December 2023

CHICAGO – The world was rocked on December 27th, 2023, when the report came through that South Korean (SK) actor Lee Sun-kyun – who had a prominent role in the 2019 Oscar Best Picture “Parasite’ – had died from an apparent suicide in Seoul (SK), months after his appearance during Closing Night at Chicago’s Asian Pop-Up Cinema (APUC), where he represented his outrageous new comedy, “Killing Romance

Rating: 5.0/5.0

CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com audio film review for “The Color Purple,” the film musical adaptation of the beloved novel by Alice Walker, produced by Steven Spielberg … the director of the 1985 film version … and Oprah Winfrey. In theaters since December 25th.

Rating: 3.5/5.0

CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com audio film review for “The Boys in the Boat,” the latest historical drama directed by George Clooney, about the rowing crew team that competed in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. In theaters since December 25th.

Rating: 3.0/5.0

CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com audio film review for “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom,” part of the DC Comics Universe directed by James Wan and featuring … in this second outing as the watery character … Jason Momoa. In theaters beginning on December 22nd.

Rating: 4.0/5.0

CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Scott Thompson on WBGR-FM (Monroe, Wisconsin) on December 21st, 2023, reviewing “American Fiction,” the directorial debut of Cord Jefferson, who also adapted the screenplay. In theaters December 21st, 2023.

Rating: 2.0/5.0

CHICAGO – An epic piece of miscasting puts “The Iron Claw” in a sleeper hold it’s never quite able to escape from … the pint sized gaping empty hole at its center has a name, and it is Zac Efron. Efron mistakenly believes that his admittedly drastic physical transformation will do his acting for him. But instead of looking tough, he instead looks distractingly cartoonish, like a He-Man doll come to life.

CHICAGO – Film elites are a particularly hard category of movie buffs to satisfy come gift giving time. When they drop terms like auteur and film movements and directors you’ve never heard of, what’s the best DVDs to give them? Here are three notables that have been released in the last couple of years.

CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Ben Thompson on WBGR-FM (Monroe, Wisconsin) on December 14th, 2023, reviewing “Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget,” the animated sequel to 2000’s “Chicken Run.” Steaming on Netflix beginning December 15th, 2023.

CHICAGO – “Wonka” is a sweet, perhaps too sweet, musical origin story of the world famous cantankerous candy man. Timothée Chalomet has got a song in his heart and sweets up his sleeve in a movie that threatens to give old fashioned “family films” a good name once again.

CHICAGO – There is a thoughtfulness in the top South Korean films that cannot be duplicated in any other cinema culture. Along with now classics like “Oldboy” and “Parasite,” another Korean visionary emerges with a story about humanity … co-writer and director Um Tae-hwa has created a “Concrete Utopia.” The film is in U.S. theaters on December 15th.

CHICAGO – In 1963, Judy Garland had a CBS-TV variety series, and in December there was a Christmas episode featuring her kids … including Liza Minnelli. Playwright Desiree Burcum and the comedy troupe FAMOUS IN THE FUTURE have created (click link) ”A Judy Christmas” as a stage play.

CHICAGO – In his humility, Norman Lear liked to express that he was “just another version of you.” In our humanity, we are different renderings, but all related, as the titan of TV philosophically said. Norman Lear died at his home in Los Angeles on December 5th, 2023. He was 101 years old.

Rating: 5.0/5.0

CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Dan Baker on WBGR-FM (Monroe, Wisconsin) on December 7th, 2023, reviewing “The Boy and the Heron,” the latest animated film from Japanese master Hayao Miyazaki. In theaters on December 8th, 2023.

CHICAGO – A long time ago (1978) in an America far far away, the one and only showing of the “Star Wars Holiday Special” took place on CBS-TV. Infamously miscast and difficult to watch, the history of the show is chronicled in a new doc “A Disturbance in the Force,” co-directed by Jeremy Coon and Steven Kozak.