I'm often able to squeeze in a dozen or more films in the last couple weeks of December - mostly stuff that others have told me is worth checking out that I either missed when it came out in Chicago or titles that simply never came out locally. I hope you dig the list and that it gives you some ideas for purchases, streaming, rentals, and most importantly, going to the theater and checking them out on the big screen (a few of these are still in theaters). I saw a lot of good movies this year, so condensing this to 15 was not easy...
Read moreCREED Movie Review: A Love Letter
When we first meet Adonis Johnson in 1998, he’s serving time in juvenile detention. He is coiled rage, ready to strike, fists gripped tight. No one can get through to him – at least, until Mary Anne Creed (a returning Phylicia Rashad) comes into his cell and drops a bit of familial truth on him. Adonis’s fists slowly unclench, and his eyes grow wide. “What was his name?” he asks, and we smash cut to the title. At that point, Ryan Coogler’s CREED owned me.
Read more'It Follows' Film Review
It Follows – from writer/director David Robert Mitchell (The Myth of the American Sleepover) – arrives riding a wave of buzz from various festival showings and a strong box office turnout during its limited release. It will almost certainly go down as one of the creepier, stylish, and overall better offerings from the horror genre realized in 2015 (despite some faults) – and it shows that Mitchell belongs next to Adam Wingard (You’re Next), on the list of talented indie film storytellers lending their skills to the genre today...
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