CCFF 2016: On the red carpet with Michael Peña
On Saturday, May 21st, Chicago-born actor Michael Peña returned home as a guest of the fourth annual Chicago Critics Film Festival to promote his film, “War On Everyone”, the latest from writer/director John Michael McDonagh (“The Guard” and “Calvary”). In it Peña plays one of two corrupt cops with Alexander Skarsgard in modern-day New Mexico, who set out to blackmail and frame every criminal unfortunate enough to cross their path. Things take a sinister turn, however, when they try to intimidate someone who is more dangerous than they are. It’s a clever, hilarious and purposefully offensive comedy that’s a bit of a departure from Peña after roles in big-budget films such as the Oscar-nominated “The Martian” and his scene-stealing work in last summer’s “Ant-Man“. Read more…
THE ANGRY BIRDS MOVIE (2016) review
written by: Jon Vitti
produced by: John Cohen and Catherine Winder
directed by: Clay Kaytis and Fergal Reilly
rated: PG (for rude humor and action)
runtime: 97 min.
U.S. release date: May 20, 2016
If you think there’s absolutely no reason an addictive juvenile smart phone/tablet game – or app (whatever you want to call it) – should be turned into an animated feature, you’d probably be right. But, that doesn’t matter. By now, you should know Hollywood will try out anything, which is why we have “The Angry Birds Movie” from Sony Pictures Imageworks, released the week a trilogy of movies revolving around Tetris was announced. The only thing: Hollywood is too slow. This movie is so four years ago. Read more…
CCFF 2016: Joshy, War on Everyone & Into the Forest
Day 2 of the Chicago Critics Film Festival found me sitting at the Music Box Theatre taking in three decidedly different films, which is one of many reasons you attend a film festival. Among them was my introduction to the work of American writer/director Jeff Baena, as well as the much-anticipated latest from English-Irish writer/director John Michael McDonagh and writer/director Patricia Rozema from Canada. Oddly enough, two of the films had a common thread in the form of actor Paul Reiser, something that I’m sure was pure coincidental on the part of the board members of the Chicago Film Critics Association. Guest appearances for these films included Chicago-born actor Michael Peña attending in support of “We Are Everyone” and Rozema on hand for “Into the Forest”, both of whom introduced and participated in a Q&A that preceded and followed the screenings of their respective films. Read more…
CCFF 2016 – Life, Animated & Under the Shadow
At first glance, the two movies that I viewed on Day 3 of the Chicago Critics Film Festival couldn’t be any more different. After all, “Life, Animated” is an American documentary that introduces viewers to an autistic young man who learned how to communicate by watching Disney animated features and “Under the Shadow” is an Iranian horror film focusing on a mother and daughter who encounter a mysterious evil in their home amid the backdrop of war-torn Iran in the 1980s. But in both movies, we see parents who would do anything to protect their child – one just happens to be based on real people, while the other is so nerve-racking that it elicits real responses from its viewers. Both of them were my favorites from the festival…. Read more…
CCFF 2016 – Morris from America & Goat
Opening Night of the 2016 Chicago Critics Film Festival was packed last night with film enthusiasts and critics who filled the beautiful Music Box Theatre with a contagious cinema-loving buzz! It was a great kick to an annual festival I always look forward to, where viewers can choose from films that were seen by certain Chicago Film Critics Association board members at a variety of festivals and brought back to Chicago, sharing what they consider to be the best of their festival viewing experience. That doesn’t mean every film on the schedule is going to be great or even good – which is something I was reminded of on opening night, where I viewed what I consider to be one of the best films of the year and one I was tempted to walk out of. Both “Morris from America” and “Goat” premiered early this year at Sundance, one stars Craig Robinson and the other features a cameo from James Franco, both of whom are friends and have appeared in several movies together. Those are the common factors in these two different films. Read more…
Considering certain board members of the Chicago Film Critics Association have hand-picked the films shown at the annual Chicago Critics Film Festival from the various film festivals they’ve attended (Cannes, Toronto, Sundance, SXSW and more) within the past year, it’s no wonder that many of the films that have been shown at CCFF have been the best of the year. I expect no less this year. These are what my colleagues the best of previous fests and the intention is to bring them back to Chicago for audiences to discover for themselves. Read more…
MONEY MONSTER (2016) review
written by: Alan Di Fiore, Jim Kouf and Jamie Linden
produced by: Lara Alameddine, George Clooney, Daniel Dubiecki & Grant Heslov
directed by: Jodie Foster
rated: R (for language throughout, some sexuality and brief violence)
runtime: 98 min.
U.S. release date: May 13, 2016
There was really nothing about “Money Monster” that interests me and yet somehow I found myself watching it. It could be because I’m a sucker for George Clooney and I want Jodie Foster to do well as a director, but it’s certainly not because I’m a Julia Roberts disciple. Lately, her work has proven to me that I can do just fine without her. But the biggest thing this movie has going in against it as how disinterested I am in movies that feature Wall Street corruption or media that covers stocks and bonds as entertainment – “Money Matters” has both and it tries to turn it into a riveting thriller. It doesn’t do so well at being entertaining and it’s not very thrilling, but somehow it’s not awful either. Read more…
CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR (2016) review
written by: Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely
produced by: Kevin Feige
directed by: Anthony Russo and Joe Russo
rated: PG-13
runtime: 147 min.
U.S. release date: May 6, 2016
It makes sense that Disney and Marvel Studios gave brothers Anthony and Joe Russo another shot at the Star-Spangled Avenger (as well as the next two Avengers movies) with “Captain America: Civil War”, after delivering one of the best Marvel Cinematic Universe blockbusters with 2014’s “Captain America: The Winter Soldier.” It also makes sense that the Russos reteam with the screenwriting duo of Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, who wrote both “Winter Soldier” and Joe Johnston’s “Captain America: The First Avenger“, completing a fulfilling yet complicated story arch for the titular man out of time. With the sheer amount of characters in this movie, many feared this would feel like a third Avengers movie, but at its core it’s still about friendship, the definition of and the repercussions of a hero. Read more…
Every year there’s one movie I feel compelled to recommend others to check out. It’s usually an independent film that has an absorbing story delivered by great actors playing fascinating characters. It’s also usually a film that feels like ‘a find’ – the kind that, when you watch it, you want more people to see it and you can’t understand why more people don’t know about it. Last year, that movie for me was the gambling buddies movie, “Mississippi Grind” from the writer/director duo of Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck. It’s been compared to Robert Altman’s 1974 film, “California Split” and having only recently caught up with after watching a couple other 70s gems from Altman. I can see the comparison and I think both movies are great. Read more…
CLASSICS: Breathless (1960)
written by: Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut (treatment) and Claude Chabrol (uncredited)
produced by: Georges de Beauregard
directed by: Jean-Luc Godard
rated: unrated
runtime: 87 min.
release date: March 17, 1960
When film historians bring up “French New Wave”, there’s an automatic mental picture of two films, Francois Truffaut’s “The 400 Blows” from 1959 and Jean-Luc Godard’s “Breathless”, released a year later. Neither one is better than the other, but regardless, Jean-Luc Godard’s “Breathless” is an impressive directorial debut. It’s a cool film that is as much a time capsule as it is utterly timeless. Okay, maybe you knew that already, but I didn’t. That’s right, I finally caught up with one of the most influential films of all time and at first, I felt it was a bit overrated – but the more I thought about it, the more I became obsessed and perplexed by it. Read more…
