CHICAGO – Society, or at least certain elements of society, are always looking for scapegoats to hide the sins of themselves and authority. In the so-called “great America” of the 1950s, the scapegoat target was comic books … specifically through a sociological study called “The Seduction of the Innocent.” City Lit Theater Company, in part two of a trilogy on comic culture by Mark Pracht, presents “The Innocence of Seduction … now through October 8th, 2023. For details and tickets, click COMIC BOOK.
Joaquin Phoenix
Fear Factors! Audio Film Review of ‘Beau is Afraid’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on April 22, 2023 - 9:43am Rating: 4.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com audio film review for the new film from writer/director Ari Aster (“Hereditary,” “Midsummer”) … featuring Joaquin Phoenix … entitled “Beau is Afraid.” Currently in theaters, since April 21st.
Your Pal Uncle Joaquin! Audio Review of ‘C’mon C’mon’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on November 26, 2021 - 3:59pm Rating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com audio film review on “C’mon C’mon,” a departure for intense actor Joaquin Phoenix as a befuddled Uncle, directed by Mike Mills of the Oscar-winning “Beginners,” and in theaters beginning November 19th, 2021.
Stylish, Well Performed ‘You Were Never Really Here’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on April 15, 2018 - 8:38amRating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Actor Joaquin Phoenix almost solely specializes in portraying broken souls, but he also does it with such intensity that he adds necessary depth to those characters, to allow for their redemption. As a hit man for hire in the new film “You Were Never Really Here,” he again reaches beyond the darkness.
Deep Thoughts, Shallow Characters in ‘Irrational Man’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on July 24, 2015 - 4:32pm Rating: 3.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – At this point in his stellar career, what is fascinating about Woody Allen is basically what he thinks about. He is a successful, family-stable, millionaire filmmaker with mortality issues. In “Irrational Man,” he ponders the existential question of “what lights the spark of life?”
Beyond Being Trippy, ‘Inherent Vice’ is a Difficult Trip
Submitted by PatrickMcD on January 9, 2015 - 10:18am Rating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Interpreting the ambling and sonic prose of author Thomas Pynchon has eluded filmmakers until now. Director Paul Thomas Anderson takes a whack at “Inherent Vice,” and although much of the film has his usual eminent vision, as a whole it makes for difficult sledding.
Dark, Stunning Tale of American Dream in ‘The Immigrant’
Submitted by NickHC on May 24, 2014 - 1:27pmRating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Just in time for a national holiday is the release of two films about surviving as “the outsider” in a tumultuous American society. “X-Men: Days of Future Past” isn’t the only movie that opines about how the outsider will survive in America, but James Gray’s “The Immigrant” does too, a film that takes the story of a Polish woman traveling through the course of Ellis Island and deconstructs her tale as an American nightmare.
Spike Jonze’s ‘Her’ is Masterful Commentary on Connection
Submitted by BrianTT on December 19, 2013 - 2:09pm Rating: 5.0/5.0 |
How do we connect with other people? Why do we often push away those we need and stay with those we don’t? Why do we hold on to relationships long after they have stopped working? Is a physical relationship with no intellectual or emotional component somehow more valuable than one that can never be person-to-person but engages on a deeper level? And how do the ways we deal with love and loss impact the way we look at the rest of the world?
Meandering ‘The Master’ Serves Up Powerful After Effects
Submitted by PatrickMcD on September 20, 2012 - 5:20pmRating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – ‘The Master’ is the type of film that invites days of contemplation. It is a film about America, but only a certain type of American. It is a film about the need to belong, but in the end it separates all its characters away from each other. Lead actors Philip Seymour Hoffman and Joaquin Phoenix radicalize writer/director P.T. Anderson’s strange alchemy.
Stunning Ambition Drives P.T. Anderson’s ‘The Master’
Submitted by BrianTT on August 20, 2012 - 10:50amRating: 5.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Paul Thomas Anderson’s “The Master” screened publicly last week in Chicago for only the second time in the world. It was shown in glorious 70mm, the format in which the film was shot, but in which most people will never get the chance to see it. While much of the conversation surrounding the screening seemed to hinge around the technical specifications, the increasing dearth of actual film projectors in the city, or the aspects of the plot related to Scientology, those aren’t the elements of the film that have been rolling around my head for the last four days.
Joaquin Phoenix, Casey Affleck Annoy in Worthless ‘I’m Still Here’
Submitted by BrianTT on September 10, 2010 - 5:36pm Rating: 1.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Is “I’m Still Here,” the story of Joaquin Phoenix’s attempts to leave behind his acting career and try to make it as a hip-hop star, an elaborate piece of performance art or a documentary about an identity crisis of a man committing professional suicide? The problem is that the answer is irrelevant. Either way, “I’m Still Here” is grating, boring, and completely without value.
