Ben Mendelsohn

Film Review: Brutal Coming-of-Rage Prison Drama ‘Starred Up’

Starred Up

CHICAGO – Opening this weekend at Chicago’s Facets Cinematheque after a week on VOD is “Starred Up,” a bloody-knuckles British prison drama that was also a favorite at the most recent Chicago Critics Film Festival. This is an at-times beastly movie that follows in the line of previous character-driven jail films like “Chopper” (starring Eric Bana), or Tom Hardy’s raging breakout movie “Bronson”.

Film Review: Naomi Watts, Robin Wright Fake It in ‘Adore’

CHICAGO – For a movie that should be about passion, sex, and scandal, “Adore” is surprisingly and depressingly tame. Two great lead actresses are left floating on a dock by a script that doesn’t treat them like real characters and a team that cast two inferior actors opposite them.

Blu-ray Review: Talented People Falter in ‘Killing Them Softly’

Killing Them Softly

CHICAGO – Andrew Dominik delivered one of the best movies of the ’00s the last time he worked with Brad Pitt when the two made “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.” And so there was intense anticipation for their follow-up collaboration, “Killing Them Softly,” recently released on Blu-ray and DVD. Call it a sophomore slump but “KTS” is a film with tons of style and some interesting ideas that nonetheless feels like a dirge and plays like a film twice as long as its running time.

Film Review: Crime, Fatherhood Intersect in ‘The Place Beyond the Pines’

CHICAGO – Derek Cianfrance’s masterful “The Place Beyond the Pines” is a complex, epic piece of storytelling about the ripple effect of crime through families and across generations. Drastic action does not exist in a vacuum. It influences generations below and those impacted by their parent’s decisions.

Film Review: Metaphor is Message in Violent ‘Killing Them Softly’

CHICAGO – If there ever was an industry that deserved a good metaphor bashing, it would be the financial sector. “Killing Them Softly” does a hit-over-the-head with the symbolism, but at the same time delivers a gritty and literate parable, featuring Brad Pitt, James Gandolfini and Ray Liotta.

Film Review: Horrendous ‘Trespass’ With Nicolas Cage, Nicole Kidman

CHICAGO – Joel Schumacher’s “Trespass” represents a new low for the often divisive and (lately) horrendous director of such gems as “The Number 23,” “The Phantom of the Opera,” “Bad Company,” “8MM,” “Batman & Robin,” and “Batman Forever.”

DVD Review: Excellent ‘Animal Kingdom’ Features Oscar-Nominated Performance

Animal Kingdom

CHICAGO – One of the most wonderful nominations on Oscar morning this year was that of the great Jacki Weaver for the movie that most “E!”-watchers probably had never even heard of — “Animal Kingdom.” This searing crime thriller barely found an audience when it was released in art houses but should get a nice boost from the Academy and was just released on DVD last week, Jan. 18, 2011.

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TV, DVD, BLU-RAY & THEATER REVIEWS

  • Manhunt

    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+.

  • Topdog/Underdog, Invictus Theatre

    CHICAGO – When two brothers confront the sins of each other and it expands into a psychology of an entire race, it’s at a stage play found in Chicago’s Invictus Theatre Company production of “Topdog/Underdog,” now at their new home at the Windy City Playhouse through March 31st, 2024. Click TD/UD for tickets/info.

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