Film – Page 3 – ROBERT LOERZEL

The 10 best Chicago documentaries

Photo: Kartemquin Films

Chicago magazine, February 2015 — Life Itself, Steve James’s tribute to Roger Ebert, comes out on DVD February 17, a good excuse to catch up on other great Chicago documentaries. Read more in Chicago magazine. Photo: Kartemquin Films

Best of 2014

My favorites of 2014, posted on my blog, Underground Bee: — Records — Concerts — Films

Christian Marclay’s ‘The Clock’

The Huffington Post, September 2, 2014 — Dear Chicago museums and galleries: Would one of you please show “The Clock”? … Read my blog post at The Huffington Post or at Underground Bee.

How a documentary captured Roger Ebert’s last months

Roger Ebert in his home office, 2005. Photo by Anna Knott.

Chicago magazine, July 2014 — The movie critic became the star in Steve James’s adaptation of Ebert’s Life Itself memoir—a film that celebrated Ebert’s life, and unexpectedly showed its end. Read my story in Chicago magazine. Photo by Anna Knott

11 Questions for Harold Ramis

Chicago magazine, February 24, 2014 — In 2008, before the release of Year One, Ramis talked about working with Bill Murray, filming in Chicago, and how religion shaped his “Buddish” philosophy. Read my interview in Chicago magazine. Photo: Second City

‘The Master’ in 70 mm at the Music Box

The Huffington Post, August 22, 2012 — Paul Thomas Anderson’s highly anticipated film The Master is peculiar and puzzling. The main characters are unlikable, even repellant, and somewhat opaque. Read my review at the Huffington Post.

Steve James and Alex Kotlowitz discuss ‘The Interrupters’

This article by Robert Loerzel originally appeared in Pioneer Press on August 11, 2011. Steve James and Alex Kotlowitz live just a few blocks from each other in Oak Park. Both have been acclaimed for their heartfelt, thoughtful portrayals of people coping with problems such as poverty and crime. James portrays his subjects in documentary… Continue reading Steve James and Alex Kotlowitz discuss ‘The Interrupters’

A man with a gun: A primer on John Dillinger

Chicago magazine, July 2009 — Just in time for the Chicago-filmed movie Public Enemies, out July 1st, here’s a primer on the real life of John Dillinger, according to his biographer Bryan Burrough and other historians. Read my story in Chicago magazine.

Rocking to Warhol films at the MCA

The Huffington Post, April 13, 2009 — Andy Warhol’s films raise the question of what exactly you’re supposed to do with them. Are they regular “films” meant to be seen in a movie theater? Or some other sort of art? Read my blog post at the Huffington Post or Underground Bee. Photo by Robert Loerzel

DVD review: ‘Film Noir Collection Vol. 4’

This review by Robert Loerzel originally appeared in Pioneer Press. THE FILM NOIR CLASSIC COLLECTION VOL. 4 ***½ The 12 black-and-white crime movies in this set from Warner are fairly obscure, other than Nicholas Ray’s stirring 1948 classic, “They Live By Night,” starring Farley Granger and Cathy O’Donnell as doomed lovers on the run. Also… Continue reading DVD review: ‘Film Noir Collection Vol. 4’