The extent to which one enjoys Thor: Love and Thunder, will depend upon a tolerance for an overplayed hand of wink-wink, nudge-nudge so broad as to suggest that hundreds of millions of dollars were spent aspiring to little else than a trivial wank.…
Read MoreDelightful Marcel the Shell with Shoes On is a Poignant Summer Surprise for all Ages
Jenny Slate triumphs in a winning performance as a diminutive and unlikely hero contemplating life, community and finding a place in the world.…
Read MoreCinema Chicago Summer Screening: ChicagoFilm to host PEACE BY CHOCOLATE Q&A at Chicago History Museum on 6/28
Refugees, the immigrant's dream, parents and adult children, exceptional small town values and...chocolate. Please join ChicagoFilm and Cinema Chicago for a special in-person screening and post-film Q&A with director Jonathan Keijser.…
Read MoreEntertaining Elvis a Showcase for Sensational Austin Butler, Triumphing Over Spastically Directed Opus
In a movie cage fight between director and actor, Baz Luhrmann tries very hard—and nearly succeeds—at minimizing star Austin Butler’s dazzling turn as The King of rock-n-roll in Elvis, a wildly overdetermined and largely superficial collection of gee-whiz film techniques masquerading as a biopic…
Read MoreFrank, Insightful Leo Grande: Adult Sexuality and Awakening Courtesy of a Richly Rewarding Emma Thompson
An incisive, bold adult drama about aging and sexuality, Good Luck to You, Leo Grande finds Emma Thompson in top form as widowed former educator soliciting the services of a young sex worker in a bid toward enlightenment—initially a physical pursuit but ultimately yielding…
Read MoreJurassic World: Dominion is Big, Loud, Overstuffed…and (Slightly) Better Than You’ve Heard
Jurassic World: Dominion, the sixth film in a bloated series that lost its magic about five films ago yet continues barreling ahead, believing there is still wonder in seeing photorealistic dinosaurs onscreen (which hasn’t truly been the case since Steven Spielberg’s 1993 original), certainly…
Read MoreDavid Cronenberg's latest provocation, about a dystopian world where humans feel no pain, somatic mutations reign and surgical procedures are aphrodisiacal performance art, finds the Canadian auteur comfortably in his wheelhouse of envelope-pushing body horror, visionary sci-fi and icy social critique.…
Read MoreVoyeurism, stalking and murder in style—suspenseful Watcher ratchets up taut tension as elegant exercise in paranoia that pays homage to classic suspense with a modern twist.…
Read MoreJane Austen On a Gay Vacay: Joel Kim Booster and Andrew Ahn on Winning Fire Island Comedy
I recently caught up with Joel Kim Booster and Andrew Ahn to chat about Fire Island's laugh-out-loud humor, romantic heart and social critique.…
Read MoreTop Gun: Maverick is both nostalgia and new, foremost a movie star tribute but equally compelling in both its cross-generational dynamics and sensationally thrilling aerial training and combat sequences.…
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