Tim McGraw

CHICAGO – Gwyneth Paltrow was EVERYWHERE promoting “Country Strong” and her return to the spotlight. She reached overexposure with appearances on “Glee,” The Grammys, and “Saturday Night Live,” and culminated it all with a performance of the film’s Oscar-nominated song on the Academy Awards. Lost in all of this was the actual movie. Was it any good? Now you can decide for yourself as it was recently released on Blu-ray and DVD.

CHICAGO – Modern country music is actually quite fascinating. Whereas in the classic days of the 1950s to ‘70s, when it was a cult stepchild of popular music, now it occupies the rarified heights of the Justins and Taylors. That is why “Country Strong,” starring Gwyneth Paltrow, is so annoying. It doesn’t even try to be modern.

CHICAGO – Most critics and industry types expected “The Blind Side” with Sandra Bullock to be a modest holiday season hit but if a single one of them, including the people who made the film, told you that they knew this would be an Oscar-winning Best Picture nominee that grossed over $250 million, they are straight-up lying. “The Blind Side” shattered all expectations and Warner Brothers has quickly and somewhat lazily shuffled it off to Blu-ray and DVD.

CHICAGO – “Based on a True Story” films are difficult to pull off, especially those that are the improbable story of a white Memphis family adopting an African American football prodigy. Sandra Bullock is the mother, through it all, in “The Blind Side.”

CHICAGO – In our latest sports edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 30 admit-two passes up for grabs to the advance Chicago screening of “The Blind Side,” which stars Sandra Bullock and is based on an extraordinary true story!

CHICAGO – In our latest edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 80 admit-one passes up for grabs to the Chicago screening of “Four Christmases,” which stars Vince Vaughn, Reese Witherspoon, Robert Duvall, Jon Favreau, Jon Voight, Sissy Spacek, Tim McGraw, Kristin Chenoweth and Dwight Yoakam from director Seth Gordon.