Richard E. Grant

CHICAGO – Writer, Director and Actor Emerald Fennell is leading a new revolution of commentary in her feature films. She began with “Promising Young Woman” in 2020 – for which she won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay – and her follow-up is “Saltburn,” which screened at the 59th Chicago International Film Festival on October 19th.

CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Scott Thompson on WBGR-FM (Monroe, Wisconsin) on July 5th, reviewing “The Lesson,” a modern film noir featuring Richard E. Grant and Julie Delpy. In theaters since July 7th.

CHICAGO – Coming out as one’s true self is a benefit of our evolving social order. In “Everybody’s Talking About Jamie,” which will stream on Amazon Prime Video on September 17th, the title character is an intuitive teenage drag queen, and fights the last vestiges of prejudice against his destiny. Oh yes, and it’s a musical.

CHICAGO – From villain to anti-hero to homoerotic fan fiction icon, Loki has traveled a long way from the greasy-haired megalomaniac we have come to love. For most of his cinematic character development, Loki has been a foil to Thor’s massive himbo (n.: a very attractive, often beefy male who isn’t the brightest bulb, but is still able to shine because of his good-natured attitude and respect for women. Male version of a “bimbo”) energy.

CHICAGO – The personal, emotional essence of Alfonso Cuarón’s “Roma” – a memory film set in the Mexico City neighborhood in the early 1970s – took home the Best Picture honor at the 2018 Chicago Film Critics Association annual dinner. “Roma” also was honored as Best Foreign Film, Director, Cinematography and Editing.

CHICAGO – Film has always felt like a much more accessible way to get cultured than, say, going to watch a play or opera. Watching a foreign film can educate you about the world and history as well as any play. “The Nutcracker and the Four Realms” promised that kind of experience, but your time is better served catching the actual ballet at a local theater instead.

CHICAGO – DAY FIVE of the 54th Chicago International Film Festival (CIFF) on Sunday, October 14th, 2018, is a day to introduce yourself to a new side of Melissa McCarthy in “Can You Forgive Me?, to make a date with “Watergate,” the remarkable four hour documentary about that American history, to hop on “The Band Wagon” and to remember a magazine-era icon, Chicago’s own Art Paul.

CHICAGO – In the deluge of images that pierce our cerebral cortex on a daily basis, it’s refreshing to go back to the days when images had more influence, sought through publications or word of mouth. Artist Ralph Steadman was a mover and shaker – along with his writing partner Hunter S. Thompson – in the age-old notion that the pen can be mightier than the sword.

CHICAGO – You may not know the name Ralph Steadman, but you most certainly have run into his cartoon art. The surrealist was a partner with Hunter S. Thompson, illustrating books like “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,” and is a subject of a new documentary entitled “For No Good Reason,” directed by Charlie Paul.

CHICAGO – “Dom Hemingway” begins with a tight close-up on a barely recognizable Jude Law, portraying the title character. He’s giving a monologue, literally spraying the words. When the circumstance is revealed as to what is happening to him, there is an awareness that this is not going to be your Daddy’s petty safecracker ex-con film.