Top 20 Films of 2019: Part II
Though my love of cinema still dwarfs my appetite for television, the increasing timidity of Hollywood studios combined with the creative risks undertaken by streaming platforms has caused 2019 to […]
Tag Archives: Woody Allen
Writing for RogerEbert.com: Vol. 4
A surreal and wonderful event occurred during my coverage of the 90th Academy Awards for RogerEbert.com. I was in the official press room surrounded by 200 other journalists, including Ebert […]
Roxane Mesquida, Najarra Townsend, Kevin Wehby, Jack C. Newell, Shane Simmons and Michael Glover Smith on “Mercury in Retrograde”
Michael Glover Smith’s sophomore feature, “Mercury in Retrograde,” is a lyrical ode to the unspoken truths tucked between words. It follows three couples on a weekend vacation to a cabin […]
“Writer’s Block” and “The Puppy Trials” Delight at Pens to Lens 2017
Most of us have a movie that we dream of making someday. It’s what we fantasize about in the midst of our daily routine, imagining what an audience’s response might […]
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 […]
Michael Glover Smith on “Cool Apocalypse”
There is no foolproof guidebook on how to make a living as an artist. For Michael Glover Smith, his passion for film has taken him many places before he arrived […]
Michael DiBiasio and Rebecca De Ornelas on “The Videoblogs”
Long before the Internet existed, filmmakers were fascinated by the human face. Some of the most transfixing moments in a film by Ingmar Bergman or Woody Allen occur when the […]
I Don’t Know If I’m Coming or Going: An Appreciation of “Nine Lives”
Some wonderful things happen in the moments prior to a film screening. Strangers in the audience strike up a conversation, connections are made and in some cases, lives are forever […]
Dietrich Brüggemann on “Heil”
In the fall of 2014, I was covering the Chicago International Film Festival when I stumbled upon Dietrich Brüggemann’s German drama “Stations of the Cross.” It was a shattering portrait […]
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 […]
