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+.
Roadside Attractions
‘Touched With Fire’ Contains a Different Perspective
Submitted by PatrickMcD on February 21, 2016 - 4:58pm Rating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – How do you explain air? That is what our thoughts are, after all – carbon-based cells interacting with circumstantial environment, sending the “message.” What if those cells send the thought receiver something outside “normal”? This is the exploration in the new film ‘Touched With Fire.’
Elegy for a Different Superhero in ‘Mr. Holmes’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on July 17, 2015 - 10:51am Rating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Sherlock Holmes is the most famous fictional detective in literary history, and his character adaptation into movies, TV and other media shows no sign of slowing down. But what if Holmes were real, and lived as an old man past World War II? This scenario is explored in “Mr. Holmes.”
Brian Wilson Redeems His Soul in ‘Love & Mercy’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on June 6, 2015 - 9:48am Rating: 5.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Brian Wilson has been called one of the greatest songwriters in popular music history. His tonality and approach towards his best compositions have been studied like Mozart. In “Love & Mercy,” we see that the thing that made Wilson great also had the power to destroy him.
Son Can’t Rise Beyond His Fate in Emotional ‘Mommy’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on January 30, 2015 - 10:35pmRating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – One of the odd unexplainable quirks of human existence is the shaping, variations and thoughts of our inner being. The physicality in the structure of the grey matter of the brain, with the slightest imperfection, can make the difference in a lifetime of behavior and perspective. Sometimes it can work out, and sometimes different consequences are created or destroyed, like the story of Diane Després in “Mommy.”
Parts Are Better Than the Whole in ‘The Skeleton Twins’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on September 12, 2014 - 9:50pmRating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Live from the movies, it’s Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig! The two “Saturday Night Live” veterans are “The Skeleton Twins,” and both have more to do than just be funny. There are moments that sink or swim, depending on the “Twins,” and those parts are greater than the narrative sum.
Stellar Actors Put ‘Words and Pictures’ Together
Submitted by PatrickMcD on June 7, 2014 - 9:57amRating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – “Words and Pictures” is a bit twee. In the film’s central debate between which medium has more influence, there was a drunken writer, prep students straight out of “Dead Poet’s Society” and cutesy romance. But there was also Clive Owen and Juliette Binoche at the top of their performance games, and they uplifted all these regular story elements.
Captivating Tale of Primal Manhood in David Gordon Green’s ‘Joe’
Submitted by NickHC on April 12, 2014 - 3:56pmRating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – This week in movies about men we have “Joe”, a wild drama about Texas males at their most primal. It is the newest film from director David Gordon Green, and features Nicolas Cage in some of his finest work.
Earnest ‘Gimme Shelter’ Needs More Truth
Submitted by PatrickMcD on January 24, 2014 - 7:53am Rating: 2.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – The balancing act between reality and drama in based-on-truth narratives is as delicate as walking the high wire. Pour in too much drama, and a story can feel like a soap opera. “Gimme Shelter,” although earnestly and achingly performed, has that sudsy protocol.
‘In a World...’ Reveals a Voiceover of Heart, Hilarity
Submitted by PatrickMcD on August 16, 2013 - 7:22pmRating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – One the most familiar movie clichés is the sonorous voice that intones “In a world…” to begin a movie trailer, and then extols the virtues of that upcoming feature. Lake Bell, who wrote, directed and stars in the new movie, “In a World…,’ creates a delightful and gentle satire of voiceover artists and their journeys.
Jeff Nichols’s ‘Mud’ Will Cause Cinephiles’ Hearts to Swell
Submitted by mattmovieman on April 25, 2013 - 1:12pmRating: 5.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Sometimes it’s difficult to pinpoint the precise moment when one falls in love with a movie. Other times, it’s as effortless and intuitive as the day one stumbles upon a soul mate. That moment struck me like a bolt of lightning early on in Jeff Nichols’s “Mud,” the most richly satisfying and purely enjoyable moviegoing experience I’ve had thus far in 2013.
