July 2012

Blu-ray Review: Great Ensemble Can’t Save ‘Friends with Kids’

Friends with Kids

CHICAGO – The cover of “Friends with Kids” sells it as a fun ensemble comedy with three cast members from “Bridesmaids,” one of the stars of “Parks and Recreation,” and the super-talented Jon Hamm looking particularly cheery. It’s false advertising. In truth, the movie belongs to Adam Scott and co-star/writer/director Jennifer Westfeldt and even the small roles by the rest of the cast are often more dramatic than comedic. Even without the false bill of goods, “Friends with Kids” is a disappointing. It’s a strong vehicle for Scott and Hamm has a few good scenes but it’s ultimately less than the sum of its talented parts.

Video Game Feature: Nintendo Plans Next Generation Assault with Wii U

CHICAGO – An art space in the West Loop was recently turned into a showcase for the next Nintendo console, the highly-anticipated Nintendo Wii U and we were there to get our hands on the exciting new system. What can gamers expect from the next generation of Nintendo games? Does it mark a massive step forward or a gradual one?

HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: 35 Pairs of Passes to ‘The Bourne Legacy’ With Jeremy Renner

CHICAGO – In the latest HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film with our unique social giveaway technology, we have 35 admit-two movie passes up for grabs to the advance screening of the highly anticipated new film “The Bourne Legacy”!

Interview: Pulitzer Prize Winner Tracy Letts Unleashes ‘Killer Joe’

CHICAGO – Now that I’ve seen William Friedkin’s stunning adaptation of Tracy Letts’ “Killer Joe” with Matthew McConaughey and Juno Temple, I can only imagine what it must have been like to experience its intensity in a small theater in Evanston nearly twenty years ago.

Film Review: ‘Qwerty’ Uses Chicago as Backdrop for Word Nerds

Qwerty

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.”

‘Qwerty’ Uses Chicago as Backdrop for Word Nerds

HollywoodChicago.com Oscarman rating: 3.5/5.0
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.”

Blu-ray Review: IFC’s ‘Brake,’ ‘ATM’ Confine Audience in Glass Trap

Brake Blu-ray Review

CHICAGO – The art of the confinement thriller is tricky to perfect. If it’s done right, the audience will feel trapped within the suffocating confines of a prison, while their heart rate will move at the same pace as that of the onscreen victim. Yet since the world of the film is limited to such a small space, one misstep will cause the entire experience to crumble in an instant.

Blu-ray Review: Extended One-Joke of ‘Casa de mi Padre’ Gets Old Fast

Casa de mi Padre

CHICAGO – You have to admire the commitment to a goofy concept that allowed “Casa de mi Padre” to exist in the first place. The idea that Will Ferrell would star in a Spanish-language film about drug dealers and land control in Mexico and that the result would not only be subtitled but often remarkably straight-faced in its melodrama is conceptually hilarious. The actual product? Not quite as funny.

Box Office News: ‘The Watch’ Opens with Dismal Numbers While ‘TDKR’ Drops

The Watch with Vince Vaughn from Seth Rogen

CHICAGO – Critically reviled “The Watch” with Ben Stiller & Vince Vaughn opened with downright depressing numbers, good enough for only third place. Meanwhile, “Step Up: Revolution” claimed fourth while “The Dark Knight Rises” tumbled over 60% in its second frame.

Blu-ray Review: Criterion Edition of Jim Jarmusch’s ‘Down by Law’

Down by Law

CHICAGO – The Criterion Collection continues their pattern of releasing a few new titles on Blu-ray every month while also upgrading some of their catalog releases to the HD format. One of the latter for July is #166 in the legendary collection, Jim Jarmusch’s spectacular “Down by Law.” The film has no new special features but what was available on its initial release is pretty spectacular and the HD transfer is an expected beauty,

TV Feature: 2012 Fall TV Premiere Dates, Network by Network

CHICAGO – With ABC finally unveiling their premiere dates for their Fall 2012 schedules, we finally have a full picture of when each returning show and debuting show will hit the airwaves. Want to know when your favorite comedy is coming back?

Film Review: Dance is the Highlight in Simplistic ‘Step Up Revolution’

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.”

Dance is the Highlight in Simplistic ‘Step Up Revolution’

HollywoodChicago.com Oscarman rating: 3.0/5.0
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.”

Film Review: Relentless Pace of French Action Hit ‘Sleepless Night’

Sleepless Night
HollywoodChicago.com Oscarman rating: 4.0/5.0
Rating: 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.

Relentless Pace of French Action Hit ‘Sleepless Night’

HollywoodChicago.com Oscarman rating: 4.0/5.0
Rating: 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.

TV Review: Talented Ensemble Cleans Up in Pilot For Sketch Comedy Series ‘The Men’s Room’

The Men's Room

CHICAGO – We’re doing something we’ve never done before at HollywoodChicago.com — reviewing a TV show that isn’t on the air…yet. Acclaimed producer Michael Wilson, a veteran of TV comedy from years working on “Saturday Night Live,” “Politically Incorrect,” and “Burn Notice,” is shopping a pilot for a new sketch comedy series called “The Men’s Room” and was kind enough to grant us access to a copy.

Film Review: Ben Stiller in ‘The Watch’ Needs a Better Mechanism

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.”

Ben Stiller in ‘The Watch’ Needs a Better Mechanism

HollywoodChicago.com Oscarman rating: 3.0/5.0
Rating: 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.”

Blu-ray Review: ‘Salmon Fishing in the Yemen’ Follows Feel-Good Formula

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen Blu-ray

CHICAGO – “Salmon Fishing in the Yemen” is a romantic comedy so lightweight that it threatens to float off into the ether. It has perhaps the least gripping title since Ingmar Bergman’s “Sawdust and Tinsel,” which is strange since the rest of the production reeks of commercial calculation. Yet the film is based on Paul Torday’s book of the same name, so the studio must have considered the title marketable.

Blu-ray Review: First Season of Chicago-Based Political Drama ‘Boss’

Boss

CHICAGO – Starz’s “Boss” doesn’t so much reimagine life in politics in Chicago as Shakespearian drama as it does being in a mob family. Mayor Thomas Kane (Kelsey Grammar) is not too distinguishable from Tony Soprano in the way he manipulates those around him and in how betrayal could not only mean the end of your career but the end of your life (the First Lady of the Windy City describes politics as “money, muscle, and the neutralization of one’s enemies.”)

DVD Review: Very Funny ‘The Inbetweeners: The Complete Series’

The Inbetweeners

CHICAGO – It’s easy to pitch “The Inbetweeners” as a British version of “Superbad” or “American Pie” in that it’s about a quartet of awkward teenagers trying to get drunk, get popular, and, most importantly, get laid.

HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: 30 Pairs of Passes to ‘Total Recall’ With Colin Farrell, Kate Beckinsale

Total Recall with Colin Farrell and Kate Beckinsale

CHICAGO – In the latest HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film with our unique social giveaway technology, we have 30 admit-two movie passes up for grabs to the advance screening of the highly anticipated new film “Total Recall” starring Colin Farrell, Kate Beckinsale and Jessica Biel!

Blu-ray Review: ‘The Three Stooges’ Offers Modest Family Fun

The Three Stooges

CHICAGO – I must admit that I approached the Farrelly Brothers’ long-delayed reboot of “The Three Stooges” with a heavy amount of trepidation. The previews were pretty atrocious and I had serious doubts that the filmmakers and the actors chosen to play the iconic title characters had any chance of capturing the spirit of the original. The fact that “The Three Stooges” works as often as it does is somewhat surprising. It’s a reasonably enjoyable family film. Far from painful but just as far from brilliant.

TV Feature: When 2012 Emmy Nominees Will Be on Blu-ray, DVD

CHICAGO – You’ve surely heard the 2012 Emmy nominations by now (and probably read our choices for the biggest snubs) and maybe you’re wondering how to rent or own the chosen favorites of the Academy. Let us guide the way.

Interview: Kathryn McCormick, Ryan Guzman of ‘Step Up Revolution’

CHICAGO – The “Step Up” series of films not only have popularized and reflected the modern dance fever, but have also launched careers – Channing Tatum among them. Kathryn McCormick and Ryan Guzman are the latest Romeo-and-Juliet types in the new “Step Up Revolution,” the fourth installment of the movie sensation.

Blu-ray Review: ‘4:44 Last Day on Earth’ Meditates on the World’s End

4:44 Last Day on Earth Blu-ray

CHICAGO – Apocalyptic dramas are a dime a dozen these days, and it’s not difficult to determine why. While the Mayan calendar has singled out the specific day of our demise, record-breaking temperatures have caused some to worry that the planet has indeed reached its final act. Neither of these theories may be true, but that hasn’t stopped them from permeating our collective consciousness.

Blu-ray Review: Wonderful Limited Edition of Timeless ‘Singin’ in the Rain’

Singin' in the Rain Bluray

CHICAGO – The best musical of all time was recently released in a beautiful, lavish, packed limited edition — the kind that we see typically around the holiday season but rarely in July. The gorgeous box set for the timeless “Singin’ in the Rain” is easily one of the best Blu-ray releases of the year to date, a must for true movie collectors.

HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: 30 Pairs of Passes to ‘Killer Joe’ (NC-17) With Matthew McConaughey

CHICAGO – In the latest HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film with our unique social giveaway technology, we have 30 admit-two movie passes up for grabs to the advance screening of “Killer Joe” (rated “NC-17”) starring Matthew McConaughey and Emile Hirsch from playwright Tracy Letts!

Exclusive Portrait: Penn Jillette of ‘Penn & Teller’ on New ‘God, No!’ Book at Chicagoland Appearance

Penn Jillette

CHICAGO – He is one half of a brand name magic act (“Penn & Teller”), he likes to expose fraud by exclaiming “bullsh*t!” and he’s just written a book about atheism. Penn Jillette – the magician and raconteur – appeared at North Central College on July 7th in Naperville, Ill, on behalf of his book, “God, No! Signs You May Already Be an Atheist and Other Magical Tales”.

Interview: Cillian Murphy, Rodrigo Cortes Run ‘Red Lights’

CHICAGO – Writer/director Rodrigo Cortes really broke through with the award-winning “Buried,” starring Ryan Reynolds. He returns this week with a very different thriller called “Red Lights,” starring the great Cillian Murphy, who joined Mr. Cortes recently in Chicago for a discussion about “2001,” working with Robert De Niro, and the complexity of audience expectations.

User Login

Free Giveaway Mailing

TV, DVD, BLU-RAY & THEATER REVIEWS

  • Manhunt

    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+.

  • Topdog/Underdog, Invictus Theatre

    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.

Advertisement



HollywoodChicago.com on Twitter

archive

HollywoodChicago.com Top Ten Discussions
tracker