‘The Rental’ review: One more reason not to try a vacation rental right now
Most movies hit one note, or sell a single idea, and stick to the sales pitch. "The Rental" is different. It starts out good and turns out dumb, ditching a...
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Here’s what the 2020 Chicago International Film Festival *might* look like in the age of COVID-19
From households to corporations, no one who manages anything in Chicago this year can predict what October might mean for the arts and culture industry, for schools, for sports, for...
‘Yes, God, Yes’ review: A Catholic girl’s education, with a terrific performance by Natalia Dyer of ‘Stranger Things’
I remember so little about my own Catholic high school junior-year retreat, except that the religious discussions didn't have a chance up against the severity of everyone's crushes. That's my...
‘Alienist: Angel of Darkness’ review: Gilded Age depravity, in an America hostile to ‘foreign undesirables’
We accommodate all sorts of sadism and bloodshed in period crime stories, as long as we get the right sort of eyeful along with it — "atmosphere," as it's generally...
While we wait for ‘Tenet,’ here’s a rare, early Christopher Nolan mind-bender: ‘Following,’ at the Music Box
If you're a struggling independent movie theater operator in these times of COVID, you have two options when it comes to Christopher Nolan's long-awaited "Tenet." You can sit tight until...
‘Fatal Affair’ review: Drinks with an old friend leads to Glenn Close territory, this time with Nia Long and Omar Epps
The ultimate in well-acted, shamelessly derivative streaming options, the "Fatal Attraction" variant "Fatal Affair" comes under Netflix's own website descriptors as SOAPY (yep), PSYCHOLOGICAL (meaning, a fair bit of killing...
‘I don’t think about it a ton.’ Chicago’s young adults react to COVID-19 uptick among their peers.
There's a lot of attention focused on 18- to 29-year-olds right now. And not in a good way. As COVID-19 cases continue to rise across the U.S. and Chicago, leaders...
‘Love on the Spectrum’: An unscripted Netflix series from Australia may be just what the summer needed
"Tiger King" already seems like a relic of the gaslight era — that is, the beginning the COVID-19 times, when we all started feeling like Ingrid Bergman in "Gaslight." Back...
‘Lake of Death’ review: Norwegian thriller, streaming on Shudder, is more like a shrug
The attractive but plodding 2019 thriller "Lake of Death" makes its streaming premiere this week on the Shudder streaming platform. It's a better candidate for a platform yet to be...
‘The Princess Bride,’ Quibi edition: My favorite remake in years
Now that I've seen Quibi's 10-part, seriously charming "Home Movie: The Princess Bride" in its entirety, I'll just say it. I prefer director Jason Reitman's all-star, multi-auteur, DIY remake of...