Eric Balfour

CHICAGO – The first season of “Haven” (recently released on Blu-ray and DVD) ended with a number of cliffhangers and the new season picks up, literally, right where it left off with guns pulled and chaos imminent in the town of Haven. Sadly, it also picks up with a similarly frustrating level of quality. This is a show that just doesn’t click, whether it’s the awkward performances or unbelievable dialogue. I want to like “Haven” but it’s a town I just can’t recommend visiting.

Rating: 3.0/5.0

CHICAGO – The beautiful Mali Elfman, daughter of the great composer Danny Elfman, has written and produced (and co-stars in) a unique piece of work called “Do Not Disturb,” a collection of interconnected short films that chronicles the bizarre happenings in a Los Angeles hotel room and is now available On Demand. What goes on behind closed doors? If the walls of even one room could talk, the stories they would tell would be great fodder for filmmaking. “Do Not Disturb” is too inconsistent to recommend completely but features a few interesting elements and bodes well for a promising filmmaker.

CHICAGO – When did they start releasing SyFy Channel Original Movies in theaters? Seriously, we can accept bad writing and cheap production values on a Saturday night on basic cable but “Skyline” was a national theatrical release and the thing just looks goofy. After the massive success of “District 9,” cheap sci-fi seems to be the trend of the day, but we’re likely to see more junk than Best Picture nominees if “Skyline” is any example.

CHICAGO – In our latest sci-fi/thriller edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: DVD, we have 10 DVDs up for grabs in advance of the home entertainment release of “Skyline,” which is co-directed by the Chicago visual effects masters Colin Strause and Greg Strause!

CHICAGO – In our latest sci-fi/thriller edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 50 admit-two passes up for grabs to the advance Chicago screening of “Skyline,” which is co-directed by the Chicago visual effects masters Colin Strause and Greg Strause!