For those of you kvetching about Netflix's subscription increases, now is a great time to consider Chicago's own video-by-mail option. more ›

Fact is we watched plenty of great movies this year, and as we've said before, we could care less if they actually "came out" this year. Movie viewing for the average person does not neatly match up with an arbitrary calendar. And so it is for us too. When seen for the first time, a great movie is delightfully fresh whether it was made yesterday or 50 years ago. more ›

There are those Chicagoistos among us who didn't want me to me write this post. They didn't want me to let the cat out of the bag, instead wanting to grab all the best deals for themselves. "Isn't our 2010 Gift Guide good enough?" they carped. But, in the spirit of the season, I'm ignoring those objections. more ›

The early years of Burr Tillstrom's puppet show was produced from 1947-1957 right here in Chicago, first at WBKB and later at WNBQ (the predecessor to WMAQ), and had more adults watching the program than children. more ›

The Newberry Library has countless fascinating objects within their collections, but one of the coolest is an Oscar. Yes, an actual Academy Award, given to Ben Hecht for Best Original Story for Underworld (1927) at the first Academy Awards. It ended up at the Newberry with the rest of the Ben Hecht Papers, bequeathed to the library by his widow Rose. The collection was in a state of disarray at the time it was acquired; in fact there's a memorable photo that shows Hecht's Oscar being used as a doorstop! more ›

Wesley Willis is fading into the mists of history, and most younger music fans probably have no idea who the guy even was, but anyone that lived in Chicago in the mid-'90s probably had their forehead pressed to his as he said "Rah!" Willis created art both musical and visual, andd could be found all over the place peddling his creations to anyone and everyone. more ›

Thousands of DVDs for you to choose from can be sent straight to your mailbox with a few clicks of your mouse. Netflix is awesome. It's also a soulless corporate empire. Like binging at McDonald's, it simultaneously appears to fill a need while leaves you wanting. Surely there has to be something better out there. more ›

Earlier this week we had a rather wistful experience. One of our all-time favorite Christmas movies is Remember the Night, written by Preston Sturges and starring Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck. We were anxious to see it again but unfortunately it's never been released on DVD. Luckily Specialty Video still rents out tapes, and amazingly they carry it. We happily brought the box to the counter and handed it to the clerk. He looked at it quizzically and said, "You know this is VHS, right?" more ›

This is the year to put your gift budget on a low-carb diet. And we're here to help. Shortly after Thanksgiving we'll have a whole gift guide for your perusal, but in the meanwhile we came across a sale that's too good not to share. more ›

Poet Thax Douglas has long been described as a polarizing figure in the local music scene, but after viewing the recent documentary on Douglas, Thax: The Movie, we've decided that viewpoint is skewed and incorrect. While there are a number of incredibly vocal critics who deride Douglas' presence at shows, the overriding majority of musicians and concert attendees appreciate his contributions to the community. Luminaries from Ted Leo, to Josh Caterer, to Jeff Tweedy sing the praises of Douglas' wordsmithing, and we even admit to gaining a new appreciation of his work now that we have a broader view of the poet's background. more ›

We finally saw the Heavy Metal in Baghdad documentary last night and walked away rather stunned. It follows the one and only metal band in Iraq, Acrassicauda, from just after Saddam's defeat through 2006 when they are seeking refugee status in Syria. (Currently the band is in Turkey.) more ›

Ah, the Coen Brothers. They've given us many memorable tales of kidnapping, murder, and betrayal. But none has grown in cult status quite like The Big Lebowski. Since it's theatrical release (10 years ago yesterday!), and despite its subsequently tepid box office gross, the film has become a huge hit on DVD and has even inspired it's own yearly get-together, known as Lebowski Fest. The Fest gives all the Dude enthusiasts a chance to come together for a screening of the movie, costume contests, White Russians, and, yes, lots and lots of bowling, giving everyone a chance to scream "OVER THE LINE!" more ›

A father of five was killed yesterday when he tried to stop his minivan from being carjacked. Eric Holmes, 36, grabbed onto the van's luggage rack and was killed when the car jacker ran into a concrete barrier. [Trib] more ›

We would like to take a moment to thank this week's advertisers on Chicagoist. more ›

more ›

We would like to take a moment to thank this week's advertisers on Chicagoist. more ›

Happy Valentine's Day, Barack! more ›

We would like to take a moment to thank this week's advertisers on Chicagoist. more ›

Fellini once famously said that there are two things that always look great on film: trains and snow. Just in case you're a bit tired of looking at all the snow outside, which by now is more like evil slush, here are some suggestions for your Netflix or greencine queue so you can get a good look at some snow on screen: more ›

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 ›

We would like to take a moment to thank this week's advertisers on Chicagoist. more ›

Ira Glass wasn’t so popular with Chicagoans in 2006, when he announced that he would be moving production of This American Life from Chicago to New York. Showtime had approached Glass and his production staff with a television deal, but the budget just couldn’t work without a New York transplant, so the deal was sealed. Glass has publicly addressed this issue, saying “I’ve always said that because I end up working, like, 70 or 80 hours over the course of a week, I could be on the space shuttle and it wouldn’t make a difference.” more ›

With the proliferation each year of "best of" lists, you'd think that the human mind divided up its cinematic experiences and memories in tidy, discreet yearly blocks of time. It ain't so. Great movies do not have "sell by" dates; instead, they're as fresh as whatever day you end up seeing them for the first time. It applies equally to brand-new films you've been anticipating for months and unearthed treasures you never expected to see at all. more ›

So many movies, so little time. How true. Unless you're a professional cinephile, there's no hope of seeing even a fraction of what looks interesting in any given year. We actually tallied up the numbers and between theatrical releases, film festival screenings, and DVDs we've seen 175 movies this year — barely any at all. And with the industry's practice of backloading releases, a veritable midyear drought suddenly giving way to an avalanche of multiple releases at year's end, it's harder than ever to keep up. more ›

Golly, when it comes to Christmas presents why the heck would any parent waste hundreds of dollars on a mound of crappy, potentially-toxic plastic toys for their kid? Most of 'em'll end up in next summer's garage sale anyway. There are so many cooler options out there: do some browsing at this weekend's Renegade Craft Fair and you'll be sure to find a few, or go all out and sign up your kid for... more ›

Need an original idea for a hot (read: nerdy) date or just an escape from the city this weekend that includes dinosaurs? The Walking with Dinosaurs exhibit won't be showing in Chicago, but it is open today through the 9th in Milwaukee at the Bradley Center. Tickets are a little pricey, $35-70, when you could just buy the DVD for less than $50 online and stay toasty at home, but really, how can you... more ›

Two stories have us thinking about the continuing evolution of the cinematic experience and the differences between going to see a movie and just watching one. First off, "boutique" theater chain Muvico has signed a letter of intent to occupy two floors of the Block 37 development. The proposed multiplex would have only seven screens, much smaller than the AMC RIver East 21 for example. But (to quote Seinfeld) they'd be draped in velvet, so... more ›

Kanye West's mother Donda West's autopsy is scheduled for Wednesday. The Chicago Board of Education is going to approve plans for a culinary arts high school for juniors about to drop out of school. Mark your calendars: On weekends between November 17 and December 23, Fannie May will be offering free ferry rides "between Chicago's commuter train stations and the Michigan Avenue shopping district." Moo Moo, a 2-year-old shih tzu was stolen from his Wicker... more ›

Skidoo sounds like something we made up at 3 AM while at some party: Groucho Marx (in his last movie) plays a gangster named God, Jackie Gleason trips on acid while in jail, Carol Channing plays the most sane character in the whole thing, there's a musical number known as the Garbage Can Ballet, and every credit to the movie is sung. It's an actual movie from 1968 and it was directed by Otto... more ›

Well, it's finally happened: the Writer's Guild of America declared a strike early this morning after midnight negotiations stalled. Naturally there's been plenty of finger-pointing, with writers claiming that the producers broke off talks while producers say that the writers were the ones who walked out. Regardless, the strike will have some very immediate effects, which the Trib has handily put in chart form. Daily shows will suffer the most at first, with programs like... more ›