Switch to the
mobile version
of this page.
Latest issue
Twitter
Facebook
Instagram
RSS
The Daily Reader, Early Warnings, and Food & Drink e-mails
Mobile
Username
View Profile
Edit Profile
Log Out
Log in
Create Account
The Chicago Reader
City Life
News & Politics
Columns
Music
Arts & Culture
Film
Food & Drink
Events
Ads
Browse
How to place classified ads
Browse News & Politics
Features
Maya Dukmasova
Cannabis
The Ben Joravsky Show
Chicago: Queer & Now podcast
Browse Music
Features
Chicagoans of Note
Gossip Wolf
The Listener
Secret History of Chicago Music
Music Reviews
Best Chicago albums of the 2010s
Bull Horn (paid sponsored content)
Early Warnings
Full music listings
Online events
Browse Film
Features
Movie reviews
Index of older long reviews
Small screen
Film archive: short reviews
This week’s movies of note
Movies of note: new reviews
Featured movie theaters
Browse Arts & Culture
Features
Recommended
Theater reviews
Art reviews
Ghost Light (news & notes)
Theater & Performance listings
Dance listings
Art listings
Improv/Sketch listings
Online events
Browse Food & Drink
Features
Mike Sula
Recommended
Reviews
Sommelier Series (paid sponsored content)
Cannabis
Events
Browse City Life
Community
The Mental Health Issue
Public Service Announcement
The Sex Issue
Shop Local
Sightseeing
Street View
Browse Columns
John Greenfield: On Transportation
Deanna Isaacs: On Culture
Ben Joravsky: On Politics
The Ben Joravsky Show
Chicago: Queer & Now podcast
Dan Savage: Savage Love
Opinion
Browse Ads
Classifieds
Matches
How to advertise
Display advertising information
Classified advertising information
Submit a free Matches ad
Browse Events
Online events
Full event listings
Reader events
Recommended today
Recommended this weekend
This week’s movies of note
Early Warnings (Music)
Full music listings
Theater & Performance listings
Dance listings
Improv/Sketch listings
Art listings
Lit & Lectures listings
Food & Drink events
Cannabis events
Parties
Other stuff
Chicago Reader Book Club
TixReader: Buy tickets
Best of Chicago
Online events
Early Warnings
Podcasts
Articles
Issues
Find a paper
Giveaways
Store
Book Club
Donate
Articles
Clear Filters
Filters
Recommended
close
Categories
Year
Features
Best of Chicago
All Best of Chicago
Arts & Culture
Arts & Entertainment
Best of Chicago Ballot
Buy Local
Cannabis
City Life
Credits
Food & Drink
Goods & Services
Introduction
Music & Nightlife
Reasons to love Chicago
Sports & Recreation
News & Politics
All News & Politics
Back Room Deal
Cannabis
Comics Feature
Culture
Essay
Fall Preview
Feature
Media
News
News Analysis
Our Town
Podcasts
Politics
Reader Investigative Reports
Sports
City Life
All City Life
Comics Feature
Community
Feature
Feral Citizen
Holiday Gift Guide
Pets Issue
Public Service Announcement
Shop Local
Sightseeing
Stay at Home
Staycation
Street View
Windy Citizens
Columns & Opinion
All Columns & Opinion
Identity & Culture
On Culture
On Media
On Politics
On Transportation
Opinion
Savage Love
Staff notes
To Be Blunt
Food & Drink
All Food & Drink
Bar Review
Cooking with Cannabis
Fall Preview
Food & Drink Feature
Food, Drink, and Cannabis Issue
Key Ingredient
Restaurant Review
Film
All Film
Fall Preview
Film Issue
Flopcorn
Movie Feature
Movie Review
Small Screen
Arts & Culture
All Arts & Culture
Architecture
Art Feature
Art Review
Book Review
Book Swap
Books and Comics Issue
Books Issue
Calendar
Comedy
Comics
Dance
Fall Preview
Fall Theater and Dance
Fashion
Feature
Festival
Fiction
Flash Fiction
Ghost Light
History
Holiday Events
Lit Feature
New Year's Eve
Performing Arts Feature
Performing Arts Review
Prairie Pothole
Pride 2019
Pride 2020
Spring Theater and Dance
Theater Preview
Theater Review
Travel
Valentine's Day
Winter Theater and Dance
Music
All Music
Chicagoans of Note
Concert Preview
Fall Preview
Gig Poster of the Week
Gossip Wolf
In Rotation
Music Feature
Music Review
Pitchfork
The Block Beat
The Listener
The Secret History of Chicago Music
Reader
All Reader
About
Announcements
Cannabis Conversations (paid sponsored content)
Classified advertising
Digital Editions
Matches
Press releases
Reader events
Reader partners
All Reader partners
AAXLL Supply Co
Aeriz (paid sponsored content)
Camelot Illinois (paid sponsored content)
Chi High Tours (paid sponsored content)
Chicago Votes (paid sponsored content)
Corvelay Media Inc.
David Jay Collins (paid sponsored content)
Early to Bed (paid sponsored content)
Fufluns Foods (paid sponsored content)
Google Fiber Webpass (paid sponsored content)
GTI (paid sponsored content)
Invictus Media Group (paid sponsored content)
Jane Addams Resource Corporation (paid sponsored content)
Lalamove (paid sponsored content)
Leafwell (paid sponsored content)
Lyft (paid sponsored content)
Merlot (paid sponsored content)
Nature’s Care Company (paid sponsored content)
NeuroMedici (paid sponsored content)
Paradise Media (paid sponsored content)
Poetry Foundation (paid sponsored content)
Reader: Planned Parenthood Illinois (paid sponsored content)
Red Bull (paid sponsored content)
SocialWorks (paid sponsored content)
Steve Allen Media (paid sponsored content)
Tequila Herradura (paid sponsored content)
The Chicago FoodCultura Clarion
The Foley Food and Wine Society (paid sponsored content)
The Lytle House (paid sponsored content)
Tulip Tree Gardens (paid sponsored content)
Venteux (paid sponsored content)
Verma Media (paid sponsored content)
Windy City Times
Other Stuff
Blogs
close
Categories
Year
Features
Issue.Year
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
2000
1999
1998
1997
1996
1995
1994
1993
1992
1991
1990
1989
1988
1987
1986
1985
1984
1983
1982
1981
1980
1979
1978
1977
1976
1975
1974
1973
1972
1971
close
Categories
Year
Features
Features
Recommended
Member Picks
Slideshow
Video
Audio
Critics' Picks
Readers' Poll
Image
Sponsored
Gallery - User Submitted
close
Sort by:
Most Recent
Top Viewed
Number of Comments
Relevance
Loading...
22 results
Film
,
Movie Feature
Sep 11, 2019
Remembering Andrea Gronvall
Farewell to a
Reader
contributor and much-valued colleague
By Aimee Levitt
Tags:
Movie Feature
,
Andrea Gronvall
,
At the Movies
,
Siskel & Ebert
,
Chicago Reader
,
film criticism
,
Temple Sholom
,
Aimee Levitt
,
Chicago Film Critics Association
Film
,
Movie Feature
Nov 26, 2018
Writer A.S. Hamrah on the crisis in film criticism
The new essay collection
The Earth Dies Streaming
collects his work from 2002 to 2018.
By Anne Elizabeth Moore
Tags:
Movie Feature
,
A.S. Hamrah
,
film criticism
,
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Blogs
,
Bleader
Jan 23, 2018
Academy Awards 2018: The Oscar nominees
Reader
reviews of the top films
By Steve Heisler
Tags:
Arts
,
Film
,
Moviegoing
,
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri
,
Frances McDormand
,
Sam Rockwell
,
Get Out
,
Jordan Peele
,
Daniel Kaluuya
,
Lady Bird
,
Saoirse Ronan
,
Laurie Metcalf
,
Greta Gerwig
,
The Shape of Water
,
Richard Jenkins
,
Guillermo del Toro
,
Sally Hawkins
,
Timothee Chalamet
,
Armie Hammer
,
Dunkirk
,
Christopher Nolan
,
The Post
,
Meryl Streep
,
Tom Hanks
,
Steven Spielberg
,
I Tonya
,
Margot Robbie
,
Allison Janney
,
The Florida Project
,
Willem Dafoe
,
The Big Sick
,
Kumail Nanjiani
,
Darkest Hour
,
Gary Oldman
,
Mudbound
,
Mary J. Blige
,
Molly's Game
,
Coco
,
All the Money in the World
,
The Disaster Artist
,
James Franco
,
Roman J. Israel Esq.
,
Denzel Washington
,
Stronger
,
Logan
,
First They Killed My Father
,
Beats Per Minute
,
A Fantastic Woman
,
Happy End
,
Foxtrot
,
The Square
,
In the Fade
,
movie reviews
,
film reviews
,
film criticism
,
Academy Awards
,
The Oscars
Arts & Culture
,
Book Review
Nov 29, 2017
Dave Kehr returns with another indispensable collection of film criticism
University of Chicago Press issues
Movies That Mattered
, a follow-up to the longtime
Reader
staffer’s 2011 book
When Movies Mattered
.
By Ben Sachs
Tags:
Book Review
,
Dave Kehr
,
Movies That Mattered: More Reviews From a Transformative Decade
,
film criticism
,
Chicago magazine
,
When Movies Mattered
Blogs
,
Bleader
Jul 9, 2015
Lights out at
The Dissolve
The Dissolve, Pitchfork Media's movie site, is no more
By J.R. Jones
Tags:
RIP
,
Media
,
Film
,
The Dissolve
,
Pitchfork Media
,
Keith Phipps
,
Clyde Bruckman
,
Sam Adams
,
Matt Zoller Seitz
,
Alyssa Rosenberg
,
Scott Tobias
,
Tasha Robinson
,
Genevieve Koski
,
Rachel Handler
,
Nathan Rabin
,
film criticism
,
movies
Film
,
Movie Feature
Jul 2, 2014
Reluctant auteur Steve James on life and
Life Itself
The man behind
Hoop Dreams
,
The Interrupters
, and the new Roger Ebert chronicle
Life Itself
is one of America's most well-respected documentarians, but you probably couldn't pick Steve James out of a lineup.
By Ben Sachs
Tags:
Movie Feature
,
Steve James
,
film
,
filmmakers
,
PBS
,
Hoop Dreams
,
CeaseFire
,
The Interrupters
,
Stevie
,
Big Brothers
,
The New Americans
,
Life Itself
,
Roger Ebert
,
movies
,
Oak Park
,
Kartemquin Films
,
gardening
,
Rushville, Illinois
,
work
,
Judy James
,
sex offenders
,
careers
,
family
,
Hollywood
,
narrative film
,
television
,
TV
,
documentaries
,
Peter Gilbert
,
Prefontaine
,
James Madison University
,
auteurs
,
Alex Kotlowitz
,
Frederick Marx
,
film credits
,
SIU
,
Southern Illinois University
,
Big Muddy Film Festival
,
Jerry Blumenthal
,
Gordon Quinn
,
David Simpson
,
Leslie Simmer
,
film criticism
,
Errol Morris
,
Jean Renoir
,
Orson Welles
,
humor
,
Flame-O Coby
Blogs
,
Bleader
Nov 15, 2013
A conversation with Brazilian film critic Franthiesco Ballerini (part two)
The conclusion of a far-ranging conversation with a film critic and historian based in Sao Paulo
By Ben Sachs
Tags:
Foreign
,
Food Chain
,
Media
,
Film
,
Franthiesco Ballerini
,
film criticism
,
press freedoms
,
Hollywood
,
V for Vendetta
,
Stanley Kubrick
,
Sao Paulo
Blogs
,
Bleader
Jun 5, 2013
Further thoughts about
Frances Ha
and its supermodels
Noah Baumbach's entertaining new comedy pays tribute to 60s French New Wave films, but to what end?
By Ben Sachs
Tags:
Things I Love
,
Film
,
Frances Ha
,
Noah Baumbach
,
Greta Gerwig
,
Before Midnight
,
Richard Linklater
,
Voyage to Italy
,
French New Wave
,
Nouvelle Vague
,
Jean-Luc Godard
,
Francois Truffaut
,
Raoul Coutard
,
Jacques Demy
,
Claude Chabrol
,
Eric Rohmer
,
My Night at Maud's
,
Chloe in the Afternoon
,
Breathless
,
Jules and Jim
,
The Soft Skin
,
Vivre Sa Vie
,
Masculine-Feminine
,
Band of Outsiders
,
Blancanieves
,
The Artist
,
pastiche
,
tribute
,
reference
,
Greta Gerwig
,
film criticism
Blogs
,
Bleader
May 17, 2013
An interview with Dan Sallitt, director of
The Unspeakable Act
Talking with the filmmaker and former
Reader
contributor about his work
By Ben Sachs
Tags:
Behind Our Scenes
,
Opening
,
Film
,
Dan Sallitt
,
The Unspeakable Act
,
Gene Siskel Film Center
,
Andre de Toth
,
PItfall
,
Day of the Outlaw
,
Dark Waters
,
The Indian Fighter
,
Eric Rohmer
,
Nestor Almendros
,
independent filmmaking
,
Brooklyn
,
Medwood Park
,
L.A. Reader
,
Chicago Reader
,
film criticism
,
Yasujiro Ozu
,
incest
,
Tallie Medel
,
Wilkes-Barre
,
Dave Kehr
,
Don Druker
,
Myron Meisel
,
Hal Hartley
,
Whit Stillman
,
Doc Films
Blogs
,
Bleader
Apr 5, 2013
Thumbs upward: Roger Ebert, 1942-2013
On the late movie critic and literary adventurer
By J.R. Jones
Tags:
RIP
,
Film
,
Roger Ebert
,
Chicago Sun-Times
,
film criticism
,
movies
Blogs
,
Bleader
Apr 5, 2013
How Roger Ebert encouraged me
A personal reminiscence about the late Chicago film critic
By Ben Sachs
Tags:
RIP
,
Film
,
Roger Ebert
,
RIP
,
Ben Sachs
,
film criticism
,
Chicago
Blogs
,
Bleader
Jun 1, 2012
Is there an alternative to being mentally ill?
A short consideration of living with bipolar disorder
By Ben Sachs
Tags:
No Alternative Week
,
Film
,
No Alternative Week
,
Variations on a Theme
,
mental illness
,
bipolar disorder
,
antidepressants
,
film criticism
,
psychiatry
Blogs
,
Bleader
May 29, 2012
Feeling ambivalent about
Polisse
. . . for now
Feeling ambivalent about the recent French drama
Polisse
. But how will I feel in three decades?
By Ben Sachs
Tags:
Film
,
Polisse
,
Maiwenn
,
Lars von Trier
,
Michael Mann
,
Thief
,
Collateral
,
Dave Kehr
,
film criticism
Blogs
,
Bleader
Mar 26, 2012
Reader
film criticism, in focus at last
The
Reader
debuts an alphabetical database of its huge long-review catalog
By J.R. Jones
Tags:
Film
,
Chicago Reader
,
Rotten Tomatoes
,
The Muppets
,
Cliff Doerksen
,
Alien vs. Predator
,
J.R. Jones
,
The Adjustment Bureau
,
The Agony and the Ecstasy of Phil Spector
,
D.W. Griffith
,
America D.W. Griffith
,
Jonathan Rosenbaum
,
Ali movie
,
Army of Shadows
,
The Aviator movie
,
Drew Hunt
,
Asher Klein
,
film criticism
,
movies
Blogs
,
Bleader
Nov 23, 2011
Tomato catch-up
Muppets fans rage against the
Reader
's ho-hum movie review.
By J.R. Jones
Tags:
Film
,
Rotten Tomatoes
,
Adam Sandler
,
Jack and Jill
,
The Artist movie
,
The Muppets movie
,
Hugo movie
,
Hugo Martin Scorsese
,
Kermit the Frog
,
The Tree of Life
,
movie critics
,
film criticism
,
movies
Blogs
,
Bleader
Dec 4, 2008
Death or new life for film criticism?
Is film criticism dying, as Roger Ebert claims, or being born again on the Web?
By Alison True
Tags:
Film
,
Film Criticism
,
Roger Ebert
,
Bill Wyman
,
Hitsville
Blogs
,
Bleader
Apr 30, 2008
Hello, I must be going
Rosenbaum redux.
By J.R. Jones
Tags:
Film
,
Chicago Reader
,
Film Criticism
,
Jonathan Rosenbaum
,
Gene Siskel Film Center
,
Alain Resnais
,
Music Box
,
Jacques Tati
,
Facets Cinematheque
,
Last Year at Marienbad
Blogs
,
Bleader
Mar 11, 2008
Rosenbaum on the radio
Jonathan Rosenbaum talks retirement with Nick Digilio of WGN Radio.
By J.R. Jones
Tags:
Film
,
Movies
,
Film Criticism
,
Jonathan Rosenbaum
,
Nick Digilio
,
WGN Radio
Blogs
,
Bleader
Jan 17, 2007
My favorite online film magazine
An introduction to Rouge, an international online film magazine
By Jonathan Rosenbaum
Tags:
Film
,
Film Criticism
,
Rouge
,
world cinema
,
film history
,
photographs
Blogs
,
Bleader
Dec 21, 2006
More on the Best Movies of 2006
Jonathan Rosenbaum, Molly Haskell, and Jose Carlos Avellar on the year's best movies
By Jonathan Rosenbaum
Tags:
Film
,
Pere Portabella
,
Film Criticism
,
Best Movies Of 2006
,
Bobby
,
A Prairie Home Companion
,
The Departed
,
Blood Diamond
,
Molly Haskell
,
Jose Carlos Avellar
Blogs
,
Bleader
Nov 29, 2006
Village Voice poll moves to IndieWire
Former Village Voice film editor Dennis Lim will continue the paper's annual critics' poll on the Web site IndieWire.
By J.R. Jones
Tags:
Film
,
Village Voice
,
Indiewire
,
Dennis Lim
,
The Reeler
,
Film Criticism
,
Best Films Of 2006
Arts & Culture
,
Book Review
Sep 7, 2006
So That's Why Frankenstein Is Green
A cultural theorist says our favorite monster stories are really about the destructive effects of capitalism.
By Phoebe Connelly
Tags:
Book Review
,
Veronica Mars
,
pop culture
,
Annalee Newitz
,
criticism
,
monsters
,
monster movies
,
capitalism
,
Douglas Rushkoff
,
viral media
,
books
,
film
,
film criticism
Browse by Issue
Other Searches
Events
Location Guide
Member Search
Movie Showtimes
Movie Reviews
Article Archives
Issue Archives
Slideshows
Comments
Videos
Images
Best of Chicago
About the
Chicago Reader
Reader
Staff
Reader
Careers
Freelancing Info
Contact Us
Advertising information
Distribution Locations Map
Reader
Subscriptions/Back Issues
Reprints
Podcasts
Chicago Reader Book Club
Upcoming
Reader
events
TixReader: Buy event tickets
Store
Support the
Reader
: Become a member
Make a donation
Terms of Use
Privacy Policy
Copyright © 2021 Chicago Reader
Powered by
Foundation