CHICAGO – The great and lofty Steppenwolf Theatre of Chicago has brought the current political season right on target with “POTUS: Or Behind Every Great Dumbass are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive,” now extended through December 17th. Click POTUS.
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Podtalk: Filmmaker Raven Jackson for ‘All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on November 9, 2023 - 1:03pmCHICAGO – Reflective and observational films … as if the audience is inside looking out along with the the characters … are very rare and takes a quality creator to pull off. One such film is “All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt” and it is written and directed by a quality creator, the poet-turned-filmmaker Raven Jackson.!—break—>
Podtalk: Kevin Shaw on HIs Documentary ‘Let the Little Light Shine’ at Gene Siskel Film Center
Submitted by PatrickMcD on August 15, 2022 - 4:37pmCHICAGO – The City of Chicago, like a number of American cities, has gone through incredible transformations in the last 25 years. Whole neighborhoods left for dead during the white flight of the 1950s-70s have been gentrified and re-settled with luxury housing … often to the detriment of those who remained there throughout many difficult years.
In Memoriam: Merri Dee, Chicago Broadcasting Legend, Dies at 85
Submitted by PatrickMcD on March 19, 2022 - 9:29pmCHICAGO – She was a pioneer in a broadcasting business at a time when it was mostly white and male. The incomparable Merri Dee was a fixture in Chicago media beginning in the 1960s, breaking barriers as a black woman TV personality and newscaster. She passed away in Chicago on March 16th, 2022, at age 85.
Flashback: Daphne Maxwell Reid, Aunt Vivian of ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Reunion’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on November 21, 2020 - 10:29pmCHICAGO – On November 18th, 2020, the streaming service HBO Max premiered “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Reunion.” 30 years after the popular sitcom debuted, the primary cast got together to talk about the joys and foibles of developing family ties while creating and performing their characters in the show.
Via Zoom: Steve James and Zak Piper for ‘City So Real,’ Premiering on NatGeo Oct. 29, 2020
Submitted by PatrickMcD on October 27, 2020 - 9:40pmCHICAGO – The 2018-19 mayoral campaign in Chicago was a historic moment for the city, as the first woman of color (Lori Lightfoot) was elected. Director Steve James, of the legendary “Hoop Dreams,” takes on the events leading up to this history and beyond, in “City So Real.”!—break—>
DAY SEVEN: Podtalk with Neal Sáles Griffin, for ‘City So Real’ at 56th Chicago International Film Fest
Submitted by PatrickMcD on October 20, 2020 - 8:43amCHICAGO – One of the most influential documentary makers in film history is Chicagoan Steve James of Kartemquin Films. His lens has commented upon not only the seminal “Hoop Dreams” (1994), but “Stevie” (2002), “The Interrupters” (2011), the Roger Ebert bio doc “Life Itself” (2014) and the recent “America to Me.”
Film Reviews: HollywoodChicago.com On-Air Reviews of ‘7500’ & ‘Da 5 Bloods’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on June 23, 2020 - 8:59amCHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Scott Thompson on WBGR-FM (Monroe, Wisconsin) on June 11th, 2020, discussing new VOD releases “The King of Staten Island” and “Working Man.” !—break—>
Film Review: The Tumbling Delicacy of Life in ‘Blindspotting’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on July 20, 2018 - 10:22amCHICAGO – How can we understand the day-to-day factors of men and women who continued to be judged by their skin color, economic circumstances, difficult jobs or gender fluidity, if we are not any of those categories? Our art can help us, as given a great example in the new film “Blindspotting.”
Podtalk: Co-Stars Daveed Diggs & Rafael Casal of ‘Blindspotting’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on July 18, 2018 - 9:33amCHICAGO – If there are themes emerging in the 2018 film year, a couple of them are incorporated in Oakland, California, and African American identity. Like the recent “Black Panther” and “Sorry to Bother You,” the new film “Blindspotting” – written by and featuring Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal – involve those themes.
Film Review: Pungent & Trippy Satire in ‘Sorry to Bother You’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on July 9, 2018 - 7:50amCHICAGO – If the film “Get Out” was a shot across the bow in satirizing black and white skin relationships, then “Sorry to Bother You” is a freaking Tomahawk missile. It’s about the time, the space and the state of the human race, which comes to a crescendo of wild and untamed proportions.
