Nina Metz

Nina Metz is a Chicago Tribune critic who covers TV and film. Before joining the Tribune she was a freelance writer and theater critic. She also worked as a news radio producer in Chicago and New Orleans.

The restored Bellwether bell and sign from the former Bell Federal Savings bank branch at the Rector Building, located at 79 W. Monroe Street in Chicago, on Aug. 19, 2026. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)

Once dormant, the Loop’s weather bell is aglow once again

September 25, 2026 at 5:30 a.m.

The Rector Building in the Loop is being converted to a residential building, and as part of the project, the iconic weather bell on the corner of Clark and Monroe...

A detail of "Woman with a Fan" (1913) by Jean Metzinger. (AIC/Mr. and Mrs. Sigmund Kunstadter/Artists Rights Society)

Art Institute will return painting looted during World War II to heirs of Jewish art collector

September 22, 2026 at 3:38 p.m.

The Cubist painting “Woman with a Fan” by Jean Metzinger will be returned to the heirs of the Jewish art collector Emanuel Lewenstein.

Jon Anderson, left, helps fellow member Zhihao Tian, of Bridgeport, with a Blackmagic Pocket Cinema camera during a Camera 101 workshop at the Mouse Arts and Letters Club on Sept. 13, 2026. The Mouse Arts and Letters Club is making a group documentary about Halsted Street. (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune)

Halsted Street to be the focus of a (third) documentary

September 17, 2026 at 10:54 a.m.

Mouse Arts and Letters Club will focus on historical stories in their film about this Chicago street.

The Spanish musician Guitarricadelafuente stars in "La Bola Negra." (Carla Oset/Netflix)

2026 Reeling film fest opens with a potential Oscar-contender

September 10, 2026 at 5:30 a.m.

The LGBTQ+ International Film Festival offers an early look at Netflix's Cannes winner "La Bola Negra."

Amy Poehler stars in "Dig," a new comedy about archeologists working in Greece. (Colleen Hayes/Peacock)

15 TV shows for fall 2026: A new Amy Poehler comedy, a legal drama from the creators of ‘The Good Wife’ and the return of ‘Slow Horses’

August 27, 2026 at 5:30 a.m.

Plus a new network sitcom starring real-life couple Téa Leoni and Tim Daly, and new seasons for "Diplomat" and the Owen Wilson show "Stick."

Jeremy Strong as Mark Zuckerberg in "The Social Reckoning," Aaron Sorkin's follow-up to his script for 2010's "The Social Network." (Columbia Pictures)

10 movies for fall 2026: Sorkin’s Facebook follow-up, Tom Cruise in a non-action role and a biopic about ‘Rocky’

August 26, 2026 at 5:30 a.m.

Plus, "Practical Magic" is back, Jessica Chastain stars as a scary mommy and “Primetime” has a complicated role for Robert Pattinson.

Photographer Mati Maldre stands outside his home in Chicago’s Beverly Hills neighborhood on July 29, 2026. His new book, “The Architecture of Chicago’s Beverly Hills/Morgan Park,” was photographed on film with his Deardorff view camera. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)

On Chicago’s Southwest Side, the Beverly Hills and Morgan Park areas get their close-up

August 18, 2026 at 8:32 a.m.

Photographer Mati Maldre's new book gives the Southwest Side neighborhoods their architectural due.

From left: Miranda Rae Mayo, Brandon Larracuente and David Eigenberg on an episode of "Chicago Fire." Peter Gordon/NBC)

Production assistants on ‘Chicago Fire’ and ‘Chicago Med’ claim hours cut after unionizing

August 7, 2026 at 5:25 a.m.

Until recently, a production assistant was one of the few jobs on a TV set that was non-union.

The White Sox will give away 40,000-plus team-branded hats that resemble a pope's mitre — a tip of the hat, one might say, to Pope Leo XIV's Chicago roots and White Sox fandom. (Darren Georgia/Chicago White Sox)

The story behind the White Sox pope hat

August 14, 2026 at 9:25 a.m.

How does one even recreate a pope's miter, let alone find a company to manufacture more than 40,000 of them?

Thomas Ragsac, 27, from San Francisco, roller skates at the Summer Skate roller skating rink inside the former Crystal Gardens on Navy Pier, June 27, 2026. (Josh Boland/Chicago Tribune)

Summer Skate at Navy Pier is the newest roller skating attraction in Chicago

July 22, 2026 at 5:30 a.m.

It's been too long since roller skating has been available in downtown Chicago.

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