David Strathairn

Rating: 3.5/5.0

CHICAGO – Rachel Weisz elevates the harrowing true story of “The Whistleblower,” a pull-no-punches drama about a disturbing international conspiracy to cover up a sex trafficking ring involving the men tasked with protecting the innocent who turned to exploiting them. This is a graphic, dark, violent piece of drama, as it should be given its subject matter, but it’s the work of one of our best working actresses that truly makes it worth venturing into the darkness.

CHICAGO – In our latest drama edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 40 admit-two passes up for grabs to the advance Chicago screening of “The Whistleblower” with Rachel Weisz!

CHICAGO – SyFy’s “Alphas” might have been a reasonable excuse for summer entertainment five years ago but we’ve seen too many shows like it in the last few to give this disappointment a pass. Remember the later seasons of “Heroes”?

CHICAGO – James Franco gave a riveting performance in Danny Boyle’s “127 Hours” that is likely to earn one of the best actors of his generation an Academy Award nomination in a few weeks, but it wasn’t his only stellar turn in 2010. He also thoroughly delivered as the legendary poet Allen Ginsberg in the hybrid “Howl,” a film that’s part poem, part courtroom drama, and part history lesson. It doesn’t always come together but it’s worth seeing just for Franco’s work and the strength of the source material alone.

CHICAGO – How is the best way to discover the elusiveness of the soul? For Paul Giamatti, playing himself, the key is to store the legendary organ into the deep freeze, in his new absurdist comedy, “Cold Souls.”

Blu-Ray Rating: 1.0/5.0

CHICAGO – Why does Hollywood keep screwing with Asian horror movies? Yes, Gore Verbinski’s “The Ring” was an effective adaptation of “Ringu,” but what the mini-genre of the ‘Asian horror remake’ has wrought since then has been downright terrifying. Take for example the truly horrific “The Uninvited,” a movie notable only in that it’s so much worse than its source material that maybe it will finally put an end to this ignominious trend.

CHICAGO – We see sensual close-up shots of blueberry pie overflow with aqueducts of vanilla ice cream in Wong Kar-Wai’s opening sequence of “My Blueberry Nights”. This dreamy scene sets the tone of the latest film from the famous Chinese director as he confronts the West with his unique cinematic style.

CHICAGO – The publicist for “My Blueberry Nights” with Natalie Portman, Jude Law, Rachel Weisz, Norah Jones and David Strathairn just sent us the poster art for the new film, which will open in limited U.S. theaters on April 4, 2008.

CHICAGO – HollywoodChicago.com publisher Adam Fendelman has interviewed “The Spiderwick Chronicles” writer and co-executive producer Holly Black about her first feature-film fantasy adaptation, why she loves fairies so much and how she developed the film’s unique characters.