Michael Phillips – Page 131

‘The Great Buster’ review: Before Mel Brooks or Johnny Knoxville, there was Buster Keaton. A fond tribute at the Siskel.

December 12, 2018 at 12:00 a.m.

“The Great Buster,” filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich’s fond if slight appreciation of Buster Keaton, serves as the centerpiece of the Gene Siskel Film Center’s weeklong “Best of Buster” mini-retrospective starting Friday....

‘Ralph Breaks the Internet’ review: Sequel is an anxiety attack for all ages

January 31, 2019 at 12:25 p.m.

A weirder and more interesting movie than “Wreck-It Ralph,” “Ralph Breaks the Internet” tells a lie right in its title because isn’t that thing broken already? The sequel to Walt...

‘Creed II’ review: Michael B. Jordan’s Adonis orders a White Russian to go — on the MAT!

January 31, 2019 at 12:27 p.m.

For starters, the way to appreciate the fairly enjoyable, consistently predictable “Creed II” is to acknowledge its superiority to most of the first-round “Rocky” sequels. Full credit goes to the...

Penniless, driven, the Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh (Willem Dafoe) regards his next canvas subject in "At Eternity's Gate," directed by visual artist and filmmaker Julian Schnabel.

‘At Eternity’s Gate’ review: Willem Dafoe, Oscar Isaac enter a vivid van Gogh landscape

December 12, 2018 at 12:34 a.m.

A previous version of this review misspelled a name. A broken visionary endures a harsh, nearly penniless life, for a while, while making the world a richer place one unfashionable...

And the winner of the best movie poster of 2018 is … not ‘Widows’

December 11, 2018 at 11:21 p.m.

A movie poster’s job is both extremely difficult and ridiculously direct. Entice the customer. Capture the eye. Tickle the subconscious. And make a promise, with image and text, the film...

Acreenwriter William Goldman attends the Tribeca Film Festival on April 24, 2009

William Goldman: the wit and wisdom (‘Follow the money’) of a legendary Chicago-born screenwriter

December 11, 2018 at 11:05 p.m.

In his adventures in the screen trade, Chicago-born, Highland Park-raised William Goldman won two screenwriting Academy Awards and the hearts of millions who liked the way his wiseacres talked. Goldman...

‘Museo’ review: Gael Garcia Bernal leads caper of the biggest art theft in Mexican history

December 11, 2018 at 10:31 p.m.

Most heist movies build up to the big score. The more daring and unpredictable examples of the genre, Jules Dassin’s “Rififi” high among them, steal first and ask questions later,...

‘Ballad of Buster Scruggs’ review: The Coen Brothers order up a Western omelette

December 11, 2018 at 10:14 p.m.

Joel and Ethan Coen probably have noticed that their two biggest global successes, “True Grit” and “No Country for Old Men,” constitute different but related sorts of Westerns. “True Grit”...

‘Widows’ review: Riveting heist thriller finds Viola Davis taking on every rat in Chicago — and winning

December 11, 2018 at 10:15 p.m.

I can’t speak for all of them, but Chicagoans will watch the terrific and unexpectedly soulful crime drama “Widows” one way, while everybody else experiences a separate but related movie....

‘Green Book’ review: Driving Mr. Shirley, starring Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali

December 11, 2018 at 10:56 p.m.

Can two New Yorkers share a turquoise Cadillac on a tour of the Deep South without driving each other crazy? Apologies to the opening credits of the TV sitcom “The...

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