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'Brideshead Revisited' Gets Refocused for the Big Screennew

It's taken more than 60 years to bring Evelyn Waugh's best-known novel to the big screen. The 133-minute feature isn’t entirely faithful to the book's details and expresses more ambivalence about religion than Waugh might have wished, but it captures the theme of moral responsibility in an evenhanded way that should speak to believers and nonbelievers alike.

Chicago Reader | Albert Williams | 07-28-2008 | Reviews

Tags: Julian Jarrold, Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh

'The Dark Knight': Batman for the 21st Centurynew

It's not just about good and evil anymore -- it's about order and chaos.

Chicago Reader | J.R. Jones | 07-21-2008 | Reviews

Tags: Christopher Nolan, The Dark Knight

'The Wackness': The Coming-of-age Story You've Heard Beforenew

Watching Jonathan Levine's funny, sincere tale of a Manhattan B-boy navigating an inappropriate relationship with his middle-aged shrink while falling hard for the man's stepdaughter, I kept wondering where I'd seen it before. Oh, The Graduate.

Chicago Reader | J.R. Jones | 07-14-2008 | Reviews

Tags: comedy, The Wackness, Jonathan Levine, josh peck, olivia thirlby, Aaron Yoo, Famke Janssen, Mary Kate Olsen, Method Man, Sir Ben Kingsley

'Gonzo' Tells the Story of the Reporter Who Became the Storynew

Alex Gibney's last two feature documentaries, Taxi to the Dark Side and Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, are more important works of journalism than anything Thompson could bring himself to write in his later years. Compared to those movies, Gonzo feels a little soft and boomer-indulgent with its 10,000th rehash of the Nixon years and its soundtrack of trite 60s anthems.

Chicago Reader | J.R. Jones | 07-07-2008 | Reviews

Tags: journalism, Hunter S. Thompson, documentary, Alex Gibney, Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson

David Mamet's Redbelt is a Return to Formnew

In a sense, the arc of Mamet's career has been one long journey from Chicago to Hollywood, and his last few movies as a writer-director -- State and Main, Heist and Spartan -- suggested that arc was turning steeply downward. Redbelt emphatically reverses this decline by combining in near-perfect proportion what Mamet loves and hates about Hollywood.

Chicago Reader | J.R. Jones | 05-19-2008 | Reviews

Tags: David Mamet, Redbelt

Thomas McCarthy Carves Out a Plum Role for Veteran Character Actor Richard Jenkins in 'The Visitor'new

So much film criticism focuses on directors that we sometimes forget what draws most people to the screen: the prospect of seeing an actor connect with a role and really live it.

Chicago Reader | J.R. Jones | 04-21-2008 | Reviews

Tags: Richard, jenkins, The Visitor, Thomas McCarthy