Movies I Watched This Week (2/17/25 - 2/23/25)
apes, dogs, bears, and skulls!
PRE-ROLL
what i’m learning is that I shouldn’t say “such and such post will be coming out in such and such time” because life just Happens and can throw things into semi-disarray. all to say, i’m almost finished with my Oscar Rankings and should be getting that out soon. certainly before this Sunday’s awards!
my thoughts on the Bad New Captain America movie for the Chicago Reader here.
some words from me on Joshua Oppenheimer’s THE END for Cine-File here.
still watching Traitors US. still losing my mind.
Mini Theater Review Corner!
FIRST FLOOR THEATER’S One Party Consent: this is a new play by Omer Abbas Salem, directed by Nadya Naumaan, performing at the Den in Wicker Park. i’ve always enjoyed Salem’s playwriting, oddball and laser-sharp in its commentary, here pointing their gaze on arts organizations and their frequent tokenization of marginalized artists. it’s a tight, two-scene, real-time piece (80 minutes! wowza!) that races by with style and agility, deftly performed by a wonderful trio of actors (the undeniable MVP being Stephanie Shum as the MFA grad student at the center of the narrative). part of me wondered if anyone outside of the world of theater or academics would get anything out of this play1, if its particular conversations read as too navel-gazey for anyone not intimately familiar with the worlds its puncturing. that’s not for me to decide, I guess. I recommend checking it out!
LOOKINGGLASS THEATRE COMPANY’S Circus Quixote: it was very fun to go back and see something about Lookingglass, who often produce some of the most aesthetically exciting physical theater in Chicago. Circus Quixote, alas, feels like a brilliant 90-100 minute show stretched out to a wandering 2 hours and 15 minutes, with most of the highlights of the piece not arriving til the second act. the team here hasn’t figured out what tone they should strike, too often wildly veering between clownish and sentimental modes of performance with no real strong way of tying them all together. some wonderful puppets though, I’ll give it that. if you can get a cheap ticket, check it out, why not.
THE MOVIES
BETTER MAN (2024, dir. Michael Gracey). rented on Fandango at Home
“without the ape, BETTER MAN would just be another boring musical biopic.” sure, and without Jack Nicholson, THE SHINING would be a dull boy. truly truly truly,Ii was all about Robbie Williams2’ surprisingly introspective and self-critical piece of biographical cinema, using the VFX to craft some undeniably powerful imagery alongside one of the most exciting pieces of motion capture performance I’ve seen in a major studio film in years. the “Rock DJ” number is marvelous, and honestly I’d argue this film has the best musical sequences of any film in 2024. a big step up for Gracey from THE GREATEST SHOWMAN, i’ll give him that. I had fun!
BABYGIRL (2024, dir. Halina Reijn). rented on Fandango at Home.
how Nicole Kidman didn’t get an Oscar nomination for this is beyond me, turning in some of the best work of her recent career. I think Reijn has made something (similar to Circus Quixote mentioned above!) that often shifts between modes of humor and self-seriousness that don’t necessarily serve the whole that well. but when it was playing around in the muck, I had a blast. again, supremely great Nicole Kidman performance. woof!
WHO KILLED TEDDY BEAR? (1965, dir. Joseph Cates). watched on Blu Ray.
for those looking for a great movie about how Everyone Is a Pervert, have I got the film for you! I recently got this lovely Cinematographe release (sight unseen!) and thank goodness, my gut paid off with this one. a really gorgeous and seedy noir about desire, loneliness, guilt, and voyeurism. some stellar black-and-white photography, some great footage of porno-theater-filled Times Square, and hey, it’s pre-Company Elaine Stritch! my favorite watch of the week.
GRAND THEFT HAMLET (2025, dir. Pinny Grylls & Sam Crane). streamed on MUBI.
pretty undeniable when its simply following the logic of its premise (a bunch of creatives try to stage Hamlet on Grand Theft Auto Online during early COVID lockdowns), kind of repetitive and listless whenever it wanders off anywhere else. I don’t need these folks to talk about why Hamlet is such a great play. I am fully aware of Why Hamlet Is Good. but yes, when you’re simply watching these bizarre video game characters recite Shakespeare while gunning down police, it’s a hoot.
anything good you watched this week? any good theater out there? what’s your favorite Robbie Williams song? hope you have a good week!
asking “who is this for?” is often one of the laziest questions one can pose about a piece of art, but in this instance, I found it worth asking. ↩
I left England right when Robbie Williams was really becoming The Guy, so before seeing this, I knew enough to know that he was a big deal, without really knowing too much about the guy. apparently he’s A Big Deal! ↩
