CHICAGO – Like many of you, I have been perusing the digital platforms, looking for the appropriate binge shows that will provide a temporary bit of sanity. Amazon Prime, for example, offers the entire series of “30 Rock” (2006-13), the seminal NBC-TV series created by and featuring Tina Fey.
Gary Oldman
Sub Movie ‘Hunter Killer’ is Absurd and Entertaining
Submitted by PatrickMcD on October 29, 2018 - 7:36am Rating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – The United States military as superheroes has never gotten a better workout than in “Hunter Killer,” the title that sounds like a Halloween-themed movie, but it’s a style of submarine that seeks to adjust our geo-political balance. Gerard Butler is the commander hoping to prevent World War 3.
Un-Buddy-Like Violence in ‘The Hitman’s Bodyguard’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on August 17, 2017 - 5:55pm Rating: 2.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – One day I would like to meet a professional assassin. Are they as quippy and biblical as Samuel L. Jackson? This tired movie occupation is trotted out again, this time pairing Jackson with Ryan Reynolds, in an overwrought and ultra-violent buddy comedy, “The Hitman’s Bodyguard.”
‘The Space Between Us’ Falls Into a Black Hole & Dies
Submitted by PatrickMcD on February 2, 2017 - 10:16pm Rating: 1.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – You know you’re in trouble when the opening scene of a film inspires forehead slapping levels of incredulity. And that’s just the beginning of what I felt while watching “The Space Between Us,” another entry in the long line of would-be weepies about young lovers torn apart, usually by class or disease. The film desperately wants to be a millennial love story for a generation, and has plenty of faults but precious few stars in its tale of literal star-crossed lovers.
Dull Soap Opera in ‘Dawn of the Planet of the Apes’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on July 10, 2014 - 11:50pm Rating: 2.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – “Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes” just goes to show that you can have the most expensive and best looking visual effects money can buy, but it doesn’t mean a damn thing if you haven’t got a good tale to tell.
‘RoboCop’ Reboot Lacks Fun Factor, Fearful Villain
Submitted by HollywoodChicago.com on February 14, 2014 - 12:22amRating: 2.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – You get the sense that a writer for the new “RoboCop” felt very proud of himself when he coined the cheeky word “robophobic” as a play on a current cultural hot button. The Samuel L. Jackson moment of self-fulfilled glory reminded me of the rest of the plot that was missing.
Lazy, Horrendous ‘Paranoia’ Wastes Talented Cast
Submitted by BrianTT on August 15, 2013 - 12:35pmRating: 1.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Much like 2011’s silly “Abduction” with Taylor Lautner, the title of “Paranoia” isn’t exactly accurate. Just as that previous film wasn’t really about an abduction, paranoia is only a minor aspect of Robert Luketic’s new thriller. It’s more about corporate intrigue, theft, intellectual property, and fear.
Adam Fendelman: ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ Realizes Nolan’s Trifecta: One of History’s Greatest Trilogies
Submitted by HollywoodChicago.com on July 20, 2012 - 11:08pm Rating: 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.
Brian Tallerico: ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ Gives Fans Epic Conclusion to Beloved Trilogy
Submitted by BrianTT on July 19, 2012 - 1:00pm Rating: 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.
Stoic Gary Oldman Uncovers ‘Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on December 16, 2011 - 7:16amRating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Espionage sure isn’t like it used to be. The new film “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy” is set during the Cold War period of the early 1970s, when lines were drawn by their proximity in front of and behind the Iron Curtain. Gary Oldman plays an old British spook in this thriller adapted from the famous John le Carré novel.
