Rose Byrne

CHICAGO – Warm, hilarious, silly and especially honest, “Bridesmaids” is the best, knock-out comedy of the year. Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy and Maya Rudolph lead a cast that proves you don’t need testosterone to do a funny, sometimes gross-out comedy. What’s necessary is character, timing, set-up and execution, and this wedding party has it all.

CHICAGO – In our latest comedy edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: DVD, we have 5 DVDs up for grabs in advance of the highly anticipated home entertainment release of the “R”-rated comedy “Bridesmaids” starring Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph and Rose Byrne!

CHICAGO – In many ways, “X-Men: First Class” is the most loyal film yet to the Marvel aesthetic in the way director Matthew Vaughn and the film’s multiple screenwriters capture the tone, spirit, and themes of one of the most legendary comic books of all time. It is a spectacular mix of great performances, well-choreographed action, and cleverly-revised history. It is crowd-pleasing to action fans and yet intellectually complex at the same time. It is what more producers of superhero movies should strive to accomplish and it deserves mention with the best of the genre (“Spider-Man 2,” “X-Men,” and even “The Dark Knight”).

CHICAGO – Can DirecTV do what so many other companies have failed to do and actually rewrite the way shows make it to air? They did something truly remarkable with their deal to co-produce and co-air “Friday Night Lights” and now they have taken it a step further by exclusively airing the new season of “Damages,” starting tomorrow night, July 13th, 2011.

CHICAGO – Matthew Vaughn rights the ship of mediocre superhero movies with the incredibly accomplished “X-Men: First Class,” the best Marvel Movie since “Spider-Man 2” and a film that proves that big blockbuster summer entertainment can be both commercially crowd-pleasing and intellectually complex at the same time.

CHICAGO – In our latest superhero edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 10 admit-two advance-screening movie passes plus 5 vintage “X-Men” T-shirts up for grabs for the highly anticipated new film “X-Men: First Class”!

CHICAGO – With an incredibly talented ensemble, heartfelt script, and honest characterizations, “Bridesmaids” has been touted as a revolutionary re-examination of what one should expect from the phrase “chick flick.”

Rating: 2.5/5.0

CHICAGO – I have written over a thousand reviews and have rarely been as conflicted as I am about my response to James Wan’s “Insidious.” It comes down to this question — do you judge the effort or the execution? I love what Wan and co-writer Leigh Whannell (the team behind “Saw,” working this time with the producers of “Paranormal Activity”) are attempting with their unique ghost story, one that clearly pays homage to an old-fashioned style of horror filmmaking, but I don’t think they quite pull it off. Ultimately, a movie doesn’t exist in theory, only up on the screen, and that’s where “Insidious” doesn’t quite work as well as this classic horror fan truly wished it would.

CHICAGO – In our latest horror/thriller edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 35 admit-two passes up for grabs to the advance Chicago screening of the new film “Insidious” with Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne from the “Paranormal Activity” and “Saw” makers!

CHICAGO – Patrick Wilson (“Little Children”) and Rose Byrne (“Damages”) play a truly terrified couple in James Wan’s “Insidious,” opening this Friday, April 1st, 2011. Produced by the team behind “Paranormal Activity” and written and co-starring Leigh Whannell, the man who did the same double duty on “Saw,” “Insidious” hopes to be the haunted house movie of 2011 with a twist.