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The Chicago Reader

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Blogs, Bleader Nov 14, 2017
My Friend Dahmer is a portrait of the mass murderer as a young man

Marc Meyers's film adaptation of Derf Backderf's graphic novel is an unlikely mix of exploitation and art.
- By Ben Sachs
- Tags: Crime, Film, Gross, My Friend Dahmer, Jeffrey Dahmer, Ross Lynch, Marc Meyers, Derf Backderf, Elephant, Gus Van Sant, exploitation film, art house, Spring Breakers, The Good Son, true crime

Blogs, Bleader Feb 12, 2016
Video
Zoolander returns, plus more new reviews and notable screenings

New reviews and notable screenings in this week's issue
- By J.R. Jones
- Tags: Film, Opening, Zoolander No. 2, Arabian Nights, One Thousand and One Nights, Bridgend, Deadpool, Ryan Reynolds, Hail, Caesar!, Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, How to Be Single, In the Shadow of Women, Philippe Garrel, Misconception movie, Marjorie Keller, Mustang movie, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Wednesday May 9, Where to Invade Next, Michael Moore, Martin Scorsese, The Age of Innocence, Michael Curtiz, Casablanca, Andy Warhol, The Chelsea Girls, Fred Astaire, Judy Garland, Easter Parade, Masaki Kobayashi, Kwaidan, Gus Van Sant, My Own Private Idaho, Rob Reiner, The Princess Bride, Bong Joon-ho, Snowpiercer, Danny Boyle, Trainspotting, movies, Video

Blogs, Bleader Nov 13, 2015
Video
Your Movie Is an Act of Self-Negation, Charlie Brown! plus more new reviews and notable screenings

New reviews and notable screenings in this week's issue
- By J.R. Jones
- Tags: Film, Opening, The Peanuts Movie, Charles Schulz, Heart of a Dog, Laurie Anderson, Dalton Trumbo, Bryan Cranston, 70 Acres in Chicago: Cabrini Green, Ronit Bezalel, Brooklyn movie, John Crowley, Boy A, Nick Hornby, Love the Coopers, Diane Keaton, John Goodman, Madame Phung's Last Journey, My All American, Aaron Eckhart, Angelo Pizzo, The Pearl Button, Patricio Guzman, Spotlight, Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams, What Our Fathers Did: A Nazi Legacy, Jack Arnold, Creature From the Black Lagoon, Field Museum Chicago, Bob Rafelson, Five Easy Pieces, Craig Laurence Rice, Half Past Autumn: The Life and Works of Gordon Parks, Gus Van Sant, My Own Private Idaho, Irving Rapper, Now Voyager, Wim Wenders, Paris Texas, Jacques Rivette, Le Pont du Nord, Eric Rohmer, The Tree the Mayor and the Media Center, John Ford, Upstream, Dennis Scott, Light and Noir Film Festival, Ernst Lubitsch, Ninotchka, Michael Curtiz, Mildred Pierce, Mostra: Brazilian Film Series, Polish Film Festival in America, Video

Blogs, Bleader May 10, 2015
John Waters's five best films

Highlights from the filmography of John Waters
- By Drew Hunt
- Tags: Weekly Top Five, Film, John Waters, Hairspray, Jonathan Rosenbaum, Logan Theatre, Serial Mom, Kathleen Turner, Pecker, Multiple Maniacs, Divine, Female Trouble, Pink Flamingos, Gus Van Sant, Baltimore

Film, Movie Review Mar 19, 2015
Video
David Robert Mitchell pays tribute to John Carpenter with It Follows

A slow-moving demon creeps inexorably toward its victims in this low-budget horror movie.
- By Ben Sachs
- Tags: Movie Review, David Robert Mitchell, It Follows, Gus van Sant, Elephant, John Carpenter, Jeremy Saulnier, Blue Ruin, Jim Mickle, Cold in July, Adam Wingard, The Guest, Video

Blogs, Bleader Nov 17, 2013
Video
Weekly Top Five: Commercials directed by major filmmakers

TV commercials directed by major filmmakers
- By Drew Hunt
- Tags: Weekly Top Five, Film, Wes Anderson, Prada, Castello Cavalcanti, Blue Is the Warmest Color, Léa Seydoux, Gus Van Sant, Miller Genuine Draft, Edgar Wright, Pizza Hut, Nick Frost, Victoria's Secret, Michael Bay, Parisienne, the Coen brothers, Emir Kusturica, Roman Polanski, Jean-Luc Godard, Anne-Marie Miéville, David Lynch, Dario Argento, David Fincher, Spike Jonze, Gap, American Express, Francois Truffaut, Day for Night, Jules et Jim, Fahrenheit 451, Video

Blogs, Bleader Nov 15, 2013
Video
Wild Chicago, lost Chicago, and the rest of this week's screenings

New reviews and notable screenings in this week's issue
- By J.R. Jones
- Tags: Opening, Film, Wild Chicago, WTTW, Ben Hollis, John Davies, Patio Theater Chicago, Comfort Station Chicago, Chicago Film Archives, Vanishing Neighborhoods, The Armstrong Lie, Alex Gibney, Lance Armstrong, The Book Thief, Geoffrey Rush, Emily Watson, Museum Hours, Jem Cohen, R.E.M., Benjamin Smoke, No Time for Love, Claudette Colbert, Fred MacMurray, Northern Lights, Cannes film festival, Voices of the Gods, Al Santana, Terence Malick, Days of Heaven, Gene Siskel Film Center, Hou Hsiao-hsien, Flowers of Shanghai, University of Chicago Doc Films, Todd Haynes, I'm Not There, John Cassavetes, The Killing of a Chinese Bookie, F.W. Murnau, Tabu: A Story of the South Seas, Gus Van Sant, To Die For, Raoul Walsh, The Thief of Bagdad, Pickwick Theater Park Ridge, Jay Warren, Jaromil Jires, Valerie and Her Week of Wonders, Music Box Chicago, Darren Aronofsky, The Wrestler, TheGirl With the Dragon Tattoo, Polish Film Festival in America, Facets Cinematheque, Society for Arts, Oliver Stone, Peter Kuznick, Showtime, The Untold History of the United States, film festivals, movies, Video

Blogs, Bleader Nov 10, 2013
Weekly Top Five: The best of new queer cinema

My five favorite films from a surging independent film movement centered on gay themes and gay filmmakers
- By Drew Hunt
- Tags: Weekly Top Five, Film, New Queer Cinema, The Hours and Times, Christopher Munch, The Garden, Derek Jarman, Paris is Burning, Jennie Livingston, Mala Noche, Gus van Sant, Go Fish, Rose Troche

Film, Movie Review Sep 4, 2013
At the 25th annual Onion City Experimental Film and Video Festival, every picture tells a story

From multilayered mysteries to a Warholian take on Grand Theft Auto IV, narrative cinema and the avant-garde overlap.
- By Ben Sachs
- Tags: Movie Review, Sergei Eisenstein, Encounters I May or May Not Have Had With Peter Berlin, Buffalo Death Mask, Andy Warhol, Grand Theft Auto IV, JB Mabe, To the Change Assigned, Lewis Klahr, Kiss the Rain, David Fincher, Matt Wolf, I Remember: A Film About Joe Brainard, Ron Padgett, I Am Micro, Seven, Vincent Grenier, Watercolor (Fall Creek), Jake Barningham, Pták básně I a II, Phil Solomon, Empire, Gus Van Sant, Aula Magna, Manuel Barenboim, Ant Hill, Gerry, Andres Denegri, Elephant, Last Days, Joseph Cornell, George Kuchar, Onion City Festival of Experimental Film and Video, Morning of Saint Anthony's Day, As the Flames Rose, João Pedro Rodrigues, Columbia College, Ferguson Theater, O Fantasma, Two Drifters, To Die Like a Man, The Last Time I Saw Macao, João Rui Guerra da Mata, Saint Anthony's Day, Jean Cocteau, The Human Voice, Ben Rivers, Phantoms of a Libertine, Mike Leigh, Terence Davies, Slow Action, Two Years at Sea, Ben Russell, Let Each One Go Where He May, Sabine Gruffat, I Have Always Been a Dreamer, Stephen Graves, A Body Without Organs, Lucien Castaing-Taylor, Verena Paravel, Leviathan, I Am Micro, Kamal Swaroop, Double Play, Richard Linklater, James Benning

Blogs, Bleader Sep 1, 2013
Weekly Top Five: The films of Gus Van Sant

Weekly Top Five: The best of Gus Van Sant
- By Drew Hunt
- Tags: Weekly Top Five, Film, University of Chicago's Doc Films, Mala Noche, Gus van Sant, Gerry, Last Days, Good Will Hunting, Milk, To Die For, My Own Private Idaho, Portland Oregon, Paranoid Park, Harvey Milk, To Die For, Buck Henry, Drugstore Cowboy, Badlands, Easy Rider, William S. Burroughs, Elephant, Harris Savides

Blogs, Bleader Aug 30, 2013
Video
A couple of smoke screens and the rest of this week's movies

A roundup of new and notable movies playing in Chicago between August 30 and September 5
- By Ben Sachs
- Tags: Opening, Film, Movies, The Grandmaster, Wong Kar-wai, The World's End, Edgar Wright, Drew Hunt, Ain't Them Bodies Saints, David Lowery, Terrence Malick, Charles Fairbanks, The Nightingale, Richard Linklater, "Before" trilogy, Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, Before Midnight, Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia, Sam Peckinpah, Laurence Knapp, Gene Siskel Film Center, Music Box Theatre, Northbrook Public Library, Greed, Eric von Stroheim, Gus Van Sant, Mala Noche, Doc Films, Patio Theater, Northwest Chicago Film Society, Rebecca Hall, One Hour With You, Ernst Lubitsch, American Made Movie, The Attack, Closed Circuit, Eric Bana, Off Label, pharmaceutical industry, Saturday Morning Mystery, Video

Blogs, Bleader May 31, 2013
After Earth: An epic struggle between good and bad taste

M. Night Shyamalan's big-budget sci-fi adventure features some of the year's best cinematography . . . and some of the worst acting, writing, and philosophy.
- By Ben Sachs
- Tags: Grammar, Opening, Film, Visual Art, After Earth, M. Night Shyamalan, Peter Suschitzky, David Cronenberg, visual grammar, cinematography, Will Smith, Jaden Smith, Christopher Doyle, Tak Fujimoto, Roger Deakins, sci-fi, eXistenz, The Village, Lady in the Water, Unbreakable, Gerry, Gus Van Sant, Harris Savides, Pain & Gain, Johnny Wu

Blogs, Bleader Apr 14, 2013
Weekly Top Five: "Alright, alright, alright"—the best of Richard Linklater

Top five Richard Linklater films
- By Drew Hunt
- Tags: Weekly Top Five, Film, Richard Linklater, Dazed and Confused, Quentin Tarantino, David O. Russell, Gregg Araki, Alexandre Rockwell, Kevin Smith, Steven Soderbergh, Gus van Sant, Waking Life, A Scanner Darkly, The School of Rock, Jean Renoir, Don't Knock the Rock, The Newton Boys, Bernie, Jack Black, Tape, Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, Ethan Hawke, Julie Deply, Before Midnight, Waking Life, Slacker, Dazed and Confused

Blogs, Bleader Mar 29, 2013
Reader's Agenda Fri 3/29: "100 Acts of Sewing," Psycho/Hitchcock double feature, and Frank Fairfield

What's on the Reader's Agenda for Friday, March 29, 2013
- By Drew Hunt
- Tags: Do This, Arts, Sonya Philip, 100 Acts of Sewing, Lillstreet Arts Center, Gene Siskel Film Center, Alfred Hitchcock, Psycho, Sacha Gervasi, Hitchcock, Psycho, Hitchcock, Gus Van Sant, Frank Fairfield, Depression, Farm Security Administration, Harry Smith, Anthology of American Folk Music, Bill Meyer, Fairfield, Schubas, Andrew Pelletier

Film, Movie Critic's Choice Feb 26, 2013
Recommended
Pavilion's teen dream

Tim Sutton's drama captures the urgency and unease of adolescence.
- By Drew Hunt
- Tags: Movie Critic's Choice, Gus Van Sant, Elephant, Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life, Tim Sutton, Pavilion, New York, Arizona, Facets Cinematheque, Recommended

Film, Movie Sidebar Feb 14, 2013
Music Box 70mm Film Festival

Two weeks of revivals in the high-definition format
- Tags: Movie Sidebar, Music Box, 70-millimeter, Music Box Theatre 70mm Festival, Paul Thomas Anderson, The Master, Ken Hughes, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Gus Van Sant, Hamlet, Tobe Hooper, Lifeforce, Richard Brooks, Lord Jim, Jacques Tati, Playtime, Stanley Kubrick, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Alfred Hitchcock, Vertigo, Robert Wise, West Side Story

Blogs, Bleader Jan 3, 2013
This winter at Doc Films: Mitchum, Wong, Coens, and more

Previewing the University of Chicago film society's winter calendar
- By Ben Sachs
- Tags: Do This, Film, Doc Films, Robert Mitchum, William Wellman, The Story of G.I. Joe, Ernie Pyle, 1928, King Vidor, The Driver, Walter Hill, Howard Hawks, El Dorado, Rio Bravo, The Patsy, Marion Davies, Secret Ceremony, Joseph Losey, The Wind, Victor Sjostrom, Paul Leni, The Man Who Laughs, University of Chicago, Joel and Ethan Coen, Louis Malle, Amy Taubin, Wong Kar-Wai, Christopher Doyle, Happy Together, In the Mood for Love, Gus Van Sant, Psycho, Zhang Yimou, Hero

Blogs, Bleader Dec 28, 2012
Video
The best, the worst, and the rest of this week's movies

New reviews and notable screenings in this week's issue
- By J.R. Jones
- Tags: Opening, Film, John Magaro, Not Fade Away, The Big Picture Eric Lartigau, The Guilt Trip, Seth Rogen, Barbara Streisand, Not Fade Away, Rolling Stones, The Sopranos, David Chase, Parental Guidance, Billy Crytal, Bette Midler, Promised Land, Gus Van Sant, Matt Damon, John Krasinski, Dave Eggers, David Lean, Lawrence of Arabia, Michael Roemer, Nothing But a Man, Pim de la Parra, One People, F.W. Murnau Sunrise, Anthony Mann, Winchester '73, Chicago movies, Video

Blogs, Bleader Nov 19, 2012
Thinking inside the box; or, Academy fight song

Thinking about the 1.37:1 aspect ratio after attending a revival of Gus Van Sant's Paranoid Park
- By Ben Sachs
- Tags: Moviegoing, Film, Academy ratio, aspect ratios, Gus Van Sant, Paranoid Park, close-ups, Winter Light, Ingmar Bergman, Ingrid Thulin, The Artist, Ben Sachs on moviegoing

Blogs, Bleader Nov 28, 2011
Coming soon: Christopher Munch's Letters From the Big Man

Christopher Munch's Letters From the Big Man, opens Friday at Facets Multimedia.
- By Ben Sachs
- Tags: Film, Christopher Munch, Letters From the Big Man, Lily Rabe, Facets Multimedia, Color of a Brisk and Leaping Day, Todd Haynes, Gus Van Sant, New Queer Cinema, The Sleepy Time Gal, Jonathan Rosenbaum, Jacqueline Bisset, Martha Plimpton, Nick Stahl, Brisk and Leaping, Harry + Max, Steve McQueen, Shame

Film, Movie Review Sep 29, 2011
Cancer is better funny than mawkish

50/50 plays cancer for laughs; Restless is Stage IV stupid.
- By J.R. Jones
- Tags: Movie Review, 50/50, Jonathan Levine, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, Restless, Gus Van Sant, Henry Hopper, Mia Wasikowska, cancer, laughter is the best medicine

Blogs, Bleader Sep 23, 2011
Video
This week's movie action

New reviews and notable screenings in this week's issue.
- By J.R. Jones
- Tags: Film, Ron Howard, The Dilemma movie, Moneyball, Tsui Hark, Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame, Autoerotic movie, Joe Swanberg, Dolphin Tale, A Good Man, Bill T. Jones, Abraham Lincoln, Ravinia Festival, Killer Elite, Jason Statham, Clive Owen, Robert De Niro, Love Crime, Kristin Scott Thomas, Ludivine Sagnier, Restless movie, Gus Van Sant, Screen Dances: Films by Nadia Oussenko, Chicago Filmmakers, Jacques Tourneur, Cat People, University of Chicago Doc Films, Robert Parrish, Cry Danger, Gene Siskel Film Center, Bob Rafelson, Five Easy Pieces, Music Box, Jacques Feyder, The Kiss, Northbrook Public Libary, Dave Drazin, Sergei Eisenstein, Potemkin, Northwestern University Block Museum of Art, Barbara Loden, Wanda movie, movies, Video

Blogs, Bleader Oct 1, 2010
Video
Howl

"Howl," an experimental dramatization of Allen Ginsberg's landmark poem starring James Franco, opens tonight at the Music Box.
- By Ed M. Koziarski
- Tags: LGBT, Film, Howl, Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Neal Cassady, James Franco, Jon Hamm, Rob Epstein, Jeffrey Friedman, Suicide, poem, obscenity, trial, Gus Van Sant, Milk, Video

Blogs, Bleader Jun 2, 2010
Video
Local Burroughs doc coming to theaters, PBS

Beastie Boy Adam Yauch's Oscilloscope Laboratories will release local filmmaker Yony Leyser's documentary "William S. Burroughs: A Man Within."
- By Ed M. Koziarski
- Tags: LGBT, Lit & Lectures, Film, Music, Books, William Burroughs, William S. Burroughs, Naked Lunch, Junky, Yony Leyser, A Man Within, Allen Ginsberg, Howl, James Franco, Adam Yauch, Beastie Boys, Oscilloscope Laboratories, Queer, Steve Buscemi, Iggy Pop, Patti Smith, Sonic Youth, Gus Van Sant, John Waters, James Grauerholz, Lawrence, Kansas, Kansas University, IndieWire, Slamdance, Chicago Movies and Music, Film Festival, CIMMfest, Video

Blogs, Bleader Feb 27, 2010
Video
William S. Burroughs: A Man Within

Yony Leyser's documentary "William S. Burroughs: A Man Within" and Thomas Woschitz's "Universalove" open the Chicago International Movies and Music Festival on Thursday, March 4.
- By Ed M. Koziarski
- Tags: Lit & Lectures, Film, Music, Books, William S. Burroughs, Slamdance, A Man Within, Yony Leyser, CIMMfest, Ilko Davidov, Chicago International Movies & Music Festival, Thomas Woschitz, Universalove, Naked Lunch, Junky, Thee Majesty, Penny Arcade, Andy Warhol, superstar, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, Patti Smith, John Waters, Iggy Pop, Jello Biafra, Gus Van Sant, Iggy Pop, David Cronenberg, Amiri Baraka, Sonic Youth, Video

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