Things to do in Chicago today

Comedy, Improv

The Armando Diaz Experience

iO Theater, River North

Until Apr 29 2019

It's a simple concept: one performer takes a suggestion from the audience and from that, delivers a monologue based on something they've experienced. Then, the rest of the improv ensemble engages in a series of scenes inspired by their story. The Armando cast features some of iO's most accomplished players and is frequent host of guest performers.

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Photograph: Courtesy HNFF World Sales

Movies, Drama

Chicago European Union Film Festival

Gene Siskel Film Center, Loop

Until Apr 4 2019

The Gene Siskel Film Center's annual European Union Film Festival serves as North America's largest showcase for films from European Union nations, including countries like Austria, Belgium and Croatia. This year's program features more than 60 films, representing all 28 EU nations. Highlights of the lineup include Romanian murder mystery Thou Shalt Not Kill, German teen drama Tiger Milk, Spanish animated film Buñuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles and Hungarian Cold War comedy Lajkó--Gypsy in Space.

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Photograph: Jaclyn Rivas

Things to do

Macy's Flower Show

Macy's, Loop

Until Apr 7 2019

The downtown department store hosts this annual flower-filled extravaganza, filling the historic building real blooms and exotic plants. The theme of this year's show is "Journey to Paradisios, Operation: Inspiration," which Macy's describes as a "space-inspired floral fantasy." The sci-fi display includes more than 5,000 types of plants, trees and flowers that take the shape of rocket ships, celestial bodies and aliens. You can see the sights, free of charge, during regular store hours.

Photo: Claudette Barius/Universal

Movies, Horror

Us

Jordan Peele is back with more terror—but slightly less edge.

Time Out says

Movies, Drama

Five Feet Apart

Teens cursed with bad genes find their way to flirtation—and maybe more?—in this shameless disease-of-the-week weepie.

Time Out says

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Photo: Focus Features

Movies, Drama

The Mustang

Man and horse bond in a generic indie that doesn't stray too far afield from expectations.

Time Out says

Photo: Marvel Studios

Movies, Action and adventure

Captain Marvel

Superheroes save the world on a regular basis, but their movies aren’t nearly as courageous: For every ingenious Black Panther that departs from the billion-dollar formula, you get ten timid time-wasters. Captain Marvel, the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s first female-led installment, means a lot symbolically—especially to young girls who resonate with Gal Gadot’s confident portrayal of Wonder Woman. But you can’t help but wish the watershed moment arrived with a more richly imagined central character. Even within the MCU itself, you can locate fiercer, more complex women (Elizabeth Olsen’s tortured Scarlet Witch comes to mind), and while Room and Short Term 12 star Brie Larson is certainly capable of expressing wire-taut uncertainty, she’s a bit stranded in the rubber suit, playing a role that gives her scant opportunity to be human. It seems beneath her. That disconnect is too bad since Captain Marvel, co-scripted by Mississippi Grind directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck (plus an army of story writers), tries hard to floor you with its freshness. Sometimes that effort is too obvious, as it is with the film’s utterly unnecessary first 20 minutes: a spew of Trekkian world-building that introduces planet Hala, the Kree, the Supreme Intelligence, the evil Skrull (maybe take notes) and, only slightly less mystifying, Jude Law as a martial-arts master. Eventually our hero (Larson), an alien supersoldier, plunges through the roof of a Blockbuster Video into a very James Cameron–like

Time Out says

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