Greta Gerwig as Brooke and Lola Kirke as Tracy in Mistress America. PHOTO COURTESY FOX SEARCHLIGHT PICTURES Eventually, we all come to realize that people aren’t always as they seem; it just takes some longer than others to learn this lesson. Take Tracy (Lola Kirke), for example. She’s just come to New York City to […]
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
Compton showcases NWA’s vibrant, angry voice
Jason Mitchell, Neil Brown Jr., Aldis Hodge, O’Shea Jackson Jr. and Corey Hawkins in Straight Outta Compton. PHOTO COURTESY UNIVERSAL PICTURES If F. Gary Gray’s Straight Outta Compton does anything right – and, for the record, it only errs in soft-peddling the private lives of its dynamic characters – it’s that it accurately depicts the […]
Posted inArts & Culture
“Sinister 2” Lacks Direction
Some sequels are a complete waste of time and Sinister 2 is surely one of those. If there is a logical way to continue a story or if a series of films have been planned and each segment moves an epic tale along, then follow-up movies can and have had merit. However, when a sequel […]
Posted inArts & Culture
“American Ultra” Half-Baked
Nima Nourizadeh’s American Ultra isn’t necessarily a bad movie as much as it’s a production made with a script that needed another rewrite. This is a “close, but no cigar” kind of a flick, one that contains some good ideas, features a solid cast and has an inventive director at the helm. There are times […]
Posted inArts & Culture
U.N.C.L.E. is an entertaining, stylish throwback
Alicia Vikander, Armie Hammer and Henry Cavill in The Man from U.N.C.L.E. I doubt that there was ever a great clamor for a big screen adaptation of the 1960’s Cold War television series The Man from U.N.C.L.E., and the fact that it’s been in development for over a decade shows just how bankrupt Hollywood is […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Four far from fantastic
Miles Teller as Reed Richards, Michael B. Jordan as Johnny Storm, Kate Mara as Sue Storm and Jamie Bell as Ben Grimm in Fantastic Four. PHOTO COURTESY 20TH CENTURY FOX If nothing else, director Josh Trank has succeeded in doing what I had thought was impossible – he’s made a boring superhero movie. For some […]
Posted inArts & Culture
“Ricki” Missing a Few Key Notes
Add playing an aging rock star and being able to deliver a mean guitar lick to Meryl Steep’s impressive resume as she’s required to do both in her latest, Ricki and the Flash, a fun movie as far as it goes, which unfortunately isn’t far enough. Sporting a script by Diablo Cody (Juno), the film […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Allen’s “Irrational Man” Familiar but Fine
One thing you have to say about Woody Allen is that he’s consistent in the themes that he deals with in his films. Existential angst, infidelity, the curse of the intellectual and guilt are covered once more in his latest, Irrational Man, a movie with echoes to the director’s Crimes and Misdemeanors, Match Point and […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Haunting Gift one of the year’s best
Jason Bateman in The Gift. Smart, uncompromising and timely, Joel Edgerton’s excellent new thriller The Gift is a sly little film that mirrors its main character in all the best ways. Unassuming and deceptive, the movie slowly sucks you in, leading the viewer down what seems a familiar path only to play against expectations, shunning […]
Posted inArts & Culture
“Paper Towns” – Paper Thin
While I may be running the risk of courting the wrath of young adult lit lovers everywhere, I am honor bound to be honest in all of my reviews. As such, I must say that I hated, I mean hated Jake Schreier’s Paper Towns. Filled with unrealistic characters, hoary plot points and ridiculous circumstances, this […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Stunts Anchor “Rogue Nation”
Paramount Pictures has been very aggressive in promoting Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, moving it forward from its original Christmas Day release date and having much of the advanced publicity focusing on a stunt that finds franchise star Tom Cruise hanging from the side of a plane as it takes off and reaches an altitude of […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Satisfying Mr. Holmes
Ian McKellen as Sherlock Holmes in Mr. Holmes. PHOTO COURTESY ROADSIDE ATTRACTIONS One would think that, what with Sherlock Holmes being the fictional character who’s appeared in more theatrical films than any other, the well would be dry where coming up with new ways to portray and explore him are concerned. And while Mitch Cullin […]
