Kill Your Darlings

An Oscar winner, a major Oscar nominee, two more pieces of Oscar bait, and a few movies that never got anywhere near Oscar. Welcome to What to Watch. We don’t play favorites. Oh, wait, yes we do. You should definitely rent or buy the titles on this first page. The second page is more optional.

CHICAGO – The movies has been berry berry good to 1950s Beat Generation poet Allen Ginsburg. For the sixth time since 2009, his persona is actualized on celluloid – this time by Harry Potter himself, Daniel Radcliffe – in the coming-of-age part of the poet’s story, “Kill Your Darlings.”

CHICAGO – The 49th Annual Chicago International Film Festival starts tonight, October 10, 2013, with a tribute to Roger Ebert and the premiere of James Gray’s “The Immigrant,” starring Joaquin Phoenix and Marion Cotillard. Wasting no time, there are at least a dozen flicks this weekend that could grab your attention. It’s one of the strongest CIFF line-ups in memory, with a few nearly-certain Oscar candidates next to some films that are unlikely to play again in Chicago any time soon.

CHICAGO – The general consensus in Park City this year was that the overall quality of films presented to critics, industry, and paying audiences was near the highest it’s ever been. There seemed to be a lack of true stand-outs — I heard people say “There’s no Beasts of the Southern Wild” repeatedly — but the overall picture was a pretty one.

PARK CITY, Utah – Battling the thousands who have descended upon Park City, Utah for a small portion of their Wi-Fi bandwidth, I’m back with my second report from the frontlines of independent cinema.