The third installment of Chaz Ebert’s Happy Place column recounts her experience of returning to the movie theater during the pandemic after a five-month absence.
A tribute to the legendary American businessman.
It’s pure fantasy, and an immature one at that.
Chaz Ebert on how music and newspapers have shaped Chicago, and continue to do so.
Some lives become so woven into the fabric of our culture that we experience their influence long before we ever learn their name. For generations of Black Americans, George E. Johnson, Sr., was one of those people. I am one of the privileged many to have called him a friend. Founder of the Johnson Products […]
A personal recounting of one of the coolest Chicago film events of the year.
A breakdown of our most anticipated films of this year’s Fantasia Festival.
My final dispatch of KVIFF features some heavy hitters. There’s the Crystal Globe winner, the festival’s top prize. There’s also two coming-of-age stories about how kind the world can be and how unflinchingly harsh it actually is. Each work is led by a lonely, misunderstood protagonist whose mental health is at stake. They’re all deeply […]
It felt good to be back. It’s been a couple of years since I’ve attended the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (after going three straight times, last year, I had to cancel at the last second due to a personal emergency). But walking through the Neo-Renaissance Mill Colonnade, being in the Viennese-Bohemian Municipal Theatre, wandering […]
“Ride or Die” arrives on Prime Video this week, and its title is accurate in multiple ways. Calling someone your “ride or die” means they’ve got your back no matter what: you need to bury a body, they’ve got the shovel; you need a getaway driver, they’ve already filled up the gas tank. Adding another […]


