Michael Phillips

‘Send Help’ review: Rachel McAdams saves Sam Raimi’s grisly ‘Survivor’ riff Sam Raimi’s “Send Help” plays like “Cast Away” meets “Survivor,” elevated by Rachel McAdams, who brings humor, control and bite to a grisly premise.

Thin on the page, but the all-pro duo of "Send Help" -- Rachel McAdams and dir. Sam Raimi -- rescues the movie from itself. It's "Cast Away" if Wilson the volleyball were a total a-hole. My review for the @sfchronicle: www.sfchronicle.com/entertainmen...

‘An Unbelievable Mess’: Artists Are Stymied by Trump Travel Bans

Excellent overview of America's imperiled touring artist visa situation by @sisario.bsky.social.

rare to see an american politician speak in these terms and it rocks

Try it. You’ll like it. Also, volunteer. Help out at a food bank. Talk to people. Listen to people. Remember why we’re all here. And a good 2026 to you, friends.

And start w Part 1. They’re numbered in order!

I learn a lot every year, but this year I got SO much from Alison, Adam and Josh every which way. Thanks to all, including Sam and Joe “House Call” DeCeault. Take a listen.

Yes, and Ted Sarandos has already indicated his displeasure in anything more than 2 weeks. So.

This is an American patriot.

Apparently the Netflix algorithm picked up on the phrase “you ran guns to Ethiopia” and boom: prequel

Right on.

The State of Film Criticism – Museum of the Moving Image It’s become distressingly rare for arts journalists of all kinds to maintain staff jobs. For this free event, the Museum invites an illustrious panel to discuss the embattled profession of film critic...

NY-and-thereabouts friends: If you can swing by Astoria and the Museum of the Moving Image 4:30pm Sat. Nov. 1, I'll be here with these good people. movingimage.org/event/the-st...

They were already living in one of Chicago’s worst apartment buildings. Then came the ICE raid. In what appears to have been a warrantless operation, the federal government will not say how many people were detained, who remains in custody and what happened to the children.

They were already living in one of Chicago’s worst apartment buildings. Then came the ICE raid. Our story @chicagotribune.com breaks down the “mind-blowing violation of the Fourth Amendment” that occurred and the propaganda from the U.S. government.
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/19/i...

Favorite sign at one of the many, many rallies across America today, this one in Albuquerque: "I like my democracy neat, no ICE." Clearly the work of domestic terrorists.

And yet five of the nine would probably get rid of the Voting Rights Act for free

Next on my reading list. It can, and has, happened anywhere.

What an absolute treasure Diane Keaton was. Her wit never tired, nor did her style.

Laying the groundwork for martial law, with the instigating provocation to be named later, exceeds the meaning of "unusual."

Thanks to the good people at rogerebert.com. It's a sadly beautiful re-watch right about now, in the age of "five Watergates a month."

Kimmel won. Winning matters, wins are how we’re going to prevent this autocratic slide.

Texas Tech Moves to Limit Academic Discussion to 2 Genders

“I’m emotionally shellshocked right now,” said one professor in the Texas Tech system. “What does it say about academic freedom? It says we don’t have it.”

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/26/u...

I think there is a direct relationship between punishing people for mourning George Floyd and punishing people for not mourning Charlie Kirk.

Much obliged, Peter. Truly.

Working w the excellent @ninametz.bsky.social and our editor Doug George has made us all a little better, I hope. I'll be hanging around "Filmspotting" as needed, and inflicting my musical tastes weekly on Classical WFMT via "Soundtrack." To you all: Thanks for reading, and giving a damn. (3/3)

...I took the buyout. After 20 very good years here, straddling my two lifelong journalistic loves of theater (first four years, coming from the L.A. Times drama critic post to the Tribune's) and the movies, I feel nothing but gratitude for the chance to do this work in a great cultural city. (2/3)

A bit of news: The Chicago Tribune has deemed the post of film critic non-essential, and therefore zeroed-out that post. My options were to take a newsroom reassignment to be named later, or a buyout to be taken more or less immediately. So...(1/3)

My colleague is so right. The prospect of spending even a second being an uncredited unpaid story contributor to an AI collection of other people's ideas: not good.

‘Weapons’ review: The kids aren’t all right, but the movie works like a fiendish charm A missing children mystery collides with horror and, yes, humor, in “Barbarians” filmmaker Zach Cregger’s absorbing “Weapons.”

'Weapons' review: Some of the tonal change-ups may give you whiplash, but it's clever, well-acted and pretty gripping. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/08/07/w...

‘Freakier Friday’ review: A multiplied Disney reboot for the age of anxiety Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan are two of many repeat players in “Freakier Friday,” and that’s good news. The script, less so.

"Is it fun? Almost? Kind of? Yes. Almost, and kind of. But there is a strain to it all. Doubling the bodies swapped ends up feeling like six times the chaos, not two: 'Cheaper by the Dozen' with a side of 'The Parent Trap.'” www.chicagotribune.com/2025/08/06/f...

Siskel Center director Rebecca Fons is hired away by London’s Barbican Centre Rebecca Fons, the director of programming at the Siskel Film Center in Chicago since 2021, is the new head of cinema for London’s multidisciplinary Barbican Centre, effective Sept. 1.

Iowa's own Rebecca Fons is now Chicago's loss: The Siskel Film Centerprogramming director heads for London in September to become Head of Cinema for the Barbican Centre. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/07/28/s...