We're among the happiest people to learn that CIMMFest and former Bank of America Cinema programmer Michael Phillips has a new monthly program called Shock Theater at the Wicker Park Arts Center. more ›

There were very few surprises Sunday night at the 68th Annual Golden Globe Awards. The list of winners seemed heavily skewed to the favorites. At least there was Ricky Gervais' acid tongue to keep things interesting. As a tool for handicapping the Academy Awards nominations coming out next week, the Golden Globes were particularly useless this year. So how are we going to get a leg up in filling out the ballot? more ›

We all knew it was coming but it finally happened this weekend when the final episode of "At The Movies" aired with reviews of Eat, Pray, Love, Scott Pilgrim vs The World, and The Expendables. Co-host Michael Phillips (of the Tribune) gave a brief farewell at the Trib recently and Roger Ebert had previously taken to his blog to share some thoughts on the end of the show's run. You can watch clips, including a seven minute tribute to the history of the show, on the show's site and WBEZ's had on TimeOut Chicago's Hank Sartin and IFC.com's Alison Willmore to discuss the show's impact, those thumbs, and where film reviews go from here. more ›

• Attorneys for Jerry Hobbs, charged for the 2005 murders of his daughter and her friend, say new DNA evidence connects another man to the murders and clears Hobbs.
• While Gov. Quinn trims the budget, he's also handed out a number of raises to staff members.
• An intruder wearing a skeleton mask broke into the Lakeview home of an elderly couple and hit the 83-year-old man with a baseball bat; the victim has since been treated and released.

The movie review show "At The Movies," made famous by a pair of thumbs - one each belonging to Chicago film critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert - has been canceled after almost 25 years on the air in one incarnation or another (or 35 years if you include the original Siskel & Ebert show on WTTW that debuted in 1975). While Siskel passed away in 1999 and Ebert hasn't been on the show in several years dealing with his own health issues, the latest incarnation still had a Chicago flair to it with co-host Michael Phillips, movie critic from the Tribune. Ebert himself took to his blog to reflect on the show, why it was canceled, movie audiences in general, and drops a few nuggets about his own plans for a new movie review show. more ›

Take a handful of clever journalists and comics, ask them to write funny pieces about current events and culture, and put them in front of an audience at a bar. What do you get? Paper Machete, the "live magazine and parlor show" hosted by former Time Out Chicago theater editor Christopher Piatt, of course. Although the show runs every weekend, we say tomorrow's the night to see it because former Chicagoist editor-in-chief Margaret Lyons is on the lineup. She may or may not be asking the audience to guess if she's reading lines from ABC's The Secret Life of the American Teenager or Dan Savage's "Savage Love" sex-advice column. We were sold before we heard the other performers. (Ed. note: Seriously, Margaret is hilarious. She alone is enough reason to go.) more ›

Richard Roeper and critic-we-actually-like Michael Phillips will be on the upcoming season of , which returns Sept 7. [Deadline Hollywood]
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A classic's a classic (above). But just in case you were thinking about sitting through the latest CGI remake, here's a bad review review from local critics: more ›

Thinking about going to the movies tonight? Looks like everyone in town is warning you against Good Luck Chuck, the Dane Cook/Jessica Alba rom-com whose plot keywords on IMDb are ... wow. Inspired by Matthew Baldwin's genius Bad Review Reviews, we present highlights from Chicago media's terrible reviews of GLC. Scott Tobias, AV Club: "Proof that a million MySpace users can be wrong." Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: "The film is some sort of humor-deprivation... more ›

The Chicago Film Critics Association announced its awards for best films and performances of the year with The Departed picking up three awards for best picture, best director and best adapted screenplay. You can view the full slate of winners here. While we enjoyed The Departed, it felt too much like a mix tape of Scorcsese’s previous films with the themes of corruption and redemption set against urban grit with yet another use of “Gimme... more ›

After debuting to controversy and yawns at the Toronto International Film Festival, the pseudo-documentary Death of a President, featuring the faked assassination of President Bush, is rapidly turning into a marketing agency’s wet dream. Newmarket Films is striking while the iron is hot and attempting to get the film into theaters while people are still talking about how CONTROVERSIAL it is, in hopes that those voices will scream louder than the ones who say it’s... more ›

The Secret Service does not screw around when it comes to threats on the President. Remember last year when the Secret Service paid a visit to Columbia College when they featured some artwork with an image of President Bush with a gun to his head? So it’s a safe bet that British TV director Gabriel Range will be getting a call soon about his new pseudo-documentary Death of a President. The film was shot here... more ›

As we trudge through the last remaining days of summer, things are rather quiet on the silver screen now that the Snakes have slithered out. This is the time when projects that studios have little-to-no confidence in get unceremoniously dropped into theaters. We’ve seen Invincible a million times before, and Idlewild has us intrigued, but worried. Working in separate studios might work for hip-hop double albums, but it’s not the best operating plan for a movie. more ›

There’s very little left to be said about how batshit insane Sharon Stone has become. Luckily, there’s plenty to say about how batshit crazy the film Basic Instinct 2 was (and we use the past tense here quite purposely as it's clear its 10th place showing last weekend will have it in your local video store by the time you leave work on Friday). more ›

Lately, we’ve been seeing a lot of items on the technological aspects of moviegoing. Does this happen to other art forms? Does Painters Monthly feature the latest innovations in canvases, for example? more ›