Movie

“Mercury in Retrograde,” Chicago independent filmmaker Michael Glover Smith’s second feature, is the film Nick Chapman wanted to make. Chapman was the initially idealistic student filmmaker portrayed by Kevin Bacon in Christopher Guest’s “The Big Picture.”...

The word that one hears over and over again at the Oxford Film Festival is “community.” It’s lauded in introductions before screenings and during Q&As. It comes up at panels and at after-parties. And it’s repeated...

The title of “Tehran Taboo” and some of its advance publicity made it seem like a film designed to shock—a plunge into the seedy underbelly of life in Iran’s capital. But though it does deal with...

Ryan Coogler is more of a listener than a talker. The 31-year-old director of “Black Panther” wants details of each reporter’s outlet before he hears our questions at a small gathering of press. He is there...

“Chocolate or strawberry, sir?” a waiter asks as he lowers a plate of ice cream before the soldier. “Strawberry,” the soldier answers. The waiter pours a thick syrup on the little mound of ice cream molded...

Who is Gary Oldman? The actor has been described as a chameleon, but while the term accurately describes his ability to take on wildly varying appearances, traits and manners, it does not attempt to go beneath...

The film world lost one of its greatest musical visionaries on Friday with the sudden passing of Jóhann Jóhannsson, at the age of 48. He leaves behind an incredible discography, made from his sensibility to tell...

Discussing the work of Abbas Kiarostami with his son Ahmad is always as illuminating as it is entertaining. After the U.S. premiere of Abbas’ final feature, the unique and wondrous “24 Frames” at Lincoln Center on...

On August 21, 2015, three Americans traveling through Europe subdued a terrorist who tried to kill passengers on the Thalys train #9364 bound for Paris. The men were Airman First Class Spencer Stone, Oregon National Guardsman...

Is there a formula for how the Academy usually picks the winners for the Short Films? I have often said (and have seldom been proven wrong) that usually the English language crowd-pleaser wins the Live Action...