Russell Brand

CHICAGO – “Despicable Me” is a mildly entertaining diversion on a summer afternoon. It’s a film that’s as equally difficult to hate as it is to love — kind of like its morally complex lead Gru (Steve Carell) — that falls just short of animation domination.

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Gru (Steve Carell) uses a freeze ray to get to the front of the line.

CHICAGO – This 24-image slideshow contains a selection of the official press images for the highly anticipated “Despicable Me,” featuring voice work by Steve Carell, Jason Segel, Russell Brand, Kristen Wiig, Will Arnett, Danny McBride, Jack McBrayer, Miranda Cosgrove, and Julie Andrews. The film was written by Cinco Paul & Ken Daurio and directed by Chris Renaud & Pierre Coffin. It will be released on July 9th, 2010.

Rating: 3.5/5.0

CHICAGO – Taking a character who was created as an obnoxious supporting one and giving him his own spin-off movie sounds like a recipe for disaster. Despite generally liking its stars and enjoying “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” I was dreading the quasi-sequel “Get Him to the Greek”. There were just too many screenwriting pitfalls in which the film could have and should have fallen in.

CHICAGO – Beyonce and Lady GaGa led the way when the nominees were announced this morning for the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards with nine nominations apiece, according to People Magazine. They were both nominated for video of the year and best female video. Other major nominees include Eminem, Kanye West, Drake, and Britney Spears

CHICAGO – Just so there’s absolutely no confusion out there: HollywoodChicago.com’s beloved Round-Up column is merely for informative purposes only.

Blu-Ray Rating: 3.5/5.0

CHICAGO – Adam Shankman’s “Bedtime Stories” is far from perfect but it also was undeservedly lambasted by critics. Is this great family fare? Heck no, but I’d still take this variation of Sandler’s persona over his cartoonish characters in most of his silly comedies and the movie has an easy-going likability that’s hard to deny. The Blu-Ray leaves a lot to be desired but the movie itself is probably better than you think.

CHICAGO – After being blitzed by an onslaught of attention-demanding advertising that begged the question “who is Sarah Marshall?” even before you realized it’s a film, anticipation was ravenous.