Review: Free Fire
For all the obscure festival releases and challenging documentaries I see, all the high-brow foreign dramas and such, you’d be forgiven for thinking that most of what I watch is, well, not that fun. Or at least, not the kind of fun one is usually looking for on a night out at the cinema. Friends, I’m here to tell you that not only do I see those other films, the ones made for the spectacle and popcorn, but you know what? I enjoy the hell out of them. I took myself to see Guardians of the Galaxy a couple years ago. I voluntarily made my way through seven Star Wars films, and now I…
And also, Film
Every month, Time Out Chicago shares a great list of what to look forward to in the next four weeks. I love it. It’s a one-stop-shop for some of the coolest, most interesting things to do across the city. Except today, as I’m reading through the list for April, I noticed something: exhaustive as it is, there’s no category calling out the fantastic film options that inevitably fill the city’s calendar every month. Sure, options like Dan Savage’s Hump! Film Festival are included here and there. But art, dance, music – they all get their own call out. Not so with film. And before you point it out, yes – I…
Watch This: Get Out
Last month, Film Twitter went all a-twitter when it was revealed that this year’s Sundance Film Festival secret screening was comedian Jordan Peele’s directorial debut, Get Out (he also wrote the original screenplay). Early buzz was effusive, a promising reception after a work-in-progress Keanu, which he co-wrote, failed to blow audiences away at SXSW last year. The team at Universal was smart to launch the film, the story of a young black photographer whose weekend visit to meet his white girlfriend’s family goes terribly wrong, at the January festival in advance of a February theatrical release. In doing so, they’ve carved out a fairly rare slice of positive momentum in an otherwise barren release…
Maybe Watch This: A United Kingdom
In 2014, director Amma Asante – former actress turned filmmaker – hit the scene in a big way with one of the most underrated films of that year, Belle. Actually her sophomore feature, she’d previously been named Most Promising Newcomer at the BAFTAs in 2005, a prescient prediction. This week, Asante returns with her latest film, A United Kingdom, the true story of a ground-breaking, continent-crossing interracial marriage built around a top-caliber cast that ultimately saves it from slipping into risky Hallmark-movie-schmaltz territory. It’s 1947 and David Oyelowo and Rosemund Pike are Seretse Khama and Ruth William Khama, the heir to the throne of Bechuanaland (later Botswana) and his white British…
Watch This: The Salesman
For years promoting the U.S. releases of foreign films, again and again I heard them described as “quiet.” Quiet and compelling. Quiet and taut. Quiet and affecting. It’s no wonder so many worthy imports fail to reach a large audience. Who wants to spend two hours watching a lot of quietness – which is to say, a lot of nothing – on screen? Which is why, even though it is in many ways, I will not describe Asghar Farhadi’s arresting new drama The Salesman as quiet. Yes, it employs more than one long stretch of dialogue-free action, and yes, the power of the film is in its nuances, the reaction…
Coming Soon: November
November hits the sweet spot of Fall releases, as the great films are poised for a strong end-of year run before awards campaigning goes into full effect. More than a few films opening this month are already garnering Best Picture buzz – I imagine the film taking home to top Oscar is in the mix here somewhere. November 6 Spectre – What other film franchise is still going as strong as 007? The answer is none, and there’s a reason it’s still a mainstay: dashing leading man, edge-of-your-seat action and a ride always worth its ticket price. I’ll be there. Watch the trailer Spotlight – If I were a voting member of the Academy…
