A vivid, effective Monster While no one would ever mistake J.A. Bayona’s A Monster Calls as Christmas fare, love is at the core of the film. This is an at times difficult-to-watch movie that deals with a young boy trying to come to terms with his mother’s terminal cancer. Adapted from the novel by Patrick […]
Chuck Koplinski
Writing for Illinois Times since 1998, Chuck Koplinski is a member of the Critic's Choice Association, the Chicago Film Critics Association and a contributor to Rotten Tomatoes. He appears on WCIA-TV twice a week to review current releases and, no matter what anyone says, thinks Tom Cruise's version of The Mummy is a woefully underrated film.
Posted inArts & Culture
Affleck and Williams are devastating in Manchester
Positive buzz has been growing steadily for Kenneth Lonergan’s Manchester by the Sea since its debut at last spring’s Sundance Film Festival, as critics and major film groups have been falling all over themselves to praise the movie and those involved in it. So, Manchester came to me with the onus of great expectations, some […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Rousing Rogue One a worthy Star Wars entry
I have to admit, I was skeptical where Rogue One: A Star Wars Story was concerned. As a prequel to the original film released in 1977, now referred to as Chapter IV: A New Hope, this smacked of being nothing more than a pure cash grab. After all, viewers know going in how this is […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Ford’s Animals a haunting, tantilizing mystery
There’s a hypnotic quality to Tom Ford’s Nocturnal Animals, a sense of foreboding that grows heavier as we progress down the dark roads of its two narratives. This will end badly, you know it, and yet you can’t take your eyes off the screen. The director’s first film, A Single Man, had a similar quality […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Powerful “Moonlight” a Timely Tale of Lost Youth
Riding a wave of positive buzz provided by the many film festivals where it was greeted with numerous accolades, Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight arrives in theaters with the onus of not only having to live up to the hype but also breaking a losing streak where independent features are concerned. Thankfully, the movie delivers all we’ve […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Beatty out of step with Rules
I’m often asked if I have any favorite filmmakers or actors, and if I do, if I go easy on them in the reviews I write of their work. Personally, the opposite is true – if anything, I’m harder on them because my expectations for their work are higher. So, perhaps my hopes for Warren […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Inspiring, Gorgeous, Funny “Moana” One of Disney’s Best
When you have a formula that works, you don’t tinker with it. Kentucky Fried Chicken knows this, Mercedes-Benz knows this and Disney knows this. It would be hard to calculate just how many billions the corporation has earned on its princess movies and the ancillary products it sells because of them. The youngsters these films […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Tepid pace dooms Allied
Robert Zemeckis’ Allied is a film that is concerned about appearances, both in terms of its characters as well as the production itself. Artifice is what drives the film in terms of locale, its two gorgeous leads, and what binds its two protagonists together – although both of them begin as spies, you’re not quite […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Beasts a worthy addition to Potter canon
Since the Harry Potter film franchise came to an end, there’s been a gaping hole in Warner Brothers Studios’ ledger sheet. Bringing their stable of DC Comics superheroes to the screen was supposed to fill this void but they’ve continued to underperform in one way or another. However, shareholders will be delighted with the prequel […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Awkward “Seventeen” Ultimately Rights Itself
Like many an awkward teenager, Kelly Fremon Craig’s The Edge of Seventeen takes one step forward and two steps back during much of its development, stumbling here, righting itself there before coming to a satisfying, albeit, hard-won conclusion. Like many of its characters, the film has nothing but the best of intentions in telling its […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Dr. Strange a worthy addition to the Marvel canon
Having already earned their bona fides in rendering earthbound heroics and taken the first step towards intergalactic adventure, Marvel Studios now introduces another aspect of their shared universe by dipping its toe into the realm of the supernatural. Dr. Strange, the 14th movie in the company’s superhero franchise, follows much the same pattern as the […]
Posted inArts & Culture
True heroism at the heart of brutal Hacksaw
On May 1, 1945, the unthinkable occurred. Attempting to take a ridge on the island of Okinawa, the 1st Battalion of the United States Army suffered massive casualties due to heavy enemy fire. Refusing to let his fellow soldiers die on the battlefield, medic Desmond Doss returned again and again, under fire, to where they […]
