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.
Clint Eastwood
Film Review: Clint Eastwood Moseys Into the Sunset in ‘Cry Macho’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on September 17, 2021 - 3:59pmCHICAGO – Clint Eastwood’s return to the western is an amiable-but-relativiely-minor mosey south of the border. The 91-year-old doesn’t embarrass himself, but this small stakes story is far from Clint’s finest hour. In “Cry Macho” Eastwood is a former rodeo cowboy and horse trainer named Mike who has run into hard times after a devastating heartbreak. !—break—>
Film Review: Strange ‘15:17 to Paris’ Can’t Make the Connection
Submitted by PatrickMcD on February 11, 2018 - 12:52pmCHICAGO – What’s up with Clint Eastwood, and why in the Sam Hill did he attach himself as director to this film? Also, why was the decision made to use the actual rescuers as the actors in a true terrorist train incident? Nothing adds up in the strangely disconnected “15:17 to Paris.”
Film Review: Sofia Coppola Creates a Masterwork with ‘The Beguiled’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on July 6, 2017 - 10:52amCHICAGO – The human-ness of being human never changes, fundamentally. The mating season arrives, and the effect makes for both great connections and bad decisions. Director Sofia Coppola emphasizes this in a reverent film production of the story called “The Beguiled.”
Film Review: Tom Hanks is Solid, But ‘Sully’ Never Really Soars
Submitted by PatrickMcD on September 9, 2016 - 2:17pmCHICAGO – “Sully” is a solid effort from Director Clint Eastwood, but it never really soars the way its supposed to. It’s a good story, helped immeasurably by Tom Hanks low key performance, but it feels unnecessary. The problem may be that the story of the pilot who pulled off the so-called “Miracle on the Hudson” is so well known, the movie can’t really add anything to it.
Interview: ‘The Last Five Years’ Director Richard LaGravenese
Submitted by PatrickMcD on February 19, 2015 - 9:13amCHICAGO – The movie musical seems to revive every year, and writer/director Richard LaGravenese puts his spin on the genre with a modern touch. A couple, portrayed by Jeremy Jordan and Anna Kendrick, goes through the ups and downs of a relationship while belting out appropriate tunes in “The Last Five Years.”
Film Review: Bradley Cooper’s ‘American Sniper’ is Entertaining, One-Sided American Propaganda
Submitted by HollywoodChicago.com on January 18, 2015 - 9:47pmCHICAGO – I understand why they did it. But that doesn’t make it right to do.
Film Review: Lack of Full Disclosure Trips Up ‘American Sniper’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on January 15, 2015 - 11:30pmCHICAGO – A straightforward story about the military marksman Chris Kyle is pretty much told in “American Sniper,” by director Clint Eastwood. But what is left out of the movie – Kyle’s right-wing politics and a depiction of his fate – is more curious than what is actually presented.
Interview: Sienna Miller on the Home Front in ‘American Sniper’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on January 13, 2015 - 4:23pmCHICAGO – Sienna Miller creates illumination that a movie screen never forgets. From her early roles in “Alfie” and “Factory Girl,” to the more recent “Foxcatcher” and “American Sniper,” Miller adds an extra level of truth that generates expressive and notable characteristics to the roles that she portrays.
HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: 50 Pairs of Passes to ‘American Sniper’ With Bradley Cooper
Submitted by HollywoodChicago.com on January 10, 2015 - 4:06pmCHICAGO – In the latest HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 50 pairs of advance-screening movie passes up for grabs to the highly anticipated new film “American Sniper” starring Bradley Cooper from director Clint Eastwood about Chris Kyle: the most lethal sniper in U.S. military history!
Film Review: ‘Jersey Boys’ Can’t Escape Its Broadway Roots
Submitted by PatrickMcD on June 21, 2014 - 6:21amCHICAGO – Director Clint Eastwood’s “Jersey Boys” suffers from the same inherent fundamental flaw in all of these so-called Jukebox Musicals – their stories are mere afterthoughts. You come for the songs, and suffer through the story.