CHICAGO – We all need some help. The stage play group Nothing Without a Company realizes that, and has collaborated with the organization “Cornerstone” to provide that assistance. Cornerstone is a seminar and a happening in downtown Chicago, facilitated by “experts” to generate your potential. The presentation has a Thursday-Sunday run at Michigan Avenue’s Artspace 8 through April 29th, 2018. Click here for more details, including ticket information.
Matt Damon
Matt Damon in ‘Downsizing’ Offers Few Small Pleasures
Submitted by PatrickMcD on December 22, 2017 - 10:51am![]() Rating: 2.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – “Downsizing” is an interesting premise that doesn’t ultimately go anywhere interesting. Part of the problem is that writer/director Alexander Payne doesn’t seem to know what kind of a movie he wants it to be… it’s part cerebral Woody Allen futuristic comedy, part sci-fi social satire about Midwestern malaise, and winds up failing at both.
‘Suburbicon’ is the Cinematic Equivalent of a Soccer Mom
Submitted by JonHC on October 27, 2017 - 2:20pm![]() Rating: 2.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Having lived in both the suburbs and in major cities throughout my lifetime, I can say without hesitation that the suburbs tend to be dull, boring and bereft of creativity. To be fair, it’s not their fault since they’re built for efficiency and with placidity in mind. “Surburbicon” is made in much the same way, becoming the one thing a film shouldn’t be: boring.
Odd Times at the Cinema with ‘The Great Wall’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on February 17, 2017 - 8:17pm![]() Rating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Taking a concept higher than the Wall that inspired it, and mostly succeeding, “The Great Wall” gets a nod as one of the oddest stories in a long time. Pre-supposedly based on a “legend,” it brings Matt Damon into ancient China to help battle lizard monsters at the Great Wall. Book it.
Matt Damon is Fighting Mad in Tense ‘Jason Bourne’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on July 30, 2016 - 7:02am![]() Rating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – To come back to a character that everyone thought he had left behind, Matt Damon needed the right creative team. He got it again in co-writer (with Christopher Rouse) and director Paul Greengrass, and together they fashioned a paranoid spy tale in the rat-a-tat “Jason Bourne.”
Entertaining ‘The Martian’ is a Hollywood Space Opera
Submitted by PatrickMcD on October 5, 2015 - 1:47pm![]() Rating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – It’s all based on science, they told us! “The Martian” is an old fashion feel-good movie about the hard working astronauts and scientists of the good old American space program, trying to rescue a stranded spaceman from Mars, aided by a brave cast of astro-colleagues.
Christopher Nolan’s Riveting Story Shines Brightest in Imperfectly Cast ‘Interstellar’
Submitted by HollywoodChicago.com on November 7, 2014 - 2:45pm- Adam Fendelman
- Anne Hathaway
- Casey Affleck
- Christopher Nolan
- Collette Wolfe
- David Oyelowo
- Ellen Burstyn
- Elyes Gabel
- HollywoodChicago.com Content
- IMAX
- Interstellar
- Jessica Chastain
- John Lithgow
- Jonathan Nolan
- Leah Cairns
- Mackenzie Foy
- Matt Damon
- Matthew McConaughey
- Michael Caine
- Movie Review
- Topher Grace
- Wes Bentley
![]() Rating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – It was Monday, Nov. 3, 2014 at 10:15 p.m. Leaving Navy Pier IMAX, I was driving north on Lake Shore Drive – a constantly busy, multi-lane highway that hugs the east of Chicago and separates it from water. What I saw next with fellow staff critic Patrick McDonald might have been normal for 3 a.m., but discussing Christopher Nolan’s new sci-fi “Interstellar” and being the only one on the road in either direction felt otherworldly.
‘Interstellar’ is Supposed to Mean Something, But What?
Submitted by PatrickMcD on November 6, 2014 - 2:33pm- 2001: A Space Odyssey
- Anne Hathaway
- Bill Irwin
- Casey Affleck
- Christopher Nolan
- David Gyasi
- Ellen Burstyn
- HollywoodChicago.com Content
- Interstellar
- Jessica Chastain
- John Lithgow
- Mackenzie Foy
- Matt Damon
- Matthew McConaughey
- Michael Caine
- Movie Review
- Paramount Pictures
- Patrick McDonald
- Stanley Kubrick
- Topher Grace
- Wes Bentley
![]() Rating: 3.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – It is most likely that movie goers were asking the same question of Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey” in 1968, but Christopher Nolan’s “Interstellar” belongs to its own category of what-is-the-meaning, because it tries to combine pseudo-science with psycho-babble, which clashes into meaninglessness. But the visuals are stunning, and there are moments of fulfillment, especially in a big screen IMAX format.
Miscast Crew Spoils Christopher Nolan’s Epic ‘Interstellar’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on November 5, 2014 - 10:17am![]() Rating: 3.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – “Interstellar” is easily director Christopher Nolan’s worst film. It contains much of the ambition and striking visuals that have endeared him to audiences, but for large chunks of the movie his own worst tendencies towards bombast, self-importance, and hippy dippy dialogue threaten to overwhelm his dandy space sequences entirely.
‘The Monuments Men’ Has Been Drained of Personality
Submitted by BrianTT on February 6, 2014 - 10:03am![]() Rating: 1.5/5.0 |
George Clooney’s “The Monuments Men” is processed cheese. It is a film that has been rewritten, edited, and refined until it has lost all sense of purpose or identity. There’s no flavor left. It is a film that defies genre; not quirky enough to have a comedic personality despite a cast that almost always supplies edge and not engaging enough to work as drama or thriller.
Journey to ‘Elysium’ Lacks Sci-fi Smarts
Submitted by BrianTT on August 5, 2013 - 3:27pm![]() Rating: 2.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – “Elysium” is a blunt instrument. It contains all the subtlety of franchise-killer “Terminator: Salvation.” Where Neill Blomkamp’s “District 9” was surprisingly sleek and refined given its low budget and rookie creator, the follow-up proves that more is very often less.
