Chicago Reader
Tomatometer-approved publication
Rating
Title/Year
Author
1
Beloved (1998)
2
Introduction (2021)
There's very little substance, with only a meager bit of exposition providing any kind of throughline, yet the film confounds in its modest ambitions.
Posted Jan 28, 2022
3
Clean (2022)
4
Below the Fold (2021)
Twists and turns abound, and while they're as expected as the rest of the beats in Below the Fold, they're also engaging enough to entertain.
Posted Jan 28, 2022
5
The Watermelon Woman (1997)
A lighthearted and for the most part lightweight pseudodocumentar.
Posted Jan 21, 2022
6
The Scary of Sixty-First (2021)
7
The diptych films of Nocturna are at the very least an inventive imagining of an end-of-life story, capturing both the beauty and the melancholy that make up our memories.
Posted Jan 21, 2022
8
Cicada (2021)
narrative that unfolds like a relationship, Cicada sheds its skin slowly, and then all at once, transforming into something loud and beautiful.
Posted Jan 21, 2022
9
Old Strangers (2022)
The best that can be said for this film is that hopefully some hardworking crew members got paid a decent day rate to make it.
Posted Jan 14, 2022
10
France (2021)
Dumont's signature inscrutability remains intriguing but perhaps more frivolous here; Seydoux's inspired performance helps to ground it.
Posted Jan 14, 2022
11
The 355 (2022)
12
Licorice Pizza (2021)
13
Each part of the film is consequential on its own, but when put together, the results feel almost like an afterthought.
Posted Jan 7, 2022
14
Encanto (2021)
To some degree, characters in these stories are empowered by overcoming trauma. But you could also see the trauma as creating or inspiring the empowerment.
Posted Dec 30, 2021
15
Don't Look Up (2021)
16
Sing 2 (2021)
Here's hoping this will be the rare franchise that continues to get better with each installment.
Posted Dec 22, 2021
17
The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021)
Tragedy of Macbeth more than earns its existence. See it not to feel better about the world but to understand its horrors, its art, and its absurdity.
Posted Dec 22, 2021
18
Nightmare Alley (2021)
Nightmare Alley is a mesmerizing film of characters haunted by memory and regret, from Stan's nightmares of his father to the longing for the past of the socialites he cons.
Posted Dec 22, 2021
19
The Matrix Resurrections (2021)
The Matrix Resurrections is a breath of fresh air in a time when reboots are a dime a dozen.
Posted Dec 22, 2021
20
The King's Man (2021)
For the most part, though, the film has such a sloppy but fun narrative that one imagines the expansive cast...
Posted Dec 22, 2021
21
National Champions (2021)
While not a perfect film, National Champions does express the discourse around an important issue in a compelling way.
Posted Dec 17, 2021
22
The Novice (2021)
Lauren Hadaway's The Novice is a powerful look at compulsion.
Posted Dec 17, 2021
23
Paolo Sorrentino has made more luscious films, but he's never made a more personal one.
Posted Dec 17, 2021
24
Red Rocket (2021)
What it dispenses in salaciousness fails to account for the lack of any meaningful undercurrent that might make the vulgarity interesting.
Posted Dec 17, 2021
25
Tom, Tom, the Piper's Son (1969)
Ken Jacobs's rarely screened 1969 landmark of the American avant-garde is both a study in the dreamlike possibilities of rephotography and a film about watching movies.
Posted Dec 16, 2021
26
3/4
West Side Story (2021)
Supporting characters like Chino (a layered Josh Andrés Rivera) receive more depth, adding more meat to the story.
Posted Dec 10, 2021
27
Nightmare Alley (1947)
28
Clerk (2021)
It proves time and again that Smith's career is one worth considering, celebrating, and continuing to follow.
Posted Dec 3, 2021
29
C'mon C'mon (2021)
The chemistry of Mills's cast is so compelling that it carries the film above the weight of its more navel-gazing moments.
Posted Dec 3, 2021
30
The Humans (2021)
31
The Power of the Dog (2021)
The Power of the Dog, Campion's newest film in 12 years, is among the year's best.
Posted Dec 3, 2021
32
Bruised (2021)
The end is fairly predictable. The way it gets there is decidedly not.
Posted Dec 3, 2021
33
tick, tick...Boom! (2021)
Juxtapositions of the same-titled play narrated by Garfield and the scenes playing out provide an exciting yet devastating backstory to Larson...
Posted Dec 3, 2021
34
Wolf (2021)
George MacKay's presence and physicality is perhaps one of the most compelling aspects of the film.
Posted Dec 3, 2021
35
Death of a Telemarketer (2021)
It feels like a phone call that could have been a text.
Posted Dec 3, 2021
36
House of Gucci (2021)
The rest, however, is left struggling to find its footing as it oscillates between soap opera and prestige drama.
Posted Dec 3, 2021
37
Benedetta (2021)
The film is a biting examination of Catholicism with a sly sense of humor.
Posted Dec 3, 2021
38
The Souvenir: Part II (2021)
Writer-director Joanna Hogg's artistic choices formulate something that isn't easily explained and is fathomable only in the viewing of it.
Posted Nov 23, 2021
39
By the time the hallucinatory mystery reaches a climax, it's far too late to establish any semblance of emotional resonance.
Posted Nov 23, 2021
40
King Richard (2021)
It's a welcome addition to the biopic genre, buoyed by a career-defining performance from Will Smith.
Posted Nov 23, 2021
41
42
Clifford the Big Red Dog (2021)
43
Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021)
44
A film so soothing to look at that you can almost forgive it for being essentially two hours and 30 minutes of watching grass grow...
Posted Nov 23, 2021
45
Attica (2021)
Traci A. Curry and Stanley Nelson's Attica utterly devastated me.
Posted Nov 23, 2021
46
Chameleon Street (1991)
47
Zeros and Ones (2021)
48
Belfast (2021)
49
The Harder They Fall (2021)
Leave your saddlebags at the door and mount up for one hell of a ride.
Posted Nov 12, 2021
50
Red Notice (2021)