Selected for the Chicago Comedy Film Festival, Room for Rent is a film that should be seen as a lesson for lottery winners when it comes to dealing with finances. Matt Atkinson makes his feature debut as the writer/director of Room for Rent, a film that could very well be an AirBNB or Craigslist horror story brought to life. Atkinson directs from a script that pays homage to Alfred Hitchcock. It’s not a horror film per…
"Chicago Comedy Film Festival: Room for Rent"Category: Movie Reviews
LBJ is a film that is wholly unnecessary because it’s already been done by way of the 2016 HBO movie, All the Way, starring Bryan Cranston. Woody Harrelson’s performance as Lyndon Johnson is strong, but there’s no way around comparing the two. It has been well over a year since the premiere of director Rob Reiner’s film at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival but it’s just as well that the film was held until…
"LBJ Is An Unnecessary Biopic"
Thor: Ragnarok is Marvel’s most fun film and raises the bar as Thor teams up with Hulk to save Asgard. It’s been 2.5 years since Thor (Chris Hemsworth) left to look for Odin at the end of Avengers 2: Age of Ultron. Meanwhile, Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) was seen departing for who knows where following the attack on Sokovia. Thor: Ragnarok‘s awesome cold open featuring Thor and Surtur sets the tone of the film with both…
"Thor: Ragnarok is Marvel’s Most Fun Film"
Premiering at the Austin Film Festival, Transformer is a moving documentary telling the story of transgender power lifter Janae Kroczaleski. Michael Del Monte directs the documentary of the power lifter who struggled with her gender identity for many years–as most transgender people have. When the former US Marine was outed on a YouTube video as a transgender woman in 2015, her life fell apart. She still had her children and they couldn’t have been more…
"Austin Film Festival: Transformer"
Quality Problems takes the true story of Brooke Purdy’s battle with breast cancer and finds a way to turn it into a comedy. Directed by Brooke & Doug Purdy from a script written by Brooke, the film stars Brooke, Doug, Max and Scout Purdy; Mo Gaffney, Chris Mulkey, Jenica Bergere, Ryan Bollman and Michael Patrick McGill. There are not that many comedies about cancer because it’s not really a laughing matter. The only cancer comedy…
"Austin Film Festival: Quality Problems"
The Rape of Recy Taylor is one of the timeliest films to screen during the Chicago International Film Festival with two screenings last week. With sexual harassment and assault making the waves in and out of Hollywood, it’s something that has to be talked about. In this case, The Loving Story director Nancy Buirski brings us Recy Taylor’s story and dedicates the film to those women who haven’t been heard yet. Recy Taylor came of…
"Chicago Film Festival: The Rape of Recy Taylor"
The Shape of Water is perhaps the finest film ever to be directed by Guillermo del Toro and actress Sally Hawkins delivers a top-notch performance in the Cold War-set film. With a screenplay co-written by del Toro and Vanessa Taylor, the film stars Sally Hawkins, Michael Shannon, Richard Jenkins, Doug Jones, Michael Stuhlbarg and Octavia Spencer. Set in 1962, a classified asset is brought into a government laboratory in Baltimore where Strickland (Shannon) is hellbent…
"Chicago Film Festival: The Shape of Water"
One of Us is a heartbreaking and devastating documentary that takes a look at three people who made the decision to leave their Chasidic communities. Documentary filmmakers Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady follow three ex-Chasidic Jews over the course of three years. With their access over that time span, they give us a glimpse at Chasidic Judaism that many communities are not going to be happy with. Not with the amount of abuse that’s been covered…
"One Of Us: Ex-Chasidic Documentary is Heartbreaking, Devastating"
The Ballad of Lefty Brown shows that the western isn’t dead and gives actor Bill Pullman a showcase role in the thriller. Written and directed by Jared Moshé, Pullman leads a cast that includes Bill Pullman, Kathy Baker, Jim Caviezel, Joe Anderson, Diego Josef, Tommy Flanagan and Peter Fonda. Edward Johnson (Fonda) gets elected as a senator of Montana and Lefty Brown (Pullman) is by his side when he’s shot to death. Nobody ever takes Brown–a sidekick for…
"Chicago Film Festival: The Ballad of Lefty Brown"
Jane, the new documentary from award-winning director Brett Morgen, pays tribute to the life of chimpanzee researcher Jane Goodall. The National Geographic archives contained over 100 hours of footage from the last 50 years that had never been seen before. It’s from that footage that Morgen draws from to bring us this intimate portrait of the acclaimed researcher. In 1960, when Goodall first made waves, a woman doing this sort of research on chimpanzees was…
"Jane: An Intimate Portrait of Jane Goodall"