Last night's premiere of the highly anticipated Public Enemies brought out the films stars and its director. It seems like the stars, especially Depp, were all cordial to the amassed fans. According to one reader, Depp spent a good amount of time signing autographs for awaiting fans. The movie opens on Wednesday, July 1. more ›

With the countdown clock getting very near to the nationwide release of the Chicago-centric summer blockbuster "Public Enemies," the Chicago media landscape has been diligently tracking down Dillinger info en masse. Earlier this week, the morbid habit of collecting blood back in the 20's is given a modern day connection in Mark Brown's column on Tuesday. Charley Johnson of the City News Bureau recieved a square of bloodstained newsprint from a reporter who was on the scene at Dillinger's slaying. Charley pasted that piece of bloodied paper into his diary, and then passed the book onto his son, who grew up to be WLS news anchor Jim Johnson. more ›

Why do you suppose the Chicago Palestine Film Festival isn’t listed on the main page of The Gene’s website? Or in the navigation bar on their calendar page? It only appears there when you click on one of the films featured in the fest. We contacted The Gene offices and the genetleman there said he had "no idea" why it wasn't there. When we pressed further he said they probably just ran out of room--a reasonable answer. Yet there's space enough on the main page to promote the European Union Film Festival which wrapped up three weeks ago and room in the navbar for the Michael Mann tribute which has been over for two weeks. more ›

Michael Mann’s skill for finding the noir-ish Los Angeles of In A Lonely Place and Chinatown among the fake tits and fake friends of modern-day L.A. remains his calling card. But before hitting the L.A. streets, Mann flexed his muscles on the urban landscape of Chicago with the television show Crime Story and the movie Thief. Hallmarks of Mann’s films can be found in both works: the career criminal pulling one last job; the hunter... more ›