Switch to the mobile version of this page.

- Username
- View Profile
- Edit Profile
- Log Out
- Log in
- Create Account

The Chicago Reader

Articles

Loading...

Arts & Culture, Comedy Jan 30, 2018
John Mulaney discusses his influences, from Mayor Richard M. Daley to Werner Herzog

The stand-up comedian has drawn inspiration from unlikely sources.
- By Steve Heisler
- Tags: Comedy, John Mulaney, Nick Kroll, Chicago Theatre, Oh, Hello, Broadway, The Top Part, The Comeback Kid, New in Town, Werner Herzog, Richard M. Daley, St. Ignatius, Harold Washington, Jimmy Stewart, Andy Rooney, Spalding Gray, Earthquake, Def Jam, Mike Birbiglia, Joe Mande, Dave Attell, Shatner's Raw Nerve, Jon Voight, Elizabeth Smart, Larry King, Donald Barthelme, The Flight of the Pigeons from the Palace, Jacqueline Novak, Blondie, Steven Van Zandt, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Film, Movie Review Mar 31, 2016
Recommended
With Lo and Behold, Werner Herzog ponders the heaven and hell of digital technology

The German filmmaker's latest screens as part of the "Doc10" series at Music Box.
- By Dmitry Samarov
- Tags: Movie Review, Pandora’s box, Lo and Behold, Reveries of the Connected World, Werner Herzog, digital technology, online gaming, Kevin Mitnick, Motorola, Elon Musk, robots, rocketry, Mars, Hurricane Sandy, Andrei Tarkovsky, Solaris, Doc10, Music Box, docu, Recommended

Blogs, Bleader Feb 27, 2015
Video
Taste the blood of Jemaine Clement, plus more new reviews and notable screenings

New reviews and notable screenings in this week's issue
- By J.R. Jones
- Tags: Opening, Film, What We Do in the Shadows, Jemaine Clement, Flight of the Conchords, Taika Waititi, Boy movie, Eagle vs Shark, Shaun of the Dead, Music Box Chicago, Ben Sachs, Wild Tales, Actress movie, Ballet 422, New York City Ballet, Bluebird movie, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Amy Morton, Focus Will Smith, Focus movie, Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem, The Lazarus Effect, Poison Pen, Chicago Irish Film Festival, Tales movie, What's the Time in Your World?, Leila Hatami, A Separation, Jean-Luc Godard, Every Man for Himself, Hail Mary, Gene Siskel Film Center, Werner Herzog, Grizzly Man, Marx Brothers, Horse Feathers, Annoyance Film Night, Annoyance Theatre, An Evening With Ernie Gehr, University of Chicago Logan Center for the Arts, film festivals, movies, Video

Blogs, Bleader Dec 19, 2014
Best Films of 2014, number seven: Joe

J.R. Jones counts down his favorite films of 2014. Today at number seven: Joe.
- By J.R. Jones
- Tags: Year in Review, Film, Joe David Gordon Green, Nicolas Cage, Werner Herzog, Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, Larry Brown, George Washington David Gordon Green, All the Real Girls, Undertow David Gordon Green, James Franco, Your Highness, Jonah Hill, The Sitter, Tye Sheridan, The Tree of Life, Terence Malick, best movies of 2014

Blogs, Bleader Dec 12, 2014
Video
Les Blank was the filmmaker who liked people who liked to eat and drink

A new box set from Criterion collects more than a dozen films, many about food, by ethnographic filmmaker Les Blank.
- By Michael Gebert
- Tags: Food Chain, Food & Drink, Les Blank, Mardi Gras, Werner Herzog, Mance Lipscomb, Lightnin' Hopkins, Video

Film, Movie Feature Oct 9, 2014
A half century of CIFF milestones, from Scorsese's debut to Lee Daniels's achievement award

We dug through the Chicago International Film Festival's archives, talked to people who were around back in the day, and assembled a time line covering the fest's 50 years.
- By J.R. Jones and Ben Sachs
- Tags: Movie Feature, Chicago International Film Festival, CIFF, Martin Scorsese, I Call First, Roger Ebert, John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Dusan Makavejev, Gold Hugo, Michael Kutza, Leo Burnett, Andrzej Wajda, Krysztof Zanussi, Mel Brooks, Ann Miller, Edith Head, Richard B. Ogilvie, Nagisa Oshima, Satyajit Ray, Frantisek Vlacil, Mike Leigh, Milos Forman, Werner Herzog, Maurice Pialat, King Hu, The Valiant Ones, Lindsay Anderson, Orson Welles, Filming "Othello", Billy Wilder, Jules Dassin, John Carpenter, Ingmar Bergman, William Friedkin, Gloria Swanson, Neil Simon, John Houseman, Krzysztof Kieslowski, Wim Wenders, Nicholas Ray, Menahem Golan, Francois Truffaut, Fanny Ardant, Rod Stewart, Jeff Nichols, Michael Shannon, Mia Hansen-Love, Lee Daniels, Gabourey Sidibe, Frederick Wiseman, Jafar Panahi, James Gray, Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, Abdellatif Kechiche, Alexander Payne, Hirokazu Kore-Edu, Van Halen, Luchino Visconti, Michael Haneke, Saul Bass, Elizabeth C. Morris, Jim Healy, Spike Lee, Coretta Scott King, FIRPRESCI, Robert Altman, Bill Kurtis, Robert Benton, Nicolas Cage, Robert Downey Jr., Manoel de Oliveira, Cristi Puiu, Huey Lewis and the News, Douglas Trumbull, Peter Greenaway, Ken Russell, John Akomfrah, Jean Rouch, Raul Ruiz, Andre Techine, Bela Tarr, Krzysztof Zanussi, Jean-Luc Godard, Leon Golub, Kartemquin Films, Arch Oboler, Abbas Kiarostami

Blogs, Bleader Mar 20, 2014
William Friedkin's Sorcerer rolls back into action at the Music Box

A restored version of the Exorcist director's remake of The Wages of Fear screens as a midnight movie over the next two weekends.
- By Ben Sachs
- Tags: Transportation, Film, Sorcerer, William Friedkin, Kent Jones, Physical Evidence, Music Box Theatre, The Exorcist, The French Connection, Werner Herzog, Fitzcarraldo, Aguirre the Wrath of God

Blogs, Bleader Mar 7, 2014
Video
The European Union Film Festival, 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, European Union Film Festival, Gene Siskel Film Festival, Ben Sachs, Liam Neeson, Non-Stop, Adult World, John Cusack, Emma Roberts, Close Quarters, Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me, The Lunchbox, Son of God, History Channel The Bible, 300: Rise of an Empire, Werner Herzog, The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, University of Chicago Doc Films, Brian De Palma, Femme Fatale, George Cukor, The Philadelphia Story, Carlos Reygadas, Silent Light, Tim Burton, Sweeney Todd, Robert Rossen, Body and Soul, New York Times, J. Hoberman, Chicago Irish Film Festival, Music Box, Society for Arts, Chicago Cultural Center, Peace on Earth Film Festival, film festivals, movies, Video

Blogs, Bleader Nov 27, 2013
L'Argent, Mary Poppins, and other Reader recommended movies to watch online this week

Some recommended movies from Old Movies to Watch Now, in which Reader film capsules guide what you should watch online.
- By Reader staff
- Tags: Old Movies to Watch Now, Film, Old Movies to Watch Now, Netflix, Hulu, online streaming, Dave Kehr, Jonathan Rosenbaum, Fred Camper, Bill Stamets, J.R. Jones, Ben Sachs, L'Argent, Robert Bresson, Black Girl, Ousmane Sembene, Burden of Dreams, Les Blank, Werner Herzog, Fitzcarraldo, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, Luis Bunuel, History is Made at Night, Frank Borzage, Mary Poppins, OSS 117: Lost in Rio, Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist, Where the Sidewalk Ends, Otto Preminger, Dana Andrews, Small Soldiers, Joe Dante, Jonathan Rosenbaum, Gulliver's Travels

Blogs, Bleader Oct 18, 2013
Video
Urban bombing, third-trimester abortion, the scourge of slavery, 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, Chicago International Film Festival, Let the Fire Burn, Jason Osder, MOVE, Steve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave, Chiwetel Ejiofor, After Tiller, Jacques Becker, Antoine and Antoinette, Gene Siskel Film Center, Escape Plan, Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenneger, The Fifth Estate, WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, Top of the Heap, Christopher St. John, Richard Linklater, Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, University of Chicago Doc Films, Jacques Tourneur, Curse of the Demon, Phil Morehart, Facets Fright School, Terence Davies Distant Voices Still Lives, David Fincher, Fight Club, D.W. Griffith Intolerance, Gene Siskel Film Center, Olivier Assayas, Late August Early September, Robert Altman, The Long Goodbye, Charles Chaplin, Monsieur Verdoux, Todd Haynes Safe, Victor Erice, The Spirit of the Beehive, Roberto Rossellini, Voyage to Italy, Silent Film Society of Chicago, Nosferatu, Carl Schurz Slocum Hall, Chicago Film Archives, Northwest Chicago Film Society, Chicago History Museum, Music Box, Werner Herzog, Music Box of Horrors, Sound Opinions, High Fidelity, film festivals, movies, Video

Blogs, Bleader May 21, 2013
Black Cinema House has The Blues—and more—this Friday

Previewing the first program in a summer-long outdoor film series
- By Ben Sachs
- Tags: Do This, Film, Music, Black Cinema House, Chicago Film Archives, Movies Under the Stars, Comfort Station, Logan Square, Fitzcarraldo, Werner Herzog, Burden of Dreams, Chicago Public Library, The Blues, American Shoeshine, Center for Southern Folklore, Give My Poor Heart Ease, Mississippi Delta Blues, jazz documentaries, Duke Ellington, Elvin Jones

Blogs, Bleader May 5, 2013
Weekly Top Five: Dream on—the American dream on film

Michael Bay's recent Pain & Gain inspires the latest Weekly Top Five.
- By Drew Hunt
- Tags: Weekly Top Five, Film, Michael Bay, Pain & Gain, American dream, El Norte, Gregory Nava, Thieves' Highway, Jules Dassin, Stroszek, Werner Herzog, California Dreamin', Cristian Nemescu, Hoop Dreams, Steve James, Frederick Marx, Peter Gilbert, Jonathan Rosenbaum, Ben Sachs

Blogs, Bleader Apr 26, 2013
Video
Marking time with Powell and Pressburger, and other highlights from this week's film section

A summary of new releases and major revival screenings for the week of April 26 - May 2.
- By Ben Sachs
- Tags: On Video, Opening, Film, This week's movies, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, J.R. Jones, Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger, 5 Broken Cameras, La Playa DC, Renoir, Gene Siskel Film Center, Human Rights Watch Film Festival, Chicago Palestinian Film Festival, Lords of Salem, Oblivion, Tom Cruise, Pain & Gain, Michael Bay, Rafea: Solar Mama, The Angels' Share, Ken Loach, Tom Gunning, Ken Jacobs, Chicago Reader, Doc Films, A Nos Amours, Maurice Pialat, Charles Burnett, My Brother's Wedding, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, John Ford, Northwest Chicago Film Society, Portage Theater, Music Box Theatre, Logan Theatre, The Glass Key, Gushing Prayer: A Fifteen-Year-Old Prostitute, Japanese underground cinema, Violeta Went to Heaven, Violeta Parra, Cleo From 5 to 7, Agnes Varda, The Seven Year Itch, Billy Wilder, Palestinian documentary, Desperate Living, John Waters, Mr. Arkadin, Orson Welles, The Godfather, Heart of Glass, Werner Herzog, Film Studies Center, University of Chicago, Blancanieves, Video

Blogs, Bleader Apr 12, 2013
Video
GIFs of love, and the rest of this week's screenings

New reviews and notable screenings in this week's issue
- By J.R. Jones
- Tags: Film, Aimee Levitt, Twohundredfiftysixcolors, Eric Fleischauer, Jason Lazarus, Chicago Latino Film Festival, 42 movie, 42 Jackie Robinson, The Company You Keep, Robert Redford, Disconnect movie, Jason Bateman, Hope Davis, The Last White Knight, Delay De La Beckwith, Trance movie, Trance Danny Boyle, James McAvoy, Rosario Dawson, Upstream Color, Shane Carruth, Primer movie, Welcome to the Punch, Mark Strong, Werner Herzog, Aguirre: The Wrath of God, University of Chicago Doc Films, The Ceremony Nagisa Oshima, Federico Fellini, 8 1/2, Patio Theater Chicago, Howard Hawks, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Bert Stern, Jazz on a Summer's Day, Gene Siskel Film Center, Bert Stern Original Mad Man, John Stahl, Leave Her to Heaven, Orson Welles, The Magnificent Ambersons, Music Box, John Frankenheimer, The Manchurian Candidate, Northbrook Public Library, Alex Cox, Repo Man, Trainspotting, Steven Ungar, All Roads Lead to Aubervilliers, University of Chicago Logan Center for the Arts, Best of Rural Route Film Festival 2012-2013, Columbia College Hokin Hall, Chicago Festival of Bosnian Herzegovinian Film, Loyola University Sullivan Center, First Nations Film and Video Festival Spring Program, Illinois State Museum Chicago Gallery, William Friedkin, The French Connection, The Exorcist, Harold Washington Library Center, film festivals, movies, Video

Blogs, Bleader Apr 5, 2013
Video
An old-school Reader blowout, 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, Room 237, Stanley Kubrick, The Shining, Tabu, F.W. Murnau, Tabu: A Story of the South Seas, Evil Dead, Sam Raimi, The Host movie, Twilight Stephenie Meyer, Never the Same: The Prisoner of War Experience, The Place Beyond the Pines, Derek Cianfrance, Blue Valentine, Adam McKay, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Landmark's Century Centre, Arthur Penn, Bonnie and Clyde, University of Chicago Doc Films, Werner Herzog, Only Dwarfs Started Small, Stephen Frears, High Fidelity, Logan Theater Chicago, Chris Marker, La Jetee, movies, Video

Blogs, Bleader Mar 15, 2013
When man met mammoth and painted it (part one)

A preview of the Field Museum's Lascaux cave paintings exhibit
- By Aimee Levitt
- Tags: Science, Arts, Visual Art, Field Museum, Lascaux, Robert Martin, anthropology, cave paintings, prehistoric humans, magic, religion, art, France, Chauvet, Werner Herzog

Blogs, Bleader Feb 24, 2013
Weekly Top Five: The ecstatic truth of Werner Herzog

Top five Werner Herzog films
- By Drew Hunt
- Tags: Weekly Top Five, Film, Werner Herzog, New German Cinema, Alexander Kluge, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser, Cobra Verde, Klaus Kinski, Little Dieter Needs to Fly, Dieter Dengler, Vietnam, Laos, Rescue Dawn, Aguirre: The Wrath of God, Grizzly Man

Blogs, Bleader Feb 22, 2013
Video
Kung fu, women behind bars, Werner Herzog, and the rest of this week's movies

New reviews and notable screenings in this week's issue
- By J.R. Jones
- Tags: Film, Portage Theater Chicago, Chicago Cinema Society, Lau Kar-leung, The 36th Chamber of Shaolin, The Fiancee movie, Gene Siskel Film Center, Fallada The Last Chapter, Little Man What Now, Fourplay Kyle Henry, The Funny Things You Do, Future Weather, The Gatekeepers, A Good Day to Die Hard, Bruce Willis, Happy People: A Year in the Taiga, Werner Herzog, Versailles '73: American Runway Revolution, Louis Malle, Atlantic City, University of Chicago Doc Films, Leos Carax, Boy Meets Girl, Howard Hawks, El Dorado, Wong Kar-wai, Happy Together, Robert Siodmak, The Killers, Orson Welles, The Lady From Shanghai, Northbrook Public Library, Paul Leni, The Man Who Laughs, Jacques Tati Playtime, Music Box, movies, Video

Blogs, Bleader Dec 6, 2012
The Reader's Agenda: Thu 12/6

What's on the Agenda for Thursday, December 6, 2012
- By Drew Hunt
- Tags: Arts, Burlington, Logan Square, Owen Ashworth, Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, Advance Base, Leor Galil, Julie Byrne, J Fernandez, The Rebekah Theatre Project, Raven Theatre, Edgewater, Michael Cristofer, The Shadow Box, Asher Klein, Lana Herzog, Werner Herzog, Maya Polsky Gallery, Permanent Mirror

Blogs, Bleader Sep 26, 2012
The virtual realities of Brenna Murphy

A conversation with artist Brenna Murphy.
- By Drew Hunt
- Tags: Film, Brenna Murphy, Gene Siskel Film Center, Conversations at the Edge, David Lynch, Werner Herzog

Blogs, Bleader May 31, 2012
Video
Underground movies, one flight up—and other notable screenings

New reviews and notable screenings in this week's issue
- By J.R. Jones
- Tags: Film, Chicago Underground Film Festival, The Fourth Dimension, Harmony Korine, Gummo, Julien Donkey Boy, Trash Humpers, Aleksei Fedorchenko, Silent Souls, Jan Kwiecinski, Gene Siskel Film Center, Wes Anderson, Moonrise Kingdom, Chernobyl Diaries, For Greater Glory, Cristero War, High School, I Wish, Hirokazu Kore-eda, The Intouchables, Small Beautifully Moving Parts, Snow White & the Huntsman, Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds, University of Chicago Doc Films, Werner Herzog, Rescue Dawn, Pritzker Military Library, Portage theater, Shaw Brothers Studio, Master of the Flying Guillotine, Fist of the White Lotus, film festivals, underground cinema, movies, Video

Blogs, Bleader Mar 15, 2012
What's wrong with up in the air?

A preview of the Karlheinz Stockhausen documentary playing this weekend at the Nightingale
- By Ben Sachs
- Tags: Film, Music, Helicopter String Quartet, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Frank Scheffer, Nightingale Theater, Werner Herzog

Blogs, Bleader Nov 21, 2011
Oscarus interruptus

Steve James's acclaimed documentary The Interrupters is passed over for Oscar consideration.
- By J.R. Jones
- Tags: Film, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Steve James, The Interrupters, Hoop Dreams, Stevie movie, At the Death House Door, CeaseFire Chicago, Deanna Isaacs, Columbia College, Andrea Gronvall, Gene Siskel Film Center, Werner Herzog, Into the Abyss, Errol Morris, Tabloid movie, Asif Kapadia, Senna movie, Buck movie, Battle for Brooklyn, Academy Awards, Oscars, best documentary feature shortlist, documentaries, movies

Blogs, Bleader Nov 18, 2011
Video
This week's movie action

New reviews and notable screenings in this week's issue.
- By J.R. Jones
- Tags: Film, Werner Herzog, Into the Abyss, Michael James Perry, Death Row movie, Investigation Discovery, Kartemquin Films, At the Death House Door, Steve James, Hoop Dreams, Stevie movie, The Interrupters, Peter Gilbert, Fred Camper, University of Chicago Film Studies Center, Gregory J. Markopoulos, Every Song Is About Me, Lope movie, Gene Siskel Film Center, Festival of New Spanish Cinema, 3 movie, Tom Tykwer, Run Lola Run, Jean-Pierre Melville, Army of Shadows, University of Chicago Doc Films, Bernardo Bertolucci, Last Tango in Paris, Gene Siskel Film Center, Steven Spielberg, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Music Box, Jean-Luc Godard, Week-end movie, Chicago Food Film Festival, Kendall College, Intelligentsia Roasting Works, Illinois International Film Festival, Viaduct Theater, Kinky Film Festival, Leather Archives and Museum, film festivals, movies, Video

Film, Movie Review Nov 17, 2011
Death and Texas

Werner Herzog's Into the Abyss and Kartemquin Films' At the Death House Door look at capital punishment in the Lone Star State.
- By J.R. Jones
- Tags: Movie Review, Into the Abyss, At the Death House Door, Werner Herzog, Steve James, Peter Gilbert, Rick Perry, Kartemquin Films, executions, capital punishment, Huntsville, Texas, Carlos De Luna, Michael James Perry

1 2 next »

Issue Cover

Browse by Issue

Other Searches