Stephen Graham

CHICAGO – HBO brings BBC2’s “Parade’s End,” based on the highly-acclaimed novels by Ford Madox Ford, stateside and the star-studded mini-series with a breathtakingly good script from the legendary Sir Tom Stoppard is a must-see for anyone interested in historical drama, quality acting, or the kind of stunning production values usually reserved for big-screen adaptations with Oscar aspirations.

CHICAGO – HBO long led the way when it came to TV on DVD releases, but they were never much for special features. I think the idea was that their programming spoke for itself. “It’s not TV, it’s HBO.” So why should they do what their competition does when it comes to deleted scenes, commentaries, etc.? It was a bit frustrating to read press releases for great TV shows and realize that they were once again bare-bones editions. Which makes the bonus-packed first season of “Boardwalk Empire” all that more amazing.

CHICAGO – In our latest fantasy edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 40 admit-two passes up for grabs to the advance Chicago screening of the new film “Season of the Witch” with Nicolas Cage and Ron Perlman!

CHICAGO – Is there any lingering doubt that we are in the golden age of television? If you need further proof of the remarkable breadth of the genre in 2010, look no further than HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire,” an amazing new dramatic series courtesy of one of cinema’s masters (Martin Scorsese) and one of television’s (“The Sopranos” veteran Terence Winter).

CHICAGO – The American perspective on the war in Iraq has been well-documented in feature films and TV movies, but I was intrigued at the idea of seeing a British film about the Middle East, especially one with great actors like James Nesbitt and Stephen Graham.