Over the past year and a half, as the pandemic has dragged on and the sociopolitical landscape became ever more fraught, we’ve learned a lot about what life might be like going forward. This applies as much to moviegoing as anything else; it’s likely that masks, social distancing, and vaccination or testing requirements will become […]
Category: Film
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Chicago Party Aunt? More like Chicago Party Rant!
Have you ever played Oscars Bingo? You know, where you and your friends write bingo boards filled with awards-season cliches and hyperspecific references to the year’s nominees in order to actually pay attention to a ceremony that’s so notoriously long the host typically makes fun of its torpid endlessness? I’ve found it’s a fun way […]
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Wife of a Spy
Director Kiyoshi Kurosawa beautifully and methodically renders the story of a married couple plunged into uncertainty in the days leading up to World War II. With a slow-burn plot, the film marries historical drama with psychological tension, highlighted by intensely focused performances from Yû Aoi, who plays a wife slowly suspecting her husband of being […]
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The Nowhere Inn
In The Nowhere Inn, musician Annie Clark (St. Vincent) collaborates with best friend Carrie Brownstein to create a documentary about her life and music. Finding the largely private and mundane life of Clark uninspiring, the collaboration takes a turn for the bizarre when Annie takes Carrie’s suggestions of livening up the documentary a bit too […]
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Malignant
Malignant is the type of movie that requires viewers to strap in and shut up from the onset. That’s because, at various points throughout James Wan’s latest two-hour-long offering, he truly tests viewers’ ability to suspend disbelief. And while horror expects that, it gets a bit trickier here because Malignant’s undertones grab generously from other […]
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Everybody’s Talking About Jamie
From a true story, to a 2011 television documentary, to a hit West End musical, and now a feature film—it seems that everybody really is talking about Jamie. And for good reason: there’s an inescapable charm to 16-year-old Jamie New (Max Harwood), who leaves his life in Sheffield to chase his dreams of becoming a […]
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Anne at 13,000 Ft.
Everything’s up in the air for Anne (Deragh Campbell)—both literally, after she becomes preoccupied with skydiving following an excursion for her best friend’s bachelorette party, and figuratively, as she contends with the uncertainty of life in her late 20s. A childcare worker in Toronto who’s just moved into her own place, the 27-year-old has more […]
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The Card Counter
If guilt could be considered a prison of the mind, then it’s no wonder that the strangely penitential William Tell (Oscar Isaac) acclimated nicely to prison. Having served time for his role in torturing inmates at Abu Ghraib, he reenters society as a nomadic gambler, traveling from city to city and casino to casino, pursuing […]
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Martyrs Lane
Expanded from the 2019 short film of the same name, Martyrs Lane tells a deeply personal ghost story inspired by Gothic and Spanish folklore. Ten-year-old Leah (Kiera Thompson) feels her mother growing increasingly distant from her and she doesn’t know why—but she finds answers, and comfort, in a cherub-looking child (Sienna Sayer) who visits her […]
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The Year of the Everlasting Storm
Taken from onscreen text in the segment made by Thai experimental filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives), the title of this high-concept anthology film poetically embodies its overarching premise: each work was made during and responds to the year-plus-long COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to Weerasethakul’s contribution, it includes short films […]
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Plovermania hits the big screen
A Great Lakes piping plover can be hard to spot. Walking up to the Montrose Beach Dunes Natural Area, you may initially confuse it for a killdeer—its taller cousin—or a spotted sandpiper. You may even need a pair of binoculars. But the piping plover’s light gray feathers, quick run, and distinctive “peep” will ultimately give […]
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He’s All That
He’s All That is an update to the 90s teen rom-com classic that we didn’t really need. This time around the Freddie Prinze Jr. role is filled by TikTok star Addison Rae, playing high-school influencer Padgett who after being meme-ified during a livestream breakup must for some reason make over the school loner (breakout heartthrob […]
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It Takes Three
It Takes Three is the latest teen-take on Cyrano de Bergerac. When the coolest guy in school realizes the object of his affection sees through his bullshit, he enlists the class nerd to make his social media accounts more about substance than style. While not as strong as Netflix’s The Half of It, the film […]
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Reminiscence
“Some things that happened for the first time,” Mae (Rebecca Ferguson) sings, “seem to be happening again.” She is lying in a bath with electrodes attached to her head, mentally replaying her live set from earlier in the day, while the technician guiding the machine she’s hooked up to, Nick Bannister (Hugh Jackman), loses objectivity […]
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Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is quite possibly Marvel’s best film yet, a perfect storm of charismatic actors; breathtakingly well-shot kung fu; fun, often hilarious, action scenes; and an engaging story. Simu Liu (Kim’s Convenience) plays the lead role of Shang-Chi, a prodigal son estranged from his 1,000-year-old father Wenwu, played by […]