CHICAGO – When two brothers confront the sins of each other and it expands into a psychology of an entire race, it’s at a stage play found in Chicago’s Invictus Theatre Company production of “Topdog/Underdog,” now at their new home at the Windy City Playhouse through March 31st, 2024. Click TD/UD for tickets/info.
Aldis Hodge
Dwayne Johnson Like a Rock as Star of ‘Black Adam’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on October 21, 2022 - 12:49pmRating: 2.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Once again Dwayne Johnson finds himself in a vehicle unworthy of his considerable charms and talents. Johnson stars as “Black Adam,” a demigod from a mythical middle eastern country who was given power from a counsel of wizards to protect his homeland from injustice. He’s woken from a 5000 year sleep to protect the country again from foreign interlopers.
The Greatest! On-Air Review of ‘One Night in Miami’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on December 31, 2020 - 6:08pmRating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Dan Baker on WBGR-FM (Monroe, Wisconsin) on December 31st, 2020, reviewing the new film “One Night in Miami,” which is in theaters now, and on Amazon Prime Video on January 15th.
‘The Invisible Man’ is a True Heart Pounding Thriller
Submitted by PatrickMcD on February 28, 2020 - 4:15pmRating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – When I think of “The Invisible Man” the first thing I think of is the special effects… and that’s largely what it’s been about … from Claude Raines initial portrayal of “The I Man” in the 1930s, all the way through more modern takes like Kevin Bacon in the thriller “Hollow Man” (2000).
Take the Title Advice in ‘Jack Reacher: Never Go Back’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on October 22, 2016 - 4:24pmRating: 1.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – The title of Tom Cruise’s second Jack Reacher adventure has almost prophetic ring to it – but we all would have been better off if the writers, and director and star of Jack Reacher: Never Go Back” had heeded the advice. This film seems more like one of those bargain-bin-just-barely-released thrillers than a major studio action movie.
Opportunity For Insight Wasted in ‘The East’
Submitted by BrianTT on June 6, 2013 - 1:36pmRating: 2.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Brit Marling is an undeniably smart, forward-thinking writer/actress in that she refuses to succumb to gender stereotypes and tries to chart her own way through the independent film movement. If this is true, and I still believe it is, why did “The East,” in which she stars and which she co-wrote, end up so frustratingly melodramatic? Why was the opportunity for true commentary or even character development within this fascinating world discarded in favor of an awkwardly-staged and poorly-written love story laden with genre tropes? I so wanted to like “The East,” but it never pointed me in the direction where I could do so.