Gillian Anderson

CHICAGO – Very few pieces of fiction have had the proven staying power of Charles Dickens’ “Great Expectations,” which gets yet another adaptation in a two-week mini-series Masterpiece version, starting this Sunday, April 1st, 2012, on PBS.

CHICAGO – Just as every country desires to have its own take on “The Office,” every country needs its own Clouseau. The sheer number of bumbling detectives in cinema are too vast to count, though a few deserve to stand out, such as Jean Dujardin’s suavely clueless OSS 117. Johnny English, on the other hand, deserves to be placed at the back of the crowd, in between Steve Martin and Roberto Benigni.

DVD Rating: 1.0/5.0

CHICAGO – Considering the talent on display, “How to Lose Friends and Alienate People” is jaw-droppingly, shockingly bad. If this was just another straight-to-video National Lampoon comedy, it might be easier to forgive, but how so many funny people got involved in a project so misguided will remain one of the biggest movie mysteries of 2008.

CHICAGO – “The X-Files: I Want to Believe” was an unqualified disaster in theaters. One of the worst movies of 2008, the film downplayed the strengths of the first few seasons of the influential series and emphasized the weaknesses of the show’s ignominious end.

CHICAGO – Simon Pegg (the British cult hero of “Shaun of the Dead” and “Hot Fuzz”) was welcomed to a Chicago hotel where his press event was taking place with personalized water bottles that sported his face.

CHICAGO – Following an addictive TV series that spanned from 1992 to 2002, I wanted to believe “The X-Files: I Want to Believe” would more dynamically pay homage to its television success than Chris Carter’s first film attempt in 1998. In take two, though, it didn’t happen.