William H. Macy

CHICAGO – Not to be outdone by HBO, who renewed their Sunday hit “Luck” yesterday, Showtime gave season renewals today to their impressive slate of Sunday shows — “Shameless,” “House of Lies,” and “Californication.” All three have done remarkably well in the ratings as the two veterans have improved on previous season numbers and “House of Lies” has done very well in its first few freshman frames.

CHICAGO – Universal’s three-disc set for the incredibly-influential “Jurassic Park Ultimate Trilogy” is one of the best multi-film sets of the season, a glorious combination of stellar HD transfers, incredible audio tracks, amazing new & old special features, and films that have held up remarkably well over the years. “Jurassic Park” gets nowhere near the credit it deserves either as pure entertainment or as a film that would massively influence works to come. Hopefully, this set will go some way to correct those mistakes and introduce the films to a new generation.

CHICAGO – Proving yet again that he can deliver when he avoids horrendous romantic comedy cliches, Matthew McConaughey does his best work in years in “The Lincoln Lawyer,” but the film doesn’t quite come together like one wishes that it would due to the common traps that befall big screen adaptations of best-selling thrillers.

CHICAGO – Michael Connelly is one of the most successful thriller writers alive, winning nearly every major award possible for his genre.

CHICAGO – In our latest drama edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 35 admit-two passes up for grabs to the advance Chicago screening of the new film “The Lincoln Lawyer”!

CHICAGO – Showtime has built a critical and award-winning reputation around strong lead characters for some of our most best TV actors: Michael C. Hall in “Dexter,” Edie Falco in “Nurse Jackie,” Mary-Louise Parker in “Weeds,” Laura Linney in “The Big C,” and Toni Collette in “United States of Tara” are only a few examples.

CHICAGO – How do complete disasters like “Marmaduke” get made? Shouldn’t there be some sort of quality insurance and when a studio sees that a film is this execrable, they are allowed to pull some sort of last-minute ripcord and make sure it’s never inflicted on paying customers? Wouldn’t that be a good use of our tax dollars?

CHICAGO – Has any director watched their reputation rise as rapidly as the amazing Paul Thomas Anderson? With only five films under his belt - “Hard Eight,” “Boogie Nights,” “Magnolia,” “Punch-Drunk Love,” and “There Will Be Blood” - the man has become one of the most respected and adored filmmakers in the world. Why? He not only hasn’t made a bad film, he hasn’t even come close. His second and third are now available on Blu-ray.

CHICAGO – Robert Rodriguez is a one-man moviemaking machine. He’s always looking for the fastest and most cost-effective ways for getting his work out to the public. His success story, memorably chronicled in the book “Rebel Without a Crew,” is genuinely inspiring, yet his films often fail to resonate as anything other than exercises in design.

CHICAGO – I am an unabashed defender of nearly everything that David Mamet has ever made and the arrival of another one of his films under the Criterion banner makes for a special occasion in this critic’s household. The new release of Mamet’s “Homicide” (1991) is a must-own for fans of one of the most important playwrights of the last fifty years and an underrated filmmaker as well.