Celia Weston

CHICAGO – Jason Lee, best known as the star of “My Name is Earl,” took a different direction last year when he took the lead as a police detective in “Memphis Beat.” The second season premiere is June 14th on TNT Network.

CHICAGO – The beauty of watching creative character actors like Kevin Kline and John C. Reilly is that they seem to revel in the craft of embodying their roles. In “The Extra Man,” they both take a trippy and literate script and apply some additional magic that helps to flesh out a young man’s journey into the heart of Manhattan.

Rating: 1.0/5.0

CHICAGO – “After.Life” is one of the first truly awful films of 2010. Its aggressive solemnity combined with its head-slapping silliness will cause most viewers to simply laugh it off the screen. There’s at least two possible ways to interpret its murky story, and they’re both ludicrous. The only mystery guaranteed to linger in moviegoers’ minds is the inexplicable motivation of Christina Ricci and Liam Neeson to take part in this direct-to-video dreck.

CHICAGO – In our latest horror/thriller edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 50 admit-two passes up for grabs to the advance Chicago screening of “After.Life” starring Christina Ricci, Liam Neeson and Justin Long!

CHICAGO – All of you DVD and Blu-Ray buyers who lament the neverending flow of slapstick comedies that basically all feel and look the same owe it to director Jody Hill and star Seth Rogen to rent or buy “Observe and Report,” one of the best comedies of the year to date and one of the most daring movies of the last several years.

Rating: 4.0/5.0

CHICAGO – The hysterically misleading TV spots for Jody Hill’s “Observe and Report” make it out to look like another broad comedy that might even have a cute romance between stars Seth Rogen and Anna Faris. There’s nothing cute or predictable about “Observe and Report”. And that’s precisely why it works.