Entertainment Columns
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Disastrous Christmas reunion unfolds in BTE's funny, fast-paced 'Season's Greetings'Nov 23, 2022 4:30 pm - “Season's Greetings” - ★ ★ ★ The confrontations, confessions and trysts that occur over the course of an extended family holiday in Alan Ayckbourn's “Season's Greetings”...
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'Glass Onion' a spectacularly fun and mentally challenging sequelNov 23, 2022 5:00 am - “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” - ★ ★ ★ ½ “I need a great case!” declares Benoit Blanc, the bored and allegedly best detective in the entire world. On cue, he recei...
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Just as Spielberg's life story 'Fabelmans' finally starts rolling, it endsNov 23, 2022 5:00 am - “The Fabelmans” - ★ ★ ½ This should have been a real-life superhero origin movie with youthful stand-ins serving as early versions of Steven Spielberg before he evolved...
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'Devotion' a handsomely produced, anti-white savior dramaNov 22, 2022 5:00 am - “Devotion” - ★ ★ ★ Ever since I began writing about Hollywood's white savior syndrome in 1986, I have seen only one movie that rejected the genre's implicit white suprem...
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It's (holiday) show time: Suburban, city theaters rebound from the pandemic with a plethora of seasonal offeringsNov 20, 2022 6:30 am - If Christmas 2021 saw Chicago-area theaters beginning to rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic, Christmas 2022 suggests it's about complete, with many companies producing a...
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Spotlight: Buffalo Theatre Ensemble, Laugh Out Loud bring out the holiday humorNov 18, 2022 5:00 am - Holiday farce Buffalo Theatre Ensemble revives Alan Ayckbourn's farcical "Season's Greetings" about a dysfunctional family's disastrous holiday reunion. Mayhem ensues a...
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How former St. Charles mayor, Geneva lawyer joined forces for 'Just a Coupla Guys' podcastNov 18, 2022 5:00 am - After years of teaching business classes at St. Charles (East) High School and later serving as mayor of St. Charles from 2013 to 2021, Ray Rogina has built a reputation...
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Abundance of enthusiasm makes up for so-so material in Drury Lane's 'Elf- The Musical'Nov 17, 2022 10:00 pm - "Elf the Musical" -- ★ ★ ★ The four girls sitting in front of me Thursday night at Drury Lane Theatre's opening of “Elf - The Musical” were absolutely giddy during “Happ...
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On 'The Menu,' black comedy, conformity and death blend in a sumptuous cinematic stewNov 17, 2022 5:00 am - “The Menu” - ★ ★ ★ ★ By now, we can assume that the majority of America's film critics have exhausted all the truly clever, extremely good and moderately mediocre food ...
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'She Said' a fact-based journalism drama with a distinctive, strong feminine voiceNov 16, 2022 10:00 pm - “She Said” - ★ ★ ★ ★ Maria Schrader's “She Said” belongs among the top three fact-based journalism movies showcasing investigative reporters, but with a significant dif...