Peter Berg

CHICAGO – Critics like to complain that some Hollywood blockbusters skew the balance from character to special effects. With “Battleship,” it’s almost as if director Peter Berg decided, after a brief bit of character set-up, that he would just give up entirely on the human element of his movie. It’s CGI overload, an orgy of special effects designed to rattle your brain like a hyperactive video game.

CHICAGO – In our latest blockbuster edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Blu-ray, we have 5 free Blu-rays up for grabs for the highly anticipated home entertainment release of “Battleship” starring Taylor Kitsch, Rihanna and Liam Neeson from “Hancock” director Peter Berg!

CHICAGO – “Battleship” certainly could simplistically be reduced to a 131-minute propaganda piece of why you might want to enlist in the U.S. Navy – that is, if Earth had to ward off lizard-like creatures from a deep-space solar system we can only reach by slingshotting a highly amplified “What’s up, aliens?” broadcast to them.

CHICAGO – In the latest HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film with our unique social giveaway technology, we have 50 admit-two movie passes up for grabs to the advance screening of the highly anticipated blockbuster “Battleship” from “Hancock” director Peter Berg!

CHICAGO – Aside from the whole football thing, Superbowl Sunday has always been known as the launch-pad for some of the best commercials in the world and Hollywood has traditionally used the event as the launch-pad for the annual marketing blitzes for their best, brightest, and most expensive films of the year.

CHICAGO – Watching the premiere of NBC’s “Prime Suspect” again, I was struck by something undeniable — this feels like a TNT show. Yes, we’ve officially reached the point where basic cable is influencing network TV more than the other way around.

CHICAGO – In a remarkable idea for a film, director Morgan Spurlock (”Supersize Me”) funds his new documentary, “The Greatest Movie Ever Sold,” by selling sponsorships for financing. However, the process is redundantly explored, and no new ground is broken.

CHICAGO – Morgan Spurlock walked into the interview room with his special suit. The black business suit is festooned with product logos, representing the companies that financed his latest documentary, “The Greatest Movie Ever Sold.”

CHICAGO – “The Losers” tries so hard to be edgy, cool, and action-packed that it thinks it will be effective merely by numbing the viewer’s senses into oblivion. The film either defies all critical analysis by being so ridiculous that it doesn’t really need it or it just sucks. It’s up to you to decide but this critic is going with the latter.

CHICAGO – Why has a seemingly ordinary tale of an oil patch town in Texas and their high school football obsession conquered books, film and television? Because the folks telling the story continue a tradition of beautiful, significant truth.