10 country shows to catch in Chicago this summer
Country music and summer are just made for one another. It's nice to hear about riverbanks and back-road drives in the winter, to remind us of better times, but there's...
Home > Reviews
All Stories
Chicago-area student’s ban from prom catches J.K. Rowling’s attention
A Chicago-area teen has drawn widespread attention after being banned from attending her prom over a poem she read in a school talent show, even catching the eye of "Harry...
YA pioneer Meg Cabot talks human conflict, illustrating and ‘Princess Diaries 3’ rumors
Back before "Twilight," before "The Hunger Games," before Young Adult became a booming genre, there was Meg Cabot, telling great stories for teens during a time when, she said, publishers...
‘A Hologram for the King’ has Tom Hanks, and that’s enough
If you think about it, "A Hologram for the King" has kind of a high-school story feel to it. Guy ends up in a new place and has to find...
‘Dispatches from the Gulf’ documentary spotlights researchers studying Deepwater Horizon oil spill
On April 20, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon, a drilling rig off the Louisiana coast, blew up. The explosion killed 11 people, and the resulting oil spill, the largest in U.S....
In ‘Mr. Right,’ what doesn’t kill you makes you quirkier
Let's get this out of the way: "Mr. Right" is a mess. It's not a great movie. It's all quirk and flash, with no logic and minimal real emotion. But...
15 questions we hope a ‘Downton Abbey’ movie would answer
"Downton Abbey" might have done a smart thing by wrapping up while it was still on top, not dragging things out until it got bad/we grew sick of it, but...
‘Downton Abbey’ series finale recap: We miss you already, Crawleys and friends
"I hate goodbyes," Mary says during the "Downton Abbey" series finale, and for once she speaks for us, too. After six wonderful seasons, "Downton" has come to an end. And...
Tina Fey’s ‘Whiskey Tango Foxtrot’ is funny but troubling
"Whiskey Tango Foxtrot," ICYMI, is military alphabet for "what the [bleep]." It's a good title for the movie opening Friday, as the phrase comes in handy while you're watching it....
Kim Barker, the real foreign correspondent behind ‘Whiskey Tango Foxtrot’
Movies based on true stories are prone to overdramatization: a new romantic angle, a few extra daring feats. The war zone comedy "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot," opening Friday, does add those...