There is something refreshingly straightforward about Daniel Roher’s crime drama Tuner. The film follows Niki (Leo Woodall), a young man who was once a gifted pianist, only for him to be diagnosed with hyperacusis. This condition essentially makes him allergic to loud noises. He wears specialized earbuds all day and puts on larger ones when he’s around louder noises like sirens. Niki has perfect pitch and works as a piano tuner with Henry…
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I first saw Olivia Wilde’s The Invite at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, and I loved the film. It was one of my favorite movies at this year’s festival and exceeded the buzz built around it throughout the festival. But was it truly a great comedy? A comedy solidifies its greatness with repeated viewings, confirming whether the jokes still land when you know what they are, and whether the film remains entertaining even knowing…
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The Chicago Critics Film Festival returns to the historic Music Box Theater in Chicago for the 13th time to highlight some of the most exciting films making their rounds on the film festival circuit. Once again, the festival showcases an eclectic group of films, from indie sensations to midnight hits to anniversary screenings of beloved favorites. Here are some of the titles I am most excited about at this year’s festival. Film synopsis from IMDb….
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Antoine Fuqua’s Michael, a biopic about music icon Michael Jackson, is an “and then” movie. It is a movie made up entirely of scenes and sequences strung together solely to get us to the next scene or sequence, yet without any connective tissue. Its essential breakdown is: scene one happens, and then scene two happens, and then scene three happens, and so on. It is simply a series of things that happened in Michael…
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Tourette’s Syndrome has not had a great run in pop culture. Despite how serious a disorder, and the stress it puts on the people who have it and those closest to them, Tourette’s is usually played for attempted laughs in movies and TV. From Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo to Not Another Teen Movie to South Park, when a character has Tourette’s, they usually, and uncontrollably, yell obscenities at the most inopportune times. Some movies,…
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Tsui Hark’s 1995 martial arts film The Blade has been added to the Criterion Collection. Among the boldest accomplishments of Hong Kong cinema’s golden age, this uniquely visceral martial-arts movie puts a gritty new spin on the story of the one-armed swordsman, an iconic figure from the moment he was introduced by the Shaw Brothers studio in 1967. Composed in a whirlwind of immersive close-ups and fractured editing, The Blade follows the young sword-maker Ding On (Vincent…
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Chicago is a great movie city. Besides the several movies that have been shot and continue to be shot there, there are also a lot of cool and interesting big-screen events constantly throughout the city. Whether it’s a retro screening taking place at the iconic Music Box Theater, a curated block of movies at the Gene Siskel Film Center, or early screenings of something coming out soon, there is always a reason to go to…
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I was able to watch all eight episodes of season 2 of Marvel’s Daredevil: Born Again, which is streaming on Disney+. This review will cover the entire season, looking at the overall story and character arcs while also highlighting some of my favorite moments. It will be completely SPOILER-FREE, but just a heads up, there weren’t any major character reveals or anything crazy that would have the internet in a tizzy. Since its days on…
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With the 98th Academy Awards over, we can officially say goodbye to the 2025 movie year and look at the movies coming out in 2026. 2025 was a great year for movies, and 2026 looks to be the same, if not even better. We’ve already gotten excellent movies like Send Help, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, Nirvana the Band the Show the Movie, Hoppers, The Rip, André Is an Idiot, GOAT, and Project Hail…
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The 2025 Academy Awards are here, which means the 2025 movie year is almost officially over. Ryan Coogler’s Sinners leads this year’s pack of nominees with a record-setting 16, followed by Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another with 9. This year’s group of Best Picture nominees is one of the best we have seen in quite some time. While only three of the ten nominated films landed in my personal list of the ten…
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