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.

Michael Metzger, a curator at the Block Museum at Northwestern University, at the museum in Evanston on Oct. 16, 2026. Metzger unearthed the 1961 documentary film “Chicago: First Impressions of a Great American City.” (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)

A long-suppressed 1961 documentary about Chicago is unearthed

October 28, 2026 at 5:30 a.m.

“Chicago: First Impressions of a Great American City" was a co-production by the BBC. Mayor Daley and others were outraged at this "seamy," warts-and-all portrayal of the city.

Artist Dorian Sylvain, from left, Kahari Black and Nick Slusinski paste up new sections of "Bring It With You,” a 50-foot-tall steel pillar by Sylvain, on Oct. 27, 2026, during a groundbreaking event for West Edge Arts, a mural park with community spaces planned to open next year in Chicago’s North Lawndale neighborhood. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)

A new mural park is coming to the West Side

October 27, 2026 at 2:45 p.m.

West Edge Arts is set to open in the summer of 2027 on a stretch of Ogden Avenue in North Lawndale and will feature a mural by artist Dorian Sylvain.

Pedro Pascal stars in "Behemoth!" which is playing at the Chicago International Film Festival. (Searchlight Pictures)

2026 Chicago International Film Fest makes the connection between moviegoing and owning the DVD

October 6, 2026 at 5:30 a.m.

Along with leaning into physical media, this year's CIFF will feature an early look at the highly anticipated “Behemoth!” starring Pedro Pascal, Olivia Wilde and Will Arnett.

Chip Brooks, co-owner of Hey Nonny, in the music venue and restaurant in downtown Arlington Heights on March 31, 2023. (Trent Sprague / Chicago Tribune)

Arlington Heights music venue Hey Nonny is for sale

October 2, 2026 at 2:09 p.m.

This follows recent ownership changes for other live music venues including The Hideout and Fitzgerald's.

Georgina Rivera, right, plays pinball with her son Wyatt Tores, a self-described pinball fanatic, at The Flip, a playable pinball museum in the pedway near State and Washington streets in Chicago, Sept. 19, 2026. (Arthur Maiorella/Chicago Tribune)

Bumpers, flippers and steel balls: Chicago gets its first pinball museum

October 2, 2026 at 11:58 a.m.

Chicago has been a pinball manufacturing powerhouse. The Flip spotlights the city's history with a museum of playable games.

Rob Morgan as Hopkins in an episode of "Chicago Fire." (Peter Gordon/NBC)

Smoke near Obama Center and UChicago on Monday and Tuesday is for an episode of ‘Chicago Fire’

September 28, 2026 at 11:22 a.m.

If you see plumes of smoke on Chicago’s South Side near the Obama Presidential Center Monday and Tuesday, do not be alarmed.

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 28, 2026 at 10:34 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 will be the focus of a (third) documentary movie

September 29, 2026 at 12:14 p.m.

The upcoming movie by Bridgeport's Mouse Arts and Letters Club is in conversation with the first two films, one narrated by Studs Turkel. All focus on Chicago's history by way...

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."

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