Bradley Cooper sure has come a long way since The Hangover, and we're all the luckier for it. The one-time comic leading man has bold ambitions, and if his first two directorial efforts—2018's A Star is Born and now Maestro, about the life, work and relationships of composer and conductor Leonard ...
A Week of Theater: Sondheim, Shakespeare and…Beetlejuice
After a dry spell in live theater (filled mostly by live music shows instead), I returned in a big way in the last week, catching no fewer than five shows in seven days, from touring Broadway productions to community theater in my hometown. It made for a whirlwind week and quite a few dinners out, ...
Review: PRISCILLA
Sofia Coppola is a filmmaker who, from the moment she arrived on the scene with 1999's moody and melancholy The Virgin Suicides, announced herself with a style, perspective and narrative approach all her own. The screenwriter and director, essentially fully formed from the get go, is the daughter of ...
Dispatch: 59th Chicago International Film Festival’s First Weekend
For Third Coast Review, I'm covering a selection of films screening at the 59th Chicago International Film Festival, and it's been fun to dig into this year's overall line-up. This festival in particular has a reputation for bringing many of the season's most anticipated films to local audiences, ...
Review: SHE CAME TO ME
Some years ago, at the height of their respective careers, Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence starred in a movie called Serena. It's likely you've never seen it, or if you did, you didn't like it; it was not well received by distributors or critics, and it shocked most of the industry when, in ...