For the 21st time, I went up to Toronto for the Toronto International Film Festival. This was a very different festival: strikes by the writers and actors have caused major studios to postpone many releases, and with very few actors given the permission to attend (unless they have directed a film), the star power is […]

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Stamped From The Beginning My second African-American documentary was just as good and with a much greater scope. Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, best known for the book “How To Be An Anti-Racist,” brought Roger Ross Williams (“The 1619 Project” and “Love To Love You, Donna Summer”) helms this study of the ways in which African-Americans […]

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Great Absence While there are a number of Asian action films, there is also a tradition of quiet family dramas. Best known of this type are the films of Yasujiro Ozu, films about family and marriage, and the differences between generations. The film is described as the reunion and reconciliation of a father and his […]

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The Beast I was interested in this because it had a sci-fi feel to it, despite the fact that the last film I saw that had a love story across time was “The Fountain” which sucked. In addition, it starred Lea Seydoux, who I thought was the weakest part of Daniel Craig’s final two films […]

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It is a good thing that Baltimore Orioles Chairman and CEO John Angelos doesn’t own a team in Chicago, or New York, or Boston. One would think that Angelos, son of owner Peter Angelos who bought the team in 1993 would be used to comments from the media and fans by now. However, like Elon […]

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One of the legends of Chicago newspaper columnists remains the late Mike Royke. His columns had an acerbic edge that wasn’t for everyone, but was entirely Chicago and genuine. As an Andy Frain usher and supervisor, we all got to know the real Royko – a petty tyrant who threw his weight around as the […]

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I can never feel good about someone being let go. I have lost jobs several times over the years, and it is never fun. By the same token, it could be easy to be happy when sports broadcasters that you don’t like get canned, but even if I don’t like someone’s style or mode of […]

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