David Paterson on “The Great Gilly Hopkins”
I honestly didn’t expect much from the film “Bridge to Terabithia” when I saw it back in 2007. I hadn’t grown up with the 1977 novel by Katherine Paterson, which […]
Tag Archives: Sundance Film Festival
Of Films and Flatulence: “The BFG” and “Swiss Army Man”
It’s easy for one to regard fart jokes as the lowest form of humor known to man. I have little doubt that the first laugh ever elicited in human history […]
Christine Swanson on “Love Under New Management: The Miki Howard Story”
When I met filmmaker Christine Swanson at this year’s Ebertfest, she was eager to discuss her upcoming project with me. It was a biopic on the iconic singer Miki Howard, […]
CCFF 2016: Six Films to Remember
The fourth installment of the Chicago Critics Film Festival wrapped yesterday at the Music Box Theatre, and I couldn’t be prouder of my colleagues who made this passion project a […]
Colin Healey on “Homemakers”
One of the great pleasures of the moviegoing experience is encountering a character unlike any you have seen before onscreen. Irene (Rachel McKeon), the anti-heroine of Colin Healey’s superb directorial […]
Twenty-Five Anticipated Films at Sundance 2014
The 2014 Sundance Film Festival, held from Thursday, January 16th, to Sunday, January 26th, in Park City, Utah, offers an embarrassment of riches for any self-respecting cinephile. Merely attempting to […]
Top Twenty Films of 2013: Part II
In an ordinary year, any of these ten films would easily have deserved the number one slot. Yet 2013, despite some high-profile misfires and disastrous would-be blockbusters, has ultimately proven […]
The Dark Side of Michael Cera
It’s become a routine practice of casual moviegoers to criticize Michael Cera for offering the same brand of neurotic sweetness in picture after picture, as if mastering a comic persona […]
Falling in Love with “The Spectacular Now”
“What an affecting film this is. It respects its characters and doesn’t use them for its own shabby purposes. How deeply we care about them. Miles Teller and Shailene Woodley […]
Andrew Bujalski on “Funny Ha Ha”
Andrew Bujalski wants you to know that the naturalistic dialogue in his 2002 microbudget masterwork, “Funny Ha Ha,” was not the result of an “anthropological exercise.” He was 22 when […]
