Patrick McDonald

CHICAGO – The film festival circuit is not for the faint of heart. Two young Spanish filmmakers – Geoffrey Cowper and Jesús Lloveras – are making their way across the U.S., as they promote their film “Day Release” (Tercer Grado). The pair started out in California – with a couple of film festivals there – and then stopped in Chicago, for the 31st Chicago Latino Film Festival.

CHICAGO – Actor and Oscar Winner Russell Crowe, known for films such as “L.A. Confidential,” “Gladiator,” “A Beautiful Mind,” “Cinderella Man,” “Les Miserables” and “Man of Steel,” breaks out in his directorial debut and also stars in “The Water Diviner,” a story of war and his native Australia.

CHICAGO – Golf and gambling go together like the 19th hole and tall tales. The green grass of the course isn’t the same without a little wagering, and the new film ‘The Squeeze’ – written and directed by Terry Jastrow – follows the game from small town America to the big stage of Las Vegas.

CHICAGO – The title “Ex Machina” is a play on Deus ex machina, the stage/scenario term meaning god from the machine, or the basic happy ending. By cutting out the “Deus” in the phrase, the film is left with just the machine, and the humans.

CHICAGO – It’s the second week of the 31st edition of the Chicago Latino Film Festival which continues through Thursday, April 23rd, 2015. It concludes on that evening with the musical comedy film “Ciudad Delirio.” All films are at the AMC River East 21 in Chicago.

CHICAGO – Sometimes, just casting a film with “names” is not enough to make it work. Jonah Hill and James Franco play cat-and-mouse for 100 minutes in “True Story,” but the narrative, the structure and their own inability to communicate their characters conspired against the overall experience.

CHICAGO – In receiving the official BADASSS Award at the 2015 Chicago International Movies & Music Fest (CIMMFest), legendary rock documentary maker Julien Temple simply said, “Badass is not a phrase we use in England. I’ve never been called a badass, I prefer ‘enfant terriblé,’ with a hope toward ‘monstre sacré.’”

CHICAGO – Who are we anyway, when as inventors of artificial intelligence, we can create a new wave of thought process? That is what writer – and now director – Alex Garland (“28 Days Later…,” “Sunshine”) has been grappling with his entire career. His directorial debut is the stunning and prescient “Ex Machina.”

CHICAGO – CIMMfest, the Chicago International Movies and Music Festival, has become one of the fastest growing and buzzworthy Chicago film festivals in recent years. Combining film, tribute events and live performances – and centered in and around the neighborhood of Wicker Park from April 16th through the 19th, 2015, – CIMMfest is not so much a festival as a organic happening.

CHICAGO – The power of creativity, and the risk of live theater, is all on display through Nothing Without a Company’s latest amazing journey, “Down the Moonlit Path.” The interactive stage experience refreshes the soul and realizes the joy of life.