2023 Chicago Critics Film Festival Preview- Five Must-See Movies

To hit 10 years of existence is a great accomplishment. It means you are established and to make it that far you must be doing something right. The Chicago Critics Film Festival arrives this weekend at the Music Box Theatre— kicking off Friday, May 5th and closing on Thursday, May 11th– and celebrating its tenth […]

2023 SXSW Film Festival Preview- 5 Movies To See in Texas

It has been four years since AMovieGuy.com covered SXSW in-person. From the comfort of our couch was nice but the best part about the Austin, Texas film festival is being there for all the buzz. And nothing can beat an electrified crowd of cinephiles at the historic Paramount Theatre experiencing cinema together. Needless to say, […]

AMovieGuy.com's 2022 Top-10 & Movie Awards

Every year I sweat over what should be in my end of the year Top-10 and it’s honestly an exhausting process. The fact will always remain that choosing just 10 is an impossible task. Also, depending on my mood, I could make an argument for numbers 2-25 having a reason to be number one. What […]

2022 CIFF Coverage- Part 3

As the Chicago International Film Festival winds down there is still quite a bit available for people to see. In addition to the many films I detail below, Anna Diop will be on hand Friday October 21 at a screening of the very good thriller in which she stars, Nanny, to receive the Rising Star […]

2022 CIFF Coverage- Part 2

As the Chicago International Film Festival continues there’s still so much in store. This week there will be major local premieres of the Knives Out sequel, Glass Onion, the highly anticipated new film from Oscar-winning director Martin McDonagh, The Banshees of Inisherin, and Sarah Polley’s Women Talking. There is also an in-person tribute to actor […]

2022 58th Chicago International Film Festival Preview

The 58th Annual Chicago International Film Festival kicks off tonight and runs until October 23rd. Our great fest is the perfect way to get a leg up on some of the high-profile films that will be released throughout the Fall and early Winter in theaters and streaming sites. There are also some outstanding under the […]

2022 Fantastic Fest Preview

Fantastic Fest 2022 is going to be one to remember. Maybe not for all the reasons the programmers are hoping for- the movies will be great, I don’t doubt it- but this will be the first film festival that AMovieGuy.com is covering in person since before the pandemic started. That means a lot, it means […]

2022 Reeling: The 40th Chicago LGBTQ+ International Film Festival Preview

The 40th installment of Chicago’s Reeling LGBTQ+ Film Festivals begins Thursday, September 22nd. This is the premiere local fest for U.S. and international feature length and short films that promises to once again make the LGBTQ+ community feel represented in a way not often typical of Hollywood productions. The in-person screenings run through October 2nd. […]

2022 Chicago Critics Film Festival Preview

For many years in my coverage of Chicago based film festivals, there was always a hope for there to finally be an event that would rival the others, such as SXSW or Tribeca. It wasn’t happening ever with the Chicago International Film Festival, not by a fault, but strictly because by the time November rolls […]

2022 SXSW Film Festival Preview- 5 Movies to See in Texas

There’s a bit of frustration for me heading into South by Southwest 2022. Prior to the festival the world was still deep into pandemic restrictions and for my job, the preparation for a baseball season, which had me make the painful choice to cover SXSW virtually. Had I known the pandemic would have lesser COVID […]

2021 Nashville Film Festival Preview- 5 Movies to See in the Music City

In a year filled with multiple film festival’s going virtual and the experience of enjoying cities vibrating with movie buzz now taking place on our couches, it makes it hard to separate which festival is the best. What it does, however, is place an emphasis on the material, making it important that the variety of […]

2021 Toronto International Film Festival Coverage

I didn’t expect the first time AMovieGuy.com would be covering the Toronto International Film Festival that it would be remote. It’s certainly bittersweet to finally have press credentials with one of the biggest award season festivals and sitting in the comfort of my own home, but as the Covid pandemic continues to rage on…and on, […]

2021 Fantasia Film Festival Preview- 8 Most Anticipated Movies

Every year I cover the Fantasia Film Festival and it never has let me down. I mean that. I have moved away from covering the Chicago International Film Festival for various reasons and not all festivals have the eclectic gathering of movies as Fantasia does- Kicking off August 5th-25th. It’s not that every movie is […]

2021 SXSW Film Festival Preview

South by Southwest being held online, in a digital platform, with screeners viewed on our computers. It just doesn’t feel right. The pandemic has taken a lot of things from us, family dinners, friendly gatherings, sporting events, and movie theaters. Now it has taken the one thing I look forward to every year, a trip […]

2020 Fantasia Film Festival Preview

2020 is a strange year and it is just as strange for film festivals. For the first time, the Fantasia film festival will go completely online which is not ideal, but it’s the current world we are living in. And to be quite cliche, the show must go on. It’s at least a reminder of […]

Fantastic Fest 2019 Coverage

This is my first time covering Fantastic Fest and I just hope the movies live up to what the festival is called. I don’t think I have too much to worry about, because one thing I know, when something is happening in Austin, Texas there is sure to be plenty of fun. The headlines of […]

Cinepocalypse 2019 Preview

There will be a dark cloud of chaos hovering over the Music Box Theatre for one week- starting Thursday June 13th and closing on Thursday the 20th. It’s not the bad kind of chaos, where people get hurt. What I am talking about is the 3rd year of Cinepocalypse, the film festival that conjures up […]

2019 Chicago Critics Film Festival Preview

MOVIE: OLYMPIC DREAMS DIRECTED BY: JEREMY TEICHER In the history of mumblecore films, Olympic Dreams might be the most ambitious of the genre.  Filmed on location at the 2018 winter olympics in PyeongChang, director Jeremy Teicher, along with stars and co-writers Alexi Pappas & Nick Kroll, decided to make a movie in the moment, about […]

Brooklyn Horror Film Festival- Five Must-See Movies

2018 been quite the year for horror movies. We are getting a new Halloween film this year, Hereditary was one of the scariest movies in the last 10 years, Cinepocalypse was another fantastic film festival, and now AMovieGuy.com is going back to the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival! And what a lineup do they have in […]

Fantasia Film Festival 2018

FANTASIA MOVIES:   RELAXER DIRECTOR: JOE POTRYKUS  RATING: 3 STARS (Out of 4)   Relaxer is the one movie at Fantasia 2018 that is a spot-on metaphor for how life seems to be going today. A man is challenged by his brother to get to level 186 of pac-man, never able to leave the couch, […]

AMovieGuy.com's 5 Most Anticipated Movies at Fantasia International Film Festival 2018

  In Montreal, Canada there is a film festival called Fantasia and when it comes to enjoying good movies, it never disappoints. Last year was AMovieGuy.com’s first year covering the fest, but this year I am extremely excited because it is filled with a variety of unique genre films. Some of the highlights of this […]

2018 Chicago Critics Film Festival

It would be pointless for me to cover the Chicago Critics Film Festival every year and tell you how great it is. I mean, come one! Is it always that good? In a word: yes. I mean, I can see how it looks that way, but over the last 6 years, the city of Chicago […]

2017 CIFF Preview

CIFF PREVIEW   The Chicago International Film Festival never ceases to amaze me with the caliber of talent and films they display every year. This time, in their 53rd year, they welcome an all-star collection of actors and directors, including the likes of Chadwick Boseman, Michael Shannon, and the legendary Vanessa Redgrave in attendance. As […]

5th Chicago Critics Film Festival Preview

Reaching the 5th year of a film festival is a milestone moment for the Chicago Film Critics Association. They should not only be extremely proud for reaching this peak point in time, but they can put their hat on how they continue to gather a collection of impressive films and talent, putting Chicago in the […]

2016 Chicago International Film Festival Preview

The 2016 Chicago International Film Festival is the best time of the year. The fall weather has made it’s crisp arrival, along with pumpkin spice lattes, and a time to celebrate the cinema. If you don’t get out to the theater much, now is the time to catch the movies that represent some of the […]

17th Ebertfest Preview

EBERTFEST PREVIEW This year marks the second time beloved film critic Roger Ebert will not be in attendance of the film fest with his own name on it. It goes without saying that Film criticism will never be the same and neither will this fest. The Pulitzer prize winning critic lost his battle with cancer, […]

2014 Chicago International Film Festival Preview

MOVIE: ARTICO STARRING: DEBORAH BORGES; VICTOR GARCIA; LUCIA MARTINEZ; ALBA NIETO DIRECTED BY: GABRIEL VELAZQUEZ AMovieGuy.com’s RATING: 2 STARS   Artico (Arthouse) never lets the viewers get close to the films subjects. It won a special mention for the Crystal Bear award at the Berlin International Film Festival, which is the 14 Plus age group […]

The 5th Blue Whiskey Independent Film Festival

As fans flock to their local AMC Theaters and buy popcorn for the big budget films, there is a small place in Palatine, Illinois known as Cutting Hall Performing Arts Center. This is where the 5th Annual Blue Whiskey Independent Film Festival takes place. It is at festivals like this where the true art of […]

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