CHICAGO – If you’ve never seen the farcical ensemble theater chestnut “Noises Off,” you will see no better version than on the Steppenwolf Theatre stage, now at their northside Chicago venue through November 3rd. For tickets and details for this riotous theater experience, click NOISES OFF.
Guns
Via Zoom: Director Stefan Forbes Wants You to ‘Hold Your Fire’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on May 19, 2022 - 1:48pmCHICAGO – Police reform and procedural alternatives in the U.S. continue to be in a hurricane of evolution. Despite the attention that the George Floyd incident brought to the perception, the law enforcement culture continues to resist. Stefan Forbes goes back to the past (1973), to inform them (and us) that change can work with his new documentary “Hold Your Fire.” !—break—>
CCFF2022: Preview of ‘Hold Your Fire’ with Stefan Forbes, May 15, 2022, at Music Box Theatre
Submitted by PatrickMcD on May 15, 2022 - 8:10amCHICAGO – The 9th Chicago Critics Film Festival (CCFF) is on DAY THREE, and will feature “Hold Your Fire,” a tense documentary recounting a police incident in 1973 New York City, directed by Stefan Forbes. The Fest continues through May 19th, click CCFF for schedule and ticket info.!—break—>
Film Review: Fate of a Nation is Contemplated in ‘Fahrenheit 11/9’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on September 22, 2018 - 9:26pmCHICAGO – You might think that “Fahrenheit 11/9,” the latest advocate documentary from provocateur Michael Moore, is all about Donald Trump and his diffident administration. But that’s not the whole thing, which is the strength of the film. Moore goes back to hometown Flint, Michigan, and other places in the USA, which exposes the symptoms rather than the Trump disease.
Film Review: ‘The Spy Who Dumped Me’ Didn’t Need the Spy Part
Submitted by PatrickMcD on August 2, 2018 - 9:46pmCHICAGO – It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a film completely stolen by a supporting character, but Kate McKinnon in “The Spy Who Dumped Me” managed to do just that… which was fortunate because the “spy” part of the story is a seen-it-before kill and gun fest that felt like the first draft of a James Bond knock-off.
Film Review: Tom Cruise in ‘American Made’ Never Gets Off the Ground
Submitted by PatrickMcD on September 29, 2017 - 10:27amCHICAGO – Tom Cruise was once a Top Gun, but his newest film “American Made” never really takes off. It wants to be a truth-is-stranger-than-fiction kind of satire where commercial airline pilot Barry Seal (Tom Cruise) winds up getting involved in the Iran Contra Affair and the Medellín drug cartel, but it never creates an enthralling place or story.
Interview, Audio: Director Mei-Juin Chen of ‘The Gangster’s Daughter’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on September 20, 2017 - 12:16pmCHICAGO – Opening Night of the fifth season of the Asian Pop-Up Cinema is Wednesday, September 20th, 2017, and the first film is a doozy. “The Gangster’s Daughter” is a different take on the popular Taiwanese mobster movie, a relationship film as much as the pure crime. At the helm is director Mei-Juin Chen, with her first narrative film.
Film Review: 'Free Fire' Knows That Happiness is a Warm Gun
Submitted by PatrickMcD on April 26, 2017 - 2:29pmCHICAGO – In a film that had a sassy, arbitrary perspective on its own flipped-out story, “Free Fire” sought to out-Quentin Tarantino in freaky funny characters and ammo-splurging gun battles. Director Ben Wheatley (“High-Rise”) took an ensemble cast to rarified heights of insult comedy, revenge dynamics and bullets that hit the bone.
Interview: Director Ben Wheatley Ignites His New Film ‘Free Fire’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on April 18, 2017 - 8:53amCHICAGO – One of the more lovely examples of pure cinema – if that description can be given to a film with nearly constant gunplay – is in the upcoming release of “Free Fire.” Director Ben Wheatley (“High-Rise”) constructs a dark and funny scenario within one room, and fills it with symbolism and homage to other movies.
Film Review: ‘xXx: Return of Xander Cage’ is Action as Phantasm
Submitted by PatrickMcD on January 20, 2017 - 11:27amCHICAGO – The true miracle of “xXx: Return of Xander Cage” – besides constantly breaking the law of physics – was making the sonorous line readings of Vin Diesel almost palatable. This over-the-top action fantastic turns up every implausibility dial to the red zone, but satisfactorily entertains.
Film Review: ‘The Purge: Anarchy’ Can’t Decide What it Wants to Be
Submitted by PatrickMcD on July 17, 2014 - 8:30pmCHICAGO – “The Purge: Anarchy” is a cake-and-eat-it film. On one hand there is a monotonous display of firepower, courtesy of a suspension of laws for one night a year, but it also wants to temper this lawlessness with indictments of government, the rich and the law itself.