CHICAGO – Excelsior! Comic book legend Stan Lee’s famous exclamation puts a fine point on the third and final play of Mark Pracht’s FOUR COLOR TRILOGY, “The House of Ideas,” presented by and staged at City Lit Theater in Chicago’s Edgewater neighborhood. For tickets/details, click HOUSE OF IDEAS.
Ben Lewin
Blu-ray Review: John Hawkes, Helen Hunt Amaze in ‘The Sessions’
Submitted by mattmovieman on February 26, 2013 - 10:16amCHICAGO – It’s a shame how box office numbers play such a large factor in Oscar votes. Just imagine if “The Blind Side” was a flop. Sandra Bullock wouldn’t have been allowed within a billion miles of the Oscar podium. If Ben Lewin’s “The Sessions” was given a fair shot with audiences, it would’ve easily brought its star, John Hawkes, an Oscar nomination.
Film Review: John Hawkes’ Honest Work Just Saves ‘The Sessions’
Submitted by BrianTT on October 26, 2012 - 9:09amCHICAGO – Sometimes an actor can deliver on so many levels at once that it makes flaws of a film easier to overlook. I’ll admit that while watching “The Sessions,” I was so caught up in the honest, true performance from the great John Hawkes that I didn’t consider many of the film’s dramatic failings until I began to consider my review.
Interview: John Hawkes, Director Ben Lewin on ‘The Sessions’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on October 25, 2012 - 11:37amCHICAGO – Sure to be one of the best performances of 2012 is John Hawkes as Mark O’Brien, a polio victim who lived on his own and was a poet, despite no movement from his neck down, and confined for most of the day in an iron lung. Ben Lewin wrote the screenplay and directed the extraordinary story of “The Sessions.”
Film News: First Titles Released for 48th Chicago International Film Festival
Submitted by mattmovieman on August 23, 2012 - 12:34pmCHICAGO – The 48th Chicago International Film Festival has released the first 22 titles in its lineup to be screened from Thursday, October 11th, through Thursday, October 25th. Over 150 films from more than 50 countries are expected to be presented at this year’s festival.