As I write this, the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival is still in full bloom. The festival ends Sunday, but long time readers know that I go up the first weekend and watch films. Every year (this was my 18th) it seems that there are themes that run through the festival selections. Last year, it […]

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The first film of the day interested me because my oldest daughter read the book and I wanted to see if it would be appropriate for her to see when it is widely released. “The Hate U Give” is the story of a young, smart Black girl who comes from a poor neighborhood, but her […]

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The day started with another studio film with a released date. White Roy Rick is the story of Rick Werche, Jr. (newcomer Richie Merritt, who bears a striking resemblance to my godson, T.J. Watson), a 13 year old kid at the outset who helps his Dad, Rick Sr. (Matthew McConaughey) hustle in Detroit in the […]

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The film I believe is the likely winner of the Grolsch People Choice Award (being announced as I post this, so I could be right or wrong) is “If Beale Street Could Talk,” the follow up of director Barry Jenkins’ Oscar Award winnung “Moonlight,” is an adaptation of a book by the great James Baldwin. […]

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My final day started with “First Man” the story of NASA astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first man to step on the Moon. The film reunites “La La Land” director Damian Chazelle and star Ryan Gosling. Produced by Steve Spielberg and others, the film is a straight forward picture about Armstrong. Fortunately, Armstrong is a stoic, […]

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Thirteen and one half years ago, we moved into our house here in Skokie. We met a lot of the neighbors, they were and are wonderful people. It’s been a long time now, but I don’t remember how we met our neighbors at all he end of the block. You couldn’t help but notice the […]

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There has been a big deal over the weekend regarding Major League Baseball and Cubs’ infielder/outfielder Ben Zobrist over footwear. One might ask: is he wearing orange cleats, or stiletto heels or maybe 1970s era Gene Simmons KISS platform monster shoes? As it turns out, Zobrist wears black cleats, he says as a tribute to […]

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