Dan Aykroyd

CHICAGO – Two of the funniest movies ever made hit Blu-ray next week in the John Belushi flicks “The Blues Brothers” and “National Lampoon’s Animal House.” Both are rich with special features but they’re of material that has been available before. The fact is that these two films have been released and re-released a hundred times and most people probably own them by now. If you don’t, get to it.

CHICAGO – I must admit that I was dreading “Yogi Bear” like most teenagers dread 3rd period Calculus. I have avoided the “Alvin and the Chipmunks” movies with just cause and can’t stand the new trend of CGI characters talking to human ones in kids movies. They’re usually pale excuses for family entertainment and the previews for “Yogi Bear” made my stomach turn. So consider it faint praise when I say it’s not THAT bad. Oh, it’s still bad and you can do a lot better for your family movie dollar but it’s more forgettable than truly wretched.

CHICAGO – “Yogi Bear,” the latest degradation in the cynical family film 3D marketing universe, has done the improbable. It has taken notable and nostalgic cartoon characters (Yogi and Boo Boo) and turned them into animatronic shills for a post modern bore of a story that wouldn’t work if Fellini were directing it. Dan Aykroyd and Justin Timberlake sell out (I mean lend) their voice talents.

CHICAGO – If I could go back in time and tell the nine-year-old me that there would one day be a video game in which I would stand alongside Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, and Egon Spengler, battling Slimer, the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, and other supernatural baddies, that kid would have had a permanent smile whenever he thought about what the future would bring.

CHICAGO – Blues Brother and “Ghostbusters” star Dan Aykroyd recently took time to pose for the the HollywoodChicago.com lens on March 28, 2009 before meeting fans and fine wine connoisseurs alike. Aykroyd was in Chicago to promote his new Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay wines at Binny’s Beverage Depot in Chicago’s South Loop.