CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Dan Baker on WBGR-FM (Monroe, Wisconsin) on March 21st, 2024, reviewing the new streaming series “Manhunt” – based on the bestseller by James L. Swanson – currently streaming on Apple TV+.
HollywoodChicago.com Arts & Entertainment News
Theater Review: Beguiling ‘Lookingglass Alice’ Tumbles Back Down the Rabbit Hole
Submitted by Alissa Norby on July 3, 2010 - 3:05pmCHICAGO – “It really doesn’t matter which direction you go,” counsels one of Wonderland’s mischievous denizens at the onset of Alice’s most transmogrifying of journeys. For David Catlin, the cunningly innovative adaptor and director of Lookingglass Theatre’s take on Lewis Carroll’s treasured canon, it matters not whether the real Alice Liddell traveled upward, downward, backward or sideways on the famed rowing boat trip that would later bear her whimsical stories. At Lookingglass, adventure is the only direction worth taking.
Flash! Cast of ‘The Twilight Saga: Eclipse’ May Visit a Theater Near You
Submitted by PatrickMcD on July 2, 2010 - 2:30pmCHICAGO – “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse,” already breaking box office records, will send cast members to various theaters around the country, including Chicago’s AMC River East and Regal City North, to show their appreciation to fans and moviegoers for making the latest film a resounding success.
Interview: Directors Mark Duplass, Jay Duplass on ‘Cyrus’
Submitted by mattmovieman on July 2, 2010 - 12:33amCHICAGO – HollywoodChicago.com recently interviewed brothers Mark and Jay Duplass, the filmmaking duo behind acclaimed micro-budget indies such as “The Puffy Chair and “Baghead.” Their new comedy, “Cyrus,” centers on a darkly funny love triangle between a lovable loser, John (John C. Reilly), his girlfriend Molly (Marisa Tomei) and her frighteningly possessive son, Cyrus (Jonah Hill).
Interview: 30 Rock’s Scott Adsit Goes Down the ‘Frankenhole’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on July 1, 2010 - 11:21pmCHICAGO – Last Sunday, June 27th, a new Cartoon Network show on Adult Swim premiered, by the same team that gave us “Morel Orel.” “Mary Shelley’s Frankenhole” is also produced, directed and written by Chicago area native Scott Adsit, who also does time as the harried Pete Hornberger on NBC’s “30 Rock.”
‘Suicide, Incorporated’ Explores Mortality’s Worth, Will
Submitted by Alissa Norby on July 1, 2010 - 6:17pmCHICAGO – The eponymous subject matter of Andrew Hinderaker’s enthralling new work “Suicide, Incorporated” is hardly a newfangled muse to dramatists. The concept of one’s self-sanctioned execution has inspired the minds of media architects from Poe to the executives at Lifetime Television Network (the latter of which tends to default to the exertion habitually). The question of an individual opting to terminate his life, especially when the meaning of which plagues the majority of us, is nary an easy one. Hinderaker’s take on the matter, both in stylized approach and explication, proves to be one of the most cerebrally exigent of the lot.
Blu-Ray Review: Iranian Classic ‘Close-Up’ Dissects Cinema From the Inside
Submitted by mattmovieman on July 1, 2010 - 9:26amCHICAGO – Abbas Kiarostami’s 1990 masterpiece, “Close-Up,” is the type of cinematic landmark guaranteed to infuriate audiences and exhilarate film scholars. Yet adventurous viewers willing to look beneath the film’s perplexing and rather stilted surface will discover a multi-layered mind-game of endless fascination that’s more provocative and relevant than ever.
Director M. Night Shyamalan Too Talky, Murky in ‘The Last Airbender’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on July 1, 2010 - 7:15amCHICAGO – The choices that M. Night Shyamalan makes in the progress of his filmography have become as perplexing as his early mysteries. “The Last Airbender,” featuring Dev Patel from “Slumdog Millionaire,” is an adaptation of a previous animated series, and although aimed at kids in the end seems tentative and…aimless.
Blu-Ray Review: Masterful ‘The White Ribbon’ Dissects Root of Evil
Submitted by BrianTT on June 30, 2010 - 9:18pmCHICAGO – Michael Haneke is one of our best living filmmakers, having already delivered at least one masterpiece in the amazing “Cache” and a few other notable works like “Funny Games,” “The Piano Teacher,” and “Code Unknown.” Those familiar with the quality of his filmography may be stunned to learn that “The White Ribbon” is arguably his best.
Film Review: New Director Finds Teeth in ‘The Twilight Saga: Eclipse’
Submitted by BrianTT on June 30, 2010 - 2:25pmCHICAGO – Easily the best entry in the franchise, “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse,” finally allows those of us unfamiliar with the books by Stephenie Meyer to understand why the saga of the vampire, the wolf, and the sullen girl in the middle has become an international phenomenon.
Interview: BooBoo Stewart, Tinsel Korey Talk ‘The Twilight Saga: Eclipse’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on June 29, 2010 - 1:46pmCHICAGO – The latest movie chapter of the The Twilight series juggernaut opens tomorrow, June 30th, with the release of “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.” The film stars Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart, and includes cast members BooBoo Stewart (Seth Clearwater) and Tinsel Korey (Emily Young).
TV Review: ‘Rescue Me’ Struggles to Keep Creative Fires Burning
Submitted by BrianTT on June 29, 2010 - 10:43amCHICAGO – When the first four episodes of the new season of “Rescue Me” allows the actors to merely live in the shoes of these characters they know so well after five seasons on the air then the show finds some of the magic that it produced more consistently in its superior early seasons. Sadly, the writers know they can’t just shoot a drama about guys hanging out in a firehouse and the scripted drama often doesn’t click.
TV Review: ‘Louie’ Starts Slowly, But Improves in Future Episodes
Submitted by BrianTT on June 29, 2010 - 9:53amCHICAGO – Comedian Louis C.K. is an undeniably talented and very funny man but can he carry his own show?
Blu-Ray Review: ‘The Eclipse’ Chills the Blood, Touches the Soul
Submitted by mattmovieman on June 29, 2010 - 7:58amCHICAGO – I often find that the most interesting characters in a ghost story are not the ghosts themselves, but the humans who encounter them. Ghosts are reflections of a past we are unwilling to depart from, even if it halts us from entering the future. It’s a consolation for us to believe that our departed loved ones view us as their “unfinished business.”
