Michael Phillips

Danielle Deadwyler as Mamie Till, and Whoopi Goldberg as Alma Carthan in "Till."

Review: ‘Till’ is a compelling portrait of grief, resolve and the national impact of the Emmett Till murder

October 13, 2022 at 12:11 p.m.

Drive around enough and you'll likely catch sight of a video billboard flashing momentarily on "Till." Its image of the actors playing Emmett Till and, more prominently and in color,...

Cate Blanchett and Nina Hoss, right, in a tense rehearsal scene from "Tár."

Review: In ‘Tár,’ Cate Blanchett wields a mean baton in one of the year’s best movies

October 12, 2022 at 2:50 p.m.

An icy-hot paradox of a film, and one of the year's peak achievements, writer-director Todd Field's "Tár" casts a gimlet eye on a fictional American orchestra conductor and composer, Lydia...

Black Harvest Film Festival’s Sergio Mims dies at 67, a ‘staggering loss’ for Chicago cinema

October 7, 2022 at 5:32 p.m.

No one writing, talking or sharing discoveries about film in Chicago brought the breadth of experience or the enthusiastic advocacy of Sergio Mims. He cofounded the Gene Siskel Film Center's...

‘Luckiest Girl Alive’ review: A woman’s trauma becomes a Netflix revenge saga starring Mila Kunis

October 7, 2022 at 5:00 a.m.

In 2017, the "Luckiest Girl Alive" bestselling author and, now, screenwriter Jessica Knoll wrote about what happened to her at age 15, and how it informed the writing of the...

Brendan Fraser in a scene from "The Whale."

Guide to the Chicago International Film Festival: ‘It’s time to focus on being back together in theaters’

October 7, 2022 at 1:54 p.m.

Last year, the opening night of the Chicago International Film Festival told it like it was. One film (Wes Anderson's "The French Dispatch") played indoors, at the Music Box Theatre....

Christian Bale, Margot Robbie and John David Washington in a scene from "Amsterdam."

‘Amsterdam’ review: A true-life plot against America, starring Christian Bale and some seriously wrong-headed storytelling

October 6, 2022 at 5:00 a.m.

David O. Russell's "Amsterdam" is very plush in the looks department. Enjoying the costumes and cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki's lighting and some of Russell's shot designs will get you through it....

All Stories

Review: ‘Till’ is a compelling portrait of grief, resolve and the national impact of the Emmett Till murder

Review: In ‘Tár,’ Cate Blanchett wields a mean baton in one of the year’s best movies

Black Harvest Film Festival’s Sergio Mims dies at 67, a ‘staggering loss’ for Chicago cinema

‘Luckiest Girl Alive’ review: A woman’s trauma becomes a Netflix revenge saga starring Mila Kunis

Guide to the Chicago International Film Festival: ‘It’s time to focus on being back together in theaters’

‘Amsterdam’ review: A true-life plot against America, starring Christian Bale and some seriously wrong-headed storytelling

Column: Here’s the big reveal: Movie endings are hard to get right, and not just in ‘Don’t Worry Darling’

‘Hocus Pocus 2’ review: When ‘twice as good as the original’ means less than you think

‘Bros’ review: Billy Eichner stars in a gay R-rated rom-com. A good one!

In the best way, ‘Bros’ could be Billy Eichner’s ‘Trainwreck.’ He owes it all to his Northwestern years.