Movie Reviews

        To say that the 2020 movie year has been unlike any other movie year before it would be an understatement.  Thanks to a global pandemic, movie theaters have been shutdown for a majority of the year, causing a lot movies to be pushed to 2021 or even later.  The movies that have been released this year have either been released through a streaming service or paid on-demand.  Though there has been…

          Mank tells the story screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz’s journey in writing 1941’s Citizen Kane, a film that many critics and scholars consider to be the greatest film of all-time.  But Mank isn’t a typical biopic about a man and his crowning career achievement.  This is a behind-the-curtain look at the Hollywood system in the 1930’s and 1940’s, the moguls who ran it, and a troubled man who just happened to write one of…

        The 2020 Christmas season might be a little different this year compared to most years.  Usually a time of year where families come together to show love and appreciation for one another by feasting and gift-giving, all of that might be postponed this year, as COVID-19 still sweeps the globe, particularly in the United States.  Many scientists, doctors, and government officials have advised not having large family gatherings during the holidays…

          Maybe Next Year is a documentary about love and passion and the emotional tole loving something so much takes on a person.  No, this isn’t a documentary about the love between two people.  It’s a love story between a sports teams, the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles, and the fans who bleed green and white for them. Maybe Next Year looks at the 2017-2018 Philadelphia Eagles season.  At this point, the Eagles had not…

Below are my reviews of Belushi, The Road Up, and There Is No Evil from the 2020 Chicago International Film Festival.         BELUSHI Directed by R.J. Cutler   John Belushi is one of the most tragic stories Hollywood has ever had.  A comedic genius who became a star in his mid-twenties by being one of the standouts in the early days of Saturday Night Live and starring in movies like National Lampoons Animal House and The Blues Brothers.  By the…

Here are my reviews of the Comedy Shorts Program from the 2020 Chicago International Film Festival.       BLOCKS Directed by Bridget Moloney Blocks is a very creative short film about an over-worked mother.  Ashleigh (Claire Coffee) is the mother of two young, rambunctious, messy children.  One day, Ashleigh begins to spontaneously vomit toy blocks.  However, the more blocks that are coming, the closer Ashleigh is getting to a breakdown. Coffee portrays the over-worked Ashleigh…

My reviews of Summer of 85 and Sleep from the 2020 Chicago International Film Festival.     SUMMER OF 85 Directed by François Ozon   Summer of 85 opens with Alexis (Félix Lefebvre) walking down a prison hallway handcuffed with a guard walking next to him.  We hear in a voiceover we assume to be Alexis that he a fascination with death, but doesn’t like the idea of a corpse.  Alexis then informs us that he is in this situation…

Here are my reviews of the AFTER DARK Shorts program from the Chicago International Film Festival.  There were six films in total.       REGRET Directed by Santiago Menghini The program started on a dark, somber note with Regret, a film that looks at the horror of just that; regret. Following the death of his father and deciding to not attend his funeral, Wayne (Brent Skagford), must survive the manifestations of his inner demons over…

Here are some brief reviews of some of the movies I have seen at the 2020 Chicago International Film Festival.           KUBRICK BY KUBRICK  Directed by Gregory Monro I am a big fan of documentaries about film, particularly ones about directors.  Hearing directors talk about their work or hearing others who worked with them talk about their experiences is always a good watch that I use as a learning experience.  Kubrick…

        Free Country is a top-notch police procedural.  It’s a cop drama that looks at two very different detectives as they work together to solve the disappearance of two girls in a small town.  They must deal with local townspeople and town happenings while learning to work with each other through their flaws and personal issues in order to solve what happened to these girls.  It’s quiet, brutal, and endlessly compelling. The film…