January, 2013

CHICAGO – In the latest HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film with our unique social giveaway technology, we have 40 pairs of movie passes up for grabs to the advance screening of the new Steven Soderbergh film “Side Effects” with Channing Tatum!

CHICAGO – After acknowledging that the rewards of reality are infinitely preferable to the shallow pleasures of a nostalgic dreamworld in his Oscar-winning crowd-pleaser, “Midnight in Paris,” Woody Allen’s tirelessly neurotic psyche appears to be more calm and serene than ever before. Perhaps his compulsion to make one picture a year has finally brought him some sort of therapeutic catharsis.

CHICAGO – In the last days of August 2012, three generically titled ghost pictures had the misfortune of opening at more or less the exact same time. None of them were particularly memorable, yet only one managed to produce any semblance of genuine chills. There are enough eerie moments in “The Possession,” the demonic thriller from gifted Danish director Ole Bornedal, that one wishes that it pushed past the boundaries of its tame PG-13 rating.

CHICAGO – Malik Bendjelloul’s “Searching For Sugar Man” is a beloved documentary that not only made a nice dent at the box office ($3 million, a solid figure for a doc and 5th place on the year for the genre) but earned an Oscar nomination for Best Documentary. Now on Blu-ray and DVD, it’s the kind of film that I expect to find a huge audience on the home market, pushed along by solid word-of-mouth and, most importantly, killer tunes.

CHICAGO – Benoît Jacquot is a director clearly enraptured by the beauty of young women. This was eminently clear in his early ’90s-era vehicles for Virginie Ledoyen (“A Single Girl,” “Marianne”), an actress who turned up in his latest picture, “Farewell, My Queen,” still looking startlingly youthful. Yet she is no longer the center of Jacquot’s universe.

CHICAGO – Did everyone know that the great Guillermo Del Toro (“Pan’s Labyrinth”) is an expert on Alfred Hitchcock? So much so that he wrote a book on the legendary director and was asked by The Criterion Collection to do a wonderful interview on Hitch’s 1934 version of “The Man Who Knew Too Much”? Del Toro wonderfully expounds on the film, offering his insight as to how the work that would be remade into a more popular Jimmy Stewart film in later years actually represents the perfect transitional piece from Hitch’s British period to his American one. It’s just one of several great special features on another stellar Criterion release.

CHICAGO – Outside of a surprising Golden Globe win by its hysterically funny star, Matt LeBlanc, Showtime’s “Episodes” doesn’t seem to be getting too much attention from critics or viewers. It’s not one of the modern cable shows that everyone seems to be talking about like “Breaking Bad,” “Homeland,” “The Walking Dead,” “Justified,” etc. I’m not saying it’s in the caliber of those programs but it would be a shame if this program was ignored entirely. It’s damn funny.

Rating: 4.0/5.0

CHICAGO – “To those dark horses with the spirit to look up and see, a recondite family awaits.” While the Sundance Film Festival goes on all through Park City, a select group of truly independent films is unspooling up on Main Street under the banner of Slamdance. One of the more interesting Slamdance selections this year was the great “The Institute,” a quasi-documentary about an “Alternate Reality Game” that took place in San Francisco from 2008 to 2011.

CHICAGO – When putting on an awards show in Chicago, getting local talent to hand out awards was as easy as calling the production of “Chicago Fire,” currently filming here. The 2012 Best of the Midwest Awards in December had “CF” cast members David Eigenberg and Christian Stolte to present accolades, and comedy improvisor Susan Messing won Best Actress at the event.

CHICAGO – It is a horror movie image that is immediately recognizable. Michael Berryman portrayed “Pluto” in Wes Craven’s renown 1977 film, “The Hills Have Eyes,” and even the poster image evokes a memory of his distinctive look. Berryman made an appearance last November at the Days of the Dead Horror Convention in Chicagoland.

CHICAGO – Due to popular demand, we have a second HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film with our unique social giveaway technology for the new zombie film “Warm Bodies” with John Malkovich!

Rating: 3.0/5.0

CHICAGO – The Jason Statham “character” has served the actor well through a substantial action movie career. But as situations to fit his stoic British kick-ass persona start to drift away, Statham is left with messy narratives like in his new film “Parker,” co-starring Jennifer Lopez.

CHICAGO – It’s been over a year since Craig Zobel’s “Compliance” took Park City by storm when this disturbing drama premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. Rattling viewers before sending them out into the cold Utah streets, “Compliance” was not just one of that fest’s most memorable films but one of the entire year’s. Now on Blu-ray, you can see what all the controversial buzz is about.