Michael Phillips – Page 34

Willis and Shirley Johnson in the Willis & Shirley Johnson and Classic Cinema Research and Education Center on Jan. 20, 2014, in Elmhurst.

Classic Cinemas founder Willis Johnson is dead at 86. His dedication saved downtown theaters in communities across Chicagoland.

March 12, 2024 at 11:59 a.m.

When Willis Johnson got into the movie theater business, "old downtown theaters were out of favor," remembered son Chris Johnson on Friday. The mall was king, and shoebox multiplexes of...

A ragtag pack of dogs voiced by Jamie Foxx, Will Ferrell, Isla Fisher and Randall Park encounter some hallucinogenic mushrooms in the R-rated comedy "Strays."

‘Strays’ review: Dogs go hunting for laughs on comedy’s mean streets, with Will Ferrell and Jamie Foxx

August 17, 2023 at 12:59 p.m.

You know how raunchy comedies go. Hit and miss. One person's laff riot is another person's exercise in jaw clenching and existential wonderment: not just why isn't this working for...

James Earl Jones starred in August Wilson's play "Fences'' in 1985. "Fences'' is one of several plays Wilson premiered at the Yale Repertory Theatre. The rocky backstage dramas en route to Broadway are chronicled, along with other chapters in Wilson's life, in biographer Patti Hartigan's new book "August Wilson: A Life."

‘August Wilson: A Life’: A theater giant’s symphony of 20th century Black lives, captured by biographer Patti Hartigan

August 17, 2023 at 5:00 a.m.

Opening night, 1986. August Wilson's play "Joe Turner's Come and Gone," Huntington Theatre Company in Boston. Patti Hartigan, a rising young critic and arts writer, took her seat for the...

Xolo Maridueña in a scene from "Blue Beetle."

‘Blue Beetle’ review: A reluctant superhero in a better-than-average DC Comics movie

August 16, 2023 at 12:25 p.m.

"Blue Beetle" works, basically, and that puts it ahead of the game for most DC Comics-derived movies. Its scale is more human than corporate. And it's really nice to get...

Gal Gadot in a scene from "Heart of Stone." (Robert Viglasky/Netflix via AP)

Review: ‘Heart of Stone’ is a Netflix killer-spy movie about all-powerful AI. Far-fetched twist: Actual humans wrote the script.

August 11, 2023 at 7:10 p.m.

Saying the new Netflix spy thriller "Heart of Stone" is nothing special doesn't fully capture its nothing-specialness. This isn't "second screen" stuff, designed to have on in the background while...

Franz Rogowski, left, and Adèle Exarchopoulos in a scene from "Passages."

Review: ‘Passages’ is a compelling sexual triangle set in Paris — and a 2023 film standout

August 10, 2023 at 5:15 a.m.

Five minutes into "Passages," a scene from a marriage takes a casually fateful turn, and one of the year's best films is off and running to destinations unknown. Late at...

Chicago native Andrew Davis, whose locally shot projects include his biggest hit, "The Fugitive," in a 2018 photo taken during the 50th annual Chicago International film Festival.

‘The Fugitive’ at 30: Andrew Davis made a great Chicago movie. Here are some of the secret ingredients

August 9, 2023 at 5:45 a.m.

"The Fugitive" remains singular in the career of Chicago-born director Andrew Davis, raised first in Rogers Park and then, mainly, in the South Side Jeffery Manor neighborhood. The 1993 thriller...

In a scene from the 1973 classic film "The Exorcist," Linda Blair portrays a young girl whose body is possessed by evil. Max Von Sydow, center, and Jason Miller play catholic priests in the movie directed by William Friedkin.

In appreciation: Chicago’s William Friedkin was the street-level master of suspense, from ‘French Connection’ and ‘The Exorcist’ to ‘Bug’

August 8, 2023 at 9:12 a.m.

"No technique." "No style." Those are exact quotes from William Friedkin talking about William Friedkin, in the context of the filmmaker's intentional lack of conventional artifice on what became his...

Jason Statham in a scene from "Meg 2: The Trench."

‘Meg 2: The Trench’ review: This murky, underwater sequel doesn’t even have enough sharks

August 4, 2023 at 3:45 p.m.

Five years ago, "The Meg" met expectations as a fairly entertaining time-squanderer about huge, prehistoric sharks. The trailers for the sequel (new director, more creatures) feature the sight of Jason...

The documentary "A Compassionate Spy" includes reenactments of real-life University of Chicago physicist Ted Hall (J. Michael Wright), later a passer of atomic secrets to the Soviets, and future wife Joan Hall (Lucy Zukaitis).

Review: ‘A Compassionate Spy’ is a Manhattan Project espionage story that began at UChicago

August 4, 2023 at 7:18 a.m.

The film hasn't changed. But the context certainly has. The latest Steve James documentary "A Compassionate Spy," opening Friday at the Gene Siskel Film Center, made its world premiere late...

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