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
B-Level Story Sinks Finely Animated ‘The Nut Job’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on January 17, 2014 - 5:58pm Rating: 2.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – It feels like when any studio besides Disney or Pixar does an animated film with celebrity voices, there is a little less lacquer on it. What the other two remember, and others forget, is that it starts with a script. All the toon landscapes in the world can’t fix a dull story.
High-Level Reboot for ‘Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on January 17, 2014 - 6:18am Rating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Actor Chris Pine should use the term “Rebooter” as his middle name. After taking on the Captain Kirk role in the “Star Trek” series, he now is the latest to portray CIA super spy as “Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit,” a literate and pulse racing adventure directed by Kenneth Branagh.
Twisted Thrill Ride of Intense ‘Big Bad Wolves’
Submitted by BrianTT on January 14, 2014 - 4:38pmRating: 4.0/5.0 |
“Big Bad Wolves” pulls no punches. It rips off toenails instead. This incredibly dark thriller, courtesy of the twisted folks who made the indie horror hit “Rabies,” built notable buzz at its Tribeca Film Festival and Chicago International Film Festival screenings but really took off when Quentin Tarantino named it his favorite film of 2013.
Kellan Lutz as ‘The Legend of Hercules’ a Summer Blockbuster Action Wannabe
Submitted by HollywoodChicago.com on January 11, 2014 - 8:12pm Rating: 1.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Big-budget Hollywood is struggling to find new stories, which is why we sometimes see the same ones two, three or even 10 times. Sometimes they’re days or months apart. And sometimes they shouldn’t have been made in the first place and just were to profit from a beloved story or hero.
Asghar Farhadi’s ‘The Past’ Finds Resonance Through Subtlety of Human Interaction
Submitted by BrianTT on January 10, 2014 - 4:46pmRating: 4.0/5.0 |
Filmgoers may bash the January to October movie fare for being boisterous, obnoxious, directed by Michael Bay, etc. However, even during the supposedly tasteful sanctuary that is the award season of November to January, those films themselves can be lumped together to sponsor their own lack of subtlety.
Family Secrets, Fine Acting in ‘August: Osage County’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on January 10, 2014 - 10:02amRating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – There will be inevitable comparisons to the Pulitzer Prize-winning stage version of “August: Osage County” from the thousands of people who have been touched by the stage play. But in giving the film version a chance, there is the same passion, drama and heat of family dysfunction within it, with a dream cast.
Peter Berg’s Brutal ‘Lone Survivor’ Lacks Context
Submitted by BrianTT on January 9, 2014 - 1:07pmRating: 2.5/5.0 |
Imagine a version of “Saving Private Ryan” that takes place entirely on the beaches of Normandy. It would have a visceral power purely through the horror of the recreation of war. However, it would lack the context of the rest of the narrative and lead one to question why the cinematic trip was worth taking.
Scorsese’s ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ a Deliciously Gluttonous Inspection Into Our Demons
Submitted by HollywoodChicago.com on December 26, 2013 - 5:29pm Rating: 4.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – No matter how painfully bad it may be, I never walk out of a screening. It’s a professional rule I’ve set and keep it at all costs. But with Martin Scorsese’s latest stroke of genius, I experienced a kind of pain I don’t usually wrangle with: the survival of my bladder.
Legacy Matters in ‘Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on December 25, 2013 - 9:39pmRating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – The memory of South Africa freedom fighter Nelson Mandela, who passed away on December 5th, is filled with deserved accolades and iconography. Director Justin Chadwick and actor Idris Elba brings the man to human life in the essential “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom.”
Two Old Stars Roast Their Images in ‘Grudge Match’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on December 25, 2013 - 8:57am Rating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Sylvester Stallone and Robert De Niro – between them they have over 150 film credits in careers stretching back to the 1960s. Two of their most famous roles, boxers Rocky and the Raging Bull, get the full make-fun-of treatment in the Christmas Day Film “Grudge Match.”
Frustrating Journey Into ‘The Secret Life of Walter Mitty’
Submitted by BrianTT on December 24, 2013 - 10:31amRating: 2.5/5.0 |
I so want to love Ben Stiller’s “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.” Stiller’s directorial work on films like “The Cable Guy” and “Tropic Thunder” was underrated, the source material is great, the message of living in the moment has more value in an increasingly cluttered world, and the time seems right for an imaginative journey into the mind of a likable protagonist like Mr. Mitty.
Martin Scorsese’s ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ is Cinematic Adrenalin
Submitted by BrianTT on December 23, 2013 - 11:01am Rating: 5.0/5.0 |
Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio) lives completely, entirely in the moment. It’s not that there’s no tomorrow, there’s not even “later that same day” in his world. People who make their living on the minute-to-minute fluctuations of the stock market are inherently going to be inclined to live in the small spaces between those quick deviations but Belfort was even more so given the fact that his first day as a legit money maker was on the day the entire economy collapsed in 1987 known as “Black Monday.”
Neil LaBute Spins a Tale on ‘Some Velvet Morning’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on December 20, 2013 - 6:11pmRating: 5.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Writer/Director Neil LaBute has a righteous reputation as a harsh social critic, especially in the arena of relationships between men and women. To past films like “In the Company of Men,” “Your Friends & Neighbors” and “The Shape of Things,” LaBute adds “Some Velvet Morning.”
