That's the colorful description UIC professor/filmmaker Ben Russell gives this program of his work. It's a juicy and often assaultive performance combining documentary images with handmade electronics and manipulated film projections. His "Trypps" series consists of several short films (the longest is 12 minutes) exploring how the juxtaposition of relatively benign sounds and images can create charged, terrifying fusions. Trippy, indeed. For example, in Black and White Trypps Number Three, footage of a concert audience is layered with different soundtracks. The switches in music create the impression that the audience's mood has changed. more ›

Spring is here. So no more excuses! Movies a-plenty out there, so get off the sofa and go watch some. more ›

Whoa. Che has been held over at the Landmark Century for yet another week! Unfortunately it's no longer the whole salteña but only Part One. Still, half is better than none, and Part One has many powerful moments that should spur you on to catching up with Part Two (the full film is available through video-on-demand on Comcast). We highly recommend you see it in its entirety. more ›

Give the man some props: even after three installments of the Ocean's series of uberglossy heist capers, Steven Soderbergh isn't afraid to be audacious. In an interview with the Onion AV Club, Soderbergh declared, "The time to do the trickiest shit is when you're sitting pretty. When I've been on an upswing, I've tried as much as possible to start pulling out the stuff that's tricky." A 257-minute long movie about Che Guevara, almost entirely in Spanish, showing in two parts with an intermission, is tricky. more ›

• Steven Soderbergh's new film Che rolls into town tomorrow with an exclusive engagement at the Landmark Century. Starring Benicio Del Toro as the revolutionary leader, it was shot digitally by Soderbergh himself, under his usual pseudonym Peter Andrews. The "roadshow" version of the film, 263 minutes long plus an intermission, will screen twice daily (1:30pm and 7:15pm). Epic! So is the film "an immersion in the frontline existence of its subject's life" or "utterly lazy"? Check back here on Monday, when I'll be duking it out with fellow Chicagoist Samantha Abernethy in a point/counterpoint post.
• If epic Westerns are more your thing (or if you want a fresh look at someone Tarantino's been ripping off all these years) then you won't want to miss the Music Box's week-long Sergio Leone series. Once Upon A Time in the West, which has one of the all-time coolest opening sequences in movie history, will be shown in a restored 35mm print. Also featured is the Clint Eastwood "Man With No Name" Trilogy: A Fistful of Dollars; For a Few Dollars More; and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. These movies were all specifically designed for widescreen and sport chill-inducing Ennio Morricone soundtracks. Solid.
• Bank of America Cinema and its programmer Mike Phillips launched its new season earlier this month, an ambitious and playful series titled "Hollywood A-Z." The first title was The Awful Truth, which was followed by The Black Book. Get the idea? This Saturday's feature is the rarely-seen comedic drama Claudia from 1943, starring Dorothy McGuire. The epic series will conclude with the June 27th screening of Zoo in Budapest. Bank of America Cinema is at 4901 W. Irving Park Rd.; screenings are every Saturday at 8pm.

A movie we saw at last year's Chicago International Film Festival has a return engagement at the Midwest Independent Film Festival this Tuesday, and it's got our seal of approval. Home of the Giants was one of our surprise favorites last year, partially because going in we weren't expecting much from a high school crime thriller starring Haley Joel Osment. But we were impressed: more ›

This ain't the Dells. A pair of aquatic-themed films currently playing at the Landmark Century use water not only as a symbol but also as a character in their stories. more ›

Distinguished English author Christopher Isherwood, best known for his book Berlin Stories, basis of the musical Cabaret, met teenaged Don Bachardy on a Malibu beach in 1953. Despite a thirty-year age difference (Isherwood was already in his his late forties) the two fell in love and carried on a relationship for over thirty years, ending when Isherwood died of cancer in 1986. That they lived openly as a couple at a time when unmarried straight couples had a hard time of it makes this new documentary, which opens tomorrow at the Landmark Century, that much more vaulable. more ›

Having seen the controversial new movie Funny Games over the weekend at the Landmark Century, we feel compelled to chime in. In case you haven't heard about it, it's provocateur Michael Haneke's nearly shot-for-shot English-language remake of his own 1997 film, which was in German. Naomi Watts and and Tim Roth play a well-to-do married couple just arriving at their summer home for a vacation, with their young son and beautiful sailboat in tow. Soon however their lives are invaded by two extremely polite young psychopaths (Michael Pitt and Brady Corbett) who take them hostage, forcing them to play a series of pointless "games" as torture. more ›

--The Midwest Independent Film Festival starts a new season on Tuesday with the world premiere of Osso Bucco, which was produced in Chicago. The comedy revolves around disparate types stuck in an Italian restaurant during a massive snowstorm. Doesn't sound like such a terrible situation. The movie stars Illeana Douglas, who we've had a sort of crush on ever since Grace of My Heart. Several other cast members as well as the filmmakers will be at the show: 7:30 at the Landmark Century. 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 ›

It's part of our national schizophrenia as Americans. Every year we bemoan the exploitation of Christmas, and every year we spend more and more money that we really don't have to buy crap to give to each other "in the spirit of the season." There's a great movie to be made about the overcommercialization of Christmas; What Would Jesus Buy? is not exactly that movie, but it still offers a lot of food for... more ›

Let's face it: we're spoiled when it comes to movies. Not only do the best (and worst) theatrical releases play here, but we also have scads of film festivals to choose from year-round. No sooner are CIFF and the Korean Film Festival over than Reeling is upon us. Since 1981, Reeling, Chicago's gay and lesbian film festival, has been unspooling a vitally diverse cross-section of queer filmmaking. This year's schedule includes nearly 70 programs,... more ›

This is part of Chicagoist's continuing coverage of the Chicago International Film Festival. Today is too hot and too humid to hang around the house. Instead, head over to the Landmark Century to catch the final screening of an amazing film from Argentina called The Aerial. We were late catching this one yesterday, but boy, we're glad we did. Picture a film from the late silent era codirected by Terry Gilliam, Tim Burton and Georges... more ›

A few days ago we unwittingly created a monster when we expressed our frustration about having to wait to see the schedule for this year's Chicago International Film Festival, which runs October 4-17. Well, we finally have a copy of said schedule in our hot little hands. What follows is a very brief, cursory summary of what you can expect this year (the full schedule will be online within the next few days). Regardless of... more ›

- In case you've missed the previous screenings of local film Crime Fiction, produced by former U of C students, you've got another chance to see it this evening at this month's edition of the Midwest Independent Film Festival. That's at the Landmark Century. There'll be an afterparty just around the corner at Cousin's. - Starting this Wednesday night at 6, Jonathan Rosenbaum presents a weekly series of film screenings and lectures at the Siskel... more ›

A.O Scott’s review of the new Michael Moore movie begins with a very astute observation; namely, that whenever Moore’s name is brought up it is inevitably attached to adjectives such as “polarizing,” “controversial,” “provocative,” and “muck-raking.” And that it is the media itself which perpetuates the use of these adjectives. Would one describe Steven Spielberg as “polarizing?” Spielberg has two films in the top ten highest-grossing films of all time and no one describes him that way. Yet (among documentaries) Moore has two films in the top five. How “controversial” can a filmmaker be and yet sell so many tickets? We just think he’s a filmmaker possessing a keen instinct for issues that get people riled up, which is a good thing. more ›

We're used to the Reader throwing out a curve ball now and then and rubbing some people the wrong way, but nevertheless we raised our eyebrows after reading its four-star review of Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters. If nothing else, it takes a certain amount of chutzpah to put a Cartoon Network-derived feature right up there with A Woman Under the Influence or even A History of Violence. Despite the controversy... more ›

It might seem like we've been posting a lot lately about women-oriented events in the world of film. It might lead you to believe that perhaps the playing field has begun to level off a little. But consider this: only 1.8% of the top-1000 domestic box office grossers in 2006 were directed by women. Unfortunately, filmmaking by women is still the exception to the rule in an industry still dominated by white men. more ›

No, we are not referring to post-Super Bowl craziness. We're talking about the Midwest Independent Film Festival, whose 2007 season begins tomorrow night at 7:30 at the Landmark Century. It's the only festival dedicated solely to work from the Midwest (thus the name) and best of all, it's year-round! Take that, Sundance! It's always the first Tuesday of each month. The fact that it's at the ultra-comfy Century is like icing on the cake (or marshmallows in the cocoa; choose your own metaphor). more ›

Last Thursday evening Chicagoist had the chance to attend a special advance screening of the movie The Architect, which goes into release on December 15. We'll be reviewing the actual movie that week, but right now we'd like to talk about the screening itself. The movie was projected in Theater 1 at the Landmark Century using a brand-new Blu-ray DVD player. That is, there wasn't film running through a projector; instead, a Blu-ray DVD of the film was outputted to a video projector. more ›

We like to consider ourselves educated about the situation in Iraq and up to date about what's going on. We scour the news each day for the latest developments, and we've even done a fair share of background reading to try and understand why things are the way they are. Then we saw Iraq in Fragments, a new documentary which opens tomorrow. And suddenly we realized that we don't have a clue. more ›

Darren Afronsky’s Requiem for a Dream enjoys a special place in our DVD collection. It was one of those films that was superbly put together, but because it was so well done, we find it hard to just sit down and casually watch. It is the East Coast “here’s your brain on drugs” film. Tonight at the Midwest Independent Film Festival, the Midwest is responding with our drug film in the form of Iowa. Iowa... more ›

The last time we saw James McAvoy, he was Mr. Tumnus in . There was something about that half-human, half-goat thing (combined with his angelic curls and baby blue eyes) that gave us some not-very-rated-PG thoughts. Thus we are thrilled to see Mr. McAvoy return to the screen in Starter for Ten, a comedy from the UK showing as part of the Chicago International Film Festival. 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 ›

You'll have to forgive us if it seems like we've got a one-track mind when it comes to film lately: CIFF is one of our absolutely favorite things about Chicago, and every year brings the thrill that comes from attempting to see as many movies as possible in its two weeks. The Opening Night feature at the Chicago Theater last night was Stranger Than Fiction, directed by Marc Forster (Monster's Ball) and starring Will Ferrell,... more ›

Last month, the Midwest Independent Film Festival premiered the feature-length drama, . It was a very good -- but heavy -- drama done here in the city. more ›

Bored and looking for something to do tonight? Good, because there're two great film events happening tonight. more ›

Tonight's edition of the Midwest Independent Film Festival will be featuring the Chicago premiere of a few new short comedy films. more ›

Steppenwolf ensemble member Austin Pendleton is one of those guys that you seem to see in a ton of movies. He's been in things like , "Oz" on HBO, and so on. The guy gets around. more ›