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Two new documentaries trace the thin line between civil society and armed...
Tower revisits the 1966 sniper killings at the University of Texas; Do Not Resist looks at the sale of military equipment to local law enforcement. This summer was the hottest on record, and the...
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A minor character plays a major role in the Barry Jenkins drama Moonlight
A minor character plays a major role in the Barry Jenkins drama Moonlight. Earlier this year the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences faced a torrent of criticism when, for the second season in...
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Kie-Gol-Lanee is a Oaxacan island amid an ocean of pho
The Uptown restaurant doesn’t just dabble in the cuisine of the southwestern Mexican state. Oaxacan food isn't the most well-represented subset of the vast regional Mexican canon that we have in...
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Goodman Theatre’s The Magic Play is a genre hybrid that enchants
In this production a magician summons the demons and the angels. Of course there's no such thing as magic. Not in the supernatural sense, anyway.…
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At the MCA, Diana Thater transports visitors to new spaces
“The Sympathetic Imagination” attempts to get viewers to reach the sublime through video installations. It helps to think of "The Sympathetic Imagination," Diana Thater's new retrospective show at the...
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In Chicago, political corruption also happens on the water
In his new book, Dirty Waters: Confessions of Chicago's Last Harbor Boss, local author R.J. Nelson describes his unusual time as the city’s harbor boss. Is it the water in Lake Michigan that makes...
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‘Tattoo’ leaves a permanent mark at the Field Museum
The exhibit is an illuminating and wide-ranging survey of the practice of body art. Is tattooing an art form? Answers vary.…
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American Honey is an exercise in radical subjectivity
British director Andrea Arnold challenges viewers to hit the road with a gang of runaway kids. American Honey, now playing a six-day encore engagement at Facets Cinematheque, is a hypnotic road...
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Peter Kim left Second City because of hate speech. Why’d he return?
After leaving Second City because of hate speech, Peter Kim returns to talk back to the audience with his new show Crowd Sourced. On October 9, comedian Peter Kim left Second City's E.T.C. revue show...
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Erika Sheffer’s The Fundamentals does David Mamet proud
The intriguing outweighs the dutiful in Steppenwolf’s new production. Erika Sheffer's The Fundamentals opens with a crafty one-two punch. As the house lights dim, stock images of happy, indulgent...
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Q: Are we not furniture? A: We are “Set”!
Ania Jaworska’s solo show at Volume Gallery is more than just a bunch of black shapes. What's in a set? The question's so blunt that it doesn't seem worth dwelling on.…
View ArticleChicago Shakespeare’s King Charles III owes less to the Bard than to Sophocles
A political dinosaur makes a last stand in Mike Bartlett’s drama. Barring divine intervention, the 90-year-old reigning sovereign of the United Kingdom, Queen Elizabeth II, will eventually die, and...
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Was Christine Chubuck a symbol of her times, our times—or neither?
Christine stars Rebecca Hall as the Florida journalist who shot herself on the air. On July 15, 1974, as President Nixon was being driven from office, a 29-year-old TV journalist in Sarasota, Florida,...
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Estereo dances to a Latin beat in Logan Square
The Heisler Hospitality spot is a cafe by day, and by night a bustling bar focused on Latin American spirits. Chicago's diagonal streets mean that the city has a fair share of oddly shaped...
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Old Irving Brewing will ease your postelection pain
Trevor Rose-Hamblin’s beer and Matthias Merges’s food could fuel the revolution—or at least spirited talk of one. It's a struggle in the wake of the election to write about a new brewpub in a way that...
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Bad Hunter is mostly meatless but missing nothing
At Heisler Hospitality’s latest, Dan Snowden’s vegetable-forward menu is no joke. Along with gun racks and truck nuts, in certain parts of the country there's a bumper sticker prevalent on rusty...
View ArticleSeasons isn't just a nature documentary, it's an endless series of power...
The latest feature from the makers of Winged Migration spans 20,000 years of natural history. Nature documentaries may be plentiful on cable TV, but they rarely connect at the box office—March of the...
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Manchester by the Sea is a study in grief, guilt, and responsibility
Casey Affleck stars as a man buckling under the weight of his traumatic past. This review contains spoilers. The three films written and directed by Kenneth Lonergan—You Can Count on Me (2000),...
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A former Schwa chef delivers audacious fine dining at Entente
Brian Fisher upends expectations in an unlikely spot: Lakeview. I approached Entente, a new "casual fine dining" restaurant from Arami owner Ty Fujimara, with a bit of trepidation. With a website...
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Crisis comes to the megachurch in Steppenwolf’s The Christians
Lucas Hnath’s gospel-infused drama addresses religious faith in unconventional form. Lucas Hnath's intriguing 2014 drama The Christians, now receiving its Chicago premiere in a finely acted production...
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