Interview

CHICAGO – Some of the finest names in modern independent cinema may be garnering their largest audiences to date when the anthology horror film, “V/H/S,” is released on October 5th.

CHICAGO – Rian Johnson’s “Looper” is going to blow your mind. The third film from the director of “Brick” and “The Brothers Bloom” (as well as episodes of “Terriers” and “Breaking Bad”) is a highwire act of time travel action and human drama.

CHICAGO – Stephen Chbosky’s “The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” based on his own book, is one of the pleasant surprises of 2012, a smart, clever, moving teen drama that brings to mind the work of John Hughes and Cameron Crowe.

CHICAGO – From Toulouse-Lautrec in “Moulin Rouge” and Luigi in “Super Mario Bros.” to Sid in “Ice Age” and Chi-Chi in “To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar,” John Leguizamo has made a career out of playing a wide array of colorful and challenging roles. In 2010, the actor made a celebrated return to the stage and tackled his trickiest role to date: himself.

CHICAGO – The talented New Zealand actor named Karl Urban has had a pretty decent run in some recent blockbusters – does the “Lord of the Rings” Trilogy and “Star Trek” ring a bell? He breaks out in the title role of the upcoming action flick “Dredd 3D,” portraying legendary comic book character Judge Dredd.

CHICAGO – Baseball gets the metaphor-for-life treatment once again in “Trouble with the Curve,’ starring Clint Eastwood and Amy Adams. Eastwood plays an aging baseball scout estranged from his daughter (Adams) and seeks redemption in both arenas of his life. Making his directorial debut is Robert Lorenz, who has worked with Eastwood since “Bridges of Madison County.’

CHICAGO – The cop movie, an ongoing and speculative genre in both film and television, gets a welcome makeover in Director David Ayer’s “End of Watch.” This human story involves the lives of two Los Angeles police partners, and the street war that threaten to take those lives. Michael Peña turns in a soulful performance as one of those partners.

CHICAGO – In “Liberal Arts,” the magical new film written and directed by Josh Radnor, characters have conversations that are actually worth listening to about subjects that are actually worth discussing. It reminds viewers of just how flat and perfunctory movie dialogue can become when it only serves to move along the plot.

CHICAGO – Flawed females are often feared by Hollywood because of their questionable commercial appeal. Yet 2012 has provided moviegoers and TV fans with a rich assortment of characters—led by Lena Dunham’s Hannah Horvath on HBO’s “Girls”—that prove women can be every bit as immature, developmentally arrested and utterly fascinating as the guys.

CHICAGO – With roles as diverse as Screech, Little Orphan Annie, Jake (from “Jake and the Fatman”) and Angie in the film “Kick-Ass,” the era from the 1980s and beyond are nicely personified by Dustin Diamond (“Saved by the Bell”), Aileen Quinn (“Annie”) Joe Penny (Jake) and Yancy Butler (“Kick-Ass”).