“The People’s Joker” director Vera Drew also stars as a frustrated trans comedian who takes on an alter ego. Altered Innocence As much as I’ve admired many a modern-era superhero movie over the last two decades, some of the more middling efforts are plagued by a sense-dulling sameness, whether it’s yet another by-the-numbers-origin story or one more assemblage of a team to locate the Shiny Glowing Powerful Thingee that gives control of the universe to whoever can harness its power. There is not a single frame in director, co-writer and star Vera Drew’s magnificently subversive, wildly in ..read more

Bill Skarsgård plays a mute man whose inner voice is provided by H. Jon Benjamin in “Boy Kills World.” Roadside Attractions We have a bona fide contender for Most Violent Film of the Year in the admirably bonkers but ultimately tedious “Boy Kills World,” with Bill Skarsgård (aka Pennywise from the “It” movies) looking as if he’s borrowed his brother Alexander’s training regimen to transform himself into a sleek and muscled mayhem machine who can take you out with his fists, his feet, any number of weapons and even a common kitchen utensil. There’s no denying the “John Wick”-type artistry ..read more

Christine Sherrill (as Donna Sheridan, center) and the company of “Mamma Mia!” Joan Marcus Theater The Broadway-bound musical comedy “Death Becomes Her” is an adaptation of the 1992 movie of the same title, about a popular actress (Megan Hilty) and her best frenemy, a long-suffering author (Jennifer Simard) who lives in her shadow. All-out war breaks out when the former steals the latter’s husband (Christopher Sieber); their world is turned upside down even more by a mysterious woman (Michelle Williams) with a magical potion that restores youth and beauty. Features a score by Julia Matt ..read more

Naomi (Vanessa Hudgens, left) invites newcomer Julia (Lily Rabe) out to the bar in “Downtown Owl.” Stage 6 Films Let’s talk about the high school football team in the disjointed and tonally uncertain Americana period piece “Downtown Owl,” an adaptation of the 2008 debut novel by the cool and acclaimed pop culture essayist and author Chuck Klosterman. By my count, we see a maximum of eight players in a practice sequence, even fewer in a locker room scene. Granted, we’re not talking about “Friday Night Lights” or “Rudy” here — this isn’t a football movie — but even for a low-budget, indie ..read more

Actors Mahmoud Bakri (center) and Muhammed Abed El Rahman (right) from a scene in Farah Nabulsi’s film “The Teacher.” Nabulsi will be in town later this month for a screening of the film at the Chicago Palestine Film Festival, which kicked off Saturday and continues until May 4. This is the 23rd year the festival has been held. Provided Nick Leffel didn't know who he was for most of his life. He's still not completely sure, although he's been getting closer to finding out. Olive-complected with coarse black hair, he ruled out being 100% white like his "all-American" adoptive parents whil ..read more

An outrider intercepts Havnameltdown after the horse lost its rider and suffered a catastrophic leg injury during a race leading up to the 2023 Preakness Stakes in Baltimore. The horse later was euthanized. Jerry Jackson/The Baltimore Sun via AP When a horse goes down in the middle of the track and a team rushes out with a black or blue tarp to block our view, it’s almost a sure sign all hope is lost. In all likelihood, the horse is about to euthanized. We see the heartbreaking images of a number of these beautiful animals collapsing on racetracks, the jockeys falling alongside them or b ..read more

“Stony Island” director Andrew Davis discusses the Chicago-made film on Thursday at Ebertfest in Champaign. Timothy Hiatt/Ebertfest CHAMPAIGN — Ebertfest, now under way in Urbana-Champaign, began 25 years ago as Roger Ebert’s Overlooked Film Festival, a chance to bring audiences into the critic's hometown to see movies he thought deserved another look. While the festival does include the occasional premiere, its focus has always been films that Ebert described as “empathy machines,” the movies that tell stories that enlarge our understanding of human lives. One premiere this year is “Alb ..read more

The little girl (Alisha Weir) abducted by kidnappers turns out to have an ancient vampire trapped inside her in “Abigail.” Universal Pictures We’ve been told the gooey, gory, gross and grating comedy/horror film “Abigail” is a reimagining of the 1936 Universal Classic Monsters film “Dracula’s Daughter” and it does contain a few basic elements of that film. Mostly, though, as directed by the Radio Silence Productions duo of Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, it plays like a spiritual sequel to their far superior 2019 slapstick gore-fest “Ready or Not,” with echoes of “The Usual Susp ..read more

Henry Cavill plays a British officer who assembles an off-the-books naval attack squad in “The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare.” Lionsgate We’re told Guy Ritchie’s slam-bang WWII thriller “The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare” is “based on recently declassified files of the British War Department, and inspired by true events,” and there’s further confirmation of that when we see black-and-white photos of the real-life heroes portrayed in the story. All well and terrific. Still, I’m going to go out on a particularly sturdy limb and guess that the actual ultra-secret combat group brough ..read more

Stephen Colbert announces his Chicago plans on Wednesday’s episode of “The Late Show.” CBS Stephen Colbert is taking his "Late Show" out of its storied New York theater for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic, and Chicago is where he'll be going. The host will announce on Wednesday's episode that during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, he'll be making his Aug. 19-22 episodes at the Auditorium Theatre, 50 East Ida B. Wells Dr. "I lived in Chicago for 11 years and it holds a special place in my heart, and not just because of all the Polish sausage that’s still lodged i ..read more