Thandie Newton

Blu-Ray Rating: 4.0/5.0

CHICAGO – Has one star ever had such an assault on their demographic as Vin Diesel is having in April 2009? He’s the star of two original video games (“Wheelman,” “The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena”), a blockbuster movie (“Fast & Furious”), and has two catalog titles in “Pitch Black” and “The Chronicles of Riddick” hitting Blu-Ray. And all of it happens in the span of two weeks.

Blu-Ray Rating: 3.5/5.0

CHICAGO – What happened to Oliver Stone? Despite strong performances by Josh Brolin, James Cromwell, and Elizabeth Banks, “W.” is one of the most inert, middle-of-the-road movies that this once-controversial auteur has ever made, helped on the home market by an excellent Blu-Ray release but still a little “eh” as a film.

CHICAGO – In our latest edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 70 admit-two passes to the Chicago screening of “RocknRolla,” which stars Gerard Butler, Thandie Newton, Tom Wilkinson, Jeremy Piven, Gemma Arterton and Mark Strong.

CHICAGO – Simon Pegg (the British cult hero of “Shaun of the Dead” and “Hot Fuzz”) was welcomed to a Chicago hotel where his press event was taking place with personalized water bottles that sported his face.