Journalist, Author & Syndicated Columnist
“I never knew poetry was about opening your legs one minute, opening your grave the next,” says the female protagonist in ”The Monkey’s Mask.” “I never knew poetry could be as sticky as sex.” She’s quoting the words of Dorothy Porter, whose novel is the basis for this uneven Australian-made film.
What if Japan had been occupied by Nazi Germany after World War II? “Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade” explores this possibility by presenting an alternative nation. In this Japanese animated film, Tokyo is dark, bleak and industrial. The city is a war zone, with the police and military battling a small but well-trained group of elite terrorists who negotiate their way through the city’s sewer system. They employ women and children to act as decoys. They have all been trained to believe there is honor in dying for their cause.
Here’s how Katharine Callard outsmarted the SATs: She chose a college that didn’t require them. That’s right: She didn’t sweat those SAT prep classes, and she got into Hampshire College anyway. Of course, as a straight-A student at the top-notch Latin School of Chicago, Callard had a pretty good idea of her ability to do well in college.
The stage is dark and a haunting voice wafts through the theater. Tori Amos is backstage, whispering a tale of rage and murder. The victim in her song is desperate and full of despair. Her boyfriend is killing her, and their daughter later unknowingly helps him dispose of her body.
Patrick Peet grew up listening to that neighborhood rhyme. His father had been friends with Jimmy Bones–a charismatic man who kept drugs out of the neighborhood and always had money for those who needed shelter and food. After Bones was killed in 1979, he became a legend. But his old brownstone was left to decay.
As the star of “The Pretender,” Michael T. Weiss grew accustomed to wearing natty designer clothes. For his role as a corrupt, corpulent cop in the film “Bones”–which opens Wednesday–Weiss wore a different kind of suit: a fat suit. “People who haven’t seen me since ‘The Pretender’ are going to think, ‘Boy, he really let himself go,'” says the ordinarily lean 6-foot-3 actor.
When Cleopatra is mentioned, beauty, sex and seduction are three words that almost immediately spring to mind. But what about brains? More than 2,000 years after her death, the Queen of Egypt still reigns as one of history’s most famous and mysterious women. There’s a new exhibit about her that hopes to clear up some points. A year after premiering in Rome, “Cleopatra of Egypt: From History to Myth” opens Saturday at the Field Museum–the only North American venue for the expansive project.
A t the end of “Lisa Picard Is Famous,” Griffin Dunne says, “Sometimes reality just needs a little push.” Apparently, that’s what the filmmakers were trying to accomplish with this mockumentary. Dunne portrays a filmmaker named Andrew, whose goal is to document a person on the brink of fame. But fame is a nebulous thing, and trying to anticipate who will become famous enough to sell his documentary is a crapshoot. He thinks he has found a winning subject in Lisa Picard, a Penelope Miller look-alike who has won some notoriety for starring in a suggestive cereal commercial.
By Jae-Ha Kim Chicago Sun-Times October 5, 2001 If you can sit through the end of “The Learning Curve,” you’ll have wasted two hours you are never going to get back. This movie gives the […]
More than 1,500 artists from 87 galleries around the world will exhibit pieces made from ceramics, glass, metal, wood and textiles. There’ll also be a book sale, lecture series and nine special exhibits. SOFA Chicago touts wider aisles this year, making it easier for specators to navigate Navy Pier’s Festival Hall and leaves more room for the exhibitors.