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 Movie Reviews
Bikini Girls with Machine Guns in Mesmerizing ‘Spring Breakers’
Submitted by BrianTT on March 21, 2013 - 10:52am Rating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Already hailed as this generation’s “Fight Club,” Harmony Korine’s “Spring Breakers” is a mesmerizing piece of satire, a journey into the dark side of teenage excess. And what’s a better symbol of excess than the ritual of spring break? But lest you think this is like MTV’s watered-down version of pop bands and bikini girls, Korine has something much more intense in store for you.
Breathtaking Oscar-Nominee ‘War Witch’ Honors Youthful Resilience
Submitted by mattmovieman on March 21, 2013 - 9:57am Rating: 5.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – If last year’s group of Best Picture nominees are any indication, American filmmakers seem convinced that in order for their work to be taken seriously, it has to be super-long. I understand why a picture like “Lincoln” would have an epic scope, but did disposable novelties like “Django Unchained” and “The Hobbit: Vol. 1” really have to clock in around three hours?
Gerard Butler Stars in Violent, Stupid ‘Olympus Has Fallen’
Submitted by BrianTT on March 19, 2013 - 2:37pm Rating: 2.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Antoine Fuqua’s “Olympus Has Fallen” (or “Die Hard in the White House”) is a stupid, exploitative movie that wants to be “Call of Duty: Black Ops” in film form but ends up more like one of its countless, ineffective rip-offs. There are moments of goofy, B-movie fun (certainly more of them than in the much-worse “A Good Day to Die Hard”) but not enough to get over the brutal nonsense that makes up most of this action flick.
Odd Fairy Tale of ‘Upside Down’ is Also Inside Out
Submitted by PatrickMcD on March 16, 2013 - 12:44amRating: 2.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Definitely one of the strangest films so far in 2013 is “Upside Down,” featuring a dream pairing of Kirsten Dunst and Jim Sturgess. The problem is they exist as disparate lovers on opposing planets, with opposite gravitational pulls. Thus what is up for Kirsten is down for Jim, or vice-versa?
Tense Thriller Has Halle Berry Answering ‘The Call’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on March 16, 2013 - 12:20amRating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – “The Call” rises above the usual crime drama for a couple of reasons. First, it is a thriller that runs at a breakneck speed, using the driving culture of Los Angeles in a cat-and-mouse chase. Secondly, it symbolically emphasizes the plight of women, and honors their empowerment.
Portrait of a Cynical Genius in ‘The Bitter Buddha’
Submitted by BrianTT on March 15, 2013 - 2:42pm Rating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – We live in such a cynical world that when a film critic tells you a stand-up comedian is damn funny, it might not hold as much weight as it did in a universe before everyone had an opinion on everything online. So how can I convince you that Eddie Pepitone, the subject of Stephen Feinartz’s “The Bitter Buddha,” opening this weekend at the Music Box Theatre in Chicago, is damn funny? Do you like Marc Maron, Sarah Silverman, Dana Gould, or the amazing Patton Oswalt? They think he’s hilarious. And if that doesn’t do it, the movie will. Just trust us.
Nothing Magical About ‘The Incredible Burt Wonderstone’
Submitted by BrianTT on March 15, 2013 - 9:50am Rating: 2.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – It’s this simple – “The Incredible Burt Wonderstone” just isn’t funny. Sure, there are a few laughs here and there and some of the supporting cast works but the leads are woefully miscast and most of the jokes hit with all the awkward silence of a Bennigan’s tableside magician who guesses the wrong card.
‘Beyond the Hills’ Entraps Audience in Claustrophobic Nightmare
Submitted by mattmovieman on March 14, 2013 - 3:47pmRating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – There is an excellent 90-minute film hidden somewhere within the two-and-a-half-hour ordeal that is Cristian Mungiu’s “Beyond the Hills.” It’s far from a bad film, and offers many sequences of entrancing power, but simply doesn’t have enough material to justify its sprawling running time. Instead of probing deeper, the picture merely becomes repetitive.
Guilt, Grief Wrapped Up in Mystery of ‘The Silence’
Submitted by BrianTT on March 14, 2013 - 11:32amRating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – With echoes of “The Vanishing” and “Memories of Murder,” Baran bo Odar’s dread-filled “The Silence” is a character-based thriller that focuses more on the people wrapped up in its web of perversion and murder than the crimes themselves.
Colin Farrell Can’t Let Go in ‘Dead Man Down’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on March 9, 2013 - 11:24amRating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Nothing like a high concept crime story to compliment “spring forward.” Colin Farrell plays the revenge card to the nth degree in the unusual and slowly paced “Dead Man Down,” and takes Noomi Rapace (of the Swedish “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”) along for the ride.
Nick Offerman Stars in Episodic ‘Somebody Up There Likes Me’
Submitted by BrianTT on March 8, 2013 - 5:29pm Rating: 3.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – At the start, I’ll admit to kind of hating Bob Byington’s truly unusual “Somebody Up There Likes Me,” playing this weekend at the Music Box Theatre in Chicago with local actor and “Parks and Recreation” scene-stealer Nick Offerman in attendance. It’s such a mannered, unique piece that it verges on grating.
Taut, Witty ‘No’ Celebrates Unorthodox Marketing of Freedom
Submitted by mattmovieman on March 8, 2013 - 10:30amRating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – The controversy swirling around Pablo Larraín’s Oscar-nominee “No” is typical of the outrage garnered by many a historical drama. Since the film focuses solely on one crucial segment of the activism that ousted Chilean dictator Pinochet during the 1988 plebiscite, some viewers will complain that not every hero in the tale is represented. Of course, that’s what encyclopedias are for.
Story Dims Visionary ‘Oz the Great and Powerful’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on March 8, 2013 - 9:35amRating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – “Oz the Great and Powerful” is a great and powerful visual and 3D experience. It expands the landscape of what cinema can produce in a visceral and evolutionary way. But a great film also needs a great story, and this Land of Oz tale is not equivalent to the awe-inspiring imagery.
