Gugu Mbatha-Raw

CHICAGO – The 2018 Chicago Critics Film Festival (CCFF), the only fest curated by film critics in the country, is entering its sixth edition with another outstanding line up. A collective of Chicago film critics attend the winter film festivals (Sundance, SXSW, etc.) and find the hidden gems that will make their mark in cinemas for 2018 and beyond. The festival takes place from Friday, May 4th – “Fast Color” is the opening night film – through Thursday, May 10th, at Chicago’s historic Music Box Theatre. Get all the information – including the opportunity to purchase a weeklong pass – by clicking here.

CHICAGO – Nothing says the holiday season like a film about lobbying and politics. If you read that sarcastically, you’d be wrong. “Miss Sloane” offers a female spin for an otherwise male-dominated political landscape. Most of you are trying to tune out politics after the elections, but this film builds off of that momentum by reminding us how we arrived to that point.

CHICAGO – The United States is still fighting the Civil War, which ended in 1865. The rebellious South has never completely given away its anger and sorrow for the changes the war has wrought on them. These larger themes are examined historically in the new film, “Free State of Jones.”

CHICAGO – “Concussion” suffers from what I call the “Moneyball” problem – it’s got an interesting subject matter, but it doesn’t seem to know what to do with it. It doesn’t have enough faith in its own material or its audience, so it stocks up on a lot of off-the-shelf melodrama in effort to avoid digging into what makes the story interesting in the first place. It’s also a movie that chickens out at the end and seems afraid to pick a fight.

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Lana Wachowski at the Chicago International Film Festival Red-Carpet Premiere of ‘Jupiter Ascending.’

CHICAGO – The City of Chicago has more than their share of Hollywood here, as represented by local filmmakers Lana and Andy Wachowski. The siblings have made sure that the Windy City is well represented in their latest science fiction film release, “Jupiter Ascending.” Chicago plays a prominent role in the film, which opened on February 6th, 2015.

CHICAGO – “Jupiter Ascending” is certainly one of the oddest and densest of sci-fi movies, this side of “Dune,” and has some of the most laughable acting and dialogue seen in a major film in awhile. But the worst offense is that the film is dull, and practically without emotion or human empathy.

CHICAGO – In the latest HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 50 pairs of advance-screening movie passes up for grabs to the highly anticipated new fantasy film “Jupiter Ascending” starring Mila Kunis and Channing Tatum from Andy Wachowski and Lana Wachowski (“The Matrix“ films)!

CHICAGO – Writer/Director Gina Prince-Bythewood, the creator of the cult favorite “Love & Basketball,” is back with another original story that she created, an intimate and romantic perspective on a singer on the path to nowhere, despite superstar-level fame. Gugu Mbatha-Raw stars as that singer in “Beyond the Lights.”

CHICAGO – The show business life is ripe for drama, and the new film “Beyond the Lights” explores the difficulties of the the superstar reaches of the music business, through a Beyoncé-type singer. Actress Gugu Mbatha-Raw plays Noni, and the film’s director is Gina Prince-Bythewood (“Love & Basketball”).

CHICAGO – In the latest HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 40 pairs of advance-screening movie passes up for grabs to the new drama “Beyond the Lights” starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw (“Belle”) from the writer and director of “Love & Basketball”!