Zach Gilford

CHICAGO – Ensemble films, with their multiple stories and characters, can be a challenging delicate balance. Emphasize one story over another and an audience starts to wonder why the neglected subplot is even in the film. “Answers to Nothing” generates this reaction with all their narrative threads, in a movie that lacks any kind of cohesion.

CHICAGO – Regardless of its exotic locales, “Off the Map” may benefit from a few more diversions. Everything about this fresh-faced ABC drama feels instantly familiar.

CHICAGO – The saga of “Friday Night Lights,” the fourth season of which is now available on DVD, is not unlike that of an underestimated football player who most people thought wouldn’t make the team despite his obvious talent but who proved everyone wrong by changing the rules of the game.

CHICAGO – Why has a seemingly ordinary tale of an oil patch town in Texas and their high school football obsession conquered books, film and television? Because the folks telling the story continue a tradition of beautiful, significant truth.