I’ll have you know that this is the latest this website has ever posted a “10 Best” list in its six-plus year history. I want to say that 2016 exhausted me, but it didn’t. “Every Movie Has a Lesson” published a personal-best 114 film reviews in 2016. Even after a record year, there is part of me that sits here and knows there was room for more. The to-do list of recommended films and overdue titles is never empty.
Read MoreWhere using a composite character gets dicey is when they are made the lead because their fictional presence can outweigh the history and accuracy around them. Too much can be skewed to suit a character that doesn’t exist. That is exactly what occurs in “Patriots Day,” Peter Berg’s third consecutive collaboration with Mark Wahlberg. The makings for a stocked and stacked ensemble drama are dismantled by the misplaced hero worship that becomes little more than a vanity project.
Read MoreEvery winning streak has to end to some time. “Live by Night” will go down as the first “L” in the loss column for Ben Affleck as a film director. After climbing to the top of the mountain with the trio of “Gone Baby Gone,” “The Town,” and the Oscar parade of “Argo,” there was nowhere to go but down, but this newest film is a little more than down.
Read MoreThe 28 film critics and voting members, including yours truly, of the Chicago Independent Film Critics Circle completed their final ballots in 25 categories for their first annual CIFCC Awards. The CIFCC hosted an invitation-only awards reception at Transistor Chicago on January 8, 2017.
Read MoreBut all of those lofty intentions will not be automatically transcendent for everyone. Let me say it like this as delicately as I can. The level of your Christian faith, or lack thereof, will formulate your reaction, appreciation, or acceptance of “Silence.” It is an agonizing personal test for an audience, just the same as it is for the characters on screen. This will either be a soul-rattling testament or maddening torture.
Read MoreWith a family-friendly PG rating, “Hidden Figures” becomes an instant must-see film for both classrooms and living rooms. Boy or girl, man or woman, black or white, any audience member who has ever marveled at the Space Age of our national history will find much to love in Theodore Melfi’s follow-up to “St. Vincent” adapted from Margot Lee Shetterly’s nonfiction book.
Read MorePlenty of regular everyday people make New Year's Resolutions, but I think bigger entities, namely movie makers and movie moguls, need to make them too. Annually, including this sixth edition, this is my absolute favorite editorial to write every year. I have fun taking the movie industry to task for things they need to change. I'm sarcastic, but I'm not the guy to take it to the false internet courage level of some Twitter troll. This will be as forward as I get all year.
Read MoreIn the same taping as our back-and-forth boosting or spiking "Passengers," host Ian Simmons of Kicking the Seat brought a group of film critic peers to put a bow on 2016. Ian, David Fowlie of Keeping it Reel, Emmanuel Noisette of Eman's Movie Reviews, Harold Egbo, myself, and a pre-taped Pat McDonald of Hollywood Chicago came together to answer a few key pre-selected questions and compare our reflection on the year that was.
Read MoreCapping off their inaugural year, the members of newly-formed Chicago Independent Film Critics Circle, of which I am a director and co-founder, have announced their nominees for their first annual CIFCC Awards. Their voting membership of 28 members strong completed ballots over the holidays with the goal of three final nominees in 25 categories. They will commence a final round of voting ending on January 1, 2017 and host an invitation-only awards banquet at Transistor Chicago on January 8, 2017.
Read MoreMovies are an offspring of plays. What started on theater stages can now step into a wider world. Locations can remove the boundaries and improve an immersive story, but the human performances are still what matters most. Words have power regardless of setting. “Fences,” directed by Denzel Washington, is one of the finest and most seamless examples of the power of performance being translated from the stage to the screen.
Read MoreSay hello to Mr. and Mrs. Jake and Kimberly Narens! Kim is a former co-worker of mine from back in the day. She was the art teacher and I was a fourth grade teacher at the Lloyd Bond campus of Chicago International Charter Schools during its inaugural school year in 2009-2010. We have both moved on to other jobs since then and also become first-time parents. While I am still in Chicago, she and her husband now call the sultry heat of Chandler, Arizona home. I'm guessing they don't miss shoveling snow.
Read MoreIn a tonal shift from the trumpeted and showy norm of Oscar bait, “Lion” is yet another performance-driven dramatic film of 2016 entering this holiday season favoring prudence over theatrics. The feature film debut of award-winning commercial director Garth Davis, is a love letter instead of a power ballad that delivers genuine emotional heft all on its own, without the need to manufacture it for the sake of a movie.
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