Michael Phillips

My colleague is so right. The prospect of spending even a second being an uncredited unpaid story contributor to an AI collection of other people's ideas: not good.

‘Weapons’ review: The kids aren’t all right, but the movie works like a fiendish charm A missing children mystery collides with horror and, yes, humor, in “Barbarians” filmmaker Zach Cregger’s absorbing “Weapons.”

'Weapons' review: Some of the tonal change-ups may give you whiplash, but it's clever, well-acted and pretty gripping. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/08/07/w...

‘Freakier Friday’ review: A multiplied Disney reboot for the age of anxiety Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan are two of many repeat players in “Freakier Friday,” and that’s good news. The script, less so.

"Is it fun? Almost? Kind of? Yes. Almost, and kind of. But there is a strain to it all. Doubling the bodies swapped ends up feeling like six times the chaos, not two: 'Cheaper by the Dozen' with a side of 'The Parent Trap.'” www.chicagotribune.com/2025/08/06/f...

Siskel Center director Rebecca Fons is hired away by London’s Barbican Centre Rebecca Fons, the director of programming at the Siskel Film Center in Chicago since 2021, is the new head of cinema for London’s multidisciplinary Barbican Centre, effective Sept. 1.

Iowa's own Rebecca Fons is now Chicago's loss: The Siskel Film Centerprogramming director heads for London in September to become Head of Cinema for the Barbican Centre. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/07/28/s...

Colbert is a brilliant comedian, great interviewer & w good person. He has a million places in this new age to take his talents, be widely heard and make $$$. I hope he will.What is beyond rescue is much of the legacy media making decisions that will haunt them & their business for decades to come.

‘Superman’ review: This latest reboot opens strong, and that dog Krypto’s a pip Besides a very good dog named Krypto, James Gunn’s “Superman” gives us a five-star Lois Lane thanks to Rachel Brosnahan.

The Gunn conundrum continues with "Superman," one hour of which has and is a pretty good time, followed by a second hour fighting its own endless beat-downs that may still be going on. On the other hand: Krypto! And Rachel Brosnahan! www.chicagotribune.com/2025/07/09/s...

‘Familiar Touch’ review: A coming-of-old-age story, compassionate and clear-eyed The writer-director Sarah Friedland and actress Kathleen Chalfant avoid every storytelling pitfall in a movie about a woman in a memory care facility.

An extremely good debut feature. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/06/27/f...

Column: Money and status aren’t everything. Try telling TV that. The preponderance of wealthaganda is odds with reality for most Americans. So what do these stories of status aim to do?

A-1 conversation between @ninametz.bsky.social and U Delaware Prof. Dominique J. Baker about TV's default wealthaganda impulse. Shows telling you money isn't everything love to say one thing while ogling another: www.chicagotribune.com/2025/06/18/c...

Column: How ‘Breaking Away’ helped a newbie cyclist conquer his inner critic Just when Tribune critic Michael Phillips thought his bike-packing weekend got the best of him, “Breaking Away” rode to the rescue.

Just got back from my first bikepacking excursion which KICKED MY ASS but in an instructive and lovely way. My column on how a 1979 charmer rolled out of the mists of time to assist. Particular thanks to Lisa Michurski and her fellow NY cyclists. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/06/19/c...

‘Ballerina’ review: Ana de Armas leads a bloody ‘John Wick’ spinoff Of course, it’s all fight scenes, which get tiresome. But Anjelica Huston plays a Russian mob boss in a moment worth waiting for.

'Ballerina''s most riveting action happens in the pause and then the delievery of Anjelica Huston's one-syllable exit line. Also, some of the mountain village adventure tourism, let's call it, has its charms. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/06/04/b...

Column: In a world of easily manipulated images, can movies retain their magic? The best cinematic trickery asks the question: Can you believe what you just saw? Problem is, the real world asks the same thing.

I talked to one of America's experts in image manipulation, about how an onslaught of real-world visual lies may be messing with our perception and enjoyment of movie fakery. Mine, anyway. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/06/05/c...

Going high or low? Film festivals ‘Summer Camp’ and ‘Bleak Week’ open on Sunday June is busting out all over, when Chicago’s Music Box hits you with “Cinema of Despair” and the Siskel Film Center goes to camp.

Two new mini-film festivals coming to Chicago, one faaaaaaaaabulously intense, the other a reminder that life has its downs, and its downs. Plus news on the @musicboxtheatre.bsky.social adding a third photoplay emporium! www.chicagotribune.com/2025/05/30/f...

Column: In the new ‘Mission: Impossible,’ Rolf Saxon is the secret weapon, a ‘coffee guy’ no more Three decades after his bit part got banished to the tundra, veteran actor Rolf Saxon returns to the “M:I” franchise, like a boss.

My interview with Rolf Saxon: Superstar, whose bit part in the first "Mission: Impossible" expands into a surprising piece of the "Final Reckoning" ensemble of world-savers. A narrative stroke of genius, and just desserts for Saxon. Gift link: www.chicagotribune.com/2025/05/27/c...

‘Final Destination: Bloodlines’ review: ‘Til Death does his part, with a comedian’s flair Sharp, well-acted, more an existential comedy of errors than conventional splurch, “Final Destination: Bloodlines” just plain works.

A droll, somewhat insanely grisly existential comedy of how not to deal with a universe out to get you. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/05/15/f...

‘Thunderbolts*’ review: Tormented superheroes in the first pretty-good Marvel movie in a while Florence Pugh leads a crew of scrappy misfits. It’s a familiar premise, “Suicide Squad” did the same thing, but here it works.

The 36th Marvel Cinematic Universe motion picture, if you give a rip. At least some of the violence comes at a price, unlike your average "Accountant" sequel. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/04/29/t...

The 4k digital restoration/remastering really takes you there. And "there" is Charles Burnett's "Killer of Sheep," one of the best theres there is. In Chicago at the Gene Siskel Film Center April 18-24. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/04/17/r...

‘Sinners’ review: In Ryan Coogler’s juicy mashup, a pair of Michael B. Jordans dance with the devil With “Sinners,” filmmaker Ryan Coogler creates a big, flawed, juicy blues folktale of Black enterprise vs. vampires, literal and figurative.

"Sinners" review here, via a gift link. The right, overstuffed, genre-mashed and wonderfully acted movie for 2025 America, where the only thing we have to fear is longer fear itself. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/04/15/s...

Trump administration revokes student visas from U. of C., Northwestern and U. of I. Over the past week, nearly 300 full-time international students across the country were informed that their visa status had been revoked.

...and a wave of Illinois students, scholars and political victims end a chapter of their lives with a unifying thought: To hell with America. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/04/09/t...

‘Misericordia’ review: A funeral mourner sparks a tiny French village’s erotic roundelay Under wraps or busting out all over, inconvenient yearning is everywhere in the films of Alain Guiraudie.  And like most of his characters, the French writer-director likes to keep his options open…

"Misericordia": If you want to see some choice actors finesse the latest disarming Alain Guiraudie argument for a little understanding--disguised as a "suspenseful sex mystery," as the poster tagline for Hitchcock's "Marnie" once said--well, go! www.chicagotribune.com/2025/03/31/m...

Review: ‘The Ballad of Wallis Island,’ where the right concert can change your life A reclusive lottery winner hires his favorite folk duo for a reunion concert. Love, music and laughs proceed from there. It all feels a little contrived at times, but it works.

I couldn't front-load a mention of "I Know Where I'm Going!" fast enough when writing about "The Ballad of Wallis Island," just to get one more person to discover it. "Wallis Island," meantime: amiable, slightly aggressive heartwarmer with some decent jokes. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/04/02/r...

‘Snow White’ review: It’s live-action and insurrection time for the apple of Disney’s eye The dwarfs look animatronic in Disney’s new “Snow White.” But the movie has its compensations, starting with Rachel Zegler.

The work of political resistance and anti-authoritarian insurrection is not easy. But like the song says: Whistle while you work! Gift link here. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/03/19/s...

I saw "Dog Day Afternoon," a key film of my teen years, the other night with a roomful of college students, most of them new to it. Here's how it played. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/03/06/d...

Column: 7 thoughts on the Oscars, including the how and why of ‘Anora’ Did “Wicked” deserve better? Did “Anora” deserve less? Has Adrien Brody gotten to the end of his Oscar acceptance speech yet?

Update: Adrien Brody's Oscar acceptance speech has entered its second day. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/03/03/c...

My worst-ever #Oscars prediction percentages, but v. v. v. glad for "Anora"'s big night. Long live independent film indeed. And movie theaters, somehow.

A brief eternity there, at the end of the "El Mal" original song acceptance speech. As Kristen Wiig's SNL Jazz Age party guest once said: "Don't make me sing."

"Wicked" winning things other movies should be winning, but...well, there is no but. #Oscars

A fantastic, long-ago #Oscars tradition, revived: The dance-driven James Bond production number! It's Connery Moore O'Clock all over again!

I'm two for three on the #Oscar predix. Good night, everybody!

My appreciation: Gene Hackman, and the loneliness of the long-distance actor www.chicagotribune.com/2025/02/27/i...

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