Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Michael Phillips @mrmichaelphillips.bsky.social · 10d

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

The New York Times @nytimes.com · 10d

Breaking News: President Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the military should use U.S. cities as “training grounds” at an unusual meeting focused on culture wars. It was unclear why they needed to gather senior military leaders from overseas to tell them this face to face.

Live Updates: Trump Addresses Rare Military Gathering as Government Shutdown Looms

nyti.ms

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Michael Phillips @mrmichaelphillips.bsky.social · 10d

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."

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Reposted by Michael Phillips

Molly Jong-Fast @mollyjongfast.bsky.social · 14d

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

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Jonathan Cohn @jonathancohn.bsky.social · 14d

“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...

Texas Tech Moves to Limit Academic Discussion to 2 Genders

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Michael Phillips

Peter Sagal @petersagal.bsky.social · 14d

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

The Associated Press @apnews.com · 14d

BREAKING: The FBI has fired agents photographed kneeling during a 2020 racial justice protest that followed the death of George Floyd, AP sources say.

FBI fires agents photographed kneeling during 2020 racial justice protest, AP sources say

The FBI has fired agents who were photographed kneeling during a racial justice protest in Washington that followed the 2020 death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers.

bit.ly

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Michael Phillips @mrmichaelphillips.bsky.social · Aug 20

Much obliged, Peter. Truly.

Peter Sagal @petersagal.bsky.social · Aug 19

Twenty years of excellence. Thank you! (And curses be upon the Trib for this.)

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Michael Phillips @mrmichaelphillips.bsky.social · Aug 19

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)

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Michael Phillips @mrmichaelphillips.bsky.social · Aug 19

...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)

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Michael Phillips @mrmichaelphillips.bsky.social · Aug 19

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)

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Michael Phillips @mrmichaelphillips.bsky.social · Aug 7

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.

Nina Metz @ninametz.bsky.social · Aug 7

COLUMN: AI is fundamentally vampiric by nature. I talk with two screenwriters (who also teach screenwriting) about why giving viewers the AI "tools" to generate TV shows based on pre-existing shows will just result in empty, bad television

People should want better for themselves than this!

Column: After a long day, the last thing I want is to tell GenAI to create a TV show for me to watch

Screenwriters weigh in on why a service promising to use your prompts to create a TV show would be bad. It’s fan fiction without the fans.

www.chicagotribune.com

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Michael Phillips @mrmichaelphillips.bsky.social · Aug 7

'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...

‘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.”

www.chicagotribune.com

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Michael Phillips @mrmichaelphillips.bsky.social · Aug 7

"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...

‘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.

www.chicagotribune.com

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Michael Phillips @mrmichaelphillips.bsky.social · Jul 29

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...

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.

www.chicagotribune.com

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Anne Caprara @annecaprara.bsky.social · Jul 18

Colbert is a brilliant comedian, great interviewer & w good person. He has a million places in this new age to take his talents, be widely heard and make $$$. I hope he will.What is beyond rescue is much of the legacy media making decisions that will haunt them & their business for decades to come.

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Michael Phillips @mrmichaelphillips.bsky.social · Jul 10

The Gunn conundrum continues with "Superman," one hour of which has and is a pretty good time, followed by a second hour fighting its own endless beat-downs that may still be going on. On the other hand: Krypto! And Rachel Brosnahan! www.chicagotribune.com/2025/07/09/s...

‘Superman’ review: This latest reboot opens strong, and that dog Krypto’s a pip

Besides a very good dog named Krypto, James Gunn’s “Superman” gives us a five-star Lois Lane thanks to Rachel Brosnahan.

www.chicagotribune.com

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Michael Phillips @mrmichaelphillips.bsky.social · Jun 27

An extremely good debut feature. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/06/27/f...

‘Familiar Touch’ review: A coming-of-old-age story, compassionate and clear-eyed

The writer-director Sarah Friedland and actress Kathleen Chalfant avoid every storytelling pitfall in a movie about a woman in a memory care facility.

www.chicagotribune.com

Michael Phillips @mrmichaelphillips.bsky.social · Jun 19

A-1 conversation between @ninametz.bsky.social and U Delaware Prof. Dominique J. Baker about TV's default wealthaganda impulse. Shows telling you money isn't everything love to say one thing while ogling another: www.chicagotribune.com/2025/06/18/c...

Column: Money and status aren’t everything. Try telling TV that.

The preponderance of wealthaganda is odds with reality for most Americans. So what do these stories of status aim to do?

www.chicagotribune.com

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Michael Phillips @mrmichaelphillips.bsky.social · Jun 19

Just got back from my first bikepacking excursion which KICKED MY ASS but in an instructive and lovely way. My column on how a 1979 charmer rolled out of the mists of time to assist. Particular thanks to Lisa Michurski and her fellow NY cyclists. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/06/19/c...

Column: How ‘Breaking Away’ helped a newbie cyclist conquer his inner critic

Just when Tribune critic Michael Phillips thought his bike-packing weekend got the best of him, “Breaking Away” rode to the rescue.

www.chicagotribune.com

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Michael Phillips @mrmichaelphillips.bsky.social · Jun 6

'Ballerina''s most riveting action happens in the pause and then the delievery of Anjelica Huston's one-syllable exit line. Also, some of the mountain village adventure tourism, let's call it, has its charms. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/06/04/b...

‘Ballerina’ review: Ana de Armas leads a bloody ‘John Wick’ spinoff

Of course, it’s all fight scenes, which get tiresome. But Anjelica Huston plays a Russian mob boss in a moment worth waiting for.

www.chicagotribune.com

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Michael Phillips @mrmichaelphillips.bsky.social · Jun 6

I talked to one of America's experts in image manipulation, about how an onslaught of real-world visual lies may be messing with our perception and enjoyment of movie fakery. Mine, anyway. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/06/05/c...

Column: In a world of easily manipulated images, can movies retain their magic?

The best cinematic trickery asks the question: Can you believe what you just saw? Problem is, the real world asks the same thing.

www.chicagotribune.com

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Michael Phillips @mrmichaelphillips.bsky.social · May 30

Two new mini-film festivals coming to Chicago, one faaaaaaaaabulously intense, the other a reminder that life has its downs, and its downs. Plus news on the @musicboxtheatre.bsky.social adding a third photoplay emporium! www.chicagotribune.com/2025/05/30/f...

Going high or low? Film festivals ‘Summer Camp’ and ‘Bleak Week’ open on Sunday

June is busting out all over, when Chicago’s Music Box hits you with “Cinema of Despair” and the Siskel Film Center goes to camp.

www.chicagotribune.com

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Michael Phillips @mrmichaelphillips.bsky.social · May 30

My interview with Rolf Saxon: Superstar, whose bit part in the first "Mission: Impossible" expands into a surprising piece of the "Final Reckoning" ensemble of world-savers. A narrative stroke of genius, and just desserts for Saxon. Gift link: www.chicagotribune.com/2025/05/27/c...

Column: In the new ‘Mission: Impossible,’ Rolf Saxon is the secret weapon, a ‘coffee guy’ no more

Three decades after his bit part got banished to the tundra, veteran actor Rolf Saxon returns to the “M:I” franchise, like a boss.

www.chicagotribune.com

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Michael Phillips @mrmichaelphillips.bsky.social · May 15

A droll, somewhat insanely grisly existential comedy of how not to deal with a universe out to get you. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/05/15/f...

‘Final Destination: Bloodlines’ review: ‘Til Death does his part, with a comedian’s flair

Sharp, well-acted, more an existential comedy of errors than conventional splurch, “Final Destination: Bloodlines” just plain works.

www.chicagotribune.com

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Michael Phillips @mrmichaelphillips.bsky.social · Apr 30

The 36th Marvel Cinematic Universe motion picture, if you give a rip. At least some of the violence comes at a price, unlike your average "Accountant" sequel. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/04/29/t...

‘Thunderbolts*’ review: Tormented superheroes in the first pretty-good Marvel movie in a while

Florence Pugh leads a crew of scrappy misfits. It’s a familiar premise, “Suicide Squad” did the same thing, but here it works.

www.chicagotribune.com

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Michael Phillips @mrmichaelphillips.bsky.social · Apr 18

The 4k digital restoration/remastering really takes you there. And "there" is Charles Burnett's "Killer of Sheep," one of the best theres there is. In Chicago at the Gene Siskel Film Center April 18-24. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/04/17/r...

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