Film

Another special screening of Nick Offerman's "Somebody Up There Likes Me" has been added to the Music Box's schedule this weekend. There will now be a 5:15 p.m. Saturday after which Offerman will conduct a question-and-answer session. Offerman will be present for four other special showing, but the Saturday shows are sold out. Tickets for tonight's shows are going quickly, so buy them now at musicboxtheatre.com. Tickets cost $10. There will be screenings of the film at the Music Box without Offerman present until March 14. Want more?

***1/2 (out of four) Many people will recognize themselves, or someone they know, in “Frances Ha” - though there may be an even split between those who specifically recommend the film to the people who would most appreciate it and those who merely say to a third party, “Oh, man. This totally reminds me of [fill in name]. But I'd never tell her that.” Passive-aggressive and expertly generational, “Frances Ha” is either hilarious or devastating, and probably both.

Less than a month after the murder of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin received national attention last year, 22-year-old Rekia Boyd was shot and killed by an off-duty police officer on Chicago's West Side. Boyd's death last March incited little outcry in Chicago, which saw 52 murders alone the month she was killed. Unhappy with the lack of media attention surrounding Boyd's case, investigative filmmaker Keith Beauchamp decided to include her case in his documentary "The Injustice Files: Hood of Suspicion" for his Investigation Discovery network show.

Remember when there were free movies shown in Grant Park each summer? Remember how bummed you were when that series went away? Well, good news: The offices of the mayor and cultural affairs announced today that a new, free film series will begin June 18 in Millennium Park, kicking off with a tribute to late, Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic Roger Ebert and a screening of the Oscar-winning musical "Chicago. " But wait! You actually don't have to wait that long. While June 18 is the "official" beginning to the series, the 1981 Muddy Waters/Rolling Stones performnace at the...

For national audiences, stars Olivia Wilde ("House") and Jake Johnson ("The New Girl") are the two biggest reasons to see "Drinking Buddies. " But Chicagoans will want to see it to support its two local stars - Revolution and Three Floyds breweries. Both breweries have roles - one on-screen, one behind-the-scenes - in the film, which was directed by Chicago filmmaker Joe Swanberg and will debut at Austin's South by Southwest festival in March. The film follows the relationship between Kate (Wilde)

**1/2 (out of four) To an extent, any look behind the scenes of the adult film industry carries with it a certain level of judgment. You don't often see a documentary about finance that asks white-collar types, “So, how did you wind up in a place like this ordinary office building?” Obviously, acting in films whose names I can't print here involves a different routine than the usual 9-to-5. At the end of the day, though, it's both a cliche and a generally unrecognized fact that the men and, more...

When the Wachowski's (architects of The Matrix Trilogy ) set out to adapt David Mitchell 's brain-bending sci-fi novel CLOUD ATLAS for the big screen, I'm sure there were many who thought it couldn't be done. In fact, during one of the behind-the-scenes featurettes on the recent Blu-Ray/DVD release of the film, they admit to having their doubts at times. But after viewing the film in the comfort of my own home, with the leisure pace allowed by the home theater experience, I would attest that they succeeded in creating a...

Once in a while, a movie slips under your radar. For about, oh, 20 years. In 'Big-screen blind spot,' we sit down with those 'classic' movies everybody but us has seen and give them the nostalgia critic treatment. Confession: Until last night, I had never seen “Lost In Translation,” the Sophia Coppola-helmed Bill Murray/Scarlett Johansson vehicle about loneliness, longing and Japan. Had I watched it in 2003 at the age of 18: As a freshman in college, my key focuses were consuming alarming amounts of Southern Comfort, sex, “Madden NFL” and...

"Uh, I just watched #TheDarkKnightRises trailer, and I feel like my erection might be visible from space. " Or so I tweeted from the dazed fugue state I found myself in following the two minutes and change I spent at the height of guy-movie arousal for Christopher Nolan's third (and final?) Batman movie. Yes, feel free to make your clever joke about how the "visibility" would have to rely on Pentagon spy satellites that can count the hairs on the beards of Taliban fighters - whatever!

Halle Berry and Olivier Martinez fell in love while swimming with sharks on the set of "Dark Tide. " Now fans can see the shark flick with Video on Demand before it hits theaters. If you have cable or dish-TV service, you can order "Dark Tide" through the VOD service and watch it beginning Thursday. The film will be released in select theaters March 30 and on DVD April 24. In the film, Berry plays Kate Mathieson, a shark expert once called "the shark whisperer" who is haunted by a client's fatal encounter with a Great White.

When the Wachowski's (architects of The Matrix Trilogy ) set out to adapt David Mitchell 's brain-bending sci-fi novel CLOUD ATLAS for the big screen, I'm sure there were many who thought it couldn't be done. In fact, during one of the behind-the-scenes featurettes on the recent Blu-Ray/DVD release of the film, they admit to having their doubts at times. But after viewing the film in the comfort of my own home, with the leisure pace allowed by the home theater experience, I would attest that they succeeded in creating a film as complex and compelling as the book...

It's only been two years since Anahita Ghazvinizadeh moved from Iran to the U.S. to pursue a film-focused master's in studio art at the School of the Art Institute Chicago, but the 23-year-old filmmaker already has racked up a nomination for the Cannes Film Festival's prestigious Cinéfondation Prize. “I was really surprised and very happy,” Ghazvinizadeh said. “We worked really hard on this film, but I wasn't expecting that it would get into a great festival like Cannes.” Ghazvinizadeh's 21-minute short film, “Needle,” the story of a...

** (out of four) No, the Italian-set Danish romantic comedy “Love Is All You Need” has nothing to do with The Beatles' “All You Need Is Love.” Based on the movie's low quantity of romance, it may as well be called “The Walrus I Am.” Pierce Brosnan stars as Phillip, a workaholic so closed off in the years since his wife passed away that he actually says, “I'm the guy who's chosen to be by himself.” In an airport parking lot,...

Yesterday at 11:30 a.m. I knew the following about Farrah Abraham: 1. She had a child at a young age. 2. That child helped her snag a role as a featured person on MTV's "Teen Mom," a show a lot of women I know watch to make themselves feel better about their own lives. 3. Her name is Farrah Abraham. Last night, that all changed with my viewing of "Farrah Superstar: Backdoor Teen Mom. " The celebrity sex tape game is nothing new. You can make a direct argument that it's the sole reason the Kardashian family is the omnipresent monolith that it is today.

**1/2 (out of four) To an extent, any look behind the scenes of the adult film industry carries with it a certain level of judgment. You don't often see a documentary about finance that asks white-collar types, “So, how did you wind up in a place like this ordinary office building?” Obviously, acting in films whose names I can't print here involves a different routine than the usual 9-to-5. At the end of the day, though, it's both a cliche and a generally unrecognized fact that the men and,...

*** (out of four) If your Spanish is rusty, yes, that title translates to “Snow White.” Yet even if you raise your hand when someone asks, “Who's tired of the recent wave of reimagined fairy tales?” - I raise both of mine - there's reason “Blancanieves” doesn't land on the pile of tired revamps along with “Red Riding Hood,” “Mirror Mirror” and “Jack the Giant Slayer.” Right off the bat, of course, this Spanish-language spin on the brothers Grimm's fairy tale arrives silently, in black and white,...

I have to admit that I'm a late-comer to "Hunger Games. " Honestly, I didn't have any interest in the books or the film adaptation that was being made of them. A geek only has so much time for reading and going to the movies, and my plate was already full. And after all the hype leading up to the release of the motion picture, I thought I'd inoculated myself from being drawn into the mania that was consuming the sci-fi series' fandom. Regardless, I found myself attending a Friday night showing at my local Cineplex.  Hey, when your date says she wants to go see Hunger Games on opening night, you go....

Show of hands please...how many of you were clamoring for a Men In Black sequel? I mean, it's been ten years since we last saw Agent J ( Will Smith ) and Agent K ( Tommy Lee Jones ) together at the cinema, so somebody had to be begging for this latest installment of thesci-fi franchise. Was it you? Yeah YOU. No...I'm not talking to that dude behind you...I'm talking to YOU. Well, I hope you're pleased with what you got for all your trouble, because MiB3 is a real mixed bag of good ideas and poor execution.

**1/2 (out of four) “42,” the almost automatically inspirational account of Jackie Robinson's entrance to major league baseball in the late 1940s, wastes no time trumpeting its story's rousing power. “I'm gonna bring a Negro ballplayer to the Brooklyn Dodgers,” team president Branch Rickey (Harrison Ford, funny) grumbles right off the, uh, bat. “Have you lost your mind?” his assistant responds, oblivious to the persistently hopeful music that dots the movie's score.

For as long as I can remember following movies, I remember following Roger Ebert. I remember looking forward to watching every episode of “Siskel & Ebert” as a kid. I remember the “Siskel & Ebert” episode of “The Critic,” a show that wouldn't have existed without Ebert and his friend from the Tribune, Gene Siskel. I remember being a student and film critic at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign - the alma mater of the Urbana native and Chicago Sun-Times critic, who died Thursday at the age of 70 - and conducting an...