CHIRP is building an Associate Board for young professionals 35 & under. Interested? Please fill out this form.
CHIRP is building an Associate Board for young professionals 35 & under. Interested? Please fill out this form.
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by Kyle Sanders
And the 11th Annual Chicago Critics Film Fest continues! Here are the films I was able to catch during the latter half:
Technically, Thelma screened last Saturday afternoon, but due to scheduling conflicts I managed to check out a screener from the convenience of my home. I'm glad I did, because this film about a 93-year-old telephone scam victim who sets out to reclaim the money taken from her was worth it!
June Squibb, the Oscar-nominated character actress who's taken over Betty White's reign of feisty senior citizen roles, leads this quirky comedy with aplomb. An elderly widow unwilling to bend to the concerns of her domineering family, Squibb takes a page out of Tom Cruise's Mission: Impossible franchise (including doing her own stunt work!) and provides plenty of action-packed moments, "geriatric style": racing down nursing home hallways in a slicked-out scooter, bravely climbing the perilous steps of a two-story home, and navigating the treacherous paths of antique stores, just to get back what's hers.
With a heist-themed score reminiscent of anything composed by Isaac Hayes (coincidentally, this film co-stars Richard Roundtree--the original Shaft--in his final performance), Thelma reminds us that our tenacity for thrill-seeking never gets old. (Release Date: June 21st)
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by Kyle Sanders
In its eleventh year, the Chicago Critics Film Festival continues to outdo itself. Last year gave us the critically-acclaimed Oscar contender Past Lives (not to mention our first glimpse of Lily Gladstone, before becoming an Oscar-nominated household name), so my expectations were high. So far, the festival has managed to fulfill them with a slot of fun horror flicks making big splashes while the more dramatic fare wades in between.
To kick off the festivities, CCFF smartly chose Sing Sing, a crowd-pleasing drama set in the infamous prison, where prisoners find purpose through performance.
Fresh off his Oscar-nominated turn in Rustin, Colman Domingo stars as Divine G, one of the founding members of RTA (Rehabilitation Through the Arts). It's time to put on a new staged production, and Divine G and company decide to shake things up with a comedic original, where each prisoner auditions for roles, rehearses lines, and develops the truths of their character while confronting the truths of their incriminating pasts.
More than just "Shakespeare with shanks," Sing Sing is a triumph thanks to its charming ensemble--mostly made up of formerly incarcerated actors (Release Date: TBD).