CIFF 2023 preview
The 59th Chicago International Film Festival (CIFF) began tonight at the historic Music Box theatre tonight. It’s one of many locations that will host the festival from October 11th to the 22nd, along AMC NEWCITY 14, Gene Siskel Film Center, Chicago History Museum, Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts at the University of Chicago, and the Museum of Contemporary Art, as well as some special pop-up screenings at the Hamilton Park Cultural Center in Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood and Harrison Park in Pilsen. The locations alone separate this year’s festival from previous years, where it was predominately held at AMC River East. Read more…
BLUE JEAN (2023) review
written by: Georgia Oakley
produced by: Hélène Sifre
directed by: Georgia Oakley
rated: not rated
runtime: 97 min.
U.S. release date: June 9, 2023 (limited)
In order for us to get an understanding of who someone is, we must spend time with them and learn their story. Their life is their story. What part of their life they want to show us is up to them or at least it should be. The titular character in writer/director Georgia Oakley’s stunning feature-length debut, “Blue Jean”, navigates an internal struggle regarding who she truly is. She knows full well that she will be considering an outsider by all who know her, jeopardizing the separation she has constructed over the years between her public and private life. Read more…
FREMONT (2023) review
written by: Carolina Cavalli and Babak Jalali
produced by: Marjaneh Moghimi, Sudnya Shroff, Rachael Fung, George Rush, Chris Martin & Laura Wagner
directed by: Babak Jalali
rated: not rated
runtime: 92 min.
U.S. release date: January 20, 2023 (Sundance) & August 25, 2023 (limited)
Just north of San Jose, California, you will find the town of Fremont (pronounced Free-mont), located on the east side of San Francisco’s bay area. It’s the setting for “Fremont”, the latest film from Iranian-British director Babak Jalai, a black-and-white dramedy with a quirky deadpan delivery, revolving around the monotonous and lonely life of an Afghan refugee. Themes of community and connection are explored throughout the film in a very naturalistic manner with subtleties of dry humor that keep viewers curious and engaged. The people that inhabit “Fremont” feel real enough to the extent that the film almost comes across as a documentary, albeit a humorous take on a documentary. Read more…
SCRAPPER (2023) review
written by: Charlotte Regan
produced by: Theo Barrowclough
directed by: Charlotte Regan
rated: not rated
runtime: 84 min.
U.S. release date: January 23, 2023 (Sundance) and August 25, 2023 (limited)
Movies that revolve around father-daughter relationships have been around for decades. In fact, there’s so many, they could have their own genre. It could be a coming-of-age story, wherein the child will learn some life lessons or maybe certain life situations will require an unexpected role reversal, with the daughter needing to take care of the father. There are stories that can be solid, functional relationships between father and daughter or estranged relationships, that have all been either “based on a true story” or come from a place of semi-autobiographical origins. In her directorial debut, “Scrapper”, writer/director Charlotte Regan touches on another father-daughter relationship we see every now and then on screen, that of a daughter introduced to the father she’s never met. Read more…
THE MONKEY KING (2023) review
written by: Steve Bencich, Ron J. Friedman and Rita Hsiao
produced by: Peilin Chou
directed by: Anthony Stacchi
rated: PG (for action/violence and brief thematic material)
runtime: 96 min.
U.S. release date: August 18, 2023 (Netflix)
Based on the classic 16th century Chinese novel Journey to the West, the computer-animated feature “The Monkey King” offers an update to a tale that will be familiar to a select few, but serve as a gateway into such folklore for most. Considering the name of that novel doesn’t really come into play until the very end, the frenetic and funny iteration that director Anthony Stacchi (“The Boxtrolls” and “Open Season”) is clearly designed to be an introductory story for viewers. That’s totally fine if you know next to nothing about the legend, but the story doesn’t stray too far from typical origin tropes that you’d find from the fantasy genre, leaving very little originality to take in. It feels like what is presented is set-up for future adventures, that seems unlikely to happen. Read more…
BLUE BEETLE (2023) review
written by: Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer
produced by: John Rickard and Zev Foreman
directed by: Ángel Manuel Soto
rated: PG-13 (for sequences of action and violence, language, and some suggestive references)
runtime: 127 min.
U.S. release date: August 18, 2023
If it wasn’t for all these other superhero movies, “Blue Beetle” would be a safe bet in adding something different to a genre that’s gotten quite crowded in recent years. Since only die-hard DC comics fans of a certain age actually know what the Blue Beetle character is (not who, mind you, since their have been more than a couple characters who’ve donned the title), there’s a lot of freedom in bringing him to the big-screen. Most moviegoers won’t even realize that this is a DC property. That can be a good thing and it also could hinder audience draw. After all, when it comes to putting butts in seats, viewers run to what they know. Read more…
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: MUTANT MAYHEM (2023) review
written by: Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, Jeff Rowe, Dan Hernandez & Benji Samit
produced by: Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg and James Weaver
directed by: Jeffrey Rowe
rated: PG (for sequences of violence and action, language and impolite material)
runtime: 100 min.
U.S. release date: August 2, 2023 (theatrical) and September 1, 2023 (VOD)
It appears that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are timeless, having been in pop culture in some iteration since their comic book debut from writer/artist Kevin Eastman back in 1984. Since then, there have been various cartoon series on television, multiple toys, and an assortment of Halloween costumes for kids, keeping an awareness of them around even when popularity waned. Each decade, there have been kids discovering these “Heroes in a Half Shell” for the first time, thanks to their fun concept, look, and personality. However, their life on the big-screen hasn’t always been a hit. While some of the earlier live-action adaptations were an initial hit and went on to become cult classics, the Michael Bay-produced live-action updates just didn’t take off as hoped, despite making a ton of money for Paramount Pictures. Either way, the live-action iterations of these characters typically came across as visually odd or weird. The latest theatrical release is “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem”, from director Jeff Rowe (who serves as a co-writer here and also co-wrote/directed the Oscar-nominated “Mitchells vs the Machines” from 2021), which confirms that animation is the best way to go for this quartet. Read more…
TALK TO ME (2023) review
written by: Danny Philippou and Bill Hinzman
produced by: Samantha Jennings and Kristina Ceyton
directed by: Danny Philippou and Michael Philippou
rated: R (for strong/bloody violent content, some sexual material and language throughout)
runtime: 95 min.
U.S. release date: July 28, 2023
What if a bunch of Gen Z kids messed around with an embalmed hand and inadvertently unleashed an unfathomable terror upon themselves? That’s the elevator pitch for “Talk to Me”, a supernatural horror flick directed by twin siblings, Danny and Michael Phillppou, popular YouTubers from Australia, who are making their directorial debut with a striking, trauma-inspired tale. It sounds absolutely silly, but the directors take the material seriously, while cleverly injected the right amount of understandable comedy to balance out the intensity and violence. The result is a tense and immersive genre feature with a surprisingly strong family drama at its core, that has a straightforward approach that’s quite admirable. Read more…
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – DEAD RECKONING PART ONE
written by: Christopher McQuarrie and Erik Jendresen
produced by: Tom Cruise and Christopher McQuarrie
directed by: Christopher McQuarrie
rated: PG-13 (for intense sequences of violence and action, some language and suggestive material)
runtime: 163 min.
U.S. release date: July 12, 2023
Another summer means another movie summer for Tom Cruise to save! After “saving cinema” with “Top Gun: Maverick”, he’s back for another installment of the greatest action/thriller movies series based on a television series with “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One”, the seventh outing led by the indefatigable Cruise. Once again, he partners (and co-produces) with Christopher McQuarrie, the director who’s helmed the last couple of sequels, starting with 2015’s “Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation”, and the result is indeed another propulsive spy thriller with more outrageous spectacular action sequences in a story that surprisingly leans a little more on expositional espionage than the last two outings with the IMF gang. There’s still much to enjoy here, even if this “Part One” includes an overused MacGuffin and a phantom menace that’s obviously not going to be fully realized until next year. Read more…
SCARLET (2022) review
written by: Pietro Marcello, Maurizio Braucci, Maud Ameline & Geneviève Brisac
produced by: Charles Gillibert
directed by: Pietro Marcello
rated: not rated
runtime: 100 min.
U.S. release date: June 9, 2022 (limited) & July 7, 2023 (Music Box Theatre, Chicago, IL)
Back in 2019, Italian director Pietro Marcello premiered his second feature at the Venice Film Festival with “Martin Eden” a loose adaptation of Jack London’s 1909 novel of the same name. Known primarily for his documentaries, Marcello presented the moral and sentimental journey of an idealistic man in a captivating manner, while incorporating immersive footage from the period in an almost surreal manner. He takes a similar approach to his latest film, “Scarlet”, which premiered at Cannes Film Festival last year. It too is a loose adaptation, this time of 1923’s “Scarlet Sails” from Russian writer, Alexander Grin. This film plays like an amalgam of a tragic fantasy tale and a verite documentary, which is no surprise coming from Marcello. Read more…
