Monthly Archives: October 2009

Thirty-three features, lots of docs, shorts and discussions will highlight Reeling: The 28th annual Chicago Lesbian and Gay International Film Festival, running from Thursday, November 5 through Sunday, November 15 at four Chicago locations. Go to reelingfilmfestival.org for details.

Major Thorn (Faye Dunaway), left, lectures Captain Murphy (Amy Acker) about discipline in the indie “21 and a Wake-Up.” “21 and a Wake-Up,” the first American-made Vietnam War movie shot where the conflict happened, could pass as an ambitious, rookie student film with its amateurish performances, cornball dialogue and possibly the worst editing job outside […]

I couldn’t believe my eyeballs, but there it was in the Daily Herald movie ads buried in fine print: “No commercial ads shown before feature.” What? The Catlow Theater in Barrington doesn’t show commercials before movies as other suburban movie houses do? This I had to check out. I got on the phone and asked […]

A mysterious fog leads to horror in “The Mist,” a tense thriller worth checking out this weekend. Right about now, you probably want to scream when someone suggests another scary movie you can rent, buy or watch for the impending Halloween weekend. We all know the standard horror classics don’t we? Let’s see: “The Exorcist,” […]

A grieving father (Willem Dafoe) takes his wife to a cabin in the woods with disastrous results in the controversial “Antichrist.” Most people probably know Willem Dafoe as the Green Goblin from the first blockbuster “Spider-Man” movie. But the two-time Oscar nominee is also a star of what will certainly be the most controversial, polarizing […]

The eighth annal “Flashback Weekend” starts Friday, October 23 and runs through Sunday, October 25 at the Wyndham O’Hare, 6810 N. Mannheim Road in Rosemont. Horror file celebrities scheduled to appear include Robert Englund (“Freddy Krueger”), Lance Henriksen (“Near Dark”, “Aliens”), Jenette Goldstein (“Near Dark”, “Aliens”), Tim Thomerson (“Near Dark”) and many more. The event […]

Actor Lance Henriksen, star of “Aliens,” is part of a “Near Dark” vampire reunion at this year’s Flashback Weekend. I know all about the sacrifices that Mike Kerz made to turn his dream of a horror convention into a reality. I met Mike when he was a manager at One Schaumburg Place Cinemas, and he […]

A cute robot with a punked ‘do saves a planet from corrupt politicians and android slavery in the animated “Astro Boy.” This movie had me at “What? I’ve got machine guns in my butt?” The slick, computer-animated action film “Astro Boy” will probably not please fans of Tezuka Osamu’s original 1952 Japanese “manga” comic book […]

Darren (Chris Massoglia), left, takes on his pal Steve (Josh Hutcherson) as puppet master Mr. Tiny (Michael Cerveris) watches in “Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant.” When you come out of Paul Weitz’s comic horror film “Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant,” you don’t feel like you’ve watched a real movie. It’s more like the […]

Already this year, I’ve seen two movies about whiny, inferiority-complexed women who seek personal validation by writing blogs about their put-upon lives. First came “Julie & Julia” featuring Amy Adams as a blogger out to cook up all of Julia Child’s French recipes. She was cute, despite being shallow and irritating. Now comes Katherine Dieckmann’s […]