Elizabeth Banks

CHICAGO – Film and TV icon Martin Landau accepted his Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2009 Chicago International Film Festival in the same hotel he stayed at while filming Alfred Hitchcock’s “North by Northwest” in 1959.

CHICAGO – For seven years, USA Network’s “Monk” has consistently delivered quality entertainment. It’s never been a show that set out to break the rules or even do anything too interesting within them, but it has rarely faltered at all in its ability to entertain, something that can be said about very few series that have been on this long.

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.

Blu-Ray Rating: 4.0/5.0

CHICAGO – David Wain’s “Role Models” is far from a perfect comedy, but the Universal Blu-Ray release of it is one of the best of the year so far. The release of “Role Models” includes a great video transfer, entertaining series of special features, and a comedy that holds up pretty well on repeat viewing. What more do you want?

Blu-Ray Rating: 3.5/5.0

CHICAGO – What happened to Oliver Stone? Despite strong performances by Josh Brolin, James Cromwell, and Elizabeth Banks, “W.” is one of the most inert, middle-of-the-road movies that this once-controversial auteur has ever made, helped on the home market by an excellent Blu-Ray release but still a little “eh” as a film.

Blu-Ray Rating: 3.5/5.0

CHICAGO – The inevitable merging of the Judd Apatow-verse and the View Askew-verse headed by Kevin Smith happened in the underrated and under-seen “Zack and Miri Make a Porno,” new on Blu-Ray this week and joined by a Special Edition release of “Clerks II”.

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Anna (Emily Browning, left) and Alex (Arielle Kebbel, right) are suspicious of their father’s new fiancée in the haunting suspense thriller The Uninvited.

CHICAGO – This 22-image slideshow contains official press images for Paramount’s “The Uninvited,” which stars Emily Browning, Elizabeth Banks, Arielle Kebbel and David Staithairn, from writers Craig Rosenberg and Doug Miro & Carlo Bernard and directors The Guard Brothers. The film opens on Jan. 30, 2009.

CHICAGO – HollywoodChicago.com captured a photo of “Zack and Miri Make a Porno” director Kevin Smith at an audience Q&A on Oct. 21, 2008 as part of the 2008 Chicago International Film Festival. The film stars Seth Rogen, Elizabeth Banks, Traci Lords and Justin Long.

CHICAGO – In our latest edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 50 admit-two passes up for grabs to the hilarious Chicago screening of “Zack and Miri Make a Porno,” which stars Seth Rogen, Elizabeth Banks, Traci Lords and Justin Long from director Kevin Smith.

CHICAGO – The longtime career of Eddie Murphy has lately taken an interesting turn.

After a meteoric career with huge box-office comedies, Murphy has steered toward more family oriented fare (“Daddy Day Care,” the “Shrek” movies, etc.) before his Oscar-nominated performance in “Dreamgirls”. After the stumble of 2007’s “Norbit,” Murphy has again returned this summer in kid-friendly mode with “Meet Dave”.