August 2013

HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: 25 Pairs of Passes to ‘Riddick’ with Vin Diesel, Karl Urban

CHICAGO – In the latest HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film with our unique social giveaway technology, we have 25 pairs of advance-screening movie passes up for grabs to the highly anticipated thriller with Vin Diesel reprising his role as “Riddick”!

Video Game Review: ‘Saint’s Row 4’ Has Sideways Appeal

CHICAGO – Somewhere between getting abducted by aliens, dropped into a ’50s TV sitcom, leaping off a space platform in the buff in a direct reference to “Mass Effect 2”, and flying through space in a “Return Of The Jedi”-esque escape, “Saints Row 4” snagged me with both hands, and I forgave it for past transgressions.

Film Review: ‘The Grandmaster’ Frustrates, Thrills at Same Time

CHICAGO – The saga of Wong Kar-wai’s “The Grandmaster” is already pretty well-known in the circles of those who would be drawn to the latest work from one of our best living directors. The man behind works like “Chunking Express,” “Happy Together,” and “In the Mood For Love” demands attention every time.

‘The Grandmaster’ Frustrates, Thrills at Same Time

HollywoodChicago.com Oscarman rating: 3.5/5.0
Rating: 3.5/5.0

CHICAGO – The saga of Wong Kar-wai’s “The Grandmaster” is already pretty well-known in the circles of those who would be drawn to the latest work from one of our best living directors. The man behind works like “Chunking Express,” “Happy Together,” and “In the Mood For Love” demands attention every time.

What to Watch: Aug. 27-Sept. 3, 2013

Pain & Gain

CHICAGO – This week’s What to Watch on DVD, Blu-ray, Netflix, Amazon, On Demand and more is another seemingly random hodge-podge of offerings that you can use to guide your way through the new releases shelf at Best Buy, the On Demand section on Vudu, the store on iTunes, various online DVD retailers and maybe even Netflix and Hulu. Pick your favorites. This is the way we’d rank them if you have a free night or money to burn this week.

Film Review: Mesmerizing, Romantic Power of ‘Ain’t Them Bodies Saints’

CHICAGO – Is a film automatically flawed if we can see its influences? We don’t do it as quickly in music, in which it’s often incredibly easy to determine a new artist’s favorite bands as a kid. Authors that pull from a notable and recognizable literary history are often lauded for doing so.

Mesmerizing, Romantic Power of ‘Ain’t Them Bodies Saints’

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

CHICAGO – Is a film automatically flawed if we can see its influences? We don’t do it as quickly in music, in which it’s often incredibly easy to determine a new artist’s favorite bands as a kid. Authors that pull from a notable and recognizable literary history are often lauded for doing so.

Blu-ray Review: Familiar But Beautiful ‘Epic’ Looks Great in HD

Epic

CHICAGO – It’s unlikely that you’ll see a more visually striking American animated film in 2013 than Fox and Blue Sky Studios’ “Epic,” a film that was written off by many critics and audience members in its May release but that has more going for it than your average family fare. Now available on Blu-ray and DVD, “Epic” frustrates in the way that it too often falls back on storytelling crutches that we’ve seen before but the movie looks great at every turn. It’s the kind of animated flick that’s designed to show off your new Blu-ray player and accompanying HD TV. The special features are disappointingly thin but the movie deserved a bigger audience that it is likely to find on Blu-ray.

Film Review: Ethan Hawke, Selena Gomez in Numbing, Awful ‘Getaway’

CHICAGO – You know a car chase movie is poorly made when you’re longing for more dialogue scenes between Selena Gomez & Ethan Hawke just to break up the tedium of the neverending, personality-free vehicular nonsense.

Ethan Hawke, Selena Gomez in Numbing, Awful ‘Getaway’

HollywoodChicago.com Oscarman rating: 1.0/5.0
Rating: 1.0/5.0

CHICAGO – You know a car chase movie is poorly made when you’re longing for more dialogue scenes between Selena Gomez & Ethan Hawke just to break up the tedium of the neverending, personality-free vehicular nonsense. At one point, Hawke’s character actually says, after one of several situations that could never possibly be replicated in the real world, “I can’t believe that actually worked.”

Film Review: ‘Closed Circuit’ is a Tense Reminder of Our Times

CHICAGO – The threat of terrorist acts defies security. That is a fundamental truth. With 7 billion people on the planet – and an infinite number of motivations within them – all the security cameras, techniques and agencies cannot stop a determined group or individual, as depicted in “Closed Circuit.”

‘Closed Circuit’ is a Tense Reminder of Our Times

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

CHICAGO – The threat of terrorist acts defies security. That is a fundamental truth. With 7 billion people on the planet – and an infinite number of motivations within them – all the security cameras, techniques and agencies cannot stop a determined group or individual, as depicted in “Closed Circuit.”

Blu-ray Review: Jack Benny, Carole Lombard in Classic Comedy ‘To Be or Not to Be’

To Be or Not To Be

CHICAGO – We like to think that creative progress has led to a more open-minded era of today than decades ago but the fact is that I really don’t think a major studio with major actors would make a film today that felt as honestly dangerous as Ernst Lubitsch’s “To Be or Not To Be” did when it was released. A dangerous Jack Benny comedy? You bet.

Interview: Director David Lowery Dazzles With ‘Ain’t Them Bodies Saints’

CHICAGO – Even if “Ain’t Them Bodies Saints” hadn’t premiered this year, snagging two Sundance awards in the process, 2013 would still be considered a landmark year for David Lowery.

Interview: Loni Anderson on Her Career at ‘The Hollywood Show’

Loni Anderson, Photo by Joe Arce.

CHICAGO – To answer the musical question, “Baby, if you ever wondered, wondered whatever became of me?” there is the sublime Loni Anderson, who portrayed Jennifer Marlowe on the popular 1970s sitcom, “WKRP in Cincinnati.” Anderson was an attendee of “The Hollywood Show,” which comes to Chicago again on September 7th and 8th, 2013.

Interview: Legendary Tony Leung Becomes ‘The Grandmaster’

CHICAGO – Tony Leung is a living legend. The man has appeared in too many important films of the last several decades to count, being one of the muses for icons like John Woo (“Hard Boiled,” “Red Cliff”), Andrew Lau (“Infernal Affairs,” which was remade into “The Departed”), and, most of all, Wong Kar-Wai.

Interview: Eugenio Derbez Discovers ‘Instructions Not Included’

CHICAGO – What does one of the biggest stars in Mexican television do when he needs another world to conquer, and a crossover to the American market? He directs his first feature film. Eugenio Derbez, often called a “One-Man Monty Python” in Mexico, debuts as a director in “Instructions Not Included.”

DVD Review: Matteo Garrone Experiments with Surrealism in ‘Reality’

Reality DVD

CHICAGO – Like Sebastián Silva’s equally mesmerizing and maddening “Magic Magic,” Matteo Garrone’s “Reality” explores a psyche as it slowly unravels, obscuring the line between truth and fiction until it becomes hopelessly blurred. In fact, both filmmakers utilize a similar technique in portraying their heros’ delusions by occupying their peripheral vision with eerie apparitions.

Blu-ray Review: Sophomoric ‘Eddie: The Sleepwalking Cannibal’ Falls Flat

Eddie The Sleepwalking Cannibal Blu-ray

CHICAGO – Boris Rodriguez’s “Eddie: The Sleepwalking Cannibal” tells a laughably inane story ripe for B-movie matinées, yet insists on taking itself (mostly) seriously. The director has made no secret of the fact that he envisions his film to be a meditation on the “darkness of creativity,” and the price that must be paid in order for an artist to find sufficient inspiration.

Blu-ray Review: Lavish Release For Frustrating ‘The Great Gatsby’

The Great Gatsby

CHICAGO – God, I want to love “The Great Gatsby,” on Blu-ray and DVD from Warner Bros. tomorrow, August 27, 2013. I adore “Moulin Rouge!” and think Baz Luhrmann’s approach to the F. Scott Fitzgerald classic was a daring one. And, watching the film again at home, in a great 2D/HD transfer instead of a garish 3D one, I found more to respect here.

Film Review: ‘A Teacher’ Explores Torrid Student Obsession with Unexplained Adult Regression

CHICAGO – We often go to the movies to suspend real life and explore what we think about doing but won’t or would do but can’t. Have you ever fallen for a much younger man or woman? Have you ever had a secret affair with someone at work? Have you ever obsessed over someone you shouldn’t?

‘A Teacher’ Explores Torrid Student Obsession with Unexplained Adult Regression

HollywoodChicago.com Oscarman rating: 3.5/5.0
Rating: 3.5/5.0

CHICAGO – We often go to the movies to suspend real life and explore what we think about doing but won’t or would do but can’t. Have you ever fallen for a much younger man or woman? Have you ever had a secret affair with someone at work? Have you ever obsessed over someone you shouldn’t?

HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Free Double-Feature Tickets to ‘Star Trek Into Darkness,’ ‘World War Z’

CHICAGO – What’s better than two blockbusters for the price of one? HollywoodChicago.com readers will score 20 pairs of guaranteed pick-your-showing double-feature tickets plus 10 prize packs to “Star Trek Into Darkness” and “World War Z” for free!

Film Review: Jane Rolls Over Again for Wretched ‘Austenland’

CHICAGO – One of the most incorrect assumptions in literature iconography is the focus on Jane Austen as a purely romantic writer – skipping the depth of character, humor and cynicism in her work, for the sake of mooning over “Mr. Darcy.” The new film “Austenland” continues this trend.

Jane Rolls Over Again for Wretched ‘Austenland’

HollywoodChicago.com Oscarman rating: 1.5/5.0
Rating: 1.5/5.0

CHICAGO – One of the most incorrect assumptions in literature iconography is the focus on Jane Austen as a purely romantic writer – skipping the depth of character, humor and cynicism in her work, for the sake of mooning over “Mr. Darcy.” The new film “Austenland” continues this trend.

What to Watch: Aug. 20-26, 2013

This is Martin Bonner

CHICAGO – This week’s What to Watch on DVD, Blu-ray, Netflix, Amazon, On Demand, and more features one of the best programs on television, a great indie drama that had its Windy City premiere at the Chicago Critics Film Festival, something for the family, and two of the worst movies of 2013. Pick your favorites.

Film Review: Farcical Themes Bring Laughs to ‘The World’s End’

CHICAGO – In the collaboration of actors Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and director Edgar Wright, the best in life come in threes. Following their sublime “Shaun of the Dead” and the wacky “Hot Fuzz,” comes ther third comic film rendering, “The World’s End.”

Farcical Themes Bring Laughs to ‘The World’s End’

HollywoodChicago.com Oscarman rating: 4.5/5.0
Rating: 4.5/5.0

CHICAGO – In the collaboration of actors Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and director Edgar Wright, the best in life come in threes. Following their sublime “Shaun of the Dead” and the wacky “Hot Fuzz,” comes ther third comic film rendering, “The World’s End.”

Blu-ray Review: Sleepy Thriller ‘The Company You Keep’ Boasts Starry Cast

The Company You Keep Blu-ray

CHICAGO – Robert Redford has slowly become that grandfatherly figure who spends his time in the corner at family gatherings, lecturing nearby whippersnappers on the importance of challenging authority, while reminiscing about the war protests of generation’s past. He’s a well-meaning guy, but his crusty words of wisdom could use a shot of adrenaline.

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  • 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.

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