In a crowded field of lone-man operators-against-the-world action films, The Contractor doesn’t do anything well enough to finish the job.
Category: Film
Posted inFilm
Jump, Darling
Refreshingly, Phil Connell’s Jump, Darling breaks from many of the tropes we’ve come to expect from queer storylines.
Posted inFilm
Mothering Sunday
There’s a Malickian quality to the film that’s cheesy at moments, and the disjointed chronology is more aggravating than affecting.
Posted inFilm
Ahed’s Knee
If anything, the story might have gone on longer, as the Tamimi project never entirely takes shape and the powerful forces let loose in Y’s desert epiphany fizzle out by the end credits.
Posted inFilm
In defense of dirtbags: Jake Johnson on why he loves a checkered past
A north-side native who spent his youth frequenting Wrigley Field and following the gospel according to Del Close, Jake Johnson is Chicago to the core.
Posted inFilm
Too many incredible Latino films for one eager critic
The Chicago Latino Film Festival poses a problem—a good problem, but a problem nevertheless. There are simply too many interesting programs to see, and as any cinephile is loath to admit, we’re but singular bodies unable to be in more than one place at the same time.
Posted inFilm
Enjoy Ukrainian and Asian American cinema at the Film Center
Through five films, the Film Center endeavors to shed light on the Ukrainian experience, both past and present. . . . The annual Asian American Showcase returns to the big screen with several films from the past two years about Asian American characters and subjects.
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Chicago Academy for the Arts students debut TV pilot at Music Box Theatre
Due to the rise of the COVID-19 pandemic, the students were forced to put their show on hold. Now, a long two years later, students in the high school’s media arts program are premiering their television show pilot, Stitched Together, on the big screen at Music Box Theatre.
Posted inFilm
Deep Water
It’s surprisingly entertaining in its failings, and makes for a great date movie if your idea of a date movie involves frequently looking in utter disbelief towards your date for a shared moment of, “Wait, that really just happened?”
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Rock Bottom Riser
The film is a powerful exposé about how science is a tool of colonization, desecrating sacred lands, and marginalizing native Hawaiians.
Posted inFilm
‘If we burn out, who’s here for the kids?’
The problems with public schools seem like a broken record, but leave it to the NBC hit show Abbott Elementary, perhaps premiering at the right time . . . to make people think critically about the state of education in America’s major cities.
Posted inFilm
The Outfit
The film is a bit smart for its own good, twisting for the sake of twists and leaning too heavily on the use of exposition and flashbacks to reveal surprising information.
