Chicago has been getting a lot of grief as of late, with our so-called president recently threatening to send in the feds to deal with area crime, and calling our fair city “so sad a situation.” Even Sean Spicer—well, Melissa McCarthy as Sean Spicer—cites an 80-percent murder rate. Since Chicago is where The A.V. Club resides, we decided it was time to pay homage to this amazing metropolis and some of the many pop-cultural institutions that also call it home. Today, we have Sean O’Neal’s look at the High Fidelity soundtrack, and Noel Murray’s take on a very special episode of The Untouchables. The week’s Watch This series on Chicago movies kicks off with a classic: Uncle Buck.
Later in the week, we have Ignatiy Vishnevetsky’s exploration of Chicago crime films, Gwen Ihnat’s oral history on the great Midwestern alt-rock bands of the mid-’90s, and an Inventory on the city’s legendary character actors. Food editor Kevin Pang leads a journey through the area’s distinct culinary specialties. Noel Murray dives into all of the Home Alone movies. There’s all this and so much more in The A.V. Club’s Chicago Week, frankly, we just have to wonder why you don’t visit more often.