CHICAGO – TV fans know Monica Raymund as paramedic Gabby Dawson on the long-running “Chicago Fire.” But the talented actor is expanding her range, debuting her first film as director, “Tanya,” at the Midwest Independent Film Festival on Tuesday, August 1st, 2017. The short film – written by Sam Forman – will be part of “Female Filmmakers Night” at the Midwest Indie, and is part of Raymund’s involvement with Hidden Tears Project, an organization dedicated to raising consciousness by creating media on gender inequality, sexual abuse and human trafficking.
Kristen Stewart
Kristen Stewart is Hauntingly Captivating in ‘Personal Shopper’
Submitted by JonHC on March 23, 2017 - 2:20pm Rating: 3.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – I’ve had a deep fascination with ghost stories since I was a kid. There is something both interesting and terrifying knowing that there are often unseen forces we could be encountering in our everyday life. Olivier Assayas creates an unexplainable phantasm thriller in “Personal Shopper” that remains completely captivating throughout even if you don’t understand what you just experienced.
‘Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk’ Won Some of the Battles But Lost the War
Submitted by JonHC on November 18, 2016 - 12:42pm Rating: 2.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – War is an ugly part of our civilization, but it can be told beautifully. The complexities of battle are often dark and overwhelming, but inside of that there is also a light that reflects hope and love. “Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk” wants to show us both sides of the war, but despite the bright visuals it is still shrouded in problems.
Old Hollywood Glamour in Woody Allen’s ‘Café Society’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on July 23, 2016 - 8:33am Rating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – In the 1930s, the contrast between the world of Hollywood movie sparkle and the rest of a Depression-era America was as different as peasants and kings. Writer/director Woody Allen captures this dichotomy with an East Coast/West Coast tale of one family in “Café Society.”
Julianne Moore Delivers Shattering Portrayal in ‘Still Alice’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on January 16, 2015 - 12:59pm Rating: 4.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – In one of the best film acting performances from 2014, Julianne Moore devastatingly portrays a woman in her fifties who is a victim of early onset Alzheimer’s disease. As the effects of dementia physically deteriorates her life, it is a wonder if she is “Still Alice.”
Guantanamo Bay Drama ‘Camp X-Ray’ With Kristen Stewart
Submitted by NickHC on November 7, 2014 - 5:03pmRating: 2.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – The haunting setting of Guantanamo Bay is used for elementary emotional effect in “Camp X-Ray,” a prison drama electrified more by its performances than its hopes of a profound narrative about the interactions between gatekeeper and captive.
Visceral ‘On the Road’ Honors a Great American Novel
Submitted by PatrickMcD on March 23, 2013 - 7:01amRating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – The 1957 novel “On the Road” by Jack Kerouac, was a missile across the bow of American social conventions, and a precursor to the radical 1960s. For over fifty years, it has eluded a film adaptation, until director Walter Salles (“The Motorcycle Diaries”) found the way to capture it.
‘The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn -- Part 2’ Takes Final Bloodless Bite
Submitted by BrianTT on November 15, 2012 - 4:04pm Rating: 2.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Even the most hardcore, defiant fans of “The Twilight Saga” must admit that there clearly was not enough material in Stephenie Meyer’s final book to justify two films as “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2” plays more like a bloated final hour of a better movie than an actually satisfying experience on its own terms.
‘Snow White and the Huntsman’ Dwarfed By Comatose Kristen Stewart, Melodramatic Charlize Theron
Submitted by HollywoodChicago.com on June 1, 2012 - 1:01amRating: 2.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – If you can stomach forgiving the film’s uneven acting, inconsistent pacing and a higgledy-piggledy script that feels like it’s still in draft mode, just zero in on the only newsworthy question about “Snow White and the Huntsman”: Who are those “dwarves”?
‘The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn -- Part 1’ Hardly Even Bewitches Twi-Hards
Submitted by HollywoodChicago.com on November 18, 2011 - 6:43pmRating: 2.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – The bloated franchise’s worst film without question, the fourth “Twilight” popcorn flick is a futile exercise on the disappointment of anti-climactic waiting. Waiting for something more. Waiting for something bigger. For 117 minutes, you’re waiting – for something – but just not ever getting it. It doesn’t sparkle or shine. It flickers, and then disappointingly dies.
New Director Finds Teeth in ‘The Twilight Saga: Eclipse’
Submitted by BrianTT on June 30, 2010 - 2:21pmRating: 3.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Easily the best entry in the franchise, “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse,” finally allows those of us unfamiliar with the books by Stephenie Meyer to understand why the saga of the vampire, the wolf, and the sullen girl in the middle has become an international phenomenon.
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