Michael Phillips

George Clooney in a scene from "The Midnight Sky."

‘The Midnight Sky’ review: On the ice, after the apocalypse, with George Clooney getting terrific direction from…George Clooney

January 5, 2021 at 12:17 p.m.

A man alone, with a quarantine beard, sits and eats a plateful of whatever he probably ate the day before. He shuffles back to his computer screens, monitoring red-zone hotspots....

This image released by HBO Max shows Lucas Hedges, left, and Meryl Streep in a scene from "Let Them All Talk." (Peter Andrews/HBO Max via AP)

‘Let Them All Talk’ review: a writer’s secrets set sail across the Atlantic, with Meryl Streep at the helm

January 5, 2021 at 12:18 p.m.

Filmed aboard the Queen Mary II during a real transatlantic crossing, HBO Max's "Let Them All Talk" is a drolly successful example of experimental filmmaking. The experiment is that it's...

Meryl Streep and James Corden as Broadway actors trying to salvage their careers in "The Prom,"the Netflix movie adaptation of the 2018 Broadway musical.

‘The Prom’ review: Broadway babies save the day, and deliver some social justice to small-town Indiana

January 5, 2021 at 12:18 p.m.

If you liked the film versions of "Mamma Mia!" or "Les Miserables," then you'll probably like "The Prom," premiering Dec. 11 on Netflix. Overextertion rarely gets in the way of...

‘Godfather Coda’ review: A famously disappointing sequel embraces the dying fall

January 5, 2021 at 12:20 p.m.

It's a little better now. In "The Godfather Part III," recut and retitled "The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone," flashes of greatness periodically illuminate a general, frustrating fog...

‘Lincoln is Crying’ review: A blur of political sleaze, delivered by a glib documentary

January 5, 2021 at 12:22 p.m.

The Middle-earth depths of Illinois political corruption deserve a better documentary than "Lincoln is Crying," now streaming on the Gene Siskel Film Center digital platform and airing Dec. 22 on...

A doctor comforts a COVID-19 patient in '76 Days,' a documentary filmed in four Wuhan, China hospitals in early 2020. (MTV Documentary Films via AP)

’76 Days’ review: In early 2020, a virus spreads, and a riveting documentary examines the human factors of survival

January 5, 2021 at 12:19 p.m.

In the years to come, filmmakers will create fuller, more politically contextualized documentaries about the COVID-19 outbreak, and how some nations handled it less tragically than others. But "76 Days"...

This image released by Amazon Studios shows Paul Raci in a scene from "Sound of Metal." (Amazon Studios via AP)

Paul Raci grew up in Chicago, the hearing son of deaf parents. For Amazon’s ‘Sound of Metal,’ his course was clear: No acting allowed

December 1, 2020 at 1:33 p.m.

Paul Raci, co-star of "Sound of Metal" premiering Dec. 4 on Amazon Prime, grew up with three siblings in Humboldt Park and, later, in Oak Lawn, as the hearing son...

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