windy City have a massive treat in store for them when the Chicago International Film Festival kicks off this week. Boasting the strongest line-up in recent […]
CIFF 2015 Preview: “Anomalisa,” “James White” and Six More
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 […]
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 […]
Joaquin Phoenix: A Career in Three Acts
“There’s nobody really better than you are,” replied a rather perplexed and amused David Letterman during his hilarious 2009 interview with Joaquin Phoenix, an actor rendered unrecognizable by his scruffy […]
Memories of Ebertfest 2014
Amazing how you can know someone for a few days and feel as though you’ve made a friend for life. That’s an experience not uncommon to the attendees at Ebertfest, […]
Under Her Skin
What is it that makes us human? What separates us from the artificial beings designed to mimic our behavior, store our knowledge and latch onto our daily lives like a […]
Indie Outlook 