COLUMN: Award recipients named for the 50th Chicago International Film Festival

In its banner 50th anniversary year, the Chicago International Film Festival welcomed another deep field of cinematic competition spanning feature films, local works, animated efforts, international selections, numerous documentary films, and vast number of short films. On Friday, October 17th, the festival held its annual awards banquet. The ceremony and festivities were hosted by Fox News Chicago entertainment reporter and Chicago Sun-Times columnist Bill Zwecker. Awards were given out in the following categories: International Feature Film Competition, New Directors Competition, Roger Ebert Award, Chicago Award, Q-Hugo Award, DocuFest and Shorts

COLUMN: Must-see films for the 50th Chicago International Film Festival

While the festival doesn't boast anywhere near the amount of red carpet headliners found at Toronto or New York's film festivals, there are still several worthy films coming to Chicago for the first time in advance of their theatrical release and the year-end Oscar and awards season. This very writer has acquired press credentials through Examiner.com to cover this year's event and here is a list of the must-see films from the festival's schedule.

COLUMN: 50th Chicago International Film Festival special events

Since starting in 1965, the Chicago International Film Festival has operated as the country's oldest competitive international film festival. Following "Miss Julie" and the Opening Night Gala, two films will be featured as the Festival Centerpieces. Both films will screened on Wednesday, October 15th. Over the course of the two and a half weeks that follow, over 300 more films and events will take place primarily at the AMC River East 21 theater on 322 East Illinois Street. Best of all, this whole extravaganza is open to the public. For this watershed anniversary, several special presentations are planned.

SPECIAL EVENT GUEST CRITIC: Toronto Film Festival

In this special edition of my "Guest Critic" series an old college friend and fellow student newspaper veteran had the wonderful opportunity to attend this year's Toronto International Film Festival. Inside are her reviews of "Rosewater" and "Map to the Stars." Enjoy!

EDITORIAL: Movies and the 9/11 impact

UPDATED: September 11, 2015 with updated and new movie inclusions (after original post from the 10th anniversary in 2011) and a new section of faded and relaxed sensitivity. I plan to make this an annual post and study.

COLUMN: 2014 Fall Movie Preview

Traditionally, the months of September and October are the dumping grounds of movies that weren't good enough or too dark to be summer releases or films not quite good enough to be held until the prime awards season during the winter months of November and December. Every now and then, though, a future Academy Award winner sneaks into early into the Oscar race with an October release. Here is my full preview of the 2014 fall movie season. I hope I can steer you to a few hidden gems before the real big-timers get here in November and December.

MOVIE REVIEW: Magic in the Moonlight

Woody Allen has the Midas touch of artistic credibility. Non-actors become notable presences. No-name actors become discovered somebodies. Name actors look better than they normally do and great actors get even greater, even when the films aren't that great. In his latest film, "Magic in the Moonlight," Allen bestows that touch on one great actor and one name actress with Colin Firth and Emma Stone as his leads.

SPECIAL INTEREST: Upcoming book examines renowned director David Fincher

Dr. Laurence Knapp, an editor from University Press of Mississippi, has compiled and created the newest book in the "Conversations with Filmmakers" series. "David Fincher: Interviews" hits store shelves on August 1, 2014. You can preview and even pre-order a copy of "David Fincher: Interviews" over at Amazon today.

COLUMN: The Ultimate Playlist of Movie Music Lullabies

I hope this big post and 200-song playlist finds you and serves you well. It's been quite the passion project for me to build, on and off, over the last year and a half. Thanks for letting me merge sounding like a parenting blogger and a movie in one post. Please share this column with your friends with kids. It's all not just for babies either. If you like this kind of music, it works great in the car or at the office as well. As a school teacher, I used to play this in my elementary school classes all the time. It's excellent music for creativity and focus for all ages. Enjoy!

EDITORIAL: Improving on the "Mozart Effect" with movie music

For those website followers that don't know me on social media, I've become a first-time father in the past year-and-a-half and have a second child on the way due this fall. For this column, I might turn into a parenting blogger more than a movie critic, but bear with me. I think you will like it.

COLUMN: 2014 Late Summer Movie Preview

With the end of June, we've come to the halfway point of the traditionally long four-month summer movie season. In my opinion, even though the box office receipts keep rolling in here and abroad, May and June brought more disappointments than winners. The offerings of July and August aren't usually as strong as May and June, but maybe this year will be different.

CHECKLIST: 2014 Late Summer Movie Calendar

Here is the master list of releases and dates for the late half of this summer movie season for 2014. Print it out, slap it on the fridge, and pick your spots. As always, dates and movies shift all of the time, so look before you drive out to the theater. Full preview coming up next!

EVERY MOVIE HAS A LESSON

by Don Shanahan

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