'Cowboys' pits Craig and Ford's six-guns against ray-guns
Wait, cowboys and aliens? In the face of constant, competitive challenges the movie industry clings to a handful of truths, among...
Carell and Moore's rom-com has a 'Crazy, Stupid' setup
In the aggravatingly punctuated romantic comedy "Crazy, Stupid, Love." (can you even believe that period?) does anyone ever discuss...
'The Office's' good girl takes a mildly dark turn
In the low-key black comedy "A Little Help" Jenna Fischer plays a Long Island dental hygienist who likes her Budweisers a little too much,...
'Another Earth': Fates of two humans shape a moving sci-fi tale
"Another Earth" is quietly and movingly out of this world.
Distant past trumps recent past in adaptation
"Sarah's Key" is more powerful than you expect, maybe even more powerful than it should be. An emotional detective story based on an...
The new doc 'Life in a Day,' starring Chicago
A year ago, producer Ridley Scott and director Kevin Macdonald asked anyone with access to a video camera (or even a camera phone) to record...
Farewell to 2 character actors of distinction
For decades now, whenever one of my work colleagues put forth a dubious idea or exhibited irrational or violent behavior, I couldn't help...
First werewolves, now aliens in London
The low-budget British aliens-invade-the-'hood thriller "Attack the Block" reminded me of Rick's famous line in "Casablanca," his reply when...
Fischer faces her future with 'A Little Help'
There's an image Jenna Fischer has cultivated as the shy, winsome Pam on the long-running TV series "The Office." And even as she breaks...
Smurfs in 3-D? Not as scary as you might think
The good news about the big-screen 3-D version of "The Smurfs" is that it's not the insipid — and some say "socialist" —...
'Sex and the City' prequel in the works?
Though no contracts have been signed, buzz surrounding a possible "Sex and the City" prequel is running rampant on celebrity gossip and...
A super-heated superhero summer
Backward reels the bad guy, pummeled and stunned. Round goes the good guy's granite fist, finishing its gorgeous orbit after connecting with...
'Terri' a tale of a quirky teen less than the sum of its parts
In an unhurried, unnamed California town, a teenage boy in pajamas walks to school. He wears pajamas all day, every day. He lives with his...
Dempsey hopes to leave 'McDreamy' in rearview
Patrick Dempsey sounds like a man coming off a transforming experience. Recently, while driving to the first table read for the...
Comic book canon yields a quality lead character -- if not leading man -- in 'Captain America'
Everything good about "Captain America: The First Avenger," which certainly is the most stylish comics-derived entertainment of the year,...
A quartet of summer film festivals at the Music Box
A master of mind games, humiliation and passive aggression, a French business exec played by Kristin Scott Thomas in the film "Love Crimes"...
Woodstock horse lands role as Silver in Lone Ranger movie
A rare white horse bred in Illinois will leave home this week to star in a Hollywood picture.
'Friends' benefits from familiar premise, better cast
Since American media sexualizes almost everything except sex, Hollywood romantic comedies about two people making hey-hey without any big...
Documentaries are the real deal for moviegoers
People ask "What should I see at the movies?" and lately the most reliable answers to that question have come from the documentary genre....
Harry Potter and the end of childhood
Just when you thought there were no accomplishments left for Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, here's one:
Source story gets short shrift in 'Snow Flower'
The film version of "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan" proceeds as if willed into being by a particularly misguided "question for discussion,"...
'Harry Potter' has record weekend at box office
The eighth and final movie in the "Harry Potter" series raked in a record $168.6 million at the domestic box office in three days, easily...
Cannes, Day 9: More von Trier fallout; plus, Antonio Banderas is a doctor. Trust him.
CANNES – Wednesday at the Cannes Film Festival, "Melancholia" writer-director Lars von Trier muttered some wisecracks about Jews and...
Marilyn Monroe statue carries a spectacle across the decades
Just when you thought the objectification of 20th century America's preferred icon of brazen, infantilized female sexuality couldn't go...
'Harry Potter' closes out the franchise with qualities that brought it this far
It has taken Harry Potter eight full-length films to really have it out with Lord Voldemort, the reptilian prince of darkness with the...
New Pooh, same silly old bear
"Winnie the Pooh," Disney's latest film revival of A.A. Milne's "willy, nilly, silly old bear," is longer on charm than it is on laughs....
'70s scandal brought to spotlight in 'Tabloid'
Cupid drew a sharply aimed arrow when he spied a South Carolina-born beauty queen and future tabloid superstar named Joyce McKinney, the...
'Tribe Called Quest' reunion soared as it soured
Musical groups come together and they come apart, and even the ones that come apart occasionally get back together for gigs and another...
Documentary maker readies a feature, with fingers crossed
The subject of Errol Morris's new documentary, "Tabloid," considers the film a "celluloid catastrophe," as Joyce McKinney — a former...
Kitschy educational films got their start in Chicago
In an educational film from 1969 called "Case Study LSD," a pretty blonde is seen partaking in the hallucinogenic drug as groovy psychedelic...
'Holy Terror' is set to blast into conflict
Get set for 'extreme cartooning' as Frank Miller's new hero takes on the terrorists.
Empty lot incubates uncommon film fest
There are more than 175 movies-under-the-stars screenings scheduled for Chicago's parks this summer. Most will feature standard Hollywood...
Gamer ruling a win for violence
A kid who spends multitudes of hours a week with his head behind a rifle, playing first-person shooter games rated T (for teens) or M...
Kelsey Grammer, the Boss of Chicago
"We are not holding up a mirror to Chicago politics," Kelsey Grammer said last week on the set of "Boss," his new television series about...
Romance takes wing in 'Bride Flight'
It's been a while since one of those sweeping historical dramas wrapped around a tale of star-crossed lovers has come along. The new Dutch...
Best of the year to date: Movies
In a week or two we'll know if "Transformers: Dark of the Moon," opening Wednesday, can bring it!!! -- the promise of director Michael Bay's...
Shia LaBeouf is a rough-edged action hero
Shia LaBeouf learned how to play with others on action-movie sets, which may help explain why he's often ready for a fight. One scrape last...
Selena Gomez-led trio make the trip worth it in 'Monte Carlo'
So "Monte Carlo" turns out to be a lot easier to take than both "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" and "Larry Crowne." You never...
'Transformers' grosses $13.5 million on opening night
"Transformers: Dark of the Moon," the third movie in Paramount Pictures' blockbuster robot action series, collected $13.5 million from early...
Hanks for nothing, Larry Crowne
The best romantic comedies have a blithe, take-it-or-leave-it spirit. "Larry Crowne" has the opposite. It's the neediest movie of 2011,...