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 […]
Tag Archives: Woody Allen
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 […]
To Infinity and Beyond: Top Ten Pixar Movies
Perhaps only John Lasseter could’ve transformed an ordinary table lamp into the next Mickey Mouse. In his Oscar-nominated 1986 short, “Luxo Jr.”, Lasseter ingeniously brought a lamp to life by […]
Top 100 Favorite Films
I was recently asked by a friend to rank my Top Five Favorite Films. It was so daunting to limit my list to only five titles that I decided to […]
Deconstructing Woody Allen
“I just met a wonderful new man. He’s fictional but you can’t have everything.”—Cecilia (Mia Farrow) in “The Purple Rose of Cairo” (1985) There’s a scene toward the end of […]
