San Francisco

CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com audio film review for “Carol Doda Topless at the Condor,” a documentary about a different time and morality in America, written and directed by Mario McKenzie and Jonathan Parker. In select theaters on March 29th. See local listings.

CHICAGO – Locally, Jerry Pritikin was known as the Chicago Cubs “Bleacher Preacher.” But Jerry had a more important role in his life … as a photographer who captured 1970s gay liberation in San Francisco, including gay activist icon Harvey Milk. His new exhibit is “When Then Was … NOW!” For more info, click Jerry Pritikin.

CHICAGO – Filmmaker Kelley Kali just scored a major award at the recent South by Southwest (SXSW) Festival, Grand Jury Recognition for Multi-Hyphenate Storytelling, for a film that she co-wrote, co-directed and acted in the lead role. “I’m Fine (Thanks for Asking)” is a vivid portrait of another America that is happening now.

CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Scott Thompson on WBGR-FM (Monroe, Wisconsin) on November 5th, 2020, reviewing the new films “Let Him Go” (in theaters) and “Jungleland” (limited theaters and VOD).

CHICAGO – Everyone’s favorite city-flattening radioactive reptile, “Godzilla: King of the Monsters,” gets stuck in a mire of third-rate-TV-network domestic melodrama in this disappointing follow up to the thrilling 2014 reboot. But before I roar about the many ways this misbegotten miscreant messes up, let’s throw a few pebbles of praise.

BOSTON, MA – Meeting Lana Z. Caplan, as I did at the Chicago Underground Film Festival, is to meet a variety of perspective all in one dynamic artist. The veteran “lens based” media visionary has single-channel films, video, interactive installations and photography on her palette. Her latest exhibit – through September 29th, 2918 – is at Gallery NAGA in Boston, and it is entitled “Dunites.” The presentation will include photography, video, 35mm slides and a VR (Virtual Reality) installation, all inspired by the Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes south of San Francisco.

CHICAGO – The culture of food has never been more pervasive, from entire broadcast channels devoted to it, to new trends in eating being invented seemingly every day. Where did it all start? The new film ‘Jeremiah Tower: The Last Magnificent’ documents the chef that opened the door.

CHICAGO – Sometimes, a simple will of the heart is like a drop of water in the ocean, which ripples so profoundly that it affects the tides. That will is illustrated in the heartbeat of “Batkid Begins,” the story of Miles Scott, a little boy fighting an illness, who wished to be The Batman.

CHICAGO – What’s up with Tim Burton? His style is hardly present in the straightforward story of artists Margaret and Walter Keane, locked in a battle of creation over “Big Eyes” child paintings. There is nothing revelatory or even interesting in the process of their struggle of who-painted-what, maybe perhaps Burton – a collector of the art – wants to increase their value?

CHICAGO – Right on the heels of the Trayvon Martin verdict is a new film about a similar divisive and race-controversial event, “Fruitvale Station.” Actor Michael B. Jordan portrays Oscar Grant, a 22 year old African American who was shot in the back during an arrest procedure in Oakland, California.