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Listings for Friday, October 10, through Thursday, October 16, 2008
The Express
Rob Brown (Stop-Loss) gives a graceful, understated performance as Ernie Davis, the astonishing Syracuse University running back who gave the civil rights movement a shot in the arm in 1961 when he became the first African-American to win the Heisman Trophy. Dennis Quaid provides him with an excellent foil as barking coach Ben Schwartzwalder, director Gary Fleder (Kiss the Girls) does an end run around the genre's cliches, and cinematographer Kramer Morgenthau plays with desaturated color and highlights for a rich period feel. With Charles S. Dutton and Darrin Dewitt Henson. PG, 128 min.
-- Andrea Gronvall
This movie is currently playing at:
Century 12 and CineArts 6
| Chatham 14
| Cicero ShowPlace 14
| City North 14
| Crown Village 18
| Ford City
| Lake
| Niles ShowPlace 12
| Norridge
| River East 21
| ShowPlace 14 Galewood Crossings
| 600 N. Michigan
Rachel Getting Married
Rachel (Rosemarie DeWitt) may be getting married, but to her irritation all eyes are on her car crash of a sister (Anne Hathaway), who's been temporarily released from a drug treatment facility to attend the nuptials. Their sibling rivalry is only the tip of the iceberg, and as the weekend progresses, the waters recede to reveal a family broken by tragedy, grief, and bitter recrimination. Alternately funny and gripping, this feature marks a welcome return to original drama for director Jonathan Demme, who's spent the last decade preoccupied with documentaries (The Agronomist, Jimmy Carter: Man From Plains), concert movies (Neil Young: Heart of Gold, Storefront Hitchcock), and remakes (The Manchurian Candidate, The Truth About Charlie). It's not a terribly disciplined exercise—the rehearsal dinner and wedding ceremony go on so long I felt like I was watching The Deer Hunter—but the performances are outstanding, especially Hathaway's and Debra Winger's in a small but devastating turn as her chilly, resentful mother. R, 113 min. -- J.R. Jones
This movie is currently playing at:
Century 12 and CineArts 6
| Landmark's Century Centre
| Renaissance Place
Films and videos by Phil Solomon
Phil Solomon was a longtime associate of and collaborator with the late Stan Brakhage, but he has a vision all his own, which will be on view in three different programs he'll attend this Thursday through Saturday, October 9 through 11. Solomon's best known pieces are showing at the University of Chicago Film Studies Center: in The Secret Garden (1988), imagery is abstracted into shards of light that combine with a pulsing energy notably different from Brakhage's more organic rhythms, and in Twilight Psalm II: Walking Distance (1999), dots of light on a black field swirl ecstatically, playing at the edge of chaos. Rehearsals for Retirement (2007), screening at U. of C. and the Gene Siskel Film Center, reworks images from the video game Grand Theft Auto into a dissolving dreamscape as affecting as a romantic ballad. At the Nightingale, Solomon will present some of Brakhage's work, including his terrifying Chartres Series (1994), and some of their collaborations, including Seasons . . ., in which Brakhage's painted imagery is effectively organized by Solomon's jagged, jittery rhythms. -- Fred Camper
This movie is currently playing at:
Nightingale
| Univ. of Chicago Film Studies Center
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