The Best Movies of 2025, So Far
'Sinners'
The story: The twins Smoke and Stack (both played by Michael B. Jordan) return from Al Capone's Chicago to open a juke joint in Clarksdale, Miss. That's when the devil, or rather, an Irish vampire, shows up in this talker of a film.
Manohla Dargis's take: Directed by Ryan Coogler, this 'is a big-screen exultation — a passionate, effusive praise song about life and love, including the love of movies. Set in Jim Crow Mississippi, it is a genre-defying, mind-bending fantasia overflowing with great performances, dancing vampires and a lot of ideas about love and history.'
Read the review; interviews with Coogler and Jordan, and other cast members; and a critic's essay.
'I'm Still Here'
The story: Set in Brazil beginning in 1970, when a military dictatorship ruled the country, this drama follows the efforts of Eunice Paiva (Fernanda Torres) to keep her family together and still work as an activist after her congressman husband, Rubens Paiva, is arrested and disappeared by the authorities. Based on a true story, the film, directed by Walter Salles, won the Oscar for best international feature.
Alissa Wilkinson's take: 'In her performance — which won a Golden Globe and [earned] an Oscar nomination — Torres stuns. Protecting her children means leaning into joy within the fear, hope in the midst of pain. Torres double-layers her performance with all of those emotions, and her searching eyes are magnetic.'
Read the review and an interview with Torres.
'Black Bag'
The story: Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender play married British intelligence agents who are each tasked with ferreting out a mole, who may possibly be their spouse in this Steven Soderbergh thriller.
Dargis's take: The film is 'sleek, witty and lean to the bone, a fizzy, engaging puzzler about beautiful spies doing the sort of extraordinary things that the rest of us only read about in novels and — if we're lucky — watch onscreen. It's nonsense, but the kind of glorious grown-up nonsense that critics like to say they (as in Hollywood) no longer make.' Read the review.
'Friendship'
The story: Tim Robinson plays Craig, a nice-enough guy with a wife and a house in the suburbs but no friends, until the cool new neighbor (Paul Rudd) moves in. Since this is a cringe comedy, all will not go well.
Wilkinson's take: The film is 'is often funny and always distressing. … Robinson's performance, which sometimes feels dropped in from a parallel dimension that's about 3 percent different from our own, injects Craig with a quality most similar to an erratically ticking time bomb.' Read the review.
'Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl'
The story: In the latest stop-motion adventure of the inventor Wallace and his trusty beagle, Gromit, the two must contend with the evil mute penguin Feathers McGraw and a garden-gnome robot gone awry.
Dargis's take: The movie is 'a diverting low-key thriller with Bond-like flourishes.' It moves with 'smooth efficiency from its amusing, shadowy start to gently slapstick finish, propelled by its characters and [co-director and co-writer Nick] Park's customary sweet-and-silly humor. Read the review.
'Eephus'
The story: In small-town Douglas, Mass., two recreational baseball teams gather to play one last game on a field that's going to be razed to make way for a school.
Wilkinson's take: The movie 'exists outside sports movie tropes altogether, though it's most certainly a baseball movie. It dwells in some languid liminal space between hangout movie and elegy, a tribute to the community institutions that hold us together.' Read the review.
'The Annihilation of Fish'
The story: In this gentle comedy, a Jamaican immigrant who goes by the name Fish (James Earl Jones) has been battling an invisible demon when he heads to Los Angeles. There he meets a woman (Lynn Redgrave) with her own invisible companion. The film, by Charles Burnett, wasn't released for 26 years.
Dargis's take: Calling it a 'deeply humane, singular view from the margins,' she wrote, 'Jones, who holds the movie throughout, imbues Fish with delicate charisma that becomes more pronounced as the story unfolds and emotions deepen.'
Read the review and an interview with the director.
'Caught by the Tides'
The story: Mixing footage shot for previous movies with new scenes, the Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhangke follows Qiaoqiao and her lover, Bin, a low-level criminal, over 20 years.
Dargis's take: The film is 'a tour de force that is at once an affecting portrait of a people in flux and a soulful, generous-hearted autobiographic testament from one of our greatest living filmmakers.' Read the review.
'Presence'
The story: The second Steven Soderbergh film on this list is a ghost story set in the seemingly normal suburban home of a family that includes a star-athlete son and a daughter who's clearly been traumatized.
Dargis's take: The girl's 'past, her parents' marriage and the ghost's restricted point of view together create palpable unease that the filmmakers build on until everyone is vibrating with tension and things have gotten weird. Although there are a few haunted-house shocks, the cumulative effect is more unsettling than scary.' Read the review.
'The Last Showgirl'
The story: When the long-running Vegas show she is in closes, an aging dancer (played by Pamela Anderson) struggles to find work and to connect with her grown daughter even as she finds community with friends (including one played by Jamie Lee Curtis).
Dargis's take: Directed by Gia Coppola, the drama 'tells a familiar story of bad luck and outwardly questionable choices with gentleness, a great deal of love for its characters and an obvious appreciation for the affirming highs and bitter lows that age and beauty afford. Modestly scaled and loosely plotted, it is an unusually tender movie.' Read the review.
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Chicago Tribune
2 hours ago
- Chicago Tribune
Today in Chicago History: Union Stock Yards close after 106 years on city's South Side
Here's a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on July 30, according to the Tribune's archives. Is an important event missing from this date? Email us. Weather records (from the National Weather Service, Chicago) 1850: Fire broke out at Rice's Theater — the city's first permanent theater near Dearborn and Randolph streets — during the second act of a performance of Vincenzo Bellini's 'La Sonnambula,' which was the first opera performed in Chicago. Theater owner John B. Rice apparently told patrons, 'Sit down. Sit down. Do you think I would permit a fire to occur in my theater?' They paused until someone else confirmed the theater was on fire. The building was totally destroyed. O'Hare International Airport: From farm to global terminal1943: The first C-54 Skymaster (then the U.S. Army's largest transport plane) built in the Douglas Aircraft factory at Orchard Place (then the world's largest cargo plane factory) took its maiden flight. 1957: Chicago-born Frank A. Crossley received U.S. patent No. 2,801,167 for titanium alloy. Though he never worked directly for NASA, Crossley's ingenuity — creating metals that were stronger than steel but much lighter — would be vital in the crafts used for space exploration, according to 'We Could Not Fail: The First African Americans in the Space Program.' Vintage Chicago Tribune: Inventions and innovations by Black ChicagoansBut before his patents were in the planning stage, the Chicago-born DuSable High School graduate completed a rare trifecta of accomplishments: He was the first African American officer in the U.S. Navy; the first person to earn a Ph.D. in metallurgical engineering at the Illinois Institute of Technology; and the first person of African ancestry in the world to earn a doctorate in the field, according to Illinois Tech. 1961: Illinois native Jerry Barber, a 5-foot-5, 135-pound, 45-year-old father of five, sank putts of 20, 40 and 60 feet on the last three greens to tie Don January and force a playoff in the PGA Championship at Olympia Fields. Barber went on to beat January in the playoff and became the oldest PGA champ at the time. 1971: The Union Stock Yards closed on the city's South Side. Called 'Union' for the seven separate stockyards that contributed to build it, the stockyards opened on Christmas Day 1865 on more than 300 acres of swamp land purchased from two-time Chicago Mayor 'Long' John Wentworth. More than 18.6 million head of cattle, hogs and sheep were marketed at its peak in 1924. A massive fire, which took out nearly 90% of the stockyards, erupted at the site in 1934. Fifty firefighters were injured in the blaze and hundreds of cattle were killed. 'Hog butcher for the world'But the stockyards had moments of glory, too. Research laboratories funded by the packers turned animal byproducts into everything from medicine to cosmetics. From 1900, there was a yearly International Live Stock Exposition as well as a 4-H Club show. In 1952, the Republicans and Democrats held their presidential nominating conventions at the International Amphitheatre, an exposition center located in the stockyards complex. All that remains of the stockyards is its gate, which includes a sculpted version of a prize-winning steer. 1974: At noon, Illinois Lottery tickets were sold for the very first time in the state at 7,500 outlets. Anyone 18 years and older could buy them from a licensed vendor (though chances of being struck by lightning were much better than winning the money). The first one was sold by John Hucko, a news vendor in the State of Illinois Building, to Gov. Dan Walker's daughter, Roberta. After almost 7.5 million tickets had been sold, the first drawing took place on Aug. 8, 1974. 1977: Chicago Bears running back and 'Kansas Comet' Gale Sayers was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. 'Reaching this point is not as great as striving to get there,' Sayers said. 'It's not enough to settle for yesterday's triumphs.' 1995: Saying he had lost 'the desire to compete at this level,' Chicago White Sox designated hitter John Kruk got a hit in his final at-bat then abruptly retired. The longtime Philadelphia Phillies player underwent surgery to remove a testicle on March 8, 1994, and was back in the lineup in the seventh game of the season. When the Phillies didn't want Kruk back in 1995, he decided to retire, but changed his mind and signed with the White Sox on May 12, 1995. After being sidelined briefly by a heel injury, Kruk returned to the lineup. Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant and Javier Baez — three core members of the 2016 Chicago Cubs World Series team and featured in this iconic photograph from Game 7 — were sent to other teams before Major League Baseball's trade deadline in July 2021. (Chicago Tribune)2021: Just one day after sending first baseman Anthony Rizzo to the New York Yankees, the Chicago Cubs traded Kris Bryant (San Francisco Giants), shortstop Javier Baez (to the New York Mets in exchange for prospect Pete Crow-Armstrong) and closer Craig Kimbrel (Chicago White Sox). 'I'm happy for them. But outside of the manager side, I feel like I'm losing some friends for a minute and I think that's difficult for me personally,' Cubs manager David Ross said. Subscribe to the free Vintage Chicago Tribune newsletter, join our Chicagoland history Facebook group, stay current with Today in Chicago History and follow us on Instagram for more from Chicago's past.
Indianapolis Star
3 hours ago
- Indianapolis Star
Fever's Aliyah Boston, WNBA great Candace Parker start 'Post Moves' podcast to 'let people in'
INDIANAPOLIS – Aliyah Boston and Candace Parker want their new podcast to be more than just about basketball. Sure, that's what they're known for. Parker, the 2008 No. 1 pick, is the only player to have won Rookie of the Year and WNBA MVP in the same season. She spent 16 years in the league, winning championships with three franchises (Los Angeles, Chicago and Las Vegas), and she is getting her jersey retired by two of those franchises this year. Boston, the 2023 No. 1 pick, was the unanimous Rookie of the Year and an All-Star in each of her three seasons so far. She is on a trajectory to have a Hall of Fame-type career, improving each season. But they're more than what they can accomplish on the court. They're people with pets, families and other interests outside of their work. And that's what they want to show on "Post Moves", which releases its first episode July 30. 'I think it just pulls people in a little bit closer, to see us as people as not just as athletes and what we do on a nightly basis,' Boston said following a live taping of a preview episode during WNBA All-Star weekend. 'I think sometimes people lose that focus, and it's just 'OK, well, they hoop and that's all they are as basketball players.' So to be able to use this to talk about different stuff and let people in, let them see who you are, your interests, what you really enjoy, I think that's important.' The two knew each other in multiple circles: they're both signed to the same agency, and Parker is the president of Adidas women's basketball, the same shoe company Boston is signed to. The idea to have a podcast, following in the footsteps of current and former WNBA players, was intriguing for them to show glimpses into their daily lives. Of course, they'll still talk a lot of basketball. But they'll also talk about how basketball has affected them outside of the game. 'I think the game is a vehicle that has allowed us to go different places,' Parker said. 'And so through those experiences, through the lens of basketball, I know (Boston), I've traveled, I've played in sold-out arenas and missed game-winning shots. I think these are all life lessons that we can apply that are outside of the sports, but because of the sport.' In their preview episode, which they taped live in Indianapolis during All-Star weekend in front of friends, family and media, they embodied that kind of experience. The live taping started with a disagreement between Parker and Boston: who was taller? The two stood back-to-back to the audience, which agreed Parker was taller. Parker yelled in excitement, walking around the stage in victory, as Boston, who was convinced she was taller, looked helplessly to the crowd. Later in the live taping, Boston talked about some of her interests outside of basketball — more specifically, how devoted she is as a dog mom. She talked about wanting to get her dog, Ozzy, a car seat, so he is able to watch out the window when they drive. Just sitting in the backseat isn't enough, Boston stressed, as he's not tall enough to look out the window on his own. It's a look into the lives of two WNBA greats: Parker as a mother and retired player, who was in the WNBA in the era of commercial flights, and Boston, who is playing in an era when the league is seeing unprecedented growth. They'll share stories about the WNBA of old, and the WNBA of new. That's the beauty, they said, of having two different generations of players together. Through Parker's 16-year-old daughter, too, they're able to see firsthand how players can impact the next generation. 'I think the generational thing of being an old head, being a young buck, the way that we see things may be different,' Parker said. 'But we are also going to be able to see similarities between that. Obviously, (Boston) is closer to my daughter's age than to mine, which is insane … and it's been really cool to see the impact that Aliyah's had on my daughter.'
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Ryan Coogler, Dominique Thorne and the ‘Ironheart' Team on Introducing [SPOILER] Via That Surprise Cameo and Setting Up Riri Williams' Future in the MCU
SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers for 'The Past is the Past,' Episode 6 of 'Ironheart.' The six-episode series is now streaming on Disney+. Over the course of Marvel Television's 'Ironheart,' teen genius Riri Williams goes on a wild ride — fighting high-tech foes in a quest to fund her dreams of creating a suit of armor that will save those she loves and, in a parallel journey, an effort to unfreeze herself from deep-set grief. But nothing could prepare Riri, or the actor who plays her, Dominique Thorne, for the twist that caps the show's final minutes. More from Variety 'Ironheart' Star Dominique Thorne on Reintroducing Riri Williams With a New 'Ingenious' Iron Suit and the MCU Show's 'Heavier Emotions' 'Ironheart' Takes the MCU to Chicago for an Overcrowded Coming-of-Age Story: TV Review 'Borat' Director Stopped Talking to Sacha Baron Cohen After He Started 'Surrounding Himself' With 'Show Business People' and 'Pulling Away' From Subversive Humor: 'He Wanted to Be More of a Traditional Movie Star' In the finale, Riri faces off against her former heist crew's boss, Parker Robbins (Anthony Ramos) a.k.a. The Hood, in a showdown that pits her brain for mechanics against his magical cloak. Actually, Riri and her people surmised that Parker's magic comes from Dormammu, the inter-dimensional entity that audiences might remember as the big bad in 2016's 'Doctor Strange.' So, when building Riri's latest armor (her most powerful yet), they've called on some magic of their own. In fact, in an earlier episode, audiences get to meet the man who gave Parker the hood: a mysterious figure played by Sacha Baron Cohen. (The 'Borat' actor's casting leaked while 'Ironheart' was in production in 2022, but his character was never officially confirmed, so fans have speculated about who exactly he would play ever since.) When it's time for the magic versus metal duel, Riri first takes down a supercharged Ezekiel Stane (Alden Ehrenreich), who ultimately didn't want to hurt her, so it was light work for Ironheart. Then, she defeats Parker in an explosive duel. Immediately after, though, Riri enters a local pizza parlor, which is in disarray due to the battle and also empty, save for a lone patron: Dormammu. He lays out the facts. Despite defeating Parker, Riri's circumstances still haven't changed: she doesn't have the funds to create the technology she wants, and her best friend, Natalie, has now been lost again, since her suit couldn't hold both the magic infusion and science that recreated her (as the holographic A.I. named N.A.T.A.L.I.E.), simultaneously. Dormammu can help — but only if Riri is ready to make a deal with the devil, so to speak. But wait! He wants to clear up one thing first. The notion that Riri thinks he's Dormammu is, quite frankly, offensive. Why? Because Baron Cohen is actually playing Mephisto, the more powerful interdimensional demon and long-awaited supervillain, who many fans speculated would pop up in Marvel's first TV offering, 2021's 'WandaVision.' 'I learned in the midst of our shooting,' Thorne tells Variety about learning of the surprise. 'So, by the time they gave me the correct name in the script, it was like 'Whoa, the Reddit guy! The guy from all the rumors. He's in this show? OK, y'all are serious!'' For the star, the casting was a vote of confidence that Marvel leadership was invested in Riri's story. 'The true Marvel fans know that Marvel always has a plan,' Thorne adds. 'So, to know that they've chosen to introduce him here with Riri Williams, with Parker Robbins, it's strategic and it has a place in the larger storytelling and in the larger twists and turns that this phase will continue to unveil. And it is just a joy to get a seat on that ride.' Likewise, Ryan Coogler — the Oscar-nominated 'Black Panther' director, whose Proximity Media company co-produced 'Ironheart' — believes Mephisto crossing paths with Riri makes sense. 'I love the combination of high and low,' Coogler says, in a Zoom conversation with the series' head writer Chinaka Hodge. 'It's funny, when I first met Jon Watts in 2016 and he was doing 'Spider-Man: Homecoming,' Spider-Man was like basement level, like fighting underneath the street-level villains. Then, by the time 'No Way Home' comes around, he's dealing with Doctor Strange and going through different realities and shit.' The same is true for Riri's trajectory, but over a shorter period of time. 'I love the compression that we have in this show,' Coogler explains, pointing to the selfie video of her and Natalie bigging themselves up about the future, which opens the pilot episode. 'Just two kids trying to make a way for themselves and watching Riri get so in over her head, not just at street level, but Armor War level, and then eventually encountering a seemingly all-powerful, mystical being, and realizing that that was where the show was headed the whole time.' About Mephisto, specifically, Coogler adds: 'I just absolutely love that we're not meeting him in 'WandaVision' or 'Agatha [All Along].' You're meeting him through this stressed-out, young Black genius. When you watch the show, it's like, 'Oh, that was how you always were gonna meet him.' It wasn't gonna be in 'Loki.' That's the trickster; that's how he works. That's where he's gonna be: in a pizza shop in Chicago, like, where you would absolutely never expect him.' It makes sense for Mephisto to make a deal with Riri because, as Coogler points out, everybody wants a piece of her power. 'When we first met her, the government wanted her. Talokan wanted her,' he says, then cracks. 'MIT don't want her. But she was always wanted. She was always desired by people who knew [her potential]. That, for me, just says so much.' Hodge describes the decision to introduce Mephisto as a 'collaborative' one. 'I could tell the story about process, and you would know how benevolent Kevin Feige is,' Hodge teases. 'But I will say that it was a collaborative effort, where we all landed on Mephisto together, but there was one of us in the room who led us there, and I'm eternally grateful for him leading us that direction.' But including Mephisto in the plot wasn't the 'initial idea,' notes Marvel's Zoie Nagelhout, an executive producer on the show. 'If you look to publishing, Parker's power is drawn back to Dormammu, who is also a very epic character in the MCU and who would have been very exciting to play with,' Nagelhout explains. 'But as we developed it, we realized Mephisto was a better thematic fit for what the show is about.' She continues: 'Diving into these scenes of ambition and cost and what you're willing to give up for the things you want, he offered a sort of interesting and heightened way to tie together the characters' journeys — and in particular, Riri's — so it became almost like a no-brainer to have him.' The idea to cast Baron Cohen in the role came from 'Ironheart' director Angela Barnes, who helmed the episode. (Barnes split directing duties evenly with Sam Bailey, who handled episodes 1-3.) 'She pitched it, and we couldn't unsee it,' Nagelhout says of Barnes. 'And we're just so lucky he said, 'Yes,' because at that point, I don't think we could've gotten out of our heads that he was Mephisto.' Keeping the actor's role under wraps was another story. 'If he was outside, we wrapped him up in tarps and the poor guy had to walk like two steps at a time,' Nagelhout recalls. On set, she adds, 'Nobody but crew or friends of crew were allowed, so we would cast extras who were family members and beg everyone to keep it a secret. You do your best.' Ultimately, Baron Cohen delivered an 'incredible rendering of the character,' Hodge says, noting that he does two or three different versions of the Mephisto in the episode. That's key, she explains, 'Because Mephisto is a shape-shifter. And this is purely speculation, but I would love to see a version where Sacha does Mephisto a couple of iterations, and then maybe Meryl Streep is in the role in the future. You never know where Mephisto can be hiding, because one of his powers in the comic book is literally changing his form. Introducing him in the MCU is a really powerful tool, because it's a key to open many doors.' So, where will these stories continue? A second season of 'Ironheart,' perhaps? Or what about Riri Williams flying back to Wakanda in Coogler's 'Black Panther 3'? 'I don't know jack shit,' Coogler replies, laughing, when asked where she'll pop up next. ('I just did an all-nighter writing 'X-Files,'' he quips.) 'I'm here for whatever Chinaka's got coming at us next; whatever Kevin's got coming at us next, you know what I'm saying. I think the audience is going to take to that ending and I can't wait to see those characters again.' 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