Michael Phillips – Page 106

‘Dolittle’ review: Robert Downey Jr. talks to the animals, without ever seeming to give a deuce about them

January 15, 2020 at 11:56 a.m.

The new film "Dolittle" proves there's more than one way to spell "Dolittle," its preferred spelling being "J-u-m-a-n-j-i." In what feels like a corporate panic, co-writer and director Stephen Gaghan's...

‘Bad Boys for Life’ review: Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, together again and schooling the youngsters

January 15, 2020 at 8:33 a.m.

So much has happened since Martin Lawrence and Will Smith, in that order of billing, struck gold with director Michael Bay's feature debut "Bad Boys" (1995) and its sequel, "Bad...

Christian Bale as Ken Miles, driver and master at finding speed, in "Ford v. Ferrari."

Here’s where to stream the 2020 Oscar-nominated movies. And where to see them bigger.

January 23, 2020 at 2:11 p.m.

Patience is a virtue, as some pious so-and-so with too much time on his hands once said. Five of this year's nine Academy Award best picture nominees, announced Monday to...

Controversial New Yorker film critic Pauline Kael lost it at the movies, and look what we found

January 9, 2020 at 1:11 p.m.

For so many young film lovers, future critics and filmmakers on the cusp, a first encounter with Pauline Kael was like love at first prose. In my seventh grade English...

‘Like a Boss’ review: A few cosmetic laughs, but no foundation for Tiffany Haddish, Rose Byrne and Salma Hayek

January 9, 2020 at 10:14 a.m.

Somewhere between the screenwriters' pitch to Tiffany Haddish in 2017 and the film's January 2020 release, "Like a Boss" sprang a leak and dribbled away all its comic possibilities. In...

Michael B. Jordan, left, and Jamie Foxx star in "Just Mercy."

‘Just Mercy’ review: Michael B. Jordan, Jamie Foxx fight for justice in true-life Death Row drama

January 6, 2020 at 6:41 p.m.

"Just Mercy" is solid, meat-and-potatoes docudrama filmmaking, if you don't mind a first-rate story of systemic injustice undercut by second-rate dialogue. No character can go two sentences without clarifying a...

Michelle Williams spoke eloquently about women's rights during her acceptance speech for best actress in a limited series or TV movie for her role in "Fosse/Verdon,"

What the Golden Globes mean for ‘1917,’ ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’ and the Oscars

January 6, 2020 at 4:33 p.m.

Five lessons learned from Sunday's Golden Globes: 1. "1917," which entered the awards spin cycle looking like a placeholder, is now a serious Oscars contender. Big wins Sunday night for...

The "Birds of Prey" squad (from left): Rosie Perez, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Margot Robbie, Ella Jay Basco and Jurnee Smollett-Bell.

Winter movie preview: Can ‘Dolittle’ do it for Iron Man? Will ‘Mulan’ outdo Disney’s recent do-overs?

January 2, 2020 at 9:02 a.m.

Greetings from Chicago, where we just spent the second-warmest Christmas in nearly 150 years. Warm weather meant football outside, and eating strata and habanero-spiced chili and homemade pie inside at...

A Manhattan diamond broker (Adam Sandler, right) negotiates the sale of a precious stone with Kevin Garnett (left, as himself) as Lakeith Stanfield looks on, in "Uncut Gems."

‘Uncut Gems’ review: Adam Sandler’s rendition of ‘Diamonds are a Boy’s Worst Friend’

December 24, 2019 at 8:36 a.m.

Once, in high school, on Christmas break I ended up alone one night at the movies, and ever since then "Looking for Mr. Goodbar" has served as my working definition...

Jennifer Reeder, writer-director of "Signature Move" and "Knives and Skin," oversees the School of Art and Art History at University of Illinois-Chicago.

Chicagoan of the Year in film: Jennifer Reeder looks back on the wonder years, through a new lens

December 23, 2019 at 1:33 p.m.

In tune with her next feature project, a movie about a teenaged shape-shifter, filmmaker and University of Illinois-Chicago professor Jennifer K. Reeder embodies a creative life of fluid transformations. The...

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