Rachel Nichols

CHICAGO – There were a disturbing number of remakes in 2011 that failed to justify their existence, including “The Thing,” “Footloose,” and, perhaps worst of all, Marcus Nispel’s “Conan the Barbarian.” The man behind the equally worthless remakes of “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” and “Friday the 13th” has carved out his own niche of dubious filmmaking decisions that make the original look like a masterpiece in comparison. The first “Conan” worked almost entirely because of the star power brought to it by Ah-nuld. The words star power and Jason Momoa have never been used together in a sentence before now.

CHICAGO – Sword and sandal epics are almost expected to have wooden acting and absurd dialogue. The new film “Conan the Barbarian” meets those expectations, and doesn’t offer any action or originality to counteract the anticipated flaws.

CHICAGO – In our latest 3D action/adventure edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 40 admit-two passes up for grabs to the advance Chicago screening of “Conan the Barbarian” in 3D with Jason Momoa!

CHICAGO – In our latest crime/drama edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 2 signed posters up for grabs to the new film “Meskada” by “Twilight,” “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” and “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse” star Kellan Lutz!

CHICAGO – “Yo Joe!” Before Paramount unleashes “G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra” in theaters on August 4th, 2009, viewers should catch up with the height of the phenomenon with Shout Factory’s “G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero: Season 1.1,” now available on DVD.

CHICAGO – The trailer for the video game based on one of this summer’s more-likely blockbusters, “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra” was released by Electronic Arts this week and we wanted to share.

CHICAGO – While “sex” and “Star Trek” typically aren’t found together in the same sentence, we learned this week from the official trailer for the new J.J. Abrams film that he’s clearly acquainting one with the other. But there’s more.