Kathy Bates

CHICAGO – “Based on a True Story” films are difficult to pull off, especially those that are the improbable story of a white Memphis family adopting an African American football prodigy. Sandra Bullock is the mother, through it all, in “The Blind Side.”

CHICAGO – In our latest sports edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 30 admit-two passes up for grabs to the advance Chicago screening of “The Blind Side,” which stars Sandra Bullock and is based on an extraordinary true story!

CHICAGO – “Cheri” could be confused with an updated adaptation of a Jane Austen novel if its characters weren’t so comfortable with what goes on between the sheets. Like players in many stuffy costume dramas, they wear the best clothes, live in lavishly decorated homes and speak their perfect grammar in posh accents. But since they aren’t sexually repressed, they do it all with a little bounce in their step.

CHICAGO – Start planning your Halloween marathon now. Last week, we highlighted the Universal wave of titles that included greats like “Shaun of the Dead” and “Army of Darkness” and we’re back with another wave of modern horror classics, including Oscar winners “Silence of the Lambs” and “Misery”.

CHICAGO – The HD picture on “Revolutionary Road” is beautiful. At first, it threw me, as if my initial mostly negative response to the film had been misguided. But then I remembered that part of the reason “Revolutionary Road” doesn’t work for me is it looks too good. The arms-length, clinical, unemotional approach to the material makes for a great Blu-Ray, but it’s still a disappointing movie.

Blu-Ray Rating: 2.5/5.0

CHICAGO – The 3-disc special edition of Scott Derrickson’s remake of “The Day the Earth Stood Still” with Keanu Reeves and Jennifer Connelly is the perfect example of the difficulty of Blu-Ray reviews. Do you judge the movie or the Blu-Ray? The movie itself is a mess, but Fox has put together a spectacular home release for it.

CHICAGO – Frank (Leonardo DiCaprio) and April Wheeler (Kate Winslet) refuse to believe that they’re like everyone else in the 1950’s suburbia of Sam Mendes’ frustrating “Revolutionary Road”. They may go to the same jobs and travel in the same social circles, but, unlike the bored housewives and husbands around them, they haven’t given up on their dreams.

CHICAGO – “The Day the Earth Stood Still” is about an alien visitor’s decision to wipe out the human race. And, if an interstellar race actually gets to see this film, it would be hard to blame them for wanting to clean house on planet Earth.

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The arrival of an enormous orb in Central Park in New York triggers a global upheaval in The Day the Earth Stood Still. Photo credit: WETA

CHICAGO – This 15-image slideshow contains official press images for “The Day the Earth Stood Still,” which stars Keanu Reeves, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Jaden Smith, and Kathy Bates from director Scott Derrickson. The film opens on Dec. 12, 2008.

I just learned that “The Golden Compass,” which opens nationwide on Dec. 8, will have a national sneak in approximatley 800 theaters across the U.S. on Dec. 1.