Reviews

Get Out and See this Film

You cannot always judge a book by its cover. Similarly, you shouldn’t judge a movie by its trailer. These words of wisdom are especially true for the film Get… Read more about Get Out (R) ★★★½…

Oscar Blog Part 2

Hi again, here’s the next installment; happy reading. Wow, it’s getting exciting the last week before Oscar. Hey, do you have your tickets to the best viewing party in Chicagoland? I’ll… Read more about Oscar Blog Part 2, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress and Best Animated Film…

Hey comedy directors: when your end-credits blooper reel is funnier than the rest of your movie, you’ve failed.

Fist Fight should have at least been decent; its trailers gave me hope. It stars the high-strung,… Read more about Fist Fight (R) ★½…

The Lego Batman Movie is fun (and funny), but not quite as awesome as its predecessor.

The Lego Movie surprised everyone in 2014. Nobody expected it to be good, much less one of the… Read more about The Lego Batman Movie (PG) ★★★…

Have Faith in Silence

For living legend Martin Scorsese, who spent nearly 30 years trying to get this film made and even contemplated joining the priesthood, it would be an understatement to call Silence a… Read more about Silence (R) ★★★★…

Top 20 (Award-Worthy) Films of 2016   Listed in order of favorites starting with #1

*Please note that I have not screened Martin Scoreses’s Silence this list may change.

1. Arrival—Science Fiction, based on the… Read more about Sarah’s Top 20 Movies of 2016…

A Mother and Child Reunion?

With the slew of super hero mega films, book to film adaptations and unoriginal American pictures that hope the star power will singlehandedly carry the film, foreign films are often… Read more about Julieta (R) ★★★½…

Heartwrenching Family Drama with Excellent Performances

Manchester by the Sea is a movie wherein the more you discuss the great aspects of the film, the more it sounds like your worst nightmare. And by discussing… Read more about Manchester By the Sea (R) ★★★½…

Upbeat Musical with Beautiful Stars

Opening on a warm California winter’s day, we view a typical LA freeway traffic jam and an over-the-top atypical song and dance number; La La Land thus proclaims itself as… Read more about La La Land (PG-13) ★★★½…

James McAvoy helps save M. Night Shyamalan from himself in Split.

Like many others, I have been frustrated by M. Night Shyamalan’s career. Since I am a big fan of his first five movies—The Sixth… Read more about Split (PG-13) ★★★…

Patriots Day is a powerful reminder of this country at its best.

As I left for the Patriots Day screening, my husband asked me to remind him what I was seeing. After I told him,… Read more about Patriots Day (R) ★★★½…

Raw Emotion Strikes a Chord with Universal Themes

Superficially, one might sum up Moonlight by declaring that it presents three chapters of a gay black Miami man’s life. However, the film delves much deeper than… Read more about Moonlight (R) ★★★★…

Ben Affleck’s really weird gangster film is a dud.

“What. Is. Happening?!?”

While watching Live by Night, I turned to the person next to me and asked this question several times. She was equally… Read more about Live By Night (R) ★½…

Appropriately Titled Feel-Good Feature

In the early 1960s, tensions between the U.S and Russia were so strong that it even spilled over into the space programs. After the Russians jumped ahead in the Space Race… Read more about Hidden Figures (PG) ★★★★…

Portman Brings Jackie to Life

The Kennedy family was nicknamed “America’s First Family” and there has been no shortage of interest in them over the years. America’s obsession with the Kennedy’s has inspired countless books,… Read more about Jackie (R) ★★★½…

“Miss Sloane” Is Ambitious, Fierce 

If this past election has taught us anything, it’s that politics is an ugly business. Even more troubling than the viciousness of elections is that even with all of the… Read more about Miss Sloane (R) ★★★…

“Bleed for This” – Call It a Comeback

Boxing is nicknamed the “sweet science,” which is a strange name given that it is arguably the most violent and physically punishing sport. Anyone who steps into… Read more about Bleed for This (R) ★★★…

When is an alien invasion movie not about an alien invasion?

Some of my favorite films (Looper, About Time, Safety Not Guaranteed, Back to the Future, Predestination) and novels (The Time Traveler’s Wife, Life After… Read more about Arrival (PG-13) ★★★½…

This movie is nuts.

The trailers for The Accountant would lead you to believe that it is a tense thriller in which Ben Affleck plays a high-functioning autistic man (Christian Wolff) who is both the… Read more about The Accountant (R) ★★★…