This Friday, Doc Films caps its Quentin Tarantino retrospective "Burn Down The Cinema" with the first look at Inglourious Basterds since it left theaters. How do you enjoy the mature work of Hollywood's former enfant terrible if you missed it the first time around? Your answer in four parts. more ›

Due to print availability issues, Doc Film's scheduled screening of The Go-Between on Sunday has been replaced with Secret Ceremony. more ›

The University of Chicago's Doc Films Winter calendar is stuffed to the brim with insanely good choices. more ›

It was through a modified Auricon camera that University of Chicago undergraduates Stan Karter, Jerry Temaner and Gordon Quinn looked at the world in a way that still seems new. more ›

We were all psyched to tell you about Doc Film's planned screening of Alfred Hitchcock's Under Capricorn tonight, which features several ten-minute-long takes replete with gymnastic camera moves and delirious Technicolor Ingrid Bergman. And a shrunken head. But we've just learned there's been a snag. more ›

We're going to get some snow tonight, but not enough to freak out about (Actually, you shouldn't be freaking out about tomorrow's snow, either.) Chowdah Fest Chicago, happening tonight at Columbia Yacht Club (here's Anthony's preview) has put up a block of discounted day-of-event admissions for $35. more ›

On January 12, 1971, All in the Family premiered on CBS. By its second season it was the highest-rated show on TV. Its legendary producer, Norman Lear, would have half-dozen of the most popular shows on the air by the end of the decade, including The Jeffersons, Sanford and Son, Good Times, and Maude. But Lear directed only one feature film: Cold Turkey. more ›

A few years ago I was lucky enough to meet Darnell Witt, who had just decided to launch a new resource for Chicago movie lovers. That site, CINE-FILE, has been churning out weekly previews of Chicagoland screenings and film events ever since. And among the contributors is yours truly. Well, some exciting news: from January 3 - March 7, Doc Films will be presenting CINE-FILE SELECTS, a weekly film and video series organized by CINE-FILE contributors. Prior to each screening, the contributor who programmed the evening will present a short introduction. more ›

Plenty of Hitchcock fans have never seen The Wrong Man. That is somewhat understandable, given the iconic status of its chronological neighbors in the filmography (The Man Who Knew too Much, Vertigo, North by Northwest and Psycho), but it is also a shame. With a brooding and expressive film noir visual style, memorable performances from Henry Fonda and Vera Miles, and a moving, true story which sets it apart from Hitchcock's other films, we would nominate it as the great director's most underrated work. more ›

Cynical patriotism? Such a thing does exist--and it made its way onscreen in 1944, courtesy of brilliant comedic filmmaker Preston Sturges. more ›

I'm stepping away from the Chicagoist "we" for a moment, because there's no way I can possibly be objective about True Stories. It's my favorite movie. more ›

CIFF is over but a rich cinematic harvest has only just begun. Feast your eyes: more ›

Her husband Jonathan is a partner in a successful law firm. They live with their two young daughters in a luxurious highrise just off the park. So why is Tina so lifeless and exhausted? Well, for starters, her husband (Richard Benjamin, exquisitely obnoxious) is an egocentric nag who only seems interested in climbing the next rung on the social ladder. And her children are goggle-eyed aliens who constantly whine, when they're not being openly hostile towards her. At a party, Tina happens to meet George, a celebrity writer with a streak of narcissism a mile wide. He propositions her. Eventually, she gives in. And that's when the story really takes off. more ›

Every Saturday night you'll find the second-floor auditorium of the Bank of America on West Irving Park Road in Portage Park packed with movie lovers. They come there to see a wide-ranging program of classics, rarities and good old-fashioned popcorn movies. The weekly screenings have now been going strong for over thirty years. A hardcore base of regulars keep coming back year after year despite the encroachment of cable TV, home video and the multiplex. more ›

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It wasn't so terribly long ago that in order to watch any sort of semi-obscure Japanese cinema you'd have to be prepared to invest in a region-free DVD player and sit through discs with dubious subtitles (when they were subtitled at all). Even a filmmaker like Kurosawa wasn't immune. Luckily for cinephiles the situation has really changed, and access to Asian cinema in general is better than ever. more ›

The double whammy of the Mondays and cabin fever can drive the most stout constitutions deep into their comforters. Here are some things to inspire you to layer up and head out. more ›

We're embarrassed to admit that when it comes to Korean culture, beyond bulgoki and kimchi we sort of draw a blank. (But oh how we love bulgoki!) So it's great to know that DOC Films at U of C is on the job: this week they're hosting the Korean Film Festival, a traveling tour of contemporary and classic cinema. 1958's A Flower in Hell is described by Jonathan Rosenbaum as "potent and grim," but... more ›

Who knew that U of C's DOC Films has been showing movies for 75 years? (Rhetorical question, as we're sure that many of you already knew that.) Well, they have. In fact they're the longest continuously running student film society in the U.S. As you can imagine, they've collected a lot of cool mementos in that time. Things like letters from Samuel Fuller and Jean Renoir, movie posters autographed by Hitchcock, and old programing calendars. And, yes, Fritz Lang's martini recipe (we're anxious to compare it Buñuel's). They're putting some of the neater stuff on display with a new exhibition which opens today and runs through August 31 at the school's Joseph Regenstein Library, 1110 E. 57th St. There's an opening reception this afternoon from 3:00 to 4:30 in the gallery. more ›

The death of storytelling has been predicted at least since the dawn of the Industrial Age. And in 1936, philosopher Walter Benjamin declared, "the art of storytelling is reaching its end." It's nonsense, of course; even if storytelling itself has taken on some "new" forms, it's still as prevalent as ever, perhaps even more so with the rise of the blogosphere and the millions of people unfurling their own personal narratives. more ›

It's easy to get the impression that all the great places to see a movie in Chicago are either in the Loop or north of the river and a few blocks away from the lake. Multiplex? River East 21. Retrospectives or film series? The Siskel. Arthouse? The Century or the Music Box, of course. It can be frustrating if you live closer to the edge of things in Chicago, but it doesn't have to be.... more ›

Way back in 2005 we told you about Crime Fiction, a movie made by students of the University of Chicago. When we last heard from them they were in the midst of post-production. Far from being the last step in the filmmaking process, post-production is merely the end of the beginning; for as any indie filmmaker will tell you, once you've "finished" your film the wheels of the industry can turn very very slowly when... more ›

Blogger Brad Flora left a comment on our recent post about Doc Films to let us know that the student-run film society’s costume contest was filled with homages to genre films and amusing puns. We’re known for taking the piss out of University of Chicago students, mainly because we are jealous of their brains and high-paying, post-graduate jobs. But we’re giving credit where credit is due for getups like a White Russian, Shaun of... more ›

The U of C students are back on campus this week, and luckily, no one has lit anything on fire yet. Perhaps because they're too busy bringing us another quarter of hard-to-find films and modern trifles through Doc Films. Like several film classes rolled into one, this semester explores the Women of Early Hollywood with films from former It Girl Clara Bow, America’s sweetheart Mary Pickford, Lillian Gish and Greta Garbo; the later works of... more ›

Folks, it’s going to be hot out there this weekend. If you’re out and about, drink water. Take breaks. Wear loose-fitting natural fabrics for God’s sake. You do not want to end up having to check yourself into the hospital, what with some people going out of their way to give “heat exhaustion” a bad name. Much of Chicagoist will be braving the elements out at Union Park this weekend, but the siren call of... 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 ›

Oh, Chicagoist readers: we’re mighty conflicted this morning. On the one hand, we want to tell you about these two amusing video clips posted on the Tribune’s site. Critic Robert Elder gives a brief tour of some famous Chicago movie locations while other Trib staffers re-create—with mixed results—scenes from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. We’re wondering where they managed to find a white fringed jacket for “Sloane.” (Confidential to Trib web geeks: It’d be nice if... more ›

This weekend’s mainstream cinema offerings are once again slim. Last week offered only the disappointing V For Vendetta while the lone film that sparks our interest this morning is Spike Lee’s Inside Man. more ›