Gretchen Mol

CHICAGO – The 9th Chicago Critics Film Festival (CCFF) is on DAY FIVE, and will feature two significant films from women directors … “Straighten Up and Fly Right” by Kristen Abate (with co-director Steven Tanenbaum) and “Palm Trees and Power Lines” by Jamie Back. The Fest continues through May 19th, click CCFF for schedule and ticket info.

CHICAGO – The 2022 Sundance Film Festival heads into Day Seven, and offers online events as well as films (see below). Like last year, the festival is virtual/online, meaning anyone/anywhere with a ticket or a pass (link) can indulge in the film offerings and events throughout the festival, which runs until January 30th.

CHICAGO – Tis the season for earnest character studies, and Casey Affleck in “Manchester by the Sea” has a doozy. Portraying a Boston guy with a mountain of sadness within, Affleck harbors the range of emotions like a coiled snake ready to strike, but manages to keep it all undercover.

CHICAGO – HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire” found a narrative urgency and a deep sense of poetic melancholy in 2012’s season three, the best of the program’s run to date.

CHICAGO – “Ordinary men avoid trouble. Extraordinary men turn it to their advantage.” Isn’t that line from the second episode of the third season of “Boardwalk Empire,” returning tonight, September 16, 2012 on HBO, really at the core of everything we know about Nucky Thompson (Steve Buscemi) and the people that play in his circle of violence?

CHICAGO – In our latest edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: TV, we have 10 admit-two passes up for grabs to the VIP advance-screening Chicago party for season two of HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire” starring Steve Buscemi!