October 2012

Rating: 2.0/5.0

CHICAGO – “The Oranges” suffers from a common problem in these suburban comedies of error in that it assumes we care about these characters who are essentially less interesting than your actual neighbors. Infidelity, bad parenting, friendships collapsing – they’re happening every day on your street. Films like “The Oranges” may think they’re tapping a vein of picket fence peculiarity like “American Beauty” but the result actually plays more like a Showtime sitcom pilot that never got picked up because it was too boring to maintain week to week.

Rating: 3.0/5.0

CHICAGO – “V/H/S” is a clever concept for a film executed with decidedly mixed results. There are enough smart ideas and chilling moments to recommend it to fans of any of its multiple genres (horror, found footage, indie film, even mumblecore), but I would never suggest it to a general audience. It is a cult film through and through and it feels like that’s just the way its talented team of creators wants it to be.

CHICAGO – “Marvel Vs. Capcom: Origins” is very much like a trade paperback comic book. It collects the first two chapters in the Marvel Fighting Game Franchise; “Marvel Super Heroes” and “Marvel Vs. Capcom” into one ready-to-play collection. Both games were developed by Capcom, developers of the legendary “Street Fighter” series, as well as about 50 other games you’ve probably heard of, played, and loved.

CHICAGO – Jay & Mark Duplass clearly know a thing or two about sibling rivalry. They capture that unique blend of affection and competition in their clever and sweet “The Do-Deca-Pentathlon,” a comedy that didn’t get nearly the attention of recent efforts like “Cyrus” and “Jeff, Who Lives at Home” because of a lack of star power but makes a satisfying rental now that it’s on Blu-ray.

CHICAGO – The Chicago Film Critics Association (CFCA) will begin their new series, “Film with a View,” on this coming Wednesday, October 3rd, at the Studio Movie Grill in Wheaton, Illinois, starting at 7:30pm. Admission is only one dollar. The first feature will be “Almost Famous” (2000), the rock movie directed by Cameron Crowe. CFCA member Erik Childress of eFilmCritic.com will introduce the film and lead a discussion afterward.

CHICAGO – The McHenry Outdoor Theater, one of the last remaining drive-in movie venues in America, will be holding a fundraiser on Friday, Oct. 5 and 6, 2012. The event will help raise money to purchase a new digital projector, which the historic venue needs to stay in business. The theater is located at 1510 Chapel Hill Road in McHenry, Ill.

CHICAGO – Is it possible that not all comic books are ones that can be adapted? Couldn’t some of them only really work on the page where the reader can fill in the grit and grime of a dark story like Frank Miller’s “The Dark Knight Returns” in ways that a literal reading in animated form just can’t do? You see what i’m getting at. I love the source material for “Batman: The Dark Knight Returns — Part 1” and there are enough interesting ideas that survived intact the journey from page to screen but the adaptation of Miller’s work doesn’t hold a candle to just reading the original.

CHICAGO – “Dark Shadows” flops on the screen like an undead fish out of water. It doesn’t have one ounce of the spontaneity or style that made the work of its director, Tim Burton, or its star, Johnny Depp, so irresistible during their hot streak of the ’90s. The was back when Burton/Depp collaborations promised something more than peerless production values and morbid variations on familiar themes.

CHICAGO – In many ways, it’s easier to draw a direct line from 1997’s “The Game” to the work that David Fincher is doing today than it would be from “bigger hits” like “Fight Club” and “Seven.” Not only does “The Game” look strikingly similar to “Social Network” and “Girl with a Dragon Tattoo” in terms of the way Fincher and his amazing d.p. Harris Savides shoot board rooms and bad behavior but the film shares themes that still interest Fincher like obsession, ego, and deception. The Criterion edition of Fincher’s film makes the argument crystal clear that is one of the most underrated thrillers of the ’90s.

CHICAGO – Do young people know of the importance of Steve Martin to the history of comedy? In the ’70s, he helped revolutionize the form through his unique, smart, daring approach on-stage and in his TV comedies and on “Saturday Night Live.” Much of the material that made him a superstar has been collected in a stellar three-disc set from Shout Factory, now available on DVD under the banner “Steve Martin: The Television Stuff.”

CHICAGO – Seth MacFarlane, the writer/director of “Ted” and creator of “Family Guy” & “American Dad,” was announced today as the unexpected choice to host the “85th Annual Academy Awards,” to be broadcast on Sunday, February 24, 2013 on ABC.