Rhys Ifans

CHICAGO – Aficionados of J.M. Barrie movie adaptations will immediately recognize a bit of trivia-worthy casting in Nick Willing’s “Peter Pan” prequel, “Neverland.” Bob Hoskins is cast as Smee, a role he previously inhabited in Steven Spielberg’s “Hook.” I’m not sure why, considering “Hook” isn’t all that fondly remembered, though after sitting through the first half of this tedious slog, I was praying for a cameo by Rufio.

CHICAGO – A new trailer for one of this summer’s most anticipated blockbusters has released this morning, giving fans a new look at the reboot of one of the most successful film series ever. “The Amazing Spider-Man,” the new origin film of the famous comic book superhero, has an all new, two-and-a-half minute trailer giving looks at spidey in action, Peter and Gwen Stacy romance, and one angry lizard.

Rating: 1.0/5.0

CHICAGO – Roland Emmerich has been commonly mocked for his larger-than-life blockbusters that include “Godzilla,” “The Day After Tomorrow,” and “2012.” I would rather sit through a marathon of all three of those works back-to-back-to-back than suffer through “Anonymous” one more time. While those movies have undeniable flaws, they do so on a grand scale common with the words guilty pleasure. There’s absolutely nothing pleasurable about this self-serious and remarkably stupid drama.

Rating: 1.0/5.0

CHICAGO – Mickey Rourke must be a publicist’s nightmare. In the last few weeks, he’s been going around giving refreshingly honest reviews of his new film “Passion Play,” co-starring Megan Fox, Bill Murray, and Kelly Lynch and opening in New York and Los Angeles today, May 6th, 2011. He went as far as to call the film “terrible,” which might make viewers even more curious before this thing hits DVD at the end of this month. Is it THAT bad? Would Mickey lie to you?

CHICAGO – Magical nannies, dancing animals, great gusts of wind, lyrical life lessons and cute kids in need of a father. You don’t need to be practically perfect in every way in order to find these ingredients a trifle familiar. Robert Stevenson’s 1964 masterpiece “Mary Poppins” used these elements better than anyone has before or since, resulting in what is unquestionably the best live-action Disney film ever made.

CHICAGO – In our latest documentary edition of the HollywoodChicago.com Hookup, we have 3 DVDs and limited-edition theatrical posters up for grabs to “Exit Through the Gift Shop”!

CHICAGO – What has attracted Noah Baumbach to the mumblecore movement? Has he noticed similarities between the developmentally arrested misanthropes of his pictures and the ambling twentysomethings that populate micro-budget indies from filmmakers such as Joe Swanberg, Andrew Bujalski and the Duplass brothers? With “Greenberg,” his third and best feature to date, Baumbach draws a link between two generations, uniting them in their shared angst.

CHICAGO – There are two ways moviegoers can respond to an unapologetic crowd-pleaser such as this: either resist its shamelessly manipulative fist-pumping, or dive into its pleasurably untroubled waters. The latter will certainly make for a better experience, though British filmmaker Richard Curtis certainly makes the former tempting at times.

CHICAGO – In our latest comedy edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 50 admit-two passes up for grabs to the advance Chicago screening of “Pirate Radio”! The film was formerly titled “The Boat That Rocked”.