Many remember the days of riots and ruination; 1968, the Democratic Convention in Chicago gave birth to the “Chicago 7”, “Weatherman” “Weather Underground”, “Revolutionary Youth Movement”; sad, delusional, debilitating time when young people worldwide violently protested America’s involvement in Vietnam; a war that altered America forever; creating the division between modern and post modern society; people of promise, jailed or …

Terrific acting informs this convoluted conundrum of flashbacks revolving around the theft of a Francisco Goya (1746-1828) painting (“Witches in the Air”); which is where the audience hovers between nonfiction and the twilight zone; Danny Boyle’s slick scenario, at best, is masterful manipulation but flounders when dealing with the consequences of the therapeutic process focusing on hypnosis (“trance”) and those …

Heroes. We know them. We read about them. They come in all shapes, sizes, hues, genders, ages. Ranging from the six-year-year-old who saves a classmate from a bully;  policemen preserving civility; firemen saving victims from conflagrations; a bystander chasing a perpetrator to redeem a stolen purse. There are a myriad of ways that “heroes” are made: some born, the majority …

I do not care for animation; even as a child I found it boring and enervating. If any film could convert me to the genre it is “From Up On Poppy Hill”; it is an enchanting tale set in 1963, Yokohama, Japan. “Umi” our seventeen-year-old heroine runs a boarding house with an exquisite view of the sea, aided by her …

A romantic title that spins a trilogy of stunning believability; structurally perfect, intrinsically flawed; grossly thought-provoking; fervently strong commencement, weakens as it progresses but not enough to maim the entertainment value. Ryan Gosling, staggeringly fine in his portrayal of “Luke” a circus performer, whose virtuoso on a motorcycle matches the wizardly of the tattoo masters who have referenced every artistic …

In 1975, Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel (1946-1999) changed the tone, temperament and style of film criticism forever; they paved the way and opened the doors and windows of conversation, debate, eliminating elitism, stimulating discourse, and in the process had the time of their lives. The “Siskel/Ebert” show and their iconic “thumbs up” or “thumbs down” resonates today as ultimately …

With the exception of director, Ana Piterbarg. Obscure, obtuse, buried in boredom: Viggo Mortensen characterizes twin brothers (“Agustin”/”Pedro”) plainly, diminished in the womb, they flounder in their professional and personal lives; empty vessels, blessed with substantial female companions. The film is set in Buenos Aires,  plus a depressed island in the Delta; Agustin cloaks himself in the guise of his …

It is a rarity when something or someone does not need a minimal amount of tweaking or tucking with the pillage of time; gusting technology slaughtering privacy, gluttonous craving for the “new”, voracious quest to conquer the vicissitudes of age, instead of celebrating them. “Cinema Paradiso” is an anomaly, because its perfection is as fine today, with the addition of …

A recent Chicago Shakespeare Theatre’s remarkable production of “Julius Caesar” imbues, without altering a word, a contemporary interpretation; hawkers selling “Caesar” T-shirts, hotdogs and huge signs encouraging voters to go to www.juliuscaesar.com to register; proving Shakespeare’s power to habitually defy the archaic, lending ubiquitous credence to his  massive appeal throughout the ages. Paolo and Vittorio Taviani, brothers whose efficacious, formidable …

Unless you have a warped curiosity to see the First Lady (Ashley Judd) die in a car crash;  White House walls, resemble a Jackson Pollock painting; the President and  Secretary of State, (Aaron Eckhart, Melissa Leo) tied and tortured; a solitary human drone (Gerard Butler) defeating a cabal of Korean (ambiguous as to which side they represented, if any) terrorists, …