HollywoodChicago.com RSS   Facebook   HollywoodChicago.com on Twitter   LinkedIn   E-Mailing   Free PR

Will Patton

Film Review: Great Performance From Abbie Cornish Carries ‘The Girl’

The Girl
HollywoodChicago.com Oscarman rating: 3.0/5.0
Rating: 3.0/5.0

CHICAGO – Let’s get this out of the way first – Abbie Cornish is simply great in David Riker’s “The Girl,” opening this weekend in Chicago at the AMC River East 21. She’s genuine, believable, and emotional resonant in ways that make this critic truly wish she would get more great roles (go rent “Bright Star” for further proof of her immense talents). Having said that, “The Girl” only barely works. Too much of the dialogue feels forced and the situations purposefully manipulative for it to fall on the right side of the soap opera-drama spectrum. There’s a heartfelt tenderness for this troubled character on Riker & Cornish’s part but it comes at the expense of realism or any serious answers to the questions raised by the film.

TV Review: Riveting, Action-Packed Return For TNT’s ‘Falling Skies’

CHICAGO – Rarely has a program returned for its second season with as much confidence, improved storytelling skills, and overall entertainment value as TNT’s “Falling Skies,” returning tonight, June 17, 2012.

Blu-Ray Review: Brilliant Subtlety of Existential, Striking ‘Meek’s Cutoff’

Meek's Cutoff

CHICAGO – Kelly Reichardt’s “Meek’s Cutoff” is certainly not a film for everyone. It features long, drawn-out scenes that are not only free of dialogue but basically just feature sorrowful people walking to the rhythm of the wagon wheel and the tune of the blowing wind. For the right viewers, these passages will frustrate but if you give yourself over to this remarkable film, they will build tension inside of you in a unique, discomfiting way.

TV Review: Noah Wyle Fights to Survive in ‘Falling Skies’

CHICAGO – It’s the end of the world as we know it, and the ragtag resistance fighters of “Falling Skies,” starring Noah Wyle from “ER,” are defending themselves against a surprise extraterrestrial colonization of earth. Live free or die hard.

Film Review: ‘Meek’s Cutoff’ Turns Physical Journey Into Riveting Spiritual Drama

Meek's Cutoff
HollywoodChicago.com Oscarman rating: 5.0/5.0
Rating: 5.0/5.0

CHICAGO – Very few films have ever conveyed an impending sense of doom as successfully as Kelly Reichardt’s stunningly accomplished “Meek’s Cutoff,” a journey into the past that has resonance for any era. Which way do you go when you’ve lost the map? Who do you trust when you can’t see beyond the horizon? How does man simply keep moving forward when it’s so unclear where we’re going?

HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: 25 Passes, Signed Poster For ‘Brooklyn’s Finest’ With Don Cheadle, Richard Gere

CHICAGO – In our latest crime/drama edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 25 admit-two run-of-engagement movie passes and one signed poster for one grand-prize winner for the new film “Brooklyn’s Finest” from the director of “Training Day”!

Blu-Ray Review: ‘The Fourth Kind’ is Disturbing For the Wrong Reasons

The Fourth Kind Blu-Ray

CHICAGO – Here’s the most desperate film in many a moon. It tries harder than any recent horror picture to prove that its artificial horrors are real. What it lacks is the subtlety and suspense necessary to actually scare viewers. “Blair Witch Project” did it with ominous sounds in the dark. “Paranormal Activity” did it with time code. Both films proved that in the case of psychological horror, less is always more.


Hot stories on the Web

Hot Web Entertainment Stories


Syndicate content

User Login

TV, DVD, BLU-RAY & THEATER REVIEWS

  • Band of Outsiders

    CHICAGO – “Band of Outsiders,” recently released in a newly-restored Criterion Blu-ray edition, was one of the most influential films of its era and made waves not only when it was released but continues to influence international cinema today. From Quentin Tarantino’s love for the film (reflected both in “Pulp Fiction” and the name of his production company, A Band Apart) to the numerous ways that the fashion and dancing resonate from Paris to “Saturday Night Live,” “Band of Outsiders” is mesmerizingly cool. It’s Godard’s most accessible film and yet it is also a deconstruction of the very genre that he’s presenting. It’s a crime flick in which the crime doesn’t really matter. It’s the people, the love triangle, and, most of all, the attitude that makes it memorable.

  • National Lampoon's Vacation

    CHICAGO – Few comedies from the ’80s are as beloved and rewatchable as “National Lampoon’s Vacation,” a surprise hit that produced multiple sequels and legions of fans. It’s probably playing somewhere on cable right now and will be for another three decades. However, in those cable airings, you won’t get to see the feature-length documentary, “Inside Story,” about the making of the film featuring new interviews with nearly all of the major players from Chevy Chase to Harold Ramis to Jane Krakowski. If you’re a comedy fan, the Blu-ray is worth picking up just for that special feature alone.

Free Giveaway Mailing

HollywoodChicago.com Hookup, free entertainment giveaway mailing

Advertisement


HollywoodChicago.com on Twitter

LIST OF UPCOMING EVENTS

HollywoodChicago.com Archive

Bookmark Us

Bookmark HollywoodChicago.com 
Bookmark Page 

Related Links

HollywoodChicago.com Top Ten Discussions
tracker