"Crazy clown time," chirps David Lynch, with demented glee. "It was fun. It was real fun." The master filmmaker and artist definitely lives up to his first solo album's title. more ›

We talk with famed writer Barry Gifford about the "Sailor & Lula" novels, David Lynch, and much more. more ›

With the 28th edition of Reeling, Chicago's very own Lesbian & Gay International Film Festival already gaying up movie screens all over the city, Chicagoist thought we'd take a closer look at a few of the titles being screened for you queer cinephiles out there. First up: Pornography: A Thriller, a film directed by David Kittredge, playing Sunday, Nov. 8 at the Landmark Theater. more ›

Let’s face it—there’s precious little in the news cycle these days to encourage risk-taking. Planning on solo skydiving? Might want to examine your company’s recently reduced health care benefits. Want to gamble your tax refund on one crazy night in Vegas? Perhaps you should invest in your 401k instead. more ›

Winter is a damn good time to just sit around and drink coffee and watch movies. Stuff to watch: more ›

It's sad moment for fans of Twin Peaks and Stargate SG-1. We've just learned that character actor Don Davis passed away on June 29. The cause of death was a massive heart attack. Davis appeared in dozens of movies and TV shows over years (including The X-Files), but we'll remember him best as buttoned-down, extraterrestrial-hunting Major Briggs on Twin Peaks. He had one of the best lines of dialog in the whole series, delivered in his usual warm and burnished baritone, "To have his path made clear is the aspiration of every human being in our beclouded and tempestuous existence." The role of Major Briggs lead directly to being cast as a very similar character on Stargate SG-1. He played Maj. Gen. George Hammond in over 80 episodes (!) more ›

We had the good fortune recently to speak with Barry Gifford, one of our favorite contemporary authors. His newest book is Memories from a Sinking Ship, a "fictional memoir" about growing up in mid-fifties Chicago (and Key West and New Orleans). Roy is a youngster shuttled from place to place, alternating between his beautiful, vivacious mother and his estranged, gangster father. For a sizeable chunk of the book he lives at 6312 N. Rockwell, and the story is packed with fascinating details about a vanished Chicago: going to movies at the Nortown Theater on Western or hanging out at Lucky's El Paso pool hall. more ›

Valentine's Day is nothing but a pre-fab holiday designed to get consumers to spend money on crap for each other ... especially if you're single. Instead of battling the hordes for a good table at a restaurant this evening, why not just order out from Art of Pizza, rent a movie and enjoy a few hours of twisted romance with one of these: more ›

Have you always wanted to see Bon Jovi in concert but just haven’t been able to make the time in the past, oh, 20 years? Or have you already seen Bon Jovi and loved the experience so much that you want to be able to relive it over and over? Chances are you fall into one of those two camps, and as a result, consider this a PSA to you, lovely Chicagoist readers: THE BON JOVI CONCERT MOVIE COMES OUT NEXT WEEK! more ›

Luis Buñuel once wrote, "A film is like an involuntary imitation of a dream; as in dreams, images appear and disappear through dissolves and shadows, time and space become flexible, shrinking and expanding at will." A film is like a dream ... or a nightmare. Why do we, as viewers, sitting in the dark, voluntarily subject ourselves to disturbing images and sounds? Do the horrors of the real world help to explain the popularity... more ›

The Hideout is one of Chicago's more curious rock venues, presenting live music in a space that’s one part Elks Lodge, one part Uncle Dan’s rec room. But the strangely homey, lived-in space lends depth to Walkabout Theater’s “site-specific” production of Mark Guarino’s “Overnight Lows,” an insomniac tale set in a seemingly familiar but subtly off-kilter world. Extracting drama from everyday locales is Walkabout’s bread-and-butter; the company previously examined mundane daily rituals in a laundromat... more ›

No, that headline is not redundant. One of our favorite movie theaters, the Music Box opened in 1929. By the 70’s however it had added porn to its schedule in order to stay afloat. It actually closed in 1977 but was reopened in 1983 after renovations. It’s been showing the best in foreign, revival and indie film ever since. Love that organ. In 2003 the theater was sold to the building’s owner, William Schopf.... more ›

Some fairy godmother at the Siskel must be granting wishes lately. Not only did they bring Helvetica to town and decide to mount an Antonioni series (including the radically awesome, hard-to-see Zabriskie Point) but now we've learned that next week they're launching "Lost Highways & Wild Hearts: The Films of David Lynch." Wild at heart and weird on top; or, as Gordon Cole might exclaim, "This is like some sort of miracle. A ...a phenomenon."... more ›

We can be scatterbrained sometimes. There's just so much cool stuff going on all the time that it's easy to forget a few things now and then. And that's exactly what happened yesterday when we neglected to give a shout out to Mr. Roger Ebert, who celebrated his birthday. There's a soft spot in our collective heart for Mr. Ebert. Long ago we forgave him for his once-scathing reviews of David Lynch films; for one,... more ›

This is a really simple, informational post. There is a website called SwapSimple.com, where you can trade books, DVDs and video games with people. You open up a free account, you list your stuff, and you trade for other people's stuff. We checked it out, and you have to pay for the shipping and handling (via USPS), but other than that, you can change out your collection nearly for free. more ›

Filmmaker David Lynch was on hand Saturday evening at the Music Box for two sold-out screenings of his new movie INLAND EMPIRE. Die-hard cinephiles began lining up outside the theater in sub-zero temps two hours before the show just to get the best seats. Inside, the setting couldn't have been more appropriate. The red curtains in front of the screen and a pipe organ "improvisation" before the film were elements straight out of his oeuvre.... more ›

Oscar fever has got us doing cartwheels all over the Chicagoist offices, as well as placing more than a few friendly wagers over who will be taking home those expensive doorstops come February 25th. But that’s not the only thing going down in the film world at the moment. A little gathering in Park City, Utah called the Sundance Film Festival has been underway since last week. And lest you shrug your shoulders indifferently just... more ›

Texas is thawing, the Northeast is freezing, and a sort of natural order seems almost restored to the Ist-A-Verse. Almost. Londonist HQ—that is to say, the city of London—was battered by heavy winds, making it a bad time to be a twelve-meter (nearly forty-foot) tall snowman. Still, not everyone decided to keep warmly covered. Meanwhile, back indoors, the Big Brother racism is now causing all kinds of headaches for international diplomats, and Londonist got into... more ›

David Lynch is scheduled to be in Chicago at the Music Box on January 27 accompanying his new film INLAND EMPIRE. Advance tickets went on sale this morning. Our advice: get them now. In other cities, tickets have sold out quickly. Lynch should be bringing along samples of his new David Lynch Signature Roast Coffee as well as some promotional coffee mug coasters. He will not, however, be bringing his cow.... more ›

Maybe it's the old-timey atmosphere, the popcorn that's always fresh or the fact that it's locally-owned: the Music Box is just an awesome place to see a movie among friends. And if you and your friends are die-hard LOTR fans or Buffyheads, then the Music Box is definitely the place to be. If you don't know what LOTR stands for or what a Buffyhead is, you can probably just skip the rest of this post.... more ›

This weekend we had the chance to check out a new film from Thailand that’s screening as part of the Chicago International Film Festival, Syndromes and a Century directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul. It’s been garnering an awful lot of attention (Mr. Weerasethakul’s film Tropical Malady won the Jury Prize at Cannes in 2004), and luckily we find ourselves in agreement that this is indeed a special film. more ›

There’s been a lot of ink spilled about Chicago’s cornucopia of music events this summer, but yesterday’s RedEye also clued us in to several film festivals that are happening in the next three months, including ones we’ve covered like the Silent Film Festival and the Chicago Outdoor Film Festival as well as upcoming events we haven’t like Reeling’s Gay Games fest, the Onion City Experimental Film Festival and the Chicago Underground Film Festival. Here are... more ›

There’s a reason you’ve spotted more adorably clueless, map-toting hordes than usual lately: tourist numbers for the city were up for 2004 and the Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau expects more of an increase this year. So look not upon our fair visitors as obstacles but as big, fat walking sales tax revenues. more ›

“If you’re sad and like beer, I’m your lady.” It’s easy to fall madly in love with a woman who speaks such poetry. And when those words fall from the lips of Isabella Rossellini, Chicagoist just melts. Of course, no woman is that simple and neither is The Saddest Music in the World, which is part of a series of free screenings over the next week at the University of Chicago by Nuveen Visiting Filmmaker... more ›