The Most Exciting Movies Playing at the 2025 Chicago International Film Festival

The Most Exciting Movies Playing at the 2025 Chicago International Film Festival

The 2025 Chicago International Film Festival kicks off this week! This was the first festival that I attended back in 2008, and I have attended it every year since. It is a great film festival that does not receive the same level of love and attention as some higher-profile festivals, but it deserves to be mentioned as one of the best in North America. It highlights numerous unique movies from around the world and showcases…

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Movie Review: One Battle After Another

Movie Review: One Battle After Another

Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another is an example of a master filmmaker in complete control of his technique and the story he wants to tell. Adapted from Thomas Pynchon’s novel Vineland, One Battle After Another is a timely and passionate film that looks at the state of the world while also being action-packed and thrilling, with a deeply felt emotional core and a perfect ensemble. One Battle After Another hits the ground running…

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From the Collection: Shoeshine

From the Collection: Shoeshine

Vittorio De Sica’s 1946 film Shoeshine has been added to the Criterion Collection. An international breakthrough for neorealism, Vittorio De Sica’s Academy Award–winning film is an indelible fable of innocence lost amid the hardscrabble reality of 1940s Italy. On the streets of Rome, two boys—best friends Giuseppe (Rinaldo Smordoni) and Pasquale (Franco Interlenghi)—set out to raise the money to buy a horse by shining shoes. When they are inadvertently caught up in a robbery and…

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Movie Review: The Conjuring: Last Rites

Movie Review: The Conjuring: Last Rites

  The Conjuring: Last Rites details the final case of Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Verg Farmiga). It takes place in 1986 and brings the Warrens to Pennsylvania, where they face a terrifying evil that is possessing the Smurl family. But the evil they face is different than anything they faced before and puts the Warrens and the Smurls in grave danger. The Conjuring: Last Rites is the grand finale for the Warrens…

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Movie Review: Caught Stealing

Movie Review: Caught Stealing

  Throughout director Darren Aronofsky’s career, he’s established himself as a director who handles heavy subjects with a visceral vision. Movies like Requiem for a Dream, Black Swan, mother!, and The Whale deal with hard subjects like addiction and loneliness, and Aronofsky has never held back from the harshness of these subjects. His movies, to this point, have been well-made, but intense and at times shocking. Aronofsky’s newest film, Caught Stealing, is far and away…

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Movie Review: Nobody 2

Movie Review: Nobody 2

  2021’s Nobody was one of the biggest surprises of that year. In a post-pandemic cinematic experience, seeing funny-man Bob Odenkirk turn into John Wick for 90 minutes was more fun and entertaining than I ever expected. Nobody 2 fails to conjure up the same spark that the first film did. It does feature bone-cracking action and a slew of dead bodies, but the magic of seeing Odenkirk become a super assassin has vanished, despite…

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Movie Review: Highest 2 Lowest

Movie Review: Highest 2 Lowest

  Reviewing a remake is always tough. As much as we try to watch the film for what is present on the screen, it’s hard not to think about the original source material, similar to watching a movie based on a book you’ve read. We expect how the plot will unfold, we already know the basis of the characters, and we are aware of any twists that may take place. Spike Lee’s Highest 2 Lowest,…

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Movie Review: The Pickup

Movie Review: The Pickup

  We’ve all heard the saying, “two is plenty, three’s a crowd,” at some point in our lives. While it’s self-explanatory, the saying means that two people can enjoy each other’s company comfortably, but adding a third person can create awkwardness or tension. Watching Tim Story’s The Pickup, that old proverb kept running through my head. The film stars Eddie Murphy and Pete Davidson as two armored truck drivers whose truck is the target of…

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Movie Review: Weapons

Movie Review: Weapons

  Weapons has an incredible hook: one night, at 2:17 am, 17 kids from the same class woke up, ran out of their houses, and seemingly disappeared into the night. Nobody knows where they went, nobody knows why they ran out of the house, and nobody can find them. It’s hard not to be hooked by such a simple yet chilling premise for a film. But with that comes the pressure of executing a story…

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From the Collection: Carnal Knowledge

From the Collection: Carnal Knowledge

Mike Nichols’ 1971 drama Carnal Knowledge has been added to the Criterion Collection. Amid the sexual revolution and social upheaval of the early 1970s, acclaimed director Mike Nichols delivered a zeitgeist-defining examination of American mores. Sharply written by Jules Feiffer, this acerbic drama flashes through more than twenty years in the lives of two college buddies (Jack Nicholson and Art Garfunkel) whose casual chauvinism is all fun and games—until it’s not. As the women who suffer and…

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