I’ll admit, stepping into a film titled Bitch—even one directed by a woman—was an experience I entered into with more than a little trepidation at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. […]
It’s a real shame that people won’t get a real chance to see festival-favorite Mudbound on the big screen in most places in America. It’s a deeply impactful work about […]
Sometimes you’re simply powerless to resist being emotionally manipulated by truly good film about compassion, populated by kind characters who want nothing more than to put a little kindness out […]
Every once in a while, we need a film that takes unfiltered, but finely focused rage and aims it directly at the heart of whatever it is that is scaring […]
Pop quiz: which Western nation was the last to grant suffrage to women? You might be inclined to guess the U.S. (since, after all, it took our ancestors way too […]
A bottle episode can be a questionable choice for TV shows. While economical, stripping down the number of characters and sticking to one location leaves you quite vulnerable. If you can’t serve up a […]
I remember a certain point in my life a couple of months ago, not long after seeing the big-screen debut of Wonder Woman, when I had the thought “How lucky […]
Let’s just cut to the chase: Lady Bird, written and directed by Greta Gerwig (and marking her first time behind the camera), is a perfectly pitched coming-of-age comedy that accomplishes […]
For both uber-film nerds and casual fans of director Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 ground-breaking Psycho, the documentary 78/52 is a compact film studies program that examines the power of camerawork, editing, […]
(This review originally ran as part of my Chicago International Film Festival coverage.) One of the more disappointing, high-profile works of fall movie season is the latest from Richard Linklater […]
As weird as it is having this sequel released on the heels of Bad Moms Christmas, where both films feature their lead characters during the holiday season, the fact that they […]
Chicago’s own Kartemquin Films is known in the documentary film world for 50 years of thoughtful, thought-provoking filmmaking. Beyond that narrow niche, the non-profit filmmaking outfit has risen to wider […]