Usually when making this list, a list I have been doing monthly for three years, I have a relatively easy time picking which movies should make the cut. Sometimes I’m forced to snub one or two, but usually the five are pretty easy to pick. This month was the opposite of that. There are over fifteen films coming out in November that I am excited for, which is kind of insane. We got horror movies,…
Read More
Paradise Hills is one of the strangest movies I have seen in 2019, if not the strangest. Writer/director Alice Waddington, in her feature directorial debut, has created a unique science fiction film that hooks you from frame one. It’s a stunning debut and a film I couldn’t look away from. Paradise Hills opens on a Victorian-style wedding with a twist. We meet Uma (Emma Roberts), our bride, who is wearing a white…
Read More
The 55th Chicago International Film Festival has officially come to a close. Over the last twelve days, the festival showed numerous films from all different genres with various budgets from a number of different countries from all around the world. This is an incredibly diverse film festival and every year I am honored to attend it. I saw 26 films at this year’s festival and I would say it was a very good year at…
Read More
*NOTE: This review is going to be a CAPSULE review, which means it’ll be a tight, quick critique of the film. Extracurricular is wild, rambunctious film that subverts the hostage genre. This is a hostage film that is about far more than that hostage that is taking place. This is a movie that looks at broken families, corrupt governments, and a man desperate to celebrate his daughter’s birthday. The film looks at…
Read More
*NOTE: This review is going to be a CAPSULE review, which means it’ll be a tight, quick critique of the film. When you think of the sport of basketball, you think of the jump shot. Like dribbling or passing, the jump shot seems to be just a basic fundamental of the game of basketball and something you are taught when you are first introduced to the game. But did…
Read More
*NOTE: This review is going to be a CAPSULE review, which means it’ll be a tight, quick critique of the film. Milos Forman was an all-time great director. He was a major player in the Czech New Wave, a film movement in Czechoslovakia where Forman and a number of other rebellious filmmakers made avant garde, cinema verité-like films in response to their countries propaganda-fueled cinema. He’s a two time Oscar winner…
Read More
*NOTE: This review is going to be a CAPSULE review, which means it’ll be a tight, quick critique of the film. The Apollo Theater is one of the most infamous theaters in New York City if not the United States. A landmark for young, up-and-coming African Americans to show off their talent while also highlighting established, world renowned artists. The Apollo is a documentary that looks at the importance…
Read More
*NOTE: This review is going to be a CAPSULE review, which means it’ll be a tight, quick critique of the film. By the Grace of God is France’s version of Tom McCarthy’s Best Picture winner, Spotlight. The film looks priest molestation in France and the controversy surrounding it. Rather than looking a newspaper trying to uncover the crimes of the church, By the Grace of God focus’ more on the…
Read More
*NOTE: This review is going to be a CAPSULE review, which means it’ll be a tight, quick critique of the film. Ringside is a Hoop Dreams-like documentary about two athletes from the south side of Chicago searching for success. But much like Hoop Dreams, Ringside isn’t focused on the sport the athletes are playing, but focuses on the athletes and their families. Kenneth Syms Jr. and Destyne Butler Jr. were two of Chicago’s most talked…
Read More
*NOTE: This review is going to be a CAPSULE review, which means it’ll be a tight, quick critique of the film. If 8: A South African Horror Story is a representation of the country’s horror films, they have some issues to work out. Though there are some creepy elements and a lot of culture, the film is almost scareless and has a really messy plot. I was a bit…
Read More
