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
‘The Queen of Versailles’ Takes Comedic Look at Riches-to-Rags Tale
Submitted by mattmovieman on August 3, 2012 - 9:15am Rating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Whenever I hear someone complain about the inexplicable popularity of an obscenely rich and distressingly vapid non-celebrity, I’m reminded of the last scene in “Chicago,” when murderess-turned-superstar Roxy Hart blows a kiss to her adoring fans after exclaiming, “Believe us, we could not have done it without you!” No one maintains a celebrity status without a whole lot of help from the general public.
Cillian Murphy, Robert De Niro in Messy ‘Red Lights’
Submitted by BrianTT on August 2, 2012 - 2:35pm Rating: 2.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – “Red Lights” is a mess. And yet it’s also not messy enough. Allow me to explain. Rodrigo Cortes’ follows up his vastly superior “Buried” with this supernatural tale filled with plot contrivances that would make M. Night Shyamalan call bullshit and yet he does so with a direct, straightforward style when a bit less polish would have given the piece the character it is missing.
Matthew McConaughey Delivers in Searing ‘Killer Joe’
Submitted by BrianTT on August 2, 2012 - 9:52amRating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – William Friedkin’s film of Tracy Letts’ “Killer Joe” takes no prisoners. One of the central characters is introduced from the waist down and to say that the film climaxes in violent, sexual oddity would be like saying “The Avengers” features a few superheroes. However, it would be a mistake to allow the controversy or the shock value to become the story of this excellent noir comedy that takes black humor to a new level of darkness.
‘Qwerty’ Uses Chicago as Backdrop for Word Nerds
Submitted by PatrickMcD on July 30, 2012 - 11:00am Rating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Taking the game of Scrabble and making it a thread for a romantic comedy and competitive intrigue is a wholly original idea. Director Bill Sebastian and screenwriter Juliet McDaniels guides a Chicago cast through the maze of those words in the new film “Qwerty.”
Dance is the Highlight in Simplistic ‘Step Up Revolution’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on July 28, 2012 - 10:33am Rating: 3.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – The beauty of the movies is their ability to create weird parallel universes, where young dance crews have the choreography skills of a hip-hop Bob Fosse, the time/funding to create this dance and a law enforcement culture that allows it. Welcome to the “Step Up Revolution.”
Relentless Pace of French Action Hit ‘Sleepless Night’
Submitted by BrianTT on July 27, 2012 - 4:22pmRating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – “Sleepless Night” is a relentless thriller about corrupt cops, a kidnapping, a very bad drug deal, and a French nightclub filled with innocent bystanders. The majority of this accomplished action flick takes place in one location on one crazy night and the result is a more intense, visceral experience than a vast majority of the Hollywood blockbusters you could see this Summer movie season.
Ben Stiller in ‘The Watch’ Needs a Better Mechanism
Submitted by PatrickMcD on July 27, 2012 - 9:42amRating: 3.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Star studded, special effects ladened “comedies” featuring aliens should have been put to rest after last year’s “Paul.” But “The Watch” is here, and it features Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill and an odd Richard Ayoade as four suburban neighborhood watch volunteers who end up hunting space men. Yep, right after “Paul.”
Zoe Kazan Illuminates Fascinating Fable of ‘Ruby Sparks’
Submitted by BrianTT on July 24, 2012 - 9:40am Rating: 4.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris return to the spotlight this week with their first film since the award-winning “Little Miss Sunshine” and they completely defy the sophomore slump, delivering a smart, fascinating, fun gem in the spectacular “Ruby Sparks.” Buoyed by one of the best screenplays of the year courtesy of one of our most interesting young actresses, “Ruby Sparks” is a clever romantic fantasy that works on nearly every level.
Adam Fendelman: ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ Realizes Nolan’s Trifecta: One of History’s Greatest Trilogies
Submitted by HollywoodChicago.com on July 20, 2012 - 11:08pmRating: 4.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO (No-Spoiler Promise!) – In a Hollywood test tube, pour one part Michael Bay and his pure “Transformers” eye candy plus another part Quentin Tarantino with his rich writing and masterful characters. The resulting mutation is Christopher Nolan and his near-perfect Batman conclusion – “The Dark Knight Rises” – to one of the greatest trilogies of all time.
Frieda Pinto Takes a Sad, Tragic Journey in ‘Trishna’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on July 20, 2012 - 9:43pmRating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Transitions are one of the juiciest themes to have in a film, as a character or circumstance takes a path from one way-of-life to another. Director Michael Winterbottom has created “Trishna,” a story based on a 19th Century British novel, but woven into the present day India. Frieda Pinto (“Slumdog Millionaire”) stars as the title character.
‘Farewell, My Queen’ Paints Seductive Portrait of Encroaching Doom
Submitted by mattmovieman on July 20, 2012 - 8:09amRating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Is there any actress in the world today with more seductive and transfixing eyes than Léa Seydoux? She often tilts her head in a direction that allows her to peer up from beneath lowered brows. Stanley Kubrick would loved to photograph her. Yet her radiant orbs are capable of conveying more than mere menace. She can appear frighteningly vulnerable and coldly calculating within the same take.
Brian Tallerico: ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ Gives Fans Epic Conclusion to Beloved Trilogy
Submitted by BrianTT on July 19, 2012 - 1:00pmRating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – With “The Dark Knight Rises”, Christopher Nolan epically follows through on most of the themes he set up in “Batman Begins” and “The Dark Knight” with amazing technical skill and an ambitious sense of scope. No one can deny the effort and intensity of this closing chapter of the most acclaimed superhero saga in the history of film.
Patrick McDonald: ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ is Glorious Epic of Heroic Proportions
Submitted by PatrickMcD on July 18, 2012 - 10:32am Rating: 5.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Sound the gong for one of the best films of the summer, as “The Dark Knight Rises” delivers an awe-inspiring blockbuster on virtually every level of storytelling and performance. Christian Bale, Anne Hathaway, Gary Oldman, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and director Christopher Nolan create grand, metaphoric and visionary cinema.
