Bill Murray, at his age and at this end of his career reinvention as a serious actor over the last two decades, has reached the point where he is unarguably great in everything he touches, right down to silly cameos and web videos. In his new film, “St. Vincent” his powers of talent and charm have merged and reached a new peak.
Read MoreIn accordance with the rules placed on me with my press credentials, I am not allowed to publish and post full reviews of the films I saw until their official U.S. distribution and release date. For some movies, that's happening now with the festival itself and for others that holding stretches into 2015. I would love to lay out everything, but I can't and you have to be patient. What I am allowed put out are capsule reviews: brief takes and short critiques that offer a taste of the full meal. Here are capsules for all of the films I attended from the 50th anniversary schedule. Each are listed with their anticipatory U.S. release dates for when you will find my review.
Read MoreIn 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
Read More"Young Ones" is set in a not-too-distant future where drought has ravaged the land and broken down society for several years now. Water is the top commodity and resource. Newer technology is mixed with cruder scraps and styles of the past for a unique world. The middle and lower class tenuously eek out meager survival among bandits and thieves in the rural areas. Beyond those outskirts, there is an unseen richer demographic of cities and a government presence that maintains a more normal society, pulls the strings, and delegates who and where gets the precious remaining water.
Read MoreIn 1977, a single woman named Robyn Davidson, along with her dog and four camels, decided to trek on foot across that barren desert landscape from Alice Springs to the Indian Ocean. The route was over 1,700 miles and would be about the equivalent of walking from Omaha, Nebraska to the Pacific Ocean. In this country, that's a matter of following a few highways and crossing all sorts of populated areas. In Australia, that journey is unmarked, dangerous, isolated, and devoid of almost any human help or settlement.
Read MoreWhile 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.
Read MoreSince 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.
Read MoreTwo-time Academy Award-nominee Liv Ullmann brought her new film, “Miss Julie,” to serve as the opening night film of the 50th Chicago International Film Festival on Thursday, October 9th. “Miss Julie” is based on the 1888 August Strindberg play of the same name and stars two-time Oscar nominee and rising star Jessica Chastain (“Zero Dark Thirty”), Golden Globe winner Colin Farrell (“In Bruges”), and fellow two-time Oscar nominee Samantha Morton (“Minority Report”). Both Ullmann and Farrell attended the Opening Night Gala in Chicago.
Read MoreIn 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!
Read MoreFor the faithful readers of Gillian Flynn's 2012 bestseller of the same name, you will know the twists and turns that are coming. To the uninformed, "Gone Girl" was grab you hook, line, and sinker into a potently swirling world of ominous fear, mystery, and relationship quandaries. What follows, is promised to be SPOILER-FREE.
Read MoreThanks to their outstanding careers on "Saturday Night Live," Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig are completely recognized, celebrated, and even typecast as total comedic performers. We've never seen them do real drama until "The Skeleton Twins." The success of your like or dislike of the film will come from your desire to either want more comedy or not believe the drama.
Read MoreAs busy I get from time to time, I find that I can't see every movie under the sun, leaving my friends and colleagues to fill in the blanks for me. As poetically as I think I wax about movies on this website as a wannabe critic, sometimes a simple sentence or two from a friend says it all. Sometimes, it inspires me to see the movie too and get back to being my circle's go-to movie guy. Sometimes, they save me $9 and you 800+ words of blathering. In a new review series, I'm opening my site to friend submissions for quick-hit movie reviews.
Read More
