Emily Browning

CHICAGO – “Sleeping Beauty” is such a unique modern fairy tale that it will almost certainly turn off many of the viewers who choose to rent it. As the gorgeous Emily Browning looks longingly over her shoulder, half-naked from the cover of the DVD case, renters may think they’re in for an erotic thriller on a Saturday night.

CHICAGO – Illness has kept us from truly screening a majority of the films left to screen at the 47th Annual Chicago International Film Festival but there are three that we did get around to in the last month that are definitely worth your time, plus a handful of highlights that we wish we could have gotten to see that might draw your interest.

CHICAGO – We’ve seen a lot of overly stylized films based on video games and comic books but rarely has there been a movie more derivative of other mediums yet not actually based on one than Zack Snyder’s “Sucker Punch,” a movie loathed by dozens of major critics (and defended by our very own Patrick McDonald) and recently released on Blu-ray and DVD in a 17-minute longer extended cut.

CHICAGO – It’s a pleasure to see the comic book film done right, especially with the visionary guidance of director Zach Snyder (”300”). “Sucker Punch” is an amazing treat, a feast of eye candy and incredible adventure.

CHICAGO – In our latest fantasy/action edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 30 admit-two passes up for grabs to the advance Chicago screening of the new film “Sucker Punch” from “Watchmen” and “300” director Zack Snyder!

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.

Previous | Image 1 of 22 | Next

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.