Tom Hanks as Captain Chesley Sullenberger in Sully. I wasn’t sure what to expect from Clint Eastwood’s Sully, but it certainly wasn’t what ended up on the screen. Anticipating a by-the-numbers “you are there” recreation of the events of Jan. 15, 2009, in which Captain Chesley Sullenberger was forced to land his Airbus A320-214 on […]
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.
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Been There, Done That with “Morgan”
The antecedents to Luke Scott’s “Morgan” are many – Frankenstein, A.I., Lucy, Ex Machina – so much so that we should simply regard this movie as yet another variation on the artificial life vs. human beings theme. Truth be told, there’s little new at play here and this latest entry suffers from being released in such close proximity […]
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Conviction Propels “Oceans”
Where The Light Between Oceans is concerned, you have to give director Derek Cianfrance and his cast credit – they’re fully committed to making the audience weep and will go to any length to make this happen. Unabashedly romantic, this adaptation of the novel by M.L. Stedman ticks off every element on the list of […]
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Beautiful “Kubo” Speaks to All Ages
Poignantly told and beautifully rendered, Travis Knight’s Kubo and the Two Strings may be the most striking film in a landmark year for movie animation. Containing elements from Japanese folklore, the screenplay by Marc Haimes and Chris Butler is modeled after the classic hero’s journey as it chronicles a damaged boy’s efforts to reclaim a […]
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Well-Written “Southside” a Compelling Love Story
Surprisingly engaging, Richard Tanne’s Southside with You recounts the fateful first date between Barack Obama and his future wife Michelle Robinson, which occurred on one very long afternoon and evening in 1989. On the surface, this would seem a project with limited appeal, and surely a very narrow audience. However, one of the film’s surprises […]
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High Water targets corporate greed
Chris Pine as Toby and Ben Foster as Tanner in Hell or High Water. PHOTO COURTESY CBS FILMS On the surface, the appeal of David Mackenzie’s Hell or High Water appears to be that it’s a revisionist western – far too few of these are being made – and features a performance from Jeff Bridges, […]
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Muddled Execution Hobbles “Hur”
It’s a testament to the novel by Lew Wallace that the power of Ben-Hur cannot be completely obscured by shoddy filmmaking. That was my take away after sitting through the sixth screen version of the biblical epic, an adaptation that shifts the focus of the story and delivers its message with the subtlety of a […]
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Alvarez and Lang Respond to the Challenges of “Don’t Breathe”
Having helmed a remake of Sam Raimi’s The Evil Dead which was greeted with either great derision or unbridled admiration, director Fede Alvarez decided he would take his time before embarking on his next movie. Not consciously seeking inspiration, it came to him when he and his friend screenwriter Rodo Sayagues were spit-balling ideas while […]
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Don’t Breathe is a thrilling, fun house ride
Having employed a ferociously violent aesthetic in rebooting Sam Raimi’s The Evil Dead (2013), director Fede Alvarez takes a decidedly different approach with Don’t Breathe, an intriguing siege thriller that capitalizes on effective moments of suspense rather than the usual horror tropes to get audiences creeping towards the edge of their seats. Running a taut […]
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Just Enough Magic Keeps “Dragon” Afloat
I went into David Lowery’s Pete’s Dragon skeptical about what it had to offer; little did I know that this frame of mind would be in keeping with that of many in the movie itself. This re-do of the 1977 Disney feature has very little in common with the original in terms of tone and […]
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Plenty to chew on in Sausage Party
A scene from Sausage Party. PHOTO COURTESY COLUMBIA PICTURES Not only does Seth Rogen’s Sausage Party have the greatest title in the history of cinema, it also features talking hot dogs, graphic scenes of various food items having sex, scads of racial stereotypes and a timely message about the state of international relations. Who’d a […]
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Jenkins hits all the right notes
Meryl Streep as the title role in Florence Foster Jenkins. Where a film like Florence Foster Jenkins is concerned, finding the right tone is key to its success. Director Stephen Frears knows a thing or two about creating the proper mood and intent of a piece (Philomena, High Fidelity), and his skill is key to […]
