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Review: The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat Chronicles Three Friends Over Decades and Through Years of Tribulations and Triumph
Based on the best-selling 2013 novel by Edward Kelsey Moore (adapted by Cee Marcellus, which is actually a pen name for Gina Prince-Bythewood, with revisions by director Tina Mabry), The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat follows the lives of three best friends growing up in Plainview, Indiana, from the late 1960s until the early 2010s. There isn’t a singular storyline that takes us through events. Instead, the things simply bounce among the three women and between the two time periods bookending the film.
Quick Spins: Charly Bliss and Psymon Spine
Quick Spins takes a quick look at recently released albums to make certain you're listening to all the quality music being released these days. It's hard to believe I've been following Charly Bliss for almost a decade now, and for most of that time they were a raucous group, heavy guitars delivering sprightly melodies over the lockstep bounce of bass and drums, topped off by Eva Hendricks's powerful vocals. On their latest album, FOREVER, the band switches things up, kind of.
Review: Unknown Mortal Orchestra Was All About the Vibes at Outset
“I'm not trying to get you on the first listen, at all.” This is the ethos of Ruban Nielson, frontman and principal architect of psychedelic rock outfit Unknown Mortal Orchestra. The Portland band plays groovy but blurry rock music blending disparate influences into a trademark sound that’s instantly recognizable to anyone familiar.
Your Chicago Curated Weekend: 8/22 and Beyond
We're inching our way to the end of the month! For a lot of people this is the last weekend of summer, so why not make it a fun one with some incredible concerts, festivals, movies, and so much more!. Now, let's get on with your Chicago Curated Weekend!. ART...
Review: At Invictus Theatre, Network, the Paddy Chayefsky 1970s Masterpiece, Demands We Pay Attention
You’ll want to arrive early if you have a ticket for Network—because the show actually begins 30 minutes before “curtain time.” That traditional convention of naming the hour at which the play begins is suitable here, for Network at Invictus Theatre is set 50 years in the past. Although its source is our media history, its ideas and anticipation of reality-based programming are relevant today in the age of the internet. The play itself demands your attention throughout as well; it’s the story of a public figure—a TV news host—gone mad with grief and anger.
Review: The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Jonathan Rush, and Rachel Barton Pine—Musicianship at Its Finest at Ravinia
Under the lively leadership of Jonathan Rush, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra completed a residency at Ravinia in an amazing fashion on Sunday evening. Joined by violinist Rachel Barton Pine, the CSO demonstrated musicianship at its finest in performing a program of music from the middle of the 19th century. Violinist...
The Thing: Carne Asada Tacos at Taqueria El Asadero
The people who know me best are well aware that rules are very much meant to be woven around, leaped over, and blatantly ignored. My parents really enjoyed my teen years. Even my eating habits, which on the surface seem strict and oftentimes tiresome, can be fully abandoned by someone making something yummy with a forbidden ingredient. I see you, Spam. Taqueria El Asadero’s claim to fame, the carne asada taco, is one of those items that had to be tasted and couldn’t be substituted with beans for the same effect. Despite having a personal extreme limit on red meats, especially if procured from unknown sources where I can’t be lulled into thinking I’m not destroying my body and also the environment, I went for it. And as usual, rules truly were meant to be broken.
Review: The Marías’ New Era Makes a Splash at the Salt Shed
It came as no surprise when The Marías show was moved from inside the shed to the larger fairgrounds at Chicago’s beloved Salt Shed this past Tuesday evening due to the overwhelming demand for tickets. The Los Angeles-based indie-pop band has vastly ascended in popularity and they do not seem like they are finished. Since the release of their 2021 Grammy-nominated debut album, CINEMA, they have collaborated with Latin superstar Bad Bunny on his track “Otro Atardecer” and have released their much-anticipated sophomore album, Submarine. Considering all of these factors; the anticipation for the Marías show was far and wide in Chicago! They are also known for performing songs in both English and Spanish, which drew in a large chunk of Chicago’s diverse and devoted Latin community for a beautiful evening of divine tunes; getting to hear lead singer María Zardoya serenade us as the cityscape shimmered in the background.
Review: The Souped-up Car Is the Star of Back to the Future at the Cadillac Palace
During the lazy days of summer, who wants to see a depressing show that reminds you of all your troubles? Nobody. Instead, you just want to sit back and be entertained, right? And the national tour of Back to the Future is just the ticket. If you’ve run out of things for your kids to do this summer, this would be an excellent end-of-summer treat. The multi-million-dollar production has sass, spectacular special effects, fantastic dancers, sets galore, funny villains and all the ingredients of a show that the whole family will love. Broadway in Chicago brings the tour to the Cadillac Palace Theatre this week; it continues through the next three weeks.
Know Your Rights! Protesting at the DNC? Here’s What You Need to Know
Chicago is welcoming delegates, media, and guests for the 2024 Democratic National Convention this week. The city will also be welcoming protestors. If you are protesting, or if one of your friends or relatives will be, here's some info to help you protect yourself, according to the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois.
Review: At Times Difficult to Watch, Sugarcane, Chronicling Systemic Abuse at Canada’s Residential Schools, Is Essential Viewing
Plenty of movies are meant to be an escape, a fleeting couple hours' entertainment featuring superheroes or meet-cutes or triumphant protagonist's journeys. In the world of documentaries, escapism is hard to come by, as these films hold a mirror up to real-life circumstances and reflect back to us any number of realities, including lives lived in the spotlight, new historical discoveries or a particular moment in time as it happens.
On the Road: Sun Valley Music Festival Offers Community, Camaraderie, and … Great Music
Following an amazing performance of Mahler’s 6th Symphony on Sunday night, the Sun Valley Music Festival continued to offer wonderful musical experiences. Even when performances were not the best, the festival’s community vibe and camaraderie create an excellent milieu to hear great music. Now in its 40th season,...
Review: Alien: Romulus Revives a Classic Franchise with a Fast-Paced, Beautifully Violent, Lived-In New Story
Set 20 years after the original Ridley Scott-directed Alien, Alien: Romulus centers on a much younger but no less grungy group of characters who escape their mining colony home/prison planet in a stolen ship. Together, they head into space where there is a space station they believe has cryo-tubes that will freeze them for long enough to make the exceedingly long journey to a more habitable and far sunnier world. At the center of this adventure is a young miner named Rain (Cailee Spaeny, Priscilla, Civil War) and her synthetic human Andy (the remarkable David Jonsson, Rye Lane), whom she calls her brother when in fact her father reprogrammed the synthetic to have one mission: to look out for Rain no matter what. And it’s their ever-shifting relationship that keeps this movie moving and breathing and soaring to extraordinary heights.
Review: Elliot Page Stars in Close to You, a Personal and Touching Story of Family and Change
Although the film isn’t meant to be autobiographical, it probably comes as no surprise that Close to You star/producer Elliot Page has a “Story by” credit for this small and delicate tale of a transgender man named Sam (Page), who takes the journey from his life in Toronto to his hometown of Lake Ontario on the occasion of his father’s birthday. Sam is happy, doing reasonably well, living in a rented room in a friend’s house, but he hasn’t been home in nearly five years. We don’t get a sense that there was some big blowup when Sam came out or that anyone in his family rejected him, but it is clear that Sam had been in a lot of pain leading up to that moment and needed a change of venue to start the next part of his life.
Calling All Comic Fans and Marvel Mavens—Fan Expo Chicago Starts Today!
It's that time of year again! Convention season kicks off with C2E2 but of course doesn't stop there. Fan Expo Chicago kicks off in just a few hours over in Rosemont and if you haven't been since the pandemic, you might want to change that, as the guest list for this year's show is absolutely packed with celebs, artists and voice actors from just about every franchise on Earth.
Review: Elizabeth Banks Stars in Skincare, a Beauty-Industry Thriller That’s Barely Skin Deep
Feeling more like a well-made TV movie of the week than an actual big-screen film, Skincare is the feature debut by director Austin Peters (a popular music video director, who helmed the great doc Give Me Future). The film is a fictionalized account of a true story about skincare specialist Hope Goldman (Elizabeth Banks), who is on the verge of launching her new line of personal products with the help of some of her high-profile clients and the beauty industry press. When we meet her, she’s being interviewed by a local morning talk show (Nathan Fillion plays the male host) for a piece that Hope believes will send her business to the next level. But when a rival skincare boutique, operated by Angel Vergara (Luis Gerardo Méndez), opens directly across from her store, things in Hope’s life begin to fall apart, and she begins to suspect that the two things are connected.
Review: Rachel Bloom Does a Song and Dance with Death, Let Me Do My Show
When bad things like a pandemic cause me to despair, I try to find a logical explanation, remember that heroes appear in unusual situations, and know there is a deeper spiritual meaning to be scraped out of the despair. Thank the cosmos that Rachel Bloom calls bullshit on all of it in Death, Let Me Do My Show. This is 90 minutes of Bloom saying and singing the truth in a delightfully raunchy kick-in-the-ass surreal musical show. Seth Barrish directs with a crisp economy of staging that does not upstage the performance.
Your Chicago Curated Weekend: 8/15 and Beyond
It's another fantastic weekend in August! So start planning your weekend with some incredible concerts, festivals, movies, and so much more! Plus don't forget to check out our roundup of Live Lit events including Poems While You Wait at Retro on Roscoe!. Now, let's get on with your Chicago Curated...
Review: Dance for Life Fills the Auditorium Theatre with Exuberance, Love and Life
Summer weekends are always an adventure in Chicago. Last weekend was the Air and Water Show, Bud Billiken Parade, White Sox vs the Cubs, and several neighborhood festivals. The best place to be was the Auditorium Theatre watching 10 troupes of dance professionals take flight in Dance for Life, benefiting the Chicago Dance Health Fund.
Review: An Intimate Evening with Wild Nothing at Thalia Hall
After a busy Lollapalooza weekend and various after shows hosted by Thalia Hall, dream-pop pioneer Jack Tatum better known as Wild Nothing was the perfect calm after the storm at Thalia Hall this past Monday night. Tatum ventured to Chicago in support of his latest self-produced project, Hold for one of his first stops on tour. This is his first release in 5 years and the wait was totally worth it to say the least! His latest LP features abundant synths and lyrics that are as infectious and catchy as any other great modern pop record. I’ve seen ample amounts of artists nowadays attempt synths and it’s either hit or miss but Tatum hits the bullseye with Hold. Though the back of the room was rather vacant more than likely due to Lollapalooza fatigue; that did not stop Wild Nothing from putting on what was one of the best shows I have attended this year!
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