Michael Phillips – Page 142

‘On Chesil Beach’ review: Saoirse Ronan stars in scenes from a brief marriage

December 13, 2018 at 5:52 a.m.

“On Chesil Beach” would be an uncomfortable sit even if director Dominic Cooke’s film version of the Ian McEwan novella had figured out an effective tone and style for these...

Director and screenwriter Paul Schrader turned to Robert Bresson, Ingmar Bergman, Carl Dreyer and his own familiar demons for his drama of spiritual crisis.

‘First Reformed’ filmmaker Paul Schrader on hope, despair and ‘this odd moment we’re in now’

December 13, 2018 at 10:15 a.m.

When he was lonely and struggling to find his way into LA, Paul Schrader wrote “Taxi Driver.” Today, in that distinctive, gargly, next-door-to-Nick-Nolte voice of his, the filmmaker is the...

Christopher Nolan’s ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ opens at Music Box Theatre

December 13, 2018 at 9:54 a.m.

If you’re in or near a major U.S. city, you’ve probably had the chance to see Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey” on a big screen sometime in the last...

Nick Cave has been singing about mortality for decades, and he's really good at it. Whether the narratives are biblical or pulpy, the victims innocents or death row convicts, the circumstances comprehensible or cruelly random, Cave's songs are on intimate terms with the infinite ways a life can be extinguished. And yet, "Skeleton Tree", his latest album with his estimable band, the Bad Seeds, is a relatively concise song cycle shadowed by death that feels different than all the rest. <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/music/kot/sc-music-nick-cave-skeleton-tree-ent-0916-20160916-column.html" target="_blank">Read the full review.</a>

‘The Seagull’ review: Decamping to Chekhovlandia with Saoirse Ronan

December 13, 2018 at 5:47 a.m.

Shortly after Anton Chekhov's death in 1904, his fellow writer Maxim Gorky noted: "All those who found themselves in his company inevitably felt the desire to be simpler, more honest,...

‘Fahrenheit 451’ review: Michael B. Jordan and Michael Shannon can’t start the fire in HBO adaptation

December 13, 2018 at 9:49 a.m.

When Ray Bradbury wrote “Fahrenheit 451,” published in 1953, the author exploited his worst fears to inflame a mass audience’s paranoia. A world without books would terrify any writer. Bradbury...

‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’ review: A solid look at Han’s life before he became a rogue-for-hire

December 14, 2018 at 8:20 a.m.

In the summer of 1977, Ron Howard made his directorial debut with “Grand Theft Auto,” a merrily destructive low-budget fairy tale that found its way into a lot of newly...

Ryan Reynolds takes a comic high dive into ‘Deadpool 2’

December 13, 2018 at 9:44 a.m.

"Deadpool 2" is just like "Deadpool" only more so. It's actually a fair bit better — funnier, more inventive than the 2016 smash (which made $783 million worldwide, on a...

‘Hitler’s Hollywood’: Taking inventory of the Nazi dream factory

December 13, 2018 at 9:32 a.m.

"Every death was a happy death in Nazi cinema." That's one of many brazen observations spoken, in voice-over, by actor Udo Kier in "Hitler's Hollywood." So much of the footage...

‘Life of the Party’ review: Back to school with Melissa McCarthy

December 13, 2018 at 9:23 a.m.

The back-to-school genre of collegiate comedies has given us "Old School" (Will Ferrell), "Back to School" (Rodney Dangerfield) and "Horse Feathers" (the Marx Brothers), among others. Melissa McCarthy joins that...

‘Let the Sunshine In’ review: Juliette Binoche, looking for love

December 13, 2018 at 9:23 a.m.

Originally called "Un beau soleil interieur," which translates literally to "Bright Sunshine In" or "A Beautiful Indoor Sun," "Let the Sunshine In" is the somewhat dorky English-language title of the...

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