Paula Patton

CHICAGO – “Disconnect” is a punch in the gut, the backlash of our current technology, and a film that could have happened yesterday. It is a trenchant cautionary tale, warning us about the excesses of every blinking screen and “smart” device that supposedly is making our lives easier, but can just as easily become instruments of destructive. It is about how we live now.

CHICAGO – I was lucky enough to attend a press screening of Brad Bird’s “Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol” at the IMAX theater at Navy Pier and I wondered if my adoration for this incredibly fun movie was in part due to just being overwhelmed by the size of it in IMAX. Nope. I liked it even more the second time on Blu-ray. This is a fantastic action movie, the best film in the series and as fun a time as you could have with a new release in the genre. Don’t rent it, buy it.

CHICAGO – Brad Bird proves that he can make the leap from Pixar to action with one of the best genre films of the year, the adrenalized “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol.”

CHICAGO – In our latest blockbuster edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 50 admit-two movie passes up for grabs to the advance Chicago screening of the new film “Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol”!

CHICAGO – Salim Akil’s “Jumping the Broom” is the sort of sociological comedy so hell-bent on smothering the audience in a sentimental love-fest that it quickly softens its potentially biting premise. Akil’s background in television (“The Game,” “Girlfriends”) may explain why the film feels like an uneasy melding of sitcom and soap opera clichés. Any time the film threatens to become interesting, it instantly goes into autopilot.

CHICAGO – There is a tradition within the African American community during weddings. It stems from the past, when marriage was deemed illegal for the race, and provides the title for a new film, “Jumping the Broom.” The now symbolic gesture is the basis for a clash between families and social classses in one seriocomic marriage weekend.

CHICAGO – In our latest comedy edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 35 admit-two passes up for grabs to the advance Chicago screening of the new film “Jumping the Broom”!

CHICAGO – Romantic movies thrive on cliches in the same way that slasher movies need a body count and musicals need a bit of song and dance. Success or failure is all in the execution of the known commodity of cliche. With actors as charismatic as Queen Latifah and Common in the lead roles, it’s easy to overlook said commodity in the relatively-charming “Just Wright,” now on Blu-ray and DVD.

CHICAGO – In our latest romantic sports comedy edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 25 admit-two run-of-engagement movie passes up for grabs to the new film “Just Wright” with Queen Latifah and Common!

CHICAGO – Queen Latifah and the rapper Common put an interesting and necessary twist on the romantic comedy genre, but still cannot help but fall back on the recurring rom-com clichés that eventually undermines the new film “Just Wright.”