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The 97th Oscars: A Night of Big Wins, Big Speeches, & Big Conan Energy Award season is officially over, and the 2025 Academy Awards  are now in the books. As I do every year, I watched the telecast. This year I watched with my girlfriend, Julie, and we had a small Oscar party, which was a blast. But the real fun? The live interactive chat on my Patreon page , where we had a great crowd of subscribers discussing the ceremony in real-time. We talked about the pacing, debated th

I have peppermint bark all over my Film Critic pants. I need to wipe them off for another week of film releases! Only two new movies are featured in this week's capsule (short) movie reviews for Friday, December 20, 2024. Because it is a slow week, I included a few movies still in theaters that I recommend you check out. 1) MUFASA: THE LION KING So, let's see if I can get this straight: "Mufasa" is a prequel to Disney's classic 1994 animated adventure "The Lion King,"  but no

Last Wednesday, December 11th, the Chicago Film Critics Association  kicked off the film awards season with its annual Awards Dinner at Budweiser Brickhouse Tavern  on Gallagher Way , right next to Wrigley Field (yeah, where the Yum Yum Donuts  used to be). I have been a member of the CFCA, on and off, since the organization began in 1989. I've presented awards, made phone calls, tallied votes, set up chairs, and even driven celebrity presenters and winners to and from the a

I have Christmas tree needles all over my Film Critic pants, so it's time to shake them off (thanks, Taylor Swift) for a BIG week of film releases Six new movies are being released, so here are this week's capsule (short) movie reviews for Friday, December 6, 2024. 1) NIGHTBITCH A mess. An absolute mess. Amy Adams  stars in this crowded and annoying black comedy as a former artist but now a stay-at-home mom who begins to regret having a child while enduring the sacrifices and

Below is my list of the 20 Best Movies of 2024 in my order of preference, with the first being the Best Film of the Year 2024 was a solid year for movies—not great, but solid. You will notice that there are many films on my list that aren't on many other critics' lists, as there are many films that are NOT on my list that are included on my colleagues' lists. That's not on purpose; it's just how it worked out. A huge number of extraordinarily overrated movies were released th

The 60th annual Chicago International Film Festival  is now underway, with screenings, special events, tributes, and other festivities happening all over the city until Closing Night on October 27th. Here are five more exclusive reviews of CIFF movies; these films will be commercially released in the coming weeks and available for streaming. 1) GRAND TOUR The very talented Portuguese auteur Miguel Gomes has made another strikingly original film that is as lyrical as it is con