Much obliged, Peter. Truly.

Working w the excellent @ninametz.bsky.social and our editor Doug George has made us all a little better, I hope. I'll be hanging around "Filmspotting" as needed, and inflicting my musical tastes weekly on Classical WFMT via "Soundtrack." To you all: Thanks for reading, and giving a damn. (3/3)

...I took the buyout. After 20 very good years here, straddling my two lifelong journalistic loves of theater (first four years, coming from the L.A. Times drama critic post to the Tribune's) and the movies, I feel nothing but gratitude for the chance to do this work in a great cultural city. (2/3)

A bit of news: The Chicago Tribune has deemed the post of film critic non-essential, and therefore zeroed-out that post. My options were to take a newsroom reassignment to be named later, or a buyout to be taken more or less immediately. So...(1/3)

My colleague is so right. The prospect of spending even a second being an uncredited unpaid story contributor to an AI collection of other people's ideas: not good.

'Weapons' review: Some of the tonal change-ups may give you whiplash, but it's clever, well-acted and pretty gripping. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/08/07/w...

"Is it fun? Almost? Kind of? Yes. Almost, and kind of. But there is a strain to it all. Doubling the bodies swapped ends up feeling like six times the chaos, not two: 'Cheaper by the Dozen' with a side of 'The Parent Trap.'” www.chicagotribune.com/2025/08/06/f...

Iowa's own Rebecca Fons is now Chicago's loss: The Siskel Film Centerprogramming director heads for London in September to become Head of Cinema for the Barbican Centre. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/07/28/s...

Colbert is a brilliant comedian, great interviewer & w good person. He has a million places in this new age to take his talents, be widely heard and make $$$. I hope he will.What is beyond rescue is much of the legacy media making decisions that will haunt them & their business for decades to come.

The Gunn conundrum continues with "Superman," one hour of which has and is a pretty good time, followed by a second hour fighting its own endless beat-downs that may still be going on. On the other hand: Krypto! And Rachel Brosnahan! www.chicagotribune.com/2025/07/09/s...

An extremely good debut feature. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/06/27/f...

A-1 conversation between @ninametz.bsky.social and U Delaware Prof. Dominique J. Baker about TV's default wealthaganda impulse. Shows telling you money isn't everything love to say one thing while ogling another: www.chicagotribune.com/2025/06/18/c...

Just got back from my first bikepacking excursion which KICKED MY ASS but in an instructive and lovely way. My column on how a 1979 charmer rolled out of the mists of time to assist. Particular thanks to Lisa Michurski and her fellow NY cyclists. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/06/19/c...

'Ballerina''s most riveting action happens in the pause and then the delievery of Anjelica Huston's one-syllable exit line. Also, some of the mountain village adventure tourism, let's call it, has its charms. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/06/04/b...

I talked to one of America's experts in image manipulation, about how an onslaught of real-world visual lies may be messing with our perception and enjoyment of movie fakery. Mine, anyway. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/06/05/c...

Two new mini-film festivals coming to Chicago, one faaaaaaaaabulously intense, the other a reminder that life has its downs, and its downs. Plus news on the @musicboxtheatre.bsky.social adding a third photoplay emporium! www.chicagotribune.com/2025/05/30/f...

My interview with Rolf Saxon: Superstar, whose bit part in the first "Mission: Impossible" expands into a surprising piece of the "Final Reckoning" ensemble of world-savers. A narrative stroke of genius, and just desserts for Saxon. Gift link: www.chicagotribune.com/2025/05/27/c...

A droll, somewhat insanely grisly existential comedy of how not to deal with a universe out to get you. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/05/15/f...

The 36th Marvel Cinematic Universe motion picture, if you give a rip. At least some of the violence comes at a price, unlike your average "Accountant" sequel. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/04/29/t...

The 4k digital restoration/remastering really takes you there. And "there" is Charles Burnett's "Killer of Sheep," one of the best theres there is. In Chicago at the Gene Siskel Film Center April 18-24. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/04/17/r...

"Sinners" review here, via a gift link. The right, overstuffed, genre-mashed and wonderfully acted movie for 2025 America, where the only thing we have to fear is longer fear itself. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/04/15/s...

...and a wave of Illinois students, scholars and political victims end a chapter of their lives with a unifying thought: To hell with America. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/04/09/t...

"Misericordia": If you want to see some choice actors finesse the latest disarming Alain Guiraudie argument for a little understanding--disguised as a "suspenseful sex mystery," as the poster tagline for Hitchcock's "Marnie" once said--well, go! www.chicagotribune.com/2025/03/31/m...

I couldn't front-load a mention of "I Know Where I'm Going!" fast enough when writing about "The Ballad of Wallis Island," just to get one more person to discover it. "Wallis Island," meantime: amiable, slightly aggressive heartwarmer with some decent jokes. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/04/02/r...

The work of political resistance and anti-authoritarian insurrection is not easy. But like the song says: Whistle while you work! Gift link here. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/03/19/s...

I saw "Dog Day Afternoon," a key film of my teen years, the other night with a roomful of college students, most of them new to it. Here's how it played. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/03/06/d...

Update: Adrien Brody's Oscar acceptance speech has entered its second day. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/03/03/c...

My worst-ever #Oscars prediction percentages, but v. v. v. glad for "Anora"'s big night. Long live independent film indeed. And movie theaters, somehow.

A brief eternity there, at the end of the "El Mal" original song acceptance speech. As Kristen Wiig's SNL Jazz Age party guest once said: "Don't make me sing."

"Wicked" winning things other movies should be winning, but...well, there is no but. #Oscars

A fantastic, long-ago #Oscars tradition, revived: The dance-driven James Bond production number! It's Connery Moore O'Clock all over again!

I'm two for three on the #Oscar predix. Good night, everybody!

My appreciation: Gene Hackman, and the loneliness of the long-distance actor www.chicagotribune.com/2025/02/27/i...

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Robert De Niro in murmuring-brook mode can do only so much for the Netflix cyberattack thrilla “Zero Day,” which pours 90 minutes of story into six big buckets, says @ninametz.bluesky.social: www.chicagotribune.com/2025/02/20/z...

Hollywood's 'dictator craze' gave us a film about a U.S. president who, with God's approval, suspends Congress, declares martial law and threatens global allies with annihilation. Thx to Belgium's Cinematek, I got a look at the rare European release version. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/02/20/p...

My screens colleague @ninametz.bsky.social gets into the tricky differences between friction and charisma here, in her review of the CW's ‘Good Cop/Bad Cop’ www.chicagotribune.com/2025/02/19/g...

Right now the words we choose matter more than ever. "Walk back," for example. That funsy euphemism is bs. When someone like Hegseth accidentally speaks the truth and gets scolded for it, "retract" is technically synonymous but twice as honest.

The Illinois-Indiana political divide widens amid Trump 2.0, from immigration to DEI to LGBTQ rights. A sweeping story from @angieleventis.bsky.social www.chicagotribune.com/2025/02/16/i...

This is probably the most accurate take.

👇🏻👇🏻

Tomorrow night only! There are known knowns and there are unknown knowns. But only one “The Unknown.” www.chicagotribune.com/2025/02/15/r...

While we're at it: Other historical analogies to what's going on here and now are scarily valid. America itself offers its own undeniable precedents. forward.com/opinion/6955...

Letterboxd has paved the way for this--there's so much curiosity and passion among younger cinephiles to see movies they've been waiting for, and see them in 35 whenever possible

I won't say "needless to say" but fyi: I won't be sticking to movies-only here. Grateful for the insightful, intelligently provocative reactions to what's happening in America published by The Forward, the Guardian and other lights in the media. Example: forward.com/opinion/6961...

A few signs of nerve--at one point, the U.S. President in Red Hulk mode hoists a massive U.S. flag-pole as a weapon, like some cosplay MAGA Capitol-stormer--but the new "Captain America" isn't out to offend anybody, really. Giftlink: www.chicagotribune.com/2025/02/12/a...

Under-served audiences, out; revivals of "1776" or all-white "Hamilton" stagings, in, in, in! That's a hyperbolic way of saying I talked to some Chicago arts leaders about the NEA's ideological makeover. Giftlink here: www.chicagotribune.com/2025/02/07/a...

There are a lot of explorations of how Trump and Musk are breaking the law. But unlike if anyone else breaks the law, the systems of intervention and accountability for Trump are almost entirely broken. Which appears to be exactly what he’s going for. www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

Did cinematic architects ever recover from Ayn Rand, Howard Roark and "The Fountainhead"? Thanks so much to @anjulierao.bsky.social for this conversation tied to "The Brutalist" and where we are now, built-environment-wise www.chicagotribune.com/2025/01/27/c...

Learning on the job! I learned so much from Anjulie Rao, lecturer at the School of the Art Institute and wide-ranging Chicago writer, over coffee and on the topic of cinematic architects and why they are the way they are www.chicagotribune.com/2025/01/27/c...