Reviews

In Review Online: Don’t Say Good Luck | Dir. Julia Hart — “The inclusion of Waitress may just be set dressing (and it’s even more of a stretch to say Hart is directly invoking the original movie), but Don’t Say Good Luck ultimately operates in the same understated, fragile territory as Shelly’s longing film.” (August 17, 2026) Read the Don’t Say Good Luck review here.

In Review Online: One Night Only | Dir. Will Gluck — “One Night Only wants to prove to you that it is aware of what’s going on in the world, and that inevitably makes its flimsy observations about the ills of modern dating all the more baffling.” (August 6, 2026) Read the One Night Only review here.

Chicago Reader: Blue Film | Dir. Elliot Tuttle — “How does our understanding of BDSM as a controlled means to obtain or relinquish control change when those participating in the exercise are ethically dubious, if not altogether deplorable? How can universal, life-affirming themes such as the desire to be known be applied in the most alienating of circumstances?” (August 6, 2026) Read the Blue Film review here.

Chicago Reader: WTO/99 | Dir. Ian Bell — “In toto, WTO/99 is the closest a contemporary audience can get to experiencing those four days as they occurred (and as they were portrayed) in real time.” (August 5, 2026) Read the WTO/99 review here.

In Review Online: Hadestown: The Musical | Dir. Brett Sullivan — “Though one hesitates to publicly write too fondly of Hamilton, one of the successes of its pro-shot is how the camera effortlessly fits into the show’s choreography. That is not the case in Hadestown: The Musical, and the effect is almost as disorienting as an MCU fight scene.” (July 24, 2026) Read the Hadestown: The Musical review here.

Chicago Reader: Everybody to Kenmure Street | Dir. Felipe Bustos Sierra — “Most remarkable is Bustos Sierra’s choice to begin the film with a six-minute-and-15-second dialogue-free montage that suggests the history of Glasgow is defined by protest. Kenmure Street was not a single, extraordinary action, but a demonstration consistent with every movement since industrialization to fight for the good of the people.” (July 22, 2026) Read the Everybody to Kenmure Street review here.

In Review Online: American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez | Dir. David Alvardo — “If American Pachuco is an interrogation of Mexican-American identity and the ever-present issue of assimilation, the documentary’s gradual shift from the collective to the individual, from agitating against the status quo to achieving mainstream acceptance, is an accurate, if somewhat cynical, retelling of the cultural shifts from the 1940s through the 1980s.” (July 17, 2026) Read the American Pachuco review here.

Chicago Reader: Nuestra Tierra (Our Land) | Dir. Lucrecia Martel — “Martel’s critical examination extends to the filmmaker’s position as a storyteller. There’s a heavy awareness of her and her camera’s presence throughout the events as fellow strangers mining a product from this land.” (July 8, 2026) Read the Nuestra Tierra review here.

Chicago Reader: Hedda | Dir. Nia DaCosta — “DaCosta’s decision to swap the gender of the original play’s Løvborg is by far the most inspired feature of her adaptation. In lesser films, this would be the kind of cosmetic, representational update modern audiences have come to expect…. Making her a woman adds complexity to Hedda’s palpable repression while upping the stakes of what Hedda could lose by pursuing her.” (November 17, 2025) Read the Hedda review here.

Chicago Reader: After the Hunt | Dir. Luca Guadagnino — “Considering the pressure cooker these characters are in, Guadagnino’s direction hardly suggests sweat. A consequence of the frigid direction is that the screenplay has nowhere to hide.” (October 9, 2025) Read the After the Hunt review here.

Chicago Reader: Suspended Time | Dir. Olivier Assayas — “Suspended Time isn’t particularly novel, and it’s a touch too thin to successfully stretch into 105 minutes, but you could do for a worse late August hang than these couples.” (September 2, 2025) Read the Suspended Time review here.

Chicago Reader: Women Wearing Shoulder Pads (TV Series) | Created by Gonzalo Cordova — “The season’s arc deftly weaves together themes like matriarchy, queer identity, and colonial greed across episodes both absurdly funny and deliciously melodramatic.” (August 21, 2025) Read the Women Wearing Shoulder Pads review here.

Chicago Reader: Los Frikis | Dir. Tyler Nilson, Michael Schwartz — “Los Frikis is at its best when it embodies the punk music of Eskoria and the words of Papo la Bala, repeated by Paco: ‘When you don’t have any more doors to open, death is a door.’” (December 23, 2024) Read the Los Frikis review here.

Chicago Reader: A Different Man | Dir. Aaron Schimberg — “A Different Man is an interesting, entertaining film that brings complexity to its character study—if not to complicate regressive attitudes about disability, then to challenge our feelings about the empty pursuit of performing change without looking inward.” (September 26, 2024) Read the A Different Man review here.

Chicago Reader: Mother, Couch | Dir. Niclas Larsson — “Mother, Couch turns over many cushions in search of change, but it’s an ultimately unsatisfactory experience, even by the fruitlessness of closure standards.” (July 9, 2024) Read the Mother, Couch review here.