Due to scheduling hurdles, the usual comic book film roundtable called in by the Kicking the Seat Podcast hosted by Ian Simmons had to merge their voices over the fun for an extended and perky podcast to cover Marvel's record-shattering blockbuster phenomenon, Black Panther! Ian was joined by myself, David Fowlie of Keeping it Reel, and Emmanuel Noisette of Eman's Movie Reviews.
Read MoreFor the second time in a month, the hard-working host of the "Kicking the Seat" podcast, Ian Simmons, invited Every Movie Has a Lesson to join the barstool daius for his 100th show of 2017. Fitting for the milestone century number is the central film of the discussion: Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Ian was joined by his regular partner-in-crime David J. Fowlie of Keeping it Reel and Emmanuel Noisette of E-Man's Movie Reviews. The four us go deeply into SPOILERS, so buyer beware.
Read MoreEmmanuel Noisette of the newly updated E-Man's Movie Reviews called for a wingman on a team-up movie. He was kind enough to invite me to represent Every Movie Has a Lesson on a recorded SPOILER-FILLED podcast of our immediate reactions after watching the Zack Snyder/Joss Whedon concoction of Justice League. We sit down and discuss what we saw, what we liked, and didn't like.
Read MoreThe 53rd Chicago International FIlm Festival brings over 1,000 films of all genres and sizes to our fair city. There are premieres aplenty, between those making their world, North American, or Chicago debuts. Opening with a red carpet premiere of Marshall, peaking with the centerpiece of Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird, and closing with the Oscar contender The Shape of Water from Guillermo del Toro, the 53rd CIFF fills the AMC River East 21 for two weeks. For the fourth year in a row, Every Movie Has a Lesson has been granted press credentials to cover the CIFF and here are my capsule reviews.
Read MoreCan you learn about a popular band by listening to their B-sides instead of their greatest hits? Can you get a sense of the brilliance within a writer from their early drafts and not their published masterpieces? Can you spot the traits of a future Hall of Fame sports legend solely by their work in college or the minor leagues before the professional ranks? The answer to each is quite likely the same: sometimes, but not always. Tally one in the sometimes column for Reginald Hudlin’s Marshall and its biographical podium choice.
Read MoreEmmanuel Noisette of Eman's Movie Reviews is an emerging film critic tackling both written and video reviews. His YouTube channel is must-watch and automatic-subscribe material. Emmanuel is one of the co-directors with me of the Chicago Independent Film Critics Circle. Between us two busy Chicago critics and working fathers, Emmanuel and I are orchestrating a trade of "guest reviews" for each other's sites. Horror is not my cup of tea and he was all over It.
Read MoreKathryn Bigelow's new film Detroit deserves the attention and lightning rod attraction it hopes to receive. Her historical drama is unrelenting in weight and topical in its parallels to similar and remaining mistreatment still happening today. On the same night as seeing an advance screening, three critics got together to unpack and reaction to Detroit. Aaron White, one of the hosts of the Feelin' Film Podcast, invited me and fellow Chicago critic Emmanuel Noisette of Eman's Movie Reviews to put our thoughts and feelings into words.
Read MoreIf you're like me and friend-of-the-page Emmanuel Noisette of Eman's Movie Reviews, you might be feeling masterpiece-labeling pressure and Dunkirk review fatigue. For Emmanuel, guest extraordinaire Harry Egbo, and I, the film didn't resonate with us emotionally, but we had plenty of superlatives to talk about mingling with the challenges and questions. This is a SPOILER-FILLED audio discussion and the ethnic music in the background is all bonus gravy!
Read MoreFriend-of-the-page Emmanuel Noisette of Eman's Movie Reviews invited me to record the beginnings of a new podcast for his brand. Because his YouTube reviews tend to be spoiler-free, these new chats will be spoiler-filled reactions and discussions. As always, we have a fun back-and-forth as two guys free of "fanlexia" to praise Spider-Man: Homecoming. Enjoy!
Read MoreThis past week, the Kicking the Seat Podcast reunited a super-team of critics to discuss Patty Jenkins' Wonder Woman! I was invited by the KtS host Ian Simmons to join himself, David Fowlie of Keeping it Reel, and Emmanuel Noisette of Eman's Movie Reviews after an advance screening at the ShowPlace ICON X at Roosevelt Collections. As always, I'm honored to be invited by Ian, a gracious host like no other.
Read MoreBetween us two busy Chicago film critics and working fathers, Emmanuel and I are orchestrating a trade of "guest reviews" for each other's sites. I was swamped last week and I was unable to see "The Fate of the Furious." He missed Chris Evans' vehicle "Gifted." My review of that will go on his site and his review of vehicular mayhem arrives right here:
Read MoreShameful as this sounds, I have not seen the first "John Wick" and I was not a place to catchup before "John Wick: Chapter 2." Meet Emmanuel Noisette of Eman's Movie Reviews. He is an emerging film critic tackling both written and video reviews. His YouTube channel is must-watch and automatic subscribe material. Emmanuel is a colleague of man with the Chicago Independent Film Critics Circle (CIFCC). Eman is a big fan of the first and the second one impressed him greatly.
Read More