Screen
Swing and a miss
Dame Helen Mirren as a toughtalking Nevada brothel madam? We like to think our finest screen performers can play anyone. Mirren, whose career has encompassed the full spectrum of human behavior, from queens to gangster’s molls, is fully capable of tackling a ...
BolderLife Festival delivers films, speakers and theater
As the BolderLife Festival enters its second year on the scene, the film/theater festival will take on an array of taboo topics, giving audiences a platform to engage in in-depth discussions...
Art reflecting Ebert
The Chicago Sun-Times obituary by Neil Steinberg couldn’t have said it better: “Roger Ebert loved movies.” Considering that he reviewed thousands upon thousands of them, it was a good thing. From 1967 to his death in 2013, Ebert was the film critic for the Chicago ...
Majestical or just majestic?
Family units are fascinating things. Some come ready-made, while others must be forged out of sheer will. That’s what Ricky (Julian Dennison) is hoping...
The fascination of film
In a world where the Adam Sandler fiasco Jack and Jill makes $68 million at the box office, it’s easy to forget that movies are pretty much magic...
A story of fire and ice; silver and gold
Depending on whom you talk to, anywhere between 75 and 90 percent of all silent film is lost forever. The vast majority of everything...
When the good comes undone
Set in a small coal-mining town in the hills of West Virginia, Little Accidents revolves around two incidents, neither of which is little. The first provides the engine of the plot: an accidental death that is covered up. The second: gross negligence that cost 10 ...
Libraries: More than a building full of books
Located on Fifth Avenue, nestled between 40th and 42nd streets, the New York Public Library is as inspiring as it is imposing. Opened in...
Atomic blast ‘Godzilla’ is radioactive fun
Repent! The end is nigh! For unto them shall come a lizard with a beer belly, barfing atomic breath and bringing despair and sadness to Heisenberg from Breaking Bad...
Arrested development
It´s not easy being mean, as Oscar-winning screenwriter Diablo Cody’s latest project, Young Adult — directed by her Juno collaborator, Jason Reitman — goes about illustrating with an intriguing, unsettled blend of pity and pitilessness...
The sound of a true American voice
Ten years ago at the Sundance Film Festival, a new voice in American cinema was announced. The voice was not loud, but it was clear, and it belonged to the 29-year-old Ramin Bahrani...
