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USA Today
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Ranking the top 25 films of the 2020s so far, from Tár to Nope
Ranking the top 25 films of the 2020s so far, from Tár to Nope As hard as it is to believe, we are more than halfway through the 2020s. A decade that started with masks on our faces and quarantines to abide by, we didn't spend nearly as much time at the movie theater as we did huddled in our living rooms for Netflix binges and movie marathons as cineplexes were closed across the globe. Thankfully, the doors opened once again for moviegoers, and we've gotten to experience some truly special films together in the years that have followed. Pinpointing this exact May 2025 moment we're in, how has the cinematic decade that was shaped up for us? While we've still got a ways to go until we look at the 2020s in the grander view of film, it still feels prudent to take a look back at the 2020s at (roughly) the halfway point and see what the best films are to this point. Certainly, this list is highly subjective to the author's preference and prone to just a bit of cheating in one spot. Also, we've seen Sinners three times now, and limiting ourselves to 2020-2024 wouldn't allow us to rank one of the best movies of the decade. So, we're going to veer just a bit into 2025 to include the singing vampires. With new insights and revised insights from past reviews we liked for what they said at the time, let's break down the top 25 films of this decade so far, a surely flawed list that will continue to ebb and flow in ranking and estimation as time goes on, as all of these lists are destined to do until the end of time. Films we regretted leaving off and might include if you asked tomorrow: BlackBerry, Dune: Part One, Bloody Nose Empty Pockets, Poor Things, West Side Story, We're All Going to the World's Fair, Asteroid City, Nomadland, Turning Red, Godzilla Minus One, You Hurt My Feelings, RRR, The Northman, Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio, The French Dispatch, The Power of the Dog, Licorice Pizza, Hit the Road, Hundreds of Beavers, Anatomy of a Fall, Driveways, Babygirl, The Killer, A Real Pain, David Byrne's American Utopia, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, Anora, I'm Thinking of Ending Things, Bad Education, The Matrix Resurrections, Annette, The Last Duel, Air, Ferrari, Past Lives, Trap, Civil War, Rap World, Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl Two films we love that we also understand you are upset are not on this list, but please understand the amount of films viewed for consideration here: Top Gun Maverick, Barbie Some NFSW language to follow. 25. Tár What's striking about Tár after all these years is how clear-eyed is in such a compellingly complicated portrait of a great artist who might also be a terrible person. The film takes such a comfortable moral footing in Lydia Tár's journey that the generational rigors of Cate Blanchett's brilliant performance ignite even brighter sparks. You never doubt for a second how this film feels about its central character, but you still can't help but dive into your own personal dissection into who this woman is and why she does what she does. Todd Field painted the most compelling singular portrait of the decade in Tár, a fictional character who felt so, so upsettingly real. 24. Aftersun Charlotte Wells made Aftersun a searing collective memory that transported off the screen into your subconscious, pulling out all those fragmented pains of your youth and reconfiguring them into striking revelations you can only find once you're older, wiser and so much more like those you remember. Wells' film so carefully pieces together the film's vacation vignettes into a story so unassumingly relatable that its final gut punch hits you with the unexpected jolt it hits its reminiscing main character. It's trite to say a film is unforgettable, but Aftersun is a film you quite literally can't forget because it was with you all along. 23. Megalopolis One day, the film nerds of tomorrow will reclaim Francis Ford Coppola's bedazzled, bewildering fever dream Megalopolis as a vital work of opulent genius, speaking a language that played much more clearly to the people who would eventually get it. We're going to go ahead and get ahead of the curb and give Coppola his flowers now as opposed to being caught flat-footed down the road. There might not be a film released this decade that has quite as much optimistic imagination as Megalopolis. Coppola hooked up the connector cables to his dreams and brought them to the big screen in full, technicolor wonder. Rendering his hope for the future through old Hollywood grandeur and making his societal warnings with Tim and Eric cringe-disaster, Coppola went so for broke with his passion project that he will probably never get these resources ever again to make another movie. So be it if so; this was a stargazing grand slam from an all-time auteur to celebrate. 22. Killers of the Flower Moon Martin Scorsese's only film of the 2020s was yet another one of his American masterpieces, studying the nation's original sins of racism and greed with the same urgency and precision that marks all his great films. Its ending, one of an artist conceding his film's limitations and mourning a world where this story must even be told in the first place, lingers with you. Combined with the beating heart of Lily Gladstone, the cowardice of Leonardo DiCaprio and the slithering evil of Robert De Niro, Killers of the Flower Moon is cinematic mourning. 21. Avatar: The Way of Water Nobody makes big movies quite like James Cameron, and his second Avatar film felt like a genuine leap forward for the medium in how it transports viewers, quite literally, to another world. The underwater scenes in IMAX 3D filled the theater in a way no film ever has, as you quite literally felt like you were swimming under the sea with all of Pandora's teeming aquatic life. The story was a genuine improvement from the original, and the film's show-stopper of a climax stamped in why Cameron is a Mount Rushmore blockbuster director. 20. Spontaneous Brian Duffield made his directorial debut with 2020's unbelievably prescient Spontaneous, somehow the defining film about living in the cruel ironies and personal devastations of the COVID-19 pandemic. Duffield couldn't have had any idea how revenant his debut was, making it in a world where COVID-19 didn't even register a single infection. However, as it stands, no film quite captured the uncertainties and terrors of the invisible virus that shut our world down. Even past that, Duffield's film is a rallying cry for a defiant generation that is sick and tired of watching the vicious cycle without any answers. It's an essential high school film. 19. Challengers Luca Guadagnino revived the modern sports movie with Challengers, a bracing love triangle set against the enthralling balance of tennis. It's hard to really describe what a titanic force this film is when you get Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross' strobe-light score pulsing through your veins and see Guadagnino tossing about Zendaya, Mike Faist and Josh O'Connell in the winds of fierce, unforgiving competition. Seeing this in a loud theater, basking in the electricity of the final act and watching everyone quite literally crash into each other with reckless abandon ... it's why we love the movies, folks. (More here) 18. Nickel Boys "Cinema as immersion" has never been as palpable as it is in Nickel Boys, which really might be the singular filmmaking achievement of the decade so far. RaMell Ross' instant classic adapts Colson Whitehead's novel with innovation, putting viewers right behind the camera by taking a first-person view through the entire film between its two main characters. We see what they see as if it's happening right in front of us. The way Nickel Boys is made makes it impossible not to feel the warmth of childhood and shudder at the the terror of oppression. You're right there because that's how Ross intends his film to play. There is no screen; merely a window. This film is impossible to shake because of how it completely transports you. You leave this film feeling as if you've been given the memories of others, as if the ghosts in the empathy machine of cinema need you to remember them forever. That's filmmaking in the highest order. (More here) 17. I Saw the TV Glow The 2020s gave us Jane Shoenbrun, perhaps the biggest auteur to make their debut in this decade. Their stirring debut We're All Going to the World's Fair broke down loneliness and anxiety in the internet age better than any film of its class, and I Saw the TV Glow confirmed that promise with a barnburner of a masterpiece. Inviting you in with the late-night discomfort and allure of 1990s Snick-era young adult television and stunning you with the still-shock of David Lynch, David Cronenberg and Ari Aster, Schoenbrun's triumphant coming-of-age horror fantasy will serve as a life-changer for some and a fierce call for empathy for others. It's a monument of trans cinema and a breathtaking leap for Schoenbrun into auteur status. This film is a major work of the decade so far, and the closer it draws you in to its glow, the more you're likely to avoid the perils that await staying still. (More here) 16. The Fabelmans Great filmmakers got into a rhythm of making their autobiographies through their chosen medium over the last decade, but none of those were as affecting as Steven Spielberg's The Fabelmans. One of Spielberg's best films of the millennium, he turned the camera back onto himself with this domestic drama and grappled with some piercing truths about his upbringing, his love for film and how they ultimately intersected. Introspection via filmmaking is nothing new, but for it to come from Spielberg in this exact way felt particularly powerful. 15. The Brutalist Brady Corbet's searing epic about art and assimilation has garnered a lot of attention for its size. It's about three-and-a-half hours with an intermission. The imagery is grand and unforgettable, particularly on an IMAX screen. The ideas are vast, about the toll of immigration in a land that may not welcome you, about the never-ending battle between creation and commerce. The performances are big and expressive, none more so than Adrien Brody's spellbinding breath of life into László Tóth. However, it's in the small details where Corbet solidifies his masterpiece. (More here) 14. Dick Johnson is Dead Few films have made you feel quite alive this decade as documentarian Kirsten Johnson's euphoric act of coping with her father's dementia diagnosis. Making a film about death so life-affirming deserved a lot of credit, but Johnson went past even that by traversing the path to the heart and to life's grandest truths through such wacky creativity and endearing gallows humor. Watching Dick Johnson "die" so many times and he and his daughter embrace his death makes you want to live and love even harder than you already do. 13. Beau is Afraid Ari Aster's epic breakdown of arrested development and paranoia is easily his best film yet, one of the towering works of the decade and yet another showcase for why Joaquin Phoenix can literally do anything. Beau is Afraid is as obtuse an odyssey as you're likely to go on anytime soon, one that unpacks the painful truths about our relationships to the ways we were raised and how they might set us up to run screaming away from whatever on Earth is trying to chase us. While you have to wait until the third act to meet Patti LuPone's sneering matriarch, the entire journey is absolutely unforgettable and, perhaps, so close to home you feel like you're actually there. (More here) 12. Dune: Part Two Denis Villeneuve knew he had to go as big and bold as possible to widen the spectacle and stakes of his adaptation for the second part, but he someone managed to both outdo himself and deliver one of the definitive tentpole experiences of the decade so far with Dune: Part Two. It's a vital experience in a theater and a rigorous moral maze for the mind, one that interrogates power and freedom in the vacuum of the messiah complex. It's also got giant sandworm battles and blistering combats that rival the sheer scope and cosmic shock of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings movies. (More here) 11. Oppenheimer Oppenheimer is a tricky film, one that recognizes its titular scientist's brilliance while openly deliberating on its immeasurable horror. Once that genie got out of the bottle, we couldn't put it back in. Christopher Nolan's Best Picture winning-film film might end on an increasingly pessimistic note to some, but it feels like an earnest plea for change, one that we can obtain if we actually try. It's the most urgent film of Nolan's career and easily one of his best. It's an all-timer in every sense of the phrase, and it really is one of the defining theatrical experiences of the 2020s so far. (More here) 10. Titane Julia Ducournau's unhinged masterpiece delivered a devastating study of how right the concept of "nature versus nurture" really is. Sure, a film about a serial killer who is attracted to cars pretending to be the missing child of a steroid-pumping firefighter might sound a little wacky, even for the most extreme corners of experimental French cinema. However, Ducournau contorts such a seemingly tasteless story into something that affects you in the grand and minutia. Titane is a tidal wave of love and grace disguised in shock and horror, a fierce testament to just how disarming it is to have even a slight ounce of genuine care and affection in your life from somebody who finds worth in you. Ducournau couples her flamethrower filmmaking talents with two generational performances from Agathe Rousselle and Vincent Lindon, giving the audience something absolutely unforgettable. Even the most twisted wayfaring strangers can change with some TLC. 9. The Holdovers The radiant, barbed warmth of The Holdovers will wear you down until you finally scoot over and let it sit right by you by the fireplace. The Holdovers is one of those once-in-a-lifetime movies, one where everything works so perfectly in unison with the cast, script, direction, setting, sentiments and aura to create a film that literally transports you to a distant holiday in your own head. The Holdovers isn't an easy film to watch around Christmastime, bittersweet in its resolution and unforgiving in its practicalities. However, it is a vital one in trying to understand ourselves in the most unusual of moments during the most sensitive time of year, those moments where we need those people we'll never forget and never would've considered if not for the season at hand. It's a perfect holiday film, one that would melt even unchanged Scrooge's heart. (More here) 8. Bo Burnham: Inside To live in the aftermath of the pandemic meant to grapple with the lingering anxieties of the age. No film did a better job of capturing the brain freeze of the COVID-19 pandemic like Bo Burnham's showstopper of an experimental standup special. Burnham mixed his penchant for comedy songs with the uneasy, ironic dread that suffocated 2020, pouring his audience a warm cider spliced with absinthe. The film plays like that lingering feeling of uncertainty you feel when you wake up from an afternoon nap right when the sun is going down, culminating in two of his finest moments as a performer: "That Funny Feeling" and "All Eyes On Me." The first perfectly encapsulates that pit in your stomach of trying to live during such unprecedented times, while the latter is a masterclass in marrying his unique storytelling ability with the confinement of the project. All eyes were on Burnham during this heart-open house concert, and he owned the moment for all time. 7. Babylon Damien Chazelle went buckwild for his acidic silent Hollywood elegy, a rip-roaring, debauched frat party of dizzying Tinseltown splendor and ruin. It's almost the anti-La La Land, a pitch-perfect flipped side of the coin of what it's like to make your way in an industry that will chew you up and spit you out all while you have the best and worst time of your life. To Chazelle, you have to be positively insane to give your life over to such a radioactive tire fire as the show business, but the eternal sparks from the flames will keep you alive long after you're gone. Anchored in Margot Robbie's finest moment as an actor, Chazelle's shirt-ripping bacchanal gives as much of a hooray as a horrified holler for the movies, cementing their on-screen glory and ghastly underbelly in equal measure. Only could humans make something so wonderful out of such ribald chaos. In an era where there is such worry about the future of movies, Babylon proves that they're just too powerful to die. 6. Red Rocket Simon Rex's Mikey returns to his small Texas town as a sordid Pied Piper, weaving tales of his adult film exploits to any listening ear all while concocting cons to stay afloat with promises of a better life he has no intentions of filling. Move over, Wicked, Sean Baker's Red Rocket is the real Wizard of Oz prequel we need. No American film has captured the Trumpian rot better than Red Rocket, with Rex delivering the decade's best performance so far in a character that perfectly encapsulates how deranged charm can make people bend over backwards for even the most derelict of actors. Weaving in the *NSYNC seminal pop stunner "Bye Bye Bye" as a nefarious bookend to Mikey's hometown gambit, Baker doesn't even need to say you know who's name to deliver the most damning portrait of his political rise and continued stranglehold over the citizenry. 5. Small Axe We're going to cheat a little here, as Steve McQueen's five-part Small Axe still feels like a gut punch in five parts, all interlocked together to create maximum impact. The astounding anthology film series takes five different looks at West Indian immigrants trying to make their way in London during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. One part, Mangrove, is a gripping courtroom drama based in racial injustice, while another, Lovers Rock, is an intoxicating house party buoyed by Shabier Kirchner's floating camerawork on the dance floor. McQueen's central thesis flows effortlessly between all five parts, as he varies his approach for the dreamlike Lovers Rock to the brutal realities of the John Boyega police study Red, White and Blue. All five parts make for a sensational whole, as McQueen's Small Axe hit with elegiac force in 2020 and sticks with us to this day. 4. On the Count of Three Jerrod Carmichael's directorial debut features two wayward souls planning to off each other after whatever would quality as the perfect last day on Earth. It's a deliriously unsettling template for any film to follow, and one that would be so, so, so, so easy to fumble without the most careful of approaches. The fact that Carmichael takes such disparate depression and literally cruel irony and morphs it into something so life-affirming cements him as one of the most promising filmmakers of his generation. On the Count of Three mines its jaw drop of a premise for some humdinger happenings and shocking pathos, as Carmichael and co-star Christopher Abbott make for the perfect odd couple to go about this ordeal together. It's as piercing a commentary on how society treats the mentally ill as we've gotten in some time, and Carmichael's filmmaking style feels like a brilliant splice between small-scale Robert Altman and early David Gordon Green. There is no possible way to remove On the Count of Three from your mind, nor do you ever want to forget what it was like to live this fateful day with these two confused souls. It's so far the independent filmmaking thrill of the 2020s. 3. Sinners Filmmaker Ryan Coogler has been building to this film for his entire career, as Sinners as the kind of rollicking jolt to the senses that makes you feel positively alive. It's hard to overstate just how important a film like this is, a wholly original film in love with its genre flourishes and reaching for the highest peaks in the craft. Only five films in, Coogler has already asserted himself as a generational talent, one of the anointed filmmakers in his class who can call himself a household name. After putting in his time with all-time franchise work, he finally made his magnum opus. This is the first original blockbuster since Nope that has a chance to reach the zeitgeist, and that's beyond worth celebrating. Also, that IMAX 70mm presentation is to bite for. (More here) 2. Tenet We really did live in a twilight world when Tenet hit theaters in the heat of the COVID-19 pandemic, as Christopher Nolan finally made his true homage to James Bond and Michael Mann's Miami Vice in one fell swoop. Tenet unfortunately came out in a year where repeat viewings for such a tangled web as what Nolans weaves were felt unwise. However, in the nearly five years since Tenet's release, it's clear that the best way to enjoy this film is to just let go and let the immaculate vibes wash over you. As wonderful and important as Oppenheimer was, Tenet was Nolan's best film this decade. That Nolan has two films in this top 20 cements what a special place he's in as a filmmaker right now, where it feels like every new project could hit masterpiece status as these two clearly have. Tenet is the true culmination of his impeccable talents crashing against his dreamworld logic, as it plays with the breathless thrill of stepping onto a new planet for the first time. You still might not fully grasp the concept of inversion, but you feel Tenet in your bones by film's end. 1. Nope Jordan Peele has as much of a pulse on the world we live in as any filmmaker working right now, and nobody in recent memory has taken their first-film clout and ran with it into such wildly original directions as he has. As hard as it is to compare to Get Out, one of the few films released in the last 10 years that automatically earns a spot in one of those "great movies of all time" montages people edit together for awards shows, Nope might be an even better movie. His scorching parable of the sensationalism era takes a clenched fist to our unhealthy obsession with tragedy-as-entertainment and our desire to turn real-world consequence into our personal blockbusters. It's a sci-fi Western horror drenched in 2020s urgency, and Peele's filmmaking is of the highest order. You'll never look at a cloud the same way again, that's for sure... all for the better, we say.
International Business Times
5 days ago
- Business
- International Business Times
Daiko Reinvents Dog Leashes, with a Crypto Twist (Yes, Really)
Daiko, a plucky pet-tech startup based in Ireland, is giving the humble dog leash a serious glow-up with a little help from the blockchain. At first glance, it might sound like a tech startup trying to wedge cryptocurrency into places it doesn't belong (looking at you, crypto fridges), but Daiko has its sights set on a surprisingly practical goal: solving everyday dog-owner dilemmas. We're talking poop bags, motivation for daily walks, and now, earning tokens for just doing your duty, literally. "I never set out to be in the dog leash industry, or in crypto for that matter," admits David Byrne, CEO and Founder of Daiko, "but I am hooked on solving real problems." Spoiler: he might have cracked it. At the center of Daiko's mission is its sleek patent-pending smart leash, which includes an integrated electronic transponder that connects to the Daiko mobile app. As you stroll through the park with your four-legged buddy, the app quietly logs stats like distance, duration, and frequency. Walk your dog, earn crypto. It's like Fitbit for Fido except with tokens instead of guilt. Of course, this isn't just about high-tech walk tracking. Let's talk poop. (Yes, we must.) Dog poop bags, while helpful, are environmental offenders in disguise. Most are made of non-biodegradable plastic and can stick around in landfills longer than most of us will. Even the ones labeled "biodegradable" often need fancy composting conditions that just don't happen in your local dog park. Enter the DooPod: a stylish, detachable container designed to carry your poop bags with class. "I didn't invent the leash or the poop pod," says David, "but I made them better. That's always been the key." It's basically the Swiss Army knife of dog walking accessories, minus the corkscrew. Attached to a next-generation retractable leash, the DooPod is more than just a fashionable poop pouch. It's part of an ecosystem. Using the mobile app, each walk is logged and rewarded. Pet parents earn points that can be converted into DAIKO tokens, a cryptocurrency created for the Daiko ecosystem. These tokens can then be redeemed for exclusive pet products, digital upgrades, and real-world rewards. It's a closed-loop system, kind of like your dog chasing its tail, but more productive. "Our smart leash connects to the Daiko app via RFID," David explains. "The more you walk, the more tokens you earn, and the more features you unlock." It's a win-win: dogs get their daily walkies, and owners get a little extra motivation and earn discounts on some stylish Daiko-branded accessories. While many hardware startups go through traditional retail, and wait years to scale, Daiko took a different path. "In crypto," says David, "the audience is instant and global. You can go from zero to community in a matter of weeks." And for a company looking to disrupt the very concept of the dog leash, that kind of agility is key. As for the DAIKO token itself, this isn't some pump-and-dump meme coin. Longevity is built in, as 20% of all Daiko net profits are earmarked to repurchase DAIKO Tokens, which are then redistributed into the user rewards pool. The result? A self-sustaining mini economy that actually gives back to the most active users, your dog would definitely approve. With the smart leash, DooPod, bag roll holder, anti-runaway innovation (yes, really), and a mobile app that rewards you for walking your dog, Daiko is set to launch by the end of the year. Crypto might not walk your dog for you, but Daiko will soon reward you for doing so.
Sunday World
22-04-2025
- Sunday World
Supergrass witness Jonathan Dowdall's former home goes to 'Sale Agreed'
Auctioneers have been struggling to sell the home after a buyer pulled out of the sale The stunning €795,000 house on Navan Road, Dublin, was initially placed on the market in June 2024 and appeared to have been sold, however, it reappeared on the market last month same asking price as before. It now appears to have sold once again as sources say the property is sale agreed, as a new owner is set to take over the four bed four-bed family home. It has been described as 'wonderfully presented' and in turnkey condition. 'The south facing garden is beautifully landscaped, featuring a large fishpond, an oriental inspired haven perfect for entertaining or a relaxing escape. An advert for the house describes it as having a spacious hallway with marble tiles throughout, a large and cosy living room with an open fireplace. 'The kitchen has been extended, boasting plenty of natural light and additional worktop space, perfect for all of your culinary needs. 'A spacious garage provides secure parking for your vehicles and additional storage space, along with a home office space or can be used as an additional living room. Each of the four bedrooms has built-in wardrobes, and the attic has been converted into a multi-purpose living space. It also comes with double glazed windows, gas fired central heating and crucially for the former Sinn Fein councillor turned mobster, a large cobble lock driveway with security gates. Read more The luxurious home, which is on sale for a bargain price, featured heavily in the murder trial of Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch. In particular, the back garden fish-pond, where Gardai searched for firearms following the 2016 Regency hotel slaying of David Byrne. The airy kitchen is the location where Dowdall blindfolded innocent man Alex Hurley who he believed was trying to con him out of a motorcycle he was selling. Hurley was then dragged to the garage where he was water-boarded and threatened during an eight-hour torture session. dowdall house Dowdall and his father Patrick later admitted at the Special Criminal Court to falsely imprisoning and threatening to kill Alexander Hurley in January 2015, before being jailed for 12 and eight years respectively. Jonathan Dowdall is nearing the end of his prison sentence for his role in the murder of David Byrne in February 2016 and is set to join the Witness Protection Programme when he is released. The sale of the home will fund his new life and relocation which will see him set up in a foreign country with the same means he had while living in Ireland. The Dubliner was originally due to go on trial alongside Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch for the murder of David Byrne, but the charge was dropped when he pleaded guilty to facilitating the killing and agreed to testify against his former co-accused. Dowdall gave evidence during the murder trial at the Special Criminal Court, which saw Hutch walk free when he was found not guilty. Ms Justice Burns dismissed Dowdall's credibility as a witness in her lengthy judgement, saying 'he acted out of self-interest' and the court was 'not prepared to act on his statement alone'. Dowdall was sentenced to four years in prison for facilitating the murder the day before Hutch's trial began in 2022.
Axios
28-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Axios
David Byrne's "Theater of the Mind" looks to transform a Chicago landmark
A new David Byrne immersive theatrical experience is skipping the theater entirely and setting up shop in a famous building along the Chicago River. The latest: Freidman Properties, a real estate and development firm, announced the exhibit, co-produced with the Goodman Theatre, will be housed in a 19,000-square-foot space inside the Reid Murdoch Building on LaSalle Street. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Zoom in: "Theater of the Mind" is an immersive experience based on life experiences of Byrne, Talking Head's frontman. It promises to engage all the senses and is inspired by "historical and current neuroscience research." What they're saying:"River North's dynamic spirit makes it the perfect setting for this one-of-a-kind exhibit, which will create yet another destination for both Chicagoans and visitors," Friedman Properties CEO Albert Friedman said in a press release. "This neighborhood has a rich history of celebrating and supporting the creative arts." By the numbers: The exhibit will feature 140 performances per week and is expected to attract 100,000 visitors in its first year, with an estimated economic impact of over $11 million. "Theater of the Mind" is expected to be a permanent exhibit, adding a cultural attraction adjacent to the River Walk and steps from Hubbard Street dining and nightlife. Chicago is the second city to host the exhibit, which first opened in Denver in 2022. The intrigue: The Reid Murdoch Building mostly houses international design companies, and isn't known for hosting public performances and exhibits. Yes, but: River North has been home to several immersive exhibits in recent years, using non-traditional performance venues. Zoom out: The Goodman Theatre is co-producing this exhibit as part of its lineup of events for its centennial season. Friedman Properties helped develop the theater's home space on Dearborn Street, just blocks from the Reid Murdoch Building. What's next: "Theater of the Mind" is set to open this fall.
Chicago Tribune
25-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Goodman Theatre's big 100th season: David Byrne, an ‘Office' star and the return of Robert Falls
The Goodman Theatre has announced a celebrity-crusted Centennial Season with a remarkable six world premieres, a pre-Broadway tryout and an overall level of ambition that surpasses the previous 99 seasons. Attractions for the upcoming slate include an off-site immersive show, 'Theater of the Mind,' as created by David Byrne of Talking Heads fame and the writer Mala Gaonkar. The show, which premiered in Denver, features multiple casts performing day and night, with scattered starting times for groups of around 16 patrons at a time. It's billed as 'an intimate and immersive journey inside how we see and create our worlds.' As directed by Andrew Scoville, the show is slated for an open run (perhaps of a year or more) inside the renovated Reid Building (333 N. La Salle St.), potentially a boon for downtown tourism. Goodman executive director John Collins said in an interview that Chicago will have the piece exclusively 'for at least a year.' Dates have yet to be announced. Collins said he hopes the show will begin in the fall but the construction timeline may mean it will open in the spring. Byrne attended a press event Tuesday at the theater announcing the 2025-26 season, led by Collins and artistic director Susan Booth. The Albert Theatre mainstage will feature several familiar names and Chicago-centric works. In the fall, Jenna Fischer (of television's 'The Office') will star in the world premiere of a new play by Lee Kirk (Fischer's husband) titled 'Ashland Avenue' (Sept. 6 to Oct. 5) and named after the prosaic but essential Chicago street. Set in a creaking TV and video store of the old-school, the drama will also star Francis Guinan and be directed by Booth. Then former artistic director Robert Falls returns to the Goodman for the first time since his exit to direct a new contemporary adaptation of Philip Barry's 'Holiday' (Jan. 31 to March 1, 2026), a 1928 farce that was twice adapted to film, one starring Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn. The new comedy, set in the present day, is the work of Richard Greenberg, a familiar though recently absent writer for Chicago audiences, and is likely to feature at least one well-known star, although casting has yet to be announced. Veteran Goodman artistic associate Chuck Smith continues his series of new productions of August Wilson plays with 'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom' (March 28 to April 26, 2026), this time with Harry J. Lennix, currently on Broadway with Steppenwolf Theatre Company's 'Purpose,' serving as both associate director and music director. 'Ma Rainey' is the only Wilson play set in Chicago. Next summer will continue the Goodman's recent tradition of presenting pre-Broadway musicals, with Kathleen Marshall directing the world premiere of the musical comedy 'Iceboy! or, The Completely Untrue Story of How Eugene O'Neill Came to Write 'The Iceman Cometh'' (June 9 to July 19, 2026), with a book by Erin Quinn Purcell and Jay Reiss, score by former Chicagoan Mark Hollmann ('Urinetown') and lyrics by Hollmann and Reiss. Megan Mullally will star in a story of a 40,000-year-old Neanderthal discovered frozen in the Arctic and adopted by a Broadway star. Broadway producer Barbara Whitman also attended Tuesday's event. Goodman will, as ever, stage its annual production of 'A Christmas Carol' (Nov. 15 to Dec. 31). Christopher Donahue returns as Scrooge and Malkia Stampley becomes the show's new director, likely for longer than just this coming holiday season. The Goodman's smaller Owen Theatre also has high-profile works of a scale not seen in years. The fall begins with 'Revolution(s)' (Oct. 4 to Nov. 9) another new musical, this one commissioned by the Goodman. It's penned by Northwestern professor Zayd Ayers Dohrn (the son of the radical activists Bernardine Dohrn and Bill Ayers of the Weather Underground), and features music and lyrics by Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine. Steve H. Broadnax III directs (as he does the upcoming 'The Book of Grace' at Steppenwolf Theatre). The show is billed as 'a groundbreaking new punk/metal/hip hop musical … about a young artist finding his voice, why violence is as American as cherry pie, and how young radicals across generations are still motivated by love.' Morello performed a song from the show on Tuesday. 'The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao' (Feb. 21 to April 5, 2026) by Marco Antonio Rodriguez follows in the Owen. This is a world-premiere adaptation of the semi-autobiographical novel by the Dominican American writer and college professor Junot Díaz, a coming-of-age story set in New Jersey where Díaz was raised. In May, longtime Goodman-affiliated solo artist Dael Orlandersmith returns with a new work, 'Blood Memory' (May 2-31, 2026), directed by Neel Keller. It will focus on division and decision-making and the pressure point between unity and ideological retreat. Finally, the Goodman continues its association with the magician Dennis Watkins and the venue known as The Magic Parlour, and its New Stages Festival next season will offer shows in a new Theater for the Very Young initiative. Also, a year-long program titled '100 Free Acts of Theater ' will offer the arts for free across Chicago's 50 wards, produced in partnership with the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, details to be announced. 'The beauty of the Chicago audience is what a rich stew of beings comprise it,' said Booth when asked about such an expansive and extensive season. 'The gift and the challenge of curating for that wildly diverse group of people is immense.'
