It’s hard to follow up such a success, but Across the Spider-Verse (the second of a planned trilogy) takes the action and the story to the next level and may just be a superior film.
Author Archives: Josh Flanders
Posted inArts & Culture
A new life for Carol Day
This is the tale of an unlikely trio who came together to save the legacy of a brilliant artist nearly lost to history, British illustrator David Wright. It’s also the origin story of Lance Hallam—an oversize, exquisitely bound book of glorious artwork destined to be displayed. Listening to them talk about it, you would think […]
Posted inFilm
Review: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
While better than most recent Marvel or DC films, it definitely lacks the fun, buddy-film aspects and sincere relationships of the original in lieu of an exhausting mission-based story.
Posted inTheater Review
Bluegrass healing
Hearken back to a simpler time—the pandemic—and join Mira, a classical violinist, and Beckett, a folk music academic, as they escape their Brooklyn apartment and head to a hootenanny in Georgia. Along the way, Mira, who is biracial (one parent white and one of Korean descent), reveals to Beckett that her estranged grandfather lives in […]
Posted inFilm
Review: John Wick 4
You would think that by John Wick 4 the franchise would be tired and out of tricks—and you would be dead wrong.
Posted inTheater Review
Failure to launch
Wax nostalgic for the pandemic shutdown as Red Theater presents the world premiere of Indoor Cats by Mora V. Harris, directed by Wyatt Kent. Meet Jules (Karylin Veres), an entitled, selfish twentysomething “artiste” whose fellowship gets canceled, leaving her to endure the early days of COVID at her parents’ second home, a cottage in the […]
Posted inFilm
Review: Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania will be a blockbuster due to its amazing cast, outstanding special effects, and family-friendly fare replete with enough funny lines and cameos to keep people entertained. Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) is back, riding his fame after saving the world with the Avengers in Avengers: Endgame (2019). But when his daughter […]
Posted inTheater Review
The Golden Girls camp up Christmas
Now in its 21st year, Hell in a Handbag Productions has a ridiculously hilarious new show playing at the Center on Halsted in their The Golden Girls: The Lost Episodes series subtitled The Obligatory Holiday Special. With the holidays looming, December is a time to see happy, funny shows, and Golden Girls does not disappoint. […]
Posted inTheater Review
Forced dialogues
American Son by Christopher Demos-Brown and directed by Tim Rhoze, now playing at the Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre in the Noyes Cultural Arts Center in Evanston, opens with a quote from Ta-Nehisi Coates that “race is the child of racism, not the father.” The quote carries a powerful truth that encourages the audience to dwell on deeper […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Blame it on Kane
I first met Batman battling villains from the Hall of Justice with the other Super Friends, part of the Saturday morning cartoon lineup of the 1970s, and soon afterward I caught the campy reruns of the 1960s live-action TV show. This led me to scour my brother Aaron’s Bronze Age collection of DC Comics, the […]
Posted inMovie Review
Andor
Flashbacks to Andor’s childhood seem unnecessarily added, as if someone thought an origin of an origin of an origin of Star Wars was a good idea.
Posted inFilm
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law
She-Hulk is the kind of smart, funny production that proves that like Ms. Marvel, Thor: Ragnarok, or Guardians of the Galaxy, Marvel is at its best when it combines self-conscious humor with great storytelling.
Posted inTheater Review
Reunion and regret
Like several post-pandemic shows in Chicago, the Artistic Home’s production of The Pavilion, written by Craig Wright and directed by Julian Hester, is about an intimate relationship between two people over time. It is also about the creation of the universe, being tethered to the past, and literally burning down sentimentality. High school sweethearts Peter […]