Best Movies

The Chicago Critics Film Festival kicks off this weekend at the famed Music Box Theater in Chicago.  This is the seventh year of this festival, a festival that highlights some of the hottest titles making their way around the festival circuit.  Every year features a great batch of movies and this year is no different.  I am excited to see as many great movies as I can at this years festival, but these are the…

It is time for us to get excited for one of the most exciting times in the cinematic year: Summer Movie season!  This is one of the most exciting times as a movie-goer, as the cinemas are loaded with blockbusters, sequels, and even some hidden gems along the way.  I love the balance between mindless, exciting entertainment and smaller, thought-provoking indies that come out of nowhere.  Not sure what movies to see this summer?  Don’t…

2019 is blowing right past us, as we are already heading into the summer movie season!  I know everyone is still hyped about Avengers: Endgame, but that isn’t the only movie coming out this year.  May is kicking off the summer in the most perfect way possible.  We get a great mix of all genres, from action to indie to Pokémon, and get a couple of the year’s most anticipated sequels.  Here are my picks for…

I haven’t done one of these in a long, long time.  I don’t have a good reason for not posting this article monthly, but I’ll make sure these keep coming every month.  This month, Netflix is coming strong, but not with big blockbusters or original content, but with indies, foreign films, and classics.  I really hope Netflix keeps this trend going, as it will allow more people to see movies that they wouldn’t normally see. …

April has become one of the bigger cinematic months over the years.  With films like Captain America: The Winter Soldier, The Jungle Book, and Fate of the Furious all coming out over the past few Aprils, this month seems to be the new launching point for summer blockbusters and this year is no different.  There are five really good, diverse movies coming out this month, including three superhero movies with one of them being arguably the biggest movie of…

I haven’t done one of these lists in a while.  I got caught up with Sundance in January and February was a tough month personally.  But it’s back now and it is a perfect month to bring this back.  March has become a pretty good month for movies over the years and this year, it’s a great one.  Featuring a fun little thriller I saw last year, one of the biggest movies of the year,…

The 2019 Sundance Film Festival is officially in the books.  I saw 25 movies this festival and overall it was a pretty good year.  There were some duds, but there were a number of great movies from exciting new filmmakers and great performances from some of our best actors and actresses working today.  Here are my picks for the best movies and performances of the 2019 Sundance Film Festival.         BEST MOVIES…

The 2019 Sundance Film Festival kicks off this week and I could not be more excited.  This is my ninth year attending the festival, which is insane to think about.  Every festival showcases new and exciting voices, making way for the future of cinema.  Past festivals have given us the likes of Damien Chazelle, Ryan Coogler, and Debra Granik.  The festival shows hundreds of movies each year from every genre from all around the world. …

Well, we’re finally here.  The end of the 2018 movie year (I’m aware we’re almost half way through January, but you get it).  This final list will officially send 2018 off into the sunset.  Overall, 2018 was a really good year for movies, particularly the second half of the year.  I saw 203 films in 2018, a personal record, and with seeing that many movies, I was able to see more foreign films, documentaries, and…

Picking the best performances is a spoil of riches.  Every year, I could make a list of fifty performances that I loved.  Unfortunately, that’s not how the game works.  For this year, like I did last year, I have broken the performances down by category, much like the Oscars.  I will list the “nominees” and then pick a winner and go further in depth as to why they gave the best performance in their category. …