John Cho

CHICAGO – The anticipation of experiencing the rebooted crew of the starship Enterprise now may overwhelm any creative team’s ability to deliver to that anticipation. “Star Trek Into Darkness” piles on the space war excess, while lessening the savory humanity and memorable characters.

CHICAGO – J.J. Abrams’ “Star Trek Into Darkness” is like a really solid mid-season episode of a great TV series. Entertaining, for sure, but lacking the energy of a premiere or the stakes of a finale. It leaves fans wondering what’s next in the franchise, which will surely make Paramount happy, but doesn’t stand on its own like the truly great part twos (“The Dark Knight,” “The Empire Strikes Back”).

CHICAGO – In the latest HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film with our unique social giveaway technology, we have 30 pairs of movie passes up for grabs to the advance screening of “Identity Thief” with Jason Bateman and Melissa McCarthy!

CHICAGO – In the latest HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film with our unique social giveaway technology, we have 30 admit-two movie passes up for grabs to the advance screening of the highly anticipated new film “Total Recall” starring Colin Farrell, Kate Beckinsale and Jessica Biel!

CHICAGO – In the latest HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Combo Pack with our unique social giveaway technology, we have 5 free Blu-ray and DVD combo packs up for grabs to the unrated version of “American Reunion” starring Jason Biggs and Tara Reid!

CHICAGO – It might seem silly to buy a Christmas movie in February but “A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas” is not your typical holiday flick. And Warner Bros. wisely recognizes that these movies have never done well in theaters but dominate on the home market. In fact, “Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle” barely made a dent at the box office but was such a huge hit on the home market that it spawned two sequels.

CHICAGO – “A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas” delivers exactly what fans should expect from it and even a bit more, as the actors who play the stoner icons have gotten noticeably better at their craft and the production team behind the film has gone all out in a quest to throw as many jokes as possible at the viewer in a barrage of attempts at hilarity.

CHICAGO – Harold and Kumar are back, just in time for the holidays. The raunchy, weed smoking pair are taking on Christmas in their latest film, “A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas,” in which they both skew and honor the Yuletide. Once again, John Cho is Harold and Kal Penn is Kumar.

CHICAGO – Watching commercial-free episodes back-to-back on DVD illuminates a show’s strengths and weaknesses (while also making drinking games easier to spot from a show’s repetitive moments). “Lost” and “24” were helped amply by their season sets, as their breakneck pace worked even better without a need to push fast forward on a DVR remote.

CHICAGO – It comes to no surprise to hear that freshman series “FlashForward” got picked up for a full season by ABC, according to popular blogger Michael Ausiello.