“That’s the problem with Rome: ancient history is everywhere.” –Emily, preaching a sermon Last year, when writing about Season 4 of the candy-coated Netflix series, I said, “After almost 4 seasons, I’ve discovered the cheat code for enjoying ‘Emily in Paris,’ it’s recognizing while Emily is a hero in her own mind, she’s the villain

If you’re a music lover of a certain age, you remember how exciting and polarizing the rise of Hip Hop in popular music was. From the amiable goofiness of The Sugarhill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight” to the scratching pyrotechnics and audacious musical mashups of “The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel” to cosmic

It’s that time of year when critics look back and try to capture the quality of an entire art form in one feature. Was it a good year for TV? Sure. Great? Maybe? It feels like the top of this list contains programs that will undeniably be remembered when we’re discussing the best of the

As the world was mourning the antisemitic murders on the first night of Hannukkah in Australia and America’s all-too-common gun violence, this time at Brown University, further news of shocking violence emerged out of Hollywood that seemed almost impossible. Two bodies had been found at Rob Reiner’s home in Los Angeles, and the ages matched

Master detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) solves intricate murder puzzles in writer/director Rian Johnson’s “Knives Out” movies, but each pays tribute to a different genre. “Wake Up Dead Man” is tonally gothic, centered on two priests, Josh O’Connor as a sincere young Father Jud and Josh Brolin as fiery and manipulative Monsignor Wicks. In an

Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another” broke the record Thursday night for the most wins by any film from the Chicago Film Critics Association, taking home Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Most Promising Performer, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, and Best Original Score. Other big winners include

Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another” (also named the best film of the year by this site today) and Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners” tied the Chicago Film Critics Association record for the most nominations this morning, landing a stunning dozen a piece. And yet the CFCA, of which multiple contributors to this site are members,

“Call of Duty: Black Ops 6” was one of the more underrated games of 2025, a blockbuster experience with a genuinely engaging campaign and some of the best multiplayer map design and physics in the genre’s history. Listen, some people gave up on “Call of Duty” years ago, tired of paying $60-70 every year for

“Trees Lounge,” a movie that Roger Ebert called “the most accurate portrait of the daily saloon drinker I have ever seen” is going to open the 2025 RescueFest, a benefit for IndieCollect that starts tomorrow, December 5 at the Laemmle Monica. Star/writer/director Steve Buscemi will be there in person, and it’s just the start of

An author needs to meet a subject on its own terms to find the right tone for the story being told. For example, you expect a different sort of cultural and philosophical unpacking of the work of Ingmar Bergman than you do Michael Bay. It’s not to say one is more “important” than the other,