CHICAGO – The late playwright August Wilson left a gift to the world in the form of his “American Century Cycle,” a series of plays each individually set in a decade of the 20th Century, focusing on the black experience. Chicago’s Goodman Theatre presents Wilson’s “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone,” now through May 19th, 2024 (click here).
Tom Felton
Discerning the Heroes is Tough in ‘Megan Leavey’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on June 9, 2017 - 7:40amRating: 2.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – The poster is what gives away “Megan Leavey” the most. The titular soldier, and her bomb-sniffing dog, below a billowing American flag. So which war is it? Why, it’s the Iraq invasion, where the U.S. military and the politicians at home “freed” the Iraqi citizens from a peaceful life. Making a dog story out of that boondoggle doesn’t make it any more palatable, except to “support the troops.”
Love is Impossible in Alluring Period Horror ‘In Secret’
Submitted by NickHC on February 23, 2014 - 5:37pmRating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – If stories of Prince Charmings and the liberation from wicked stepmothers are fairy tales, than “In Secret” is the stuff of nightmares, where marriage is not just a prison sentence, but an unlucky life is as well. Based on the novel “Therese Raquin” by Emile Zola as published in 1867, this film’s element of ownership may be considered an artifact in 2014. But thankfully this adaptation earns its own pertinence, as a dark period thriller with real doses of hormonally fueled bad decisions.
Thrilling, Marvelous ‘Rise of the Planet of the Apes’
Submitted by BrianTT on August 5, 2011 - 10:27amRating: 4.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” is spectacular entertainment, a perfect capper to the blockbuster season that is arguably the most purely enjoyable film of the warmer months of 2011. Rupert Wyatt’s highly-anticipated prequel is an old-fashioned piece of sci-fi escapism made with some of the revolutionary new toys available to special effects artists.