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ethan hawke

“The Good Lord Bird” is an absurd abolitionist Western

The Good Lord Bird
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Ethan Hawke chews the scenery in a historical drama that gleefully plays around with the truth.

C.M. Crockford Posted on January 16, 2021January 15, 2021

“Tesla”‘s flights of fancy match the subject of its illumination

Tesla
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In his latest anti-biopic, Michael Almereyda drenches the life of the famed inventor in layers of enticing artifice.

Scout Tafoya Posted on August 20, 2020August 17, 2020

“Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead” remains a skillful sum of its parts

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
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A puzzle of a thriller, Sidney Lumet’s final film slides its script and performances together with ease.

Jonah Koslofsky Posted on July 13, 2020July 7, 2020

“The Truth” is okay, but it won’t set you free

The Truth
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Hirokazu Kore-eda’s first film outside of his native Japan is a light, star-studded family affair of modest potential and diminishing returns.

Matt Cipolla Posted on July 2, 2020July 2, 2020

CIFF 10/18: “The Truth”, “Clemency”, “The Twentieth Century”, “Tremors”

CIFF 2019 Clemency The Truth Twentieth Century Tremors
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Today’s CIFF dispatch includes family drama The Truth, death-row issue film Clemency, Guatemalan queer drama Tremors, and the gonzo Twentieth Century.

Clint Worthington Posted on October 18, 2019October 18, 2019

Boyhood: You Either Get it Or You Don’t

Boyhood
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Both a “masterpiece” and a “self-indulgent bore,” Richard Linklater’s passion project captured the painful fleetingness of life.

Gena Radcliffe Posted on August 25, 2019August 23, 2019

Looking Back at the Rotoscoped Dreams of “Waking Life”

Waking Life
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Richard Linklater’s 2001 rotoscope experiment gets lost in philosophical aimlessness.

Ben Kaye Posted on August 17, 2019August 16, 2019

The Daring Ambiguity of the “Before” Trilogy

Before Trilogy
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Linklater’s Before Trilogy – Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, and Before Midnight – is an eye-catching crystallization of how relationships change over time.

Jonah Koslofsky Posted on August 11, 2019August 11, 2019

August’s Filmmaker of the Month: Richard Linklater

Richard Linklater
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In honor of Where’d You Go, Bernadette?, we take a closer look at the prolific indie pioneer.

Clint Worthington Posted on August 1, 2019September 3, 2019

“Dead Poets Society” and the Freeing, Frightening Passion of Youth

Dead Poets Society
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On the film’s thirtieth anniversary, we look back at Peter Weir’s intricate drama and the inherent tragedy of seizing the day.

Andrew Bloom Posted on June 18, 2019August 11, 2020

Reality Bites at 25: Generation X Deserved Better

Reality Bites
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A quarter of a century later, Reality Bites offers a frustratingly incomplete portrait of the MTV generation.

Gena Radcliffe Posted on February 16, 2019August 4, 2020

A Preview of the 2018 Chicago Critics Film Festival

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The Chicago Film Critics Association’s 6th annual film festival (May 4-10) features some of the year’s best films […]

Alcohollywood Staff Posted on May 3, 2018January 25, 2019
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