Recent Film Reviews
- KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON
- THE BERLIN ART SOCIETY (on Cine-File)
- THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST (on Cine-File)
- A TALE OF AUTUMN (on Cine-File)
- THE DEAD (on Cine-File)
- MARTIN EDEN (on Cine-File)
- 2020: The 16 Best Films I Saw for the First Time; The 27 Books I Read, graded; and the 12 Best Albums I Heard for the First Time
- 56th Chicago International Film Festival (on Cine-File): MEMORY HOUSE, PREPARATIONS TO BE TOGETHER FOR AN UNKNOWN PERIOD OF TIME, THERE IS NO EVIL, and NOTTURNO
- BARAKA (on Cine-File)
- ROY'S WORLD: BARRY GIFFORD'S CHICAGO (on Cine-File)
- CREEM: AMERICA’S ONLY ROCK ’N’ ROLL MAGAZINE (on Cine-File)
- THE YOUNG ONE (on Cine-File)
- A HARD DAY'S NIGHT (on Cine-File)
- KWAIDAN (on Cine-File)
- OKJA (on Cine-File)
- UP FROM THE STREETS—NEW ORLEANS: THE CITY OF MUSIC (on Cine-File)
- ONCE WERE BROTHERS: ROBBIE ROBERTSON AND THE BAND (on Cine-File)
- THE UPRISING (on Cine-File)
- THE ONLY SON (on Cine-File)
- TOO LATE FOR TEARS (on Cine-File)
- KOKO-DI KOKO-DA, at 23rd Annual Chicago European Union Film Festival (on Cine-File)
- THE PEARL BUTTON (on Cine-File)
- TEHRAN: CITY OF LOVE (on Cine-File)
- HONEYLAND (on Cine-File)
- 63 Up
- Top 10 2019
- FANTASTIC FUNGI: THE MAGIC BENEATH US (on Cine-File)
- THE IRISHMAN
- More 55th CIFF (BABYTEETH and A GIRL MISSING)
- 55th Chicago International Film Festival (on Cine-File): BY THE GRACE OF GOD and Shorts 7: Some Kind of Tomorrow—Black Perspectives
- MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL (on Cine-File)
- SAY AMEN, SOMEBODY (on Cine-File)
- MARIANNE & LEONARD: WORDS OF LOVE (on Cine-File)
- DEAD RINGER (on Cine-File)
- AMERICAN AS BEAN PIE (on Cine-File)
- KAILI BLUES (on Cine-File)
- SAINT FRANCES (on Cine-File)
- MEETING GORBACHEV (on Cine-File)
- THE WILD PEAR TREE (on Cine-File)
- KNOCK DOWN THE HOUSE at DOC10 2019 (on Cine-File)
- 22nd Annual Chicago European Union Film Festival, Week 4 (LIMESTONE COWBOY)
- 22nd Annual Chicago European Union Film Festival, Week 3 (COINCOIN AND THE EXTRA-HUMANS)
- 22nd Annual Chicago European Union Film Festival, Week 2 (SMUGGLING HENDRIX)
- TRANSIT
- 22nd Annual Chicago European Union Film Festival, Week 1 (THE SAINT BERNARD SYNDICATE and AMATEURS)
- SHEEPLE (on CINE-FILE)
- KISS THE BLOOD OFF MY HANDS (on CINE-FILE)
- THE IMAGE BOOK by Jean-Luc Godard
- THE OWL'S LEGACY: PROGRAM FOUR (on CINE-FILE)
- THE OWL'S LEGACY: PROGRAM THREE (on CINE-FILE)
- 2018 Film Top 10s
- HOMEWARD BOUND: THE INCREDIBLE JOURNEY (on CINE-FILE)
- RENDEZVOUS IN CHICAGO (on CINE-FILE)
- 54th Chicago International Film Festival (UNITED SKATES, NAPLES IN VEILS, CORE OF THE WORLD, ASH IS PUREST WHITE)
- CRIES AND WHISPERS (on CINE-FILE Chicago)
- SCENES FROM A MARRIAGE and MADELINE'S MADELINE (on CINE-FILE Chicago)
- THE DEVIL'S EYE (on CINE-FILE Chicago)
- SAWDUST AND TINSEL (on CINE-FILE Chicago)
- TO JOY and THE KING (on CINE-FILE Chicago)
- THE CAKEMAKER (on CINE-FILE Chicago)
- THE LITTLE GIRL WHO SOLD THE SUN (on CINE-FILE Chicago)
- WON'T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR? and LOVING VINCENT (on CINE-FILE Chicago)
- THAT SUMMER (on CINE-FILE Chicago)
- THE DEATH OF STALIN (on CINE-FILE Chicago)
- GHOST HUNTING at 17th Annual Chicago Palestine Film Festival (on CINE-FILE Chicago)
- THE DESERT BRIDE at 34th Chicago Latino Film Festival (on CINE-FILE Chicago)
- THE KING at DOC10 2018 (on CINE-FILE Chicago)
- 21st Chicago European Union Film Festival (March 9-April 5, 2018), Report No. 2 (RAINBOW: A PRIVATE AFFAIR, ISMAEL'S GHOSTS, MISS KIET'S CHILDREN, KINCSEM—BET ON REVENGE)
- 21st Chicago European Union Film Festival (March 9-April 5, 2018), Report No. 1 (JEANETTE: THE CHILDHOOD OF JOAN OF ARC, GUTLAND, CATCH THE WIND, INDIVISIBLE, BAREFOOT)
- STORM CHILDREN, BOOK ONE and IN THE INTENSE NOW (on CINE-FILE Chicago)
- TWO WEEKS IN ANOTHER TOWN (on CINE-FILE Chicago)
- THE GREAT BUDDHA + (on CINE-FILE Chicago)
- AZAR (on CINE-FILE Chicago)
- THE BREADWINNER (on CINE-FILE Chicago)
- Phantom Thread
- Top 10 2017
- FÉLICITÉ (on CINE-FILE Chicago)
- FLESH AND BLOOD (on CINE-FILE Chicago)
- MUDBOUND (on CINE-FILE Chicago)
- THE SQUARE (on CINE-FILE Chicago)
- FACES PLACES (on CINE-FILE Chicago)
- 53rd Chicago International Film Festival: Week 2 (Western/On the Beach at Night Alone/Golden Years/El Mar La Mar/Control/Shorts 8 – These Walls Talk: Architecture/Can’t Turn Back: Edith + Eddie and ‘63 Boycott/Shorts 3 – Living After Midnight: After Dark)
- Preview of the 53rd Chicago International Film Festival, October 12-26: (Spoor/They/A Moon of Nickel and Ice/The Other Side of Hope/Let The Sunshine In/12 Days/In the Intense Now/The Line/Rogers Park/Thelma)
- TIME TO DIE (on CINE-FILE Chicago)
- THE NILE HOTEL INCIDENT (on CINE-FILE Chicago)
- COLUMBUS (on CINE-FILE Chicago)
- FOOTNOTES (on CINE-FILE Chicago)
- KANSAS CITY CONFIDENTIAL (on CINE-FILE Chicago)
- DAVE MADE A MAZE (on CINE-FILE Chicago)
- THE TRIP TO SPAIN
- EARTH (on CINE-FILE Chicago)
- THE BEGUILED
- BEAT THE DEVIL, Redux
- BAND AID (on CINE-FILE Chicago)
- RAISING BERTIE
- THE PINK EGG and ANIMAL CONDENSED>ANIMAL EXPANDED #1 (on CINE-FILE Chicago)
- THE GREAT MUPPET CAPER (on CINE-FILE Chicago)
- TWIN PEAKS: FIRE WALK WITH ME (on CINE-FILE Chicago)
- URBAN HYMN (on CINE-FILE Chicago)
- SEVEN BEAUTIES (on CINE-FILE Chicago)
- THREE CROWNS OF THE SAILOR (on CINE-FILE Chicago)
- Queen of the Desert
- RAT FILM at DOC10 2017 Film Festival (on CINE-FILE Chicago)
- Notes on SONG TO SONG
- 20th Chicago European Union Film Festival (March 3-31, 2017), Report No. 4 (AUSTERLITZ and THE SON OF JOSEPH)
- 20th Chicago European Union Film Festival (March 3-31, 2017), Report No. 3 (STEFAN ZWEIG: FAREWELL TO EUROPE, THE ORNITHOLOGIST, and THE OLIVE TREE)
- 20th Chicago European Union Film Festival (March 3-31, 2017), Report No. 2 (SLACK BAY and THE UNKNOWN GIRL)
- 20th Chicago European Union Film Festival (March 3-31, 2017), Report No. 1 (THE DEATH OF LOUIS XIV, PERSONAL SHOPPER, and JUST DROP DEAD!)
- JEAN DE FLORETTE and MANON OF THE SPRING (on CINE-FILE Chicago)
- STARLESS DREAMS (on CINE-FILE Chicago)
- THE FOREST FOR THE TREES (on CINE-FILE Chicago)
- I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO (on CINE-FILE Chicago)
- LITTLE CAESAR (on CINE-FILE Chicago)
- Silence
- A Monster Calls
- WHITE CHRISTMAS and THY FATHER'S CHAIR (on CINE-FILE Chicago)
- My Favorites of 2016
- Love Actually (on CINE-FILE Chicago)
- La La Land
- Movement Material: Camera/Dance Works by Jeremy Moss & Pamela Vail and BEING 17 (on CINE-FILE Chicago)
- The Last Waltz (on CINE-FILE Chicago)
- Disorder (on CINE-FILE Chicago)
- Moonlight
- Preview of the second week of the Chicago International Film Festival, 10/21/16 to 10/27/16 (Two Trains Runnin', Thunder Road, Fire at Sea, The Handmaiden, Being 17, Moonlight)
- Preview of the first week of Chicago International Film Festival, 10/13/16 to 10/20/16 (Journey Through French Cinema, Finals, A Quiet Passion, ABACUS: Small Enough to Jail, Staying Vertical, The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki, Elle)
- Under the Shadow (on CINE-FILE Chicago)
- Denial
- The Seasons in Quincy: Four Portraits of John Berger (on CINE-FILE Chicago)
- Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise (on Keyframe on Fandor)
- Body and Soul (on CINE-FILE Chicago)
- Wiener-Dog
- Somnio
- Chicago Critics Film Festival week in review
- Chicago Critics Film Festival, 2016 (May 20-26)
- From This Day Forward
- The Family Fang
- Cash Only
- CIMMfest No. 8 (April 13-17, 2016)
- Nina Simone on Film: Two approaches
- Doc10 (April 1-3, 2016): A preview
- CEUFF roundup: Five more reviews
- 20 Films at the 19th Chicago European Union Film Festival (March 4-31, 2016)
- Top 10, 2015
- Christmas, Again (for the Chicago Reader)
- Cool Apocalypse
- Heart of a Dog
- Bridge of Spies
- The End of the Tour
- Phoenix
- Mad Max: Fury Road
- Ex Machina
- While We're Young
- Selma
- 10 Films I Enjoyed in 2014
- Wild
- Whiplash
- Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
- The Skeleton Twins
- Get On Up
- Boyhood
- Life Itself
- 22 Jump Street
- Obvious Child
- "Locke" and "Under the Skin"
- The Grand Budapest Hotel
- Oscar roundup: "The Wolf of Wall Street," "Her," "Nebraska," "American Hustle," "Dallas Buyers Club"
- Inside Llewyn Davis
Old Film Reviews
- Ten Movies I Liked, 2013
- The Harvest
- Blue Jasmine
- Twenty Feet From Stardom
- Despicable Me 2
- Much Ado About Nothing
- Before Midnight
- The Great Gatsby
- The Company You Keep
- Room 237
- 56 Up
- Zero Dark Thirty
- Amour
- Django Unchained
- Top 11 Films, 2012
- Skyfall
- "Argo" and "Rhino Season"
- The Master
- Beasts of the Southern Wild
- To Rome With Love
- Moonrise Kingdom
- The Cabin In The Woods
- The Kid With A Bike
- In Darkness
- Pina 3D
- "The Descendants" and "A Separation"
- Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
- Shame
- The Artist
- Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
- Top 10, 2011
- Hugo
- Melancholia
- Drive
- "The Help" and "Contagion"
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows--Part 2
- Tabloid
- The Trip
- Super 8
- Certified Copy
- Midnight in Paris
- Film Socialisme
- Bridesmaids
- Tree of Life
- Scream 4
- Poetry
- My Dog Tulip
- 127 Hours
- Howl
- Winter's Bone
- Alice In Wonderland
- Crazy Heart
- Top 10, 2009
- Silent Light
- "Sunshine Cleaning" and "Goodbye Solo"
- My take on the 5 best picture nominees, 2009
- Waltz With Bashir
- Top Ten, 2008
- Happy-Go-Lucky
- "Elegy" and "Ghost Town"
- "Vicky Cristina Barcelona", "Tell No One" and "Mamma Mia!"
- The Dark Knight
- "Forever" and "Wall*E"
- "Young@Heart", "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" and "Jellyfish"
- The Visitor
- Shine A Light
- The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
- Funny Games
- The Savages
- Persepolis
- Top Ten, 2007
- I'm Not There
- The Darjeeling Limited
- In the Valley of Elah
- The Brave One
- 2 Days in Paris
- "Once" and "Away From Her"
- Year of the Dog
- "The Lives of Others", "An Unreasonable Man" and "Grindhouse"
- Venus
- Pan's Labyrinth
- 49 Up
- The Queen
- "Marie Antoinette", "Infamous" and "The Departed"
- The Science of Sleep
- Half Nelson
- Little Miss Sunshine
- A Prairie Home Companion
- An Inconvenient Truth
- L'Enfant
- United 93
- Brick
- "Inside Man", "Thank You for Smoking", and "Tsotsi"
- Neil Young: Heart of Gold
- Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story
- Cache
- Imagine Me & You
- Brokeback Mountain
- Match Point
- The Ice Harvest
- Walk the Line
- Bee Season
- Good Night, and Good Luck
- Capote
- Separate Lies
- A History of Violence
- Thumbsucker
- Green Street Hooligans
- Caterina in the Big City
- 2046
- The Constant Gardener
- Grizzly Man
- Junebug
- Saraband
- Broken Flowers
- "Girl in 3D", "Drummer Wanted" and "Happy Ending"
- March of the Penguins
- "Up for Grabs" and "Bartholomew Whoops and the Bad, Bad Ball"
- Crash
- Me and You and Everyone We Know
- Howl's Moving Castle
- Layer Cake
- Kings and Queen
- Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
- Palindromes
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
- Enron: The Smartest Guys In The Room
- Kung Fu Hustle
- Winter Solstice
- Head-On
- Frank Miller's Sin City
- Millions
- Downfall
- Antares
- Dear Frankie
- Imaginary Heroes
- Born Into Brothels
- Vera Drake
- William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice
- Hotel Rwanda
- Notre Musique
- House of Flying Daggers
- The Aviator
- Million Dollar Baby'
- Closer
- Sideways
- Birth
- The Incredibles
- The Grudge
- I [Heart] Huckabees
- Andy Warhol Presents Trash
- Nelly
- Shaun of the Dead
- Hero
- Garden State
- Napoleon Dynamite
- Breaking the Silence: Truth and Lies in the War on Terror
- Collateral
- The Corporation
- I'll Sleep When I'm Dead
- Before Sunset
- Fahrenheit 9/11
- The Story of the Weeping Camel
- Control Room
- Super Size Me
- Coffee and Cigarettes
- The Saddest Music in the World
- Young Adam
- The Agronomist
- AKA
- Kill Bill Vol. 2
- Hellboy
- Dogville
- Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
- Au Hazard Balthazar
- The Reckoning
- The Passion of the Christ
- Osama
- My Architect: A Son’s Journey
- The Dreamers
- The Barbarian Invasions
- The Fog of War
- Cold Mountain
- Monster
- The Battle of Algiers
- The Triplets of Belleville
- In America
- Bad Santa
- 21 Grams
- Elephant
- The Human Stain
- The Revolution Will Not be Televised
- Kill Bill Vol. 1
- Mystic River
- Howard Zinn: You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train
- School of Rock
- Lost in Translation
- Matchstick Men
- The Magdelene Sisters
- American Splendor
- Dirty Pretty Things
Ones That Got Away
Did you ever envision the perfect Southern road trip, but weren't sure how to string together the mythic and the real? Then get your hands on a copy of the new hit book by Scott Pfeiffer and Karolyn Steele-Pfeiffer, The Grit, the Grumble, and the Grandeur: Chicago to New Orleans: A Guide to Travel, Food, and Culture. It'll give you the details you need to burn down Highway 61 from Chicago to New Orleans along the Mississippi. Start planning your journey through the Southern past today.
"Again the Beginner," the new album from Al Rose (with notes/comments by yours truly). Available at Bandcamp, Apple Music and Amazon.
If you like the cut of our jib over here at The Moving World, please consider kicking a little something our way.
Journal Archive
- Book review for Newcity: "The Road from Belhaven" by Margot Livesey
- Book review for Newcity: "The Upstairs Delicatessen: On Eating, Reading, Reading About Eating, and Eating While Reading" by Dwight Garner
- Book review for Newcity: “Blood in the Tracks: The Minnesota Musicians Behind Dylan’s Masterpiece”
- 2021: The Year in Goodbyes
- Bob Dylan at 80
- Sheltering and streaming in place with a few Great Movies
- THE LAST WALTZ and Thanksgiving in Troubled Times
- Elvis Costello's take on "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding" at 40
- LOVE ACTUALLY podcast starring Karolyn Steele-Pfeiffer, Michael G. Smith, and yours truly
- "Saraband" and Ingmar Bergman at 100
- Andre Bazin at 100
- Walking in Leonard Cohen's Footsteps in Montreal
- Mississippi Delta, 2017: Part 3 (Indianola to Memphis in the footsteps of B.B. King; bringing it all back to W.C. Handy's Home)
- Mississippi Delta, 2017: Part 2 (Leland to Nelson Street, Quito to Moorhead: From the "Hellhole of the Delta" to where the Southern cross the Dog
- Mississippi Delta, 2017: Part 1 (Tutwiler to Dockery Plantation to Leland: The "Discovery" and "Invention" of the blues)
- Interview with Steve James (on CINE-FILE Chicago)
- Snowden Live
- Andre Bazin on Catherine Hessling and Renoir's silent films
- Clarksdale Film Festival, 2016: A letter from the Mississippi Delta
- A book review: "Flickering Empire: How Chicago Invented the U.S. Film Industry"
- Notes on watching "Treme" and "When the Levees Broke" with my baby
- Jazz, Blues and Beyond: A Chicago Music Tour
- Roger Ebert's voice: companion, pointer to vistas on my own journey
- Jon Langford rocks the Art Institute
- A Sunday afternoon with Roy Lichtenstein and Karolyn
- Alexander Cockburn and a young American
- Getting heady with The Hold Steady
- Deliver Us From Nowhere
- A lunch break with NATO-protesting nurses and Tom Morello
- An afternoon at the Chicago International Movies & Music Festival
- An electric evening with Wild Flag
- Springsteen's SXSW speech and me
- "Devils Don't Forget"
- Robbie Fulks ♥s the Velvet Underground
- A hot night in cold Chicago with Victor & Penny
- Lou and Metallica and the glory of love
- Pfeiffer does Italy: A travel diary
- The mighty Mekons at Lincoln Hall
- Walked. Hunted. Danced. Sang. R.E.M.'s "Lifes Rich Pageant" at 25
- A 40-year-old virgin at "Rocky Horror"
- Movies About Movies class, Part III: The Director: "Cinema is King!"
- Happy b-day, Keith Moon
- My hometown and the wheel of time. WOUB publishes my Elvis Costello review.
- Georgia O'Keefe for free: Wednesday afternoon at the Art Institute
- Movies About Movies class, Part II: "Barton Fink" and "the life of the mind": The Writer in Hollywood, hellhound on his trail
- The communal "Stop Making Sense"
- "A Visit From The Goon Squad" by Jennifer Egan
- Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool: A Sunday afternoon in Lincoln Park
- "Enter the Void" and "Showgirls" double feature: the abyss and the puddle
- Glen Hansard at Millenium Park
- R.I.P. Peter Falk
- Movies About Movies class, Part I: "Mulholland Drive", the road into the dark heart of Hollywood
- "Watership Down" in Rogers Park
- R.I.P., Clarence
- Happy Bloomsday.
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