Film News: HollywoodChicago.com’s Patrick McDonald to Host ‘Defending Your Life’ with Albert Brooks

CHICAGO – Albert Brooks’ classic film “Defending Your Life” (1991) has an “afterlife” of its own. Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com will host a screening and discussion of the film on Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2013 at 7:30 p.m. at the Studio Movie Grill in Wheaton, Ill. as part of the Chicago Film Critics Association’s “Film with a View” series.

This was the fourth feature film for writer, director and lead actor Albert Brooks, cementing his reputation after the previous “Real Life” (1979), “Modern Romance” (1981) and “Lost in America” (1985). It concerns the state of life after death, or in the case of Brooks’ newly demised character Daniel Miller, the trial that takes place through that afterlife in “Judgement City.” Besides being an exceptionally brilliant comedy, it has the bittersweet emotions of regret, doubt and fulfillment in the overview of one man’s life. It co-stars a middle career Meryl Streep, who imbues her heroic character of Julia with a joyous curiosity and thrill for her new adventure.

’Defending Your Life,’ Hosted by Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com Photo credit: StudioMovieGrill.com

“Defending Your Life” is part of an ongoing series called “Film with a View,” sponsored by the Studio Movie Grill of Wheaton, Illinois, and the Chicago Film Critics Association (CFCA). Each first Wednesday of the month, members of the CFCA host and lead a discussion of a classic film, and audience members get to experience the full service in-theater dining and luxurious screening rooms of the Studio Movie Grill.

Patrick McDonald is in his fifth year as Senior Writer and Film Critic for HollywoodChicago.com, and in his fourth year as a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association. He also serves on the Awards Committee of the Midwest Independent Film Festival, and is the main guide for the Chicago Film Tour, which runs every Thursday-Sunday at 10:30am and 12:30pm through November 30th.

[16]	By PATRICK McDONALD [17] Senior Staff Writer HollywoodChicago.com pat@hollywoodchicago.com [16]