Movies from the silent era may not have had synchronized soundtracks but they were never silent either. House musicians at each theater would always play alongside the movie, performing either a specially composed score or improvising one. That tradition continues with the Sound of Silent Film Festival. Unspooling at the Chopin Theatre April 1-3, it features a number of silent shorts all featuring newly composed scores by Chicago composers performed live. more ›

Today, New Line announced the cast for the upcoming film adaptation of The Time Traveler's Wife. Genetically gifted/cursed, Henry DeTamble, will be played by Eric Bana (Incredible Hulk, Troy) and his wife, Clare Abshire, will be Rachel McAdams (The Notebook, Wedding Crashers). The rights to the book were purchased by Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston's Plan B production company back in 2003. At the time the studio was in discussions with Gus Van Sant to... more ›

Congrats to our pal Claire Zulkey, who today had her 100th interview.. uh.. interviewee. The lucky #100 is JT Leroy, the co-producer of Gus Van Sant's "Elephant" and co-writer of the script for "The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things," an award-winner at Cannes. He has also written a novel called Sarah and is in a band called Thistle. more ›

pretty damn sleek and useful, especially when it comes to filmmaking. more ›

As we reported yesterday, the 5th annual Chicago Outdoor Film Festival begins tonight with Howard Hawks' great screwball comedy and Chicagoist favorite His Girl Friday. As any of the 30,000 attendees of the legendary Radiohead show at Hutchinson Field in 2001 will tell, the beautiful Chicago skyline is an ideal backdrop to any summertime cultural event. But if you don't want to deal with the mosquitoes, the people, or trying to discern the tipping protocol for free bike valet parking (?), head down to Facets to see a movie the old-fashioned way: inside. And, ironically, the movie to see there is about the great outdoors. more ›