Michael Phillips
Michael Phillips is the Chicago Tribune film critic. He previously wrote about theater, movies, arts and culture for the Los Angeles Times and other outlets. He has taught cinema studies and arts journalism around the nation, guest-hosts Filmspotting" on Chicago Public Radio, and lives in Logan Square with his wife, children and, for now, dog."
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Top 10 movies of 2024: In a time of scoundrels, ‘Brutalist,’ ‘Challengers’ and the movie about the exotic dancer
The year's best films span the globe, including "Nickel Boys," "All We Imagine as Light" and that tennis movie.

‘Nightbitch’ review: Amy Adams goes feral in a cautionary tale of love and parental imbalance
When parenting tilts far enough to push you into canine territory? That's Marielle Heller's movie, delivering the unexpected.

Column: From filmmaker Marielle Heller, ‘Nightbitch’ and a few co-parenting anecdotes for the rest of us
Her disarming black comedy stars Amy Adams and is not what anyone expected. All of her movies are like that.

Column: Brady Corbet’s epic movie ‘The Brutalist’ came close to crashing down more than once
At more than three hours, it stars Adrien Brody as an architect after World War II and was made on a shoestring budget after years of delays.

Review: ‘All We Imagine as Light’ begins in Mumbai and quietly tells a city-full of stories
Director Payal Kapadia, who also made the best movie of 2021, centers her story on three hospital colleagues who become close friends.

‘Gladiator II’ review: Are you not moderately entertained?
Ridley Scott's sequel to the 2000 "Gladiator" is bigger and bloodier — but more minimus than maximus.

‘Wicked: Part I’ review: Off to see the wizard, in fits and starts — but Cynthia Erivo soars
The screen version of the Broadway musical has plenty of extra time to wander since it only covers the first act. That's a mixed blessing.

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Review: ‘Blitz’ stars Saiorse Ronan as a 1940 wartime Londoner searching for her son
Steve McQueen's latest movie splits its time between grand and grandiosity and packs a Dickensian amount of peril into an otherwise worthwhile story.

‘Juror #2’ review: In Clint Eastwood’s intriguing courtroom drama, a possible guilty verdict comes with extra guilt
The movie, which may be Eastwood's finale, isn't flashy or even entirely persuasive in its twists and coincidences. But it's consistently absorbing.

Review: ‘Here’ has Tom Hanks and Robin Wright, very nearly human
“Here” works out of order, mostly with tiny, overlapping vignettes. As with McGuire’s book, we’re often looking at images within images on screen.