Monthly Archives: October 2009

Akira Kurosawa’s 1950 drama introduced modern Japanese cinema and changed the vocabulary of the movies around the world. This story about the tenuous nature of perception – a rape and murder are interpreted differently by four witnesses – has probably been remade and ripped-off as much as “Psycho.” A restored version of Kurosawa’s classic opens […]

In a perfect world, this anthology film would receive 10 separate reviews of the 10 short stories told by 10 directors, each given two days to shoot and one week to edit his/her segment. “New York, I Love You” is the second HD-shot film in the so-called “Cities of Love” franchise that began with 2006’s […]

Ernest Borgnine won the Oscar for playing the lead character in 1956’s “Marty,” but people remember him mostly as the cop married to Stella Stevens in the pivotal 1972 disaster thriller “The Poseidon Adventure.” Borgnine will introduce both films in person! Bo Hopkins, who starred with Borgnine in Sam Peckinpah’s masterpiece “The Wild Bunch,” will […]

Two free screenings of Usama Alshaibi’s documentary on Iraq will be held at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. Friday at the Portage Theater, 4050 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago. A naturalized American citizen from Iraq, Alshaibi shoots and narrates this video diary about his return to his native land in 2004 and finds it to be […]

More than 260 movies from 40 nations will be shown at the 26th annual Chicago International Children’s Film Festival, cranking up next Thursday, October 22 and running through November 1 at venues throughout Chicago. Opening night is a series of shorts hosted by “Broken Hill” star Luke Arnold at the Thorne Auditorium, 375 E. Chicago […]

Ronnie and Dave (Malin Akerman and Chicago’s Vince Vaughn) get some romance tips from Marcel (Jean Reno) at a tropical resort in the romantic comedy “Couples Retreat.” Hollywood must really have it in for Buffalo Grove. How else to explain why the Northwest suburb has been used as the setting for two inane and intelligence-abusing […]

Back in 1987, William Dear directed an endearing family movie about a lovable abominable snowman called “Harry and the Hendersons. Now, his newest film, an indie sports drama titled “Free Style,” represents a severely regressive work. It closely resembles an elaborate student film, complete with cast members who could have been snatched from a local […]

Superhero origin movies are the rage these days (“Batman Begins,” “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” etc.), so why not one for super French fashion designer Coco Chanel? Audrey Tautou, who charmed international audiences in “Amelie,” brings an emotionally weighted whimsy to Chanel as Anne Fontaine’s biopic whisks the future artist through her early days in a Catholic […]

So where’s the outrage? OK, outrage may be a little strong, but come on people. Look what’s happening. I recently went online and called up a theatrical trailer to the new Bruce Willis thriller “Surrogates.” What did I get? A TV commercial for a car company. The commercial came with an explanation that the “video” […]

Actor Willem “The Green Goblin” Dafoe joins a parade of filmmakers attending the Chicago International Film Festival through Thursday, Oct. 22. He’s scheduled to be at a screening of his new controversial drama, Lars von Trier’s “Antichrist,” on October 12 at 7:00 p.m. at the AMC River East 21 in Chicago. (Read more…) Go to […]