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KSanders writesKyle Predicts the 96th Academy Awards
by Kyle Sanders
During a segment of the 86th Academy Awards, host Ellen DeGeneres rallied a few A-list celebs (and Lupita Nyong'o's brother) to pose for an Oscars selfie that broke the internet with over 3.4 million retweets on what was then known as Twitter.
Would you believe that incident took place exactly ten years ago? Time certainly flies, but quite frankly, it hasn't been too kind to that selfie (remember "Brangelina?").
But what of that year's nominated films and winners? In the decade since, can you recall that 12 Years a Slave won Best Picture? Or that American Hustle--one of the most nominated films that year--went home empty handed?
Perhaps the only memorable takeaway was Frozen's Oscar-winning song "Let It Go," cementing its place high atop its mountainous pedestal as the go-to track for any musical theater major trying to prove their vocal chops on karaoke night.
But just like the words sung by Idina Menzel (or "Adele Dazeem" as John Travolta referred to her during that telecast), "the past is the past." It's 2024, and there's a new crop of films up for awards this year.
KSanders writesKyle Sanders’ Top 10 Films of 2023
I don't know about you, but I watched a TON of films this year. And most importantly, I saw them at a movie theater. No really, an ACTUAL movie theater! From my count (thanks to social media check-ins and a somewhat photographic memory), I visited Chicago's movie theaters a whopping 66 TIMES this year!
Half of those took place at my favorite spot in all of Chicago: The Music Box Theater. Other notable visits included historic theaters like The Davis in Lincoln Square (mostly involving titles featured at our inaugural CHIRP Music Film Festival), and the now-defunct New 400 Theater of Rogers Park (may its hallowed doors rest in peace).
I also got to check out some blockbusters at the new Alamo Drafthouse located in Wrigleyville, the AMC Newcity theater in Old Town, and the Landmark Century in Lakeview. So many films, so many locations! That has to be a new personal record, because not that long ago, my yearly movie theater visits could be counted on one hand. And that was BEFORE Covid!
In a post-pandemic world though, movie theaters are surprisingly going strong. Last year it was all thanks to Mr. "Maverick" himself, Tom Cruise. This year though, a certain pink-attired gal could probably add another level to her Malibu Dreamhouse thanks to huge box office returns. "Barbenheimer" became an unexpected cultural event that was a successful payoff for Warner Bros' Barbie and Universal Pictures' Oppenheimer, and proved you can release a wildly fun comedy based on an iconic doll AND a biographical drama about the Atomic Bomb simultaneously without commercial conflict. I myself did NOT see both as a double feature (in fact, just a few days apart), but any gimmick to motivate the masses to movie theaters I fully support!
With 2023 coming to a close, I looked back on all of this year's films and put together a Top 10 List of my favorites. Criteria included runtime (my sincerest apologies to the three hour opuses Killers of the Flower Moon and Oppenheimer), originality (you won't find any franchise properties mentioned here--cough, cough, MARVEL, cough cough), coherence (if Wes Anderson continues to make convoluted rabbit holes like Asteroid City, he might lose me as a fan forever) and lasting impression (I'm sure there was a film I could mention here, but--I already forgot about it...).
10) Talk to Me
An Aussie horror film that treats communicating with the dead as casually as huffing glue out of a brown paper bag down by the old swimming hole (or was that just my adolescence?). This film from Down Under is about a group of teenagers who contact spirits using a mysterious embalmed hand that allows them to be possessed for up to 90 seconds. Any additional second over, and well...let's just say the spirit might get a little too comfortable. An impressive feature directorial debut from brothers Danny and Michael Phillipou, Talk to Me dusts off the old familiar horror tropes and gives them a fresh 21st-century spin--conjuring up an effective ghost story in the TikTok era.
KSanders writesThe 59th Annual Chicago International Film Fest—That’s a Wrap!
by Kyle Sanders
And that's a wrap for the 59th Annual Chicago International Film Festival! Surprisingly, I managed to check out OVER 30 TITLES, but some were too singular and atypical to include in my previous posts. Here's a quick shout-out to those films:
The Beautiful Summer (Italy)
The Bride (Rwanda)
The Crime is Mine (France)
Eric Larue (U.S.)
The Hypnosis (Sweden/Norway/France)
In water (South Korea)
The People's Joker (U.S./Canada/Scotland)
Poor Things (U.S.)
KSanders writesSomething’s Out There: Reviews of “Family Portrait,” “Late Night with the Devil,” “Alien Island,” “Evil Does Not Exist,” “Raging Grace,” and “Carnal Sins”
by Kyle Sanders
Monsters, Aliens, and Satan--oh my! The Chicago International Film Festival certainly showcases a variety of powerful dramas and quirky comedies, but it also delights in serving up some chilling films perfect for Fright Nights and Midnight Movies.
It all stems from CIFF's "After Dark" Program, which I must say, I enjoy. It provides that wildly fun, spine-tingling escape to help cleanse my palate after getting bogged down by more serious cinema.
Not all of the films mentioned in this article were part of the After Dark Program, but still managed to creep me out juuuuuuuust enough to include. Read on, if you dare!
Family reunions can be hell, and it seems like the family in Family Portrait (U.S) might be living in one as well. Taking place on a bright and springy day disquieting enough for the likes of Ari Aster and David Lynch, this cinematic fever dream involves a family gathering that should be culminating with said portrait, if not for the disappearance of the family matriarch.
This film crawls right under your skin, especially with lines like "When are we going to take the picture?" taking on a whole new level of creepiness in the same vein as Marathon Man's "Is it safe?"
Family Portrait
KSanders writesThicker Than Water: Reviews of “All Happy Families,” “Solitude,” “In the Rearview,” “All of Us Strangers,” and “Hard Miles”
by Kyle Sanders
There are the families that we're born into and the families we choose to belong to. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. A lot of the titles I've seen at the Chicago International Film Festival have provided intimate glimpses of families bound by blood and those melded together by circumstance.
The first of these titles, All Happy Families (U.S.) references the famous quote by Tolstoy that begins the film: "All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." The unhappy family in question here is the Landry's, specifically Graham, who is an out-of-work actor constantly under the shadow of his more successful brother, Will.
As he tries to lease out the first floor of his two-flat, Graham's brother unexpectedly arrives, and with the help of his recently retired mother and gambling addict father, Graham spruces up the place in the hope his former crush will move in.
All Happy Families