Patrick Fugit

CHICAGO – Cameron Crowe’s “We Bought a Zoo” should have made more money. Sure, it’s a cheesy slice of family entertainment but when the cheese is this well-crafted, performed, and delivered, one can’t complain too much about it. “We Bought a Zoo” is too long, not subtle enough, and pretty manipulative, but it the manipulation works. Matt Damon is stellar (as he always seems to be lately) and Crowe tells this old-fashioned tale with enough skill to make it entertaining. “We Bought a Zoo” is one of those rare cross-demographic films — from children to grandparents — that doesn’t insult the intelligence of any of them.

CHICAGO – Cameron Crowe’s “We Bought a Zoo” is an undeniably manipulative crowd-pleaser but there’s something about being manipulated in such an expert manner that makes the tugging on the heartstrings easier to take.

CHICAGO – In our latest family dramedy edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 40 admit-two movie passes up for grabs to the new film “We Bought a Zoo” starring Matt Damon and Scarlett Johansson from the director of “Jerry Maguire”!

CHICAGO – As the Oscars are almost upon us, several studios have been releasing Academy Award juggernauts of the past like “Raging Bull,” “Dances With Wolves,” and “The Color Purple.” Consider the re-release of “Almost Famous,” in its “Untitled” form exclusively at Best Buy, an ugly duckling cousin of these releases. Yes, it won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay (well-deserved) but it missed out on nods it should have received in multiple other categories. Yes, I’m still angry. “Almost Famous” is one of the best films of the ’00s and has held up beautifully since its release just over a decade ago.

CHICAGO – For everything that Paul Weitz’s “Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant” does right, there’s something about the film that just doesn’t work.