Ireland is a proud country where a pagan history has been blended with Christianity for two millennia. Mythology has merged with scripture and history has absorbed legend. “The Lark’s View” is a documentary reflecting the current and lost traditions on the century anniversary of the significant Easter Rising conflict of 1916.
Read MoreA masterfully powerful documentary, “A Doctor’s Sword,” chronicling the reflective and jarring tale of Irish World War II veteran Aidan MacCarthy, recently played as part of the second annual Irish American Movie Hooley at the Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago. One half of this fine film is an astounding you-wouldn't-believe-it-if-I-told-you true story of World War II survival that would make "Unbroken" look like a nursery rhyme. Its calmer other half takes place in a present day where two proud families and two proud countries are forever bonded by shared history.
Read MoreKevin Baggott’s darkly comedic film “Beneath Disheveled Stars" was a favorite of the Cork Indie Film Festival and Brooklyn Underground Film Festival. The film recently opened the 2nd annual Irish American Movie Hooley at the Gene Siskel Film Center in downtown Chicago. As a self-made film from a self-made man, there are qualities to appreciate from this quixotic wild goose choose.
Read MoreCircling back to the “timely” label, the film bears the designation in equally positive and negative connotations, depending of your personal capacity. Consider “The Birth of a Nation” to be the antithesis to “Selma” two years ago. This film’s depiction of violent retaliation reverberates far differently than Martin Luther King’s example of nonviolence. Audiences will wrestle with that polar opposite being empowering or troubling in justification.
Read MoreThe second annual Irish American Movie Hooley at the Gene Siskel Film Center of the School of the Arts Institute of Chicago. Presented by 2 Gingers Irish Whiskey and produced by Hibernian Transmedia, the spirited mini-festival has a slate of three films, two making their Chicago premieres between September 30 and October 2. This very writer and website was privy to viewing and reviewing this year’s Irish American Movie Hooley selections in advance. Here are my capsule reviews and recommendations.
Read MoreThe quirk of the dark comedy genre comes from embracing absurdity and running with it. Small wrinkles of character traits and situational story elements get twisted for wry laughs and wicked surprises. One of Australia’s top films of 2015, “The Dressmaker” mixes high style in a setting of rubbish and romance with a cursed sense of revenge. Not all of the fits and starts of many, many dalliances of the film end up working, but the presence of Oscar winner Kate Winslet demands attention.
Read MoreAll eyes are on the hotly anticipated live-action "re-imagining" of Walt Disney Pictures' enormously successful "Beauty and the Beast" from 1991. That March 2017 sure-fire blockbuster will garner tremendous attention in its attempt to honor the animated Best Picture Oscar nominee and double Academy Award winner. In the meantime, the fairy tale's home country of France throws down its own gauntlet to give Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve's 1740 original story and Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont's abridged 1756 standard the grand, epic big-screen treatment it warrants. Let's just say the French sure know what they are doing.
Read MorePeople will speak with dueling dichotomy and similarity that nothing is more simple, and yet more complicated, than life and death. The plainness comes in the inevitability of the outcome no matter the the journey, while the complexity lies in the individual beauty of each life’s path. In a symphonic microcosm of eight minutes, the short film “Endless Waltz” paints its portrait of beauty giving way to finality with utter perfection.
Read MoreThree top-notch film critics of the Chicago Independent Film Critics Circle survived the miracle flight recreations and Clint Eastwood's soft touch of "Sully," starring Tom Hanks. Hear the mixed reactions after an advance screening from Jon Espino, Emmanuel Noisette, and myself!
Read MoreTwo founders and directors of the Chicago Independent Film Critics Circle felt the romantic power of "The Light Between Oceans" from director Derek Cianfrance and starring Oscar contenders Michael Fassbender, Alicia Vikander, and Rachel Weisz. Enjoy the first impressions of myself andJim Alexander of The Movie Blog and The Young Folks!
Read MoreThree critics of Chicago Independent Film Critics Circle, including your truly, answer the bell to share their punches and counter-punches on the Roberto Duran biopic "Hands of Stone." Enjoy the hot takes of Emmanuel Noisette, Jim Alexander, and myself!
Read MoreThree of the four founders and directors, including yours truly, of the Chicago Independent Film Critics Circle brandished their firearm-free first-takes and reviews of "War Dogs" starring Jonah Hill and Miles Teller, directed by Todd Phillips. Here's Pamela Powell, Jim Alexander, and myself with our first impressions!
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