Michael Caine

CHICAGO – In the latest HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film with our unique social giveaway technology, we have 40 pairs of movie passes up for grabs to the advance screening of the new thriller “Now You See Me” starring Jesse Eisenberg!

CHICAGO – With “The Dark Knight Rises”, Christopher Nolan epically follows through on most of the themes he set up in “Batman Begins” and “The Dark Knight” with amazing technical skill and an ambitious sense of scope. No one can deny the effort and intensity of this closing chapter of the most acclaimed superhero saga in the history of film.

CHICAGO – Sound the gong for one of the best films of the summer, as “The Dark Knight Rises” delivers an awe-inspiring blockbuster on virtually every level of storytelling and performance. Christian Bale, Anne Hathaway, Gary Oldman, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and director Christopher Nolan create grand, metaphoric and visionary cinema.

CHICAGO – In our latest epic trilogy conclusion edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 10 admit-two guaranteed movie vouchers up for grabs to 2012’s most-anticipated film: “The Dark Knight Rises,” which is filmmaker Christopher Nolan’s epic conclusion to his Batman trilogy!

CHICAGO – “Who’s up for an adventure?” ask the characters in Brad Peyton’s ungainly titled “Journey 2: The Mysterious Island.” This question is repeatedly asked, but alas, the adventure never arrives, unless you count an interminable series of derivative set-pieces lacking any shred of charm or imagination. The intelligence and perceptiveness of a child’s mind is rarely ever respected by Hollywood these days, and “Journey 2” takes the idiocy to a whole new level.

CHICAGO – If you hear an unusual sound this weekend, it may be Jules Verne, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Jonathan Swift spinning in their graves. The writers who have become an essential part of any growing person’s library have now been associated with a piece of 3D junk that insults the intelligence of everyone who sees it. “Journey 2: The Mysterious Island” is not a trip worth taking.

CHICAGO – Holy exploding football field Batman! The new trailer for “The Dark Knight Rises” has officially been released from Warner Bros., and let’s just say there is a lot to look at. Unlike the teaser trailer that premiered before Harry Potter last summer, this new trailer gives us a full look at the cast of characters and some of the unbelievable sequences Christopher Nolan has ready for us in his third and final Batman film.

CHICAGO – “Cars 2,” recently released on Blu-ray and DVD, is disappointing in 1,000 ways. It would be a lackluster family film no matter who made it but the fact that the most important movie studio of the last twenty years, Pixar, produced a film this boring, uninspired, offensive, and just plain horrendous is nearly soul-crushing. This critic counts “WALL-E,” “Finding Nemo,” and all three “Toy Story” movies among the best films ever made. It’s hard to believe “Cars 2” came from the same production company. It’s barely even the same genre.

CHICAGO – In our latest animated edition of the HollywoodChicago.com Hookup, we have 5 Blu-ray and DVD combo packs up for grabs to the highly anticipated home release of “Cars 2” with Owen Wilson, Larry the Cable Guy, Michael Caine, Emily Mortimer and other voices!

CHICAGO – At first glance, Brian De Palma’s “Dressed to Kill” and Sam Peckinpah’s “Straw Dogs” may seem to have little in common beyond a studio and a need to be on Blu-ray. It’s common for that to the be the ONLY link (such as when “Scary Movie 2” and “Trainspotting” hit the format next week…come back for coverage). But these two actually have more in common than just a company and a spiffy new transfer. They’re a pair of controversial thrillers from two of the most interesting directors of their era. And with the remake of “Straw Dogs” about to open on Friday, perhaps it’s time we revisit them.