CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Dan Baker on WBGR-FM (Monroe, Wisconsin) on March 21st, 2024, reviewing the new streaming series “Manhunt” – based on the bestseller by James L. Swanson – currently streaming on Apple TV+.
HollywoodChicago.com Arts & Entertainment News
Blu-Ray Review: Stars Click, But ‘Dear John’ Doesn’t Deliver
Submitted by BrianTT on June 2, 2010 - 4:37pmCHICAGO – A romantic drama like “Dear John” relies SO much on the chemistry between the two leads that if it’s not there, the whole thing falls apart. No one wants to watch an ill-fated romance if they don’t believe the love story that drives it. Luckily, Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried have instant, palpable chemistry and that mostly carries the relatively generic and extremely cliched “Dear John” over some serious rough spots.
TV Review: Cliched, Generic TBS Sitcom ‘Are We There Yet?’
Submitted by BrianTT on June 2, 2010 - 10:09amCHICAGO – Very loosely based on the Ice Cube movie (and featuring occasional cameos by the Executive Producer himself), TBS’s “Are We There Yet?” feels more like a product of the recently-passed era of generic family sitcoms like “According to Jim” or “My Wife and Kids.”
DVD Review: ‘Aqua Teen Hunger Force Vol. 7’ Offers More Idiotic Idiocy
Submitted by mattmovieman on June 2, 2010 - 8:37amCHICAGO – The critical mind boggles when faced with a postmodern curiosity like “Aqua Teen Hunger Force.” It is almost entirely indefensible on every conceivable level. Think of the funniest joke you ever heard at 3am in the midst of an insomnia attack or the haze of hookah smoke, and you’ll find the accurate equivalent of this show’s mind-numbingly stupid humor.
Theater Interview: Still at Large With Wanda Sykes
Submitted by Alissa Norby on June 1, 2010 - 6:28pmCHICAGO – Wanda Sykes wants you to know that she still has a mind and a mouth and she’s not afraid to use either. The Emmy Award-winning comedienne known for her work on “The Wanda Sykes Show,” “The New Adventures of Old Christine” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm” as well as several HBO specials is back on the road after a year that has seen much in the way of personal and professional advances.
Interview: Director Scott Teems on Hal Holbrook, ‘That Evening Sun’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on June 1, 2010 - 4:22pmCHICAGO – Director Scott Teems has been working the film exhibition circuit hard for the past two years since releasing “That Evening Sun” in 2009. Featuring Hal Holbrook in one of his finest roles, the film has built an audience one city at a time.
Blu-Ray Review: 50th Anniversary Edition of ‘Spartacus’
Submitted by BrianTT on June 1, 2010 - 2:04pmCHICAGO – I think nearly every film critic with an association card has bowed at the altar of Stanley Kubrick at least once in their life (if they don’t still do so). I can vividly remember first seeing “2001: A Space Odyssey,” “The Shining,” “A Clockwork Orange,” “Dr. Strangelove,” and “Full Metal Jacket,” all films I could watch any day of the week and never grow tired of them. Despite saying that, I was never a huge “Spartacus” fan, a film I admire more than love. The new Blu-ray release has not changed my mind.
Video Game Review: Big Things Go Boom in ‘Lost Planet 2’
Submitted by BrianTT on June 1, 2010 - 1:29pmCHICAGO – As the video marketplace gets more and more crowded, it becomes even harder for some titles to stand above the competition, especially in the incredibly crowded month of May 2010. It takes confidence to challenge highly anticipated titles like “Red Dead Redemption,” “Alan Wake,” “Super Mario Galaxy 2,” and “ModNation Racers” for gamer dollars.
Blu-Ray Review: Cult Hits ‘City of the Living Dead,’ ‘Django’
Submitted by BrianTT on June 1, 2010 - 11:56amCHICAGO – The great cult movie studio Blue Underground continues their pattern of excellent Blu-ray releases for unheralded horror gems with the recent releases of the Lucio Fulci zombie film “City of the Living Dead” and one of the most underrated westerns ever made in “Django”. While they don’t have much in common outside of studio and cult status, both are worth a look.
Blu-Ray Review: Flawed Adaptation of ‘The Road’ is Paved With Good Intentions
Submitted by mattmovieman on June 1, 2010 - 10:46amCHICAGO – Anyone who’s read Cormac McCarthy’s phenomenal 2006 novel, “The Road,” has already, in a sense, seen the movie. McCarthy’s deceptively simple, mesmerizing poetry produced such vivid and unforgettable images in the minds of his readers that a cinematic adaptation seems almost redundant.
‘City of Your Final Destination’ Isn’t Worth a Visit
Submitted by BrianTT on June 1, 2010 - 10:25am Rating: 1.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Although “City of Your Final Destination” is not the latest installment of the Rube Goldberg-inspired splatter series, it does seem to be populated with the walking dead. The only similarity shared between the “Final Destination” franchise and this picturesque drama is an overwhelming abundance of tedium, generated by a plot that often seems as stagnant as its listless characters.
Interview: Producer Richard Zanuck of ‘Alice in Wonderland,’ ‘Jaws’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on June 1, 2010 - 12:03amCHICAGO – In Hollywood studio royalty, there might be no one as royal as Richard D. Zanuck. Besides being the son of Darryl F. Zanuck, one of the founders of the movie studio system, Richard Zanuck has made his own mark as producer of “Jaws,” “Driving Miss Daisy,” and Tim Burton’s 3-D “Alice in Wonderland.”
Gary Coleman, Dead at 42, Led a Life of ‘Diff’rent Strokes’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on May 29, 2010 - 5:26pmCHICAGO – Television fans from the early 1980s lost a bit of their era yesterday as Gary Coleman, Arnold Jackson from the NBC sitcom “Diff’rent Strokes,” died of a brain hemorrhage at the age of 42. Coleman is the second of the three siblings on the show to pass away, as Dana Plato, who played his sister Kimberley, took her own life in 1999.
Easy-Riding Screen Legend Dennis Hopper Dies at Age 74
Submitted by mattmovieman on May 29, 2010 - 2:54pmCHICAGO – Beloved actor and legendary easy rider Dennis Hopper lost his long battle with prostate cancer this morning at age 74. With a career spanning over the last half-century, Hopper is best known for directing, co-writing and co-starring in 1969’s counterculture classic “Easy Rider”.
