CHICAGO – YIPPIE! It’s back, in the neighborhood of its roots. YippieFest 2023 will be August 4th-6th in the Lakeview/Buena Park venue of PRIDE ARTS, 4139 North Broadway in Chicago. The space is less than a half mile from the former Mary-Arrchie Theatre, whose “Abbie Hoffman Festival” was the template for the three-day performance celebration. YippieFest currently has slots for theater acts, including one-act plays, monologue, sketch, improv, vaudeville and other stage performance arts. Artists get free admission to the rest of the festival, so click YiPPIE FEST 2023 to sign up.
Michelle Yeoh
Clink, Clank, Calamity! ’Transformers: Rise of the Beasts’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on June 9, 2023 - 1:18pm Rating: 1.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – When it comes to bad movies there are three types … fun bad, memorably bad, and ordinary bad. “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” belongs in the latter category. It’s a clinking, clanking calamity that fails on almost every level, which is about par for the course when it comes to this series.
Re-Realized! Audio Film Review of ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on February 21, 2023 - 10:37pm Rating: 5.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com audio film review for the re-release of “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” the 2000 classic directed by Ang Lee and featuring Michelle Yeoh (Everything Everywhere All at Once”). The 4K restoration is currently in theaters (see local listings).
Love The Man! On-Air Film Review of ‘Minions: The Rise of Gru’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on July 1, 2022 - 1:05pm 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 June 30th, reviewing “Minions: The Rise of Gru,” the fifth film in the “Despicable Me” animated film series, in theaters beginning July 1st.
All You! On-Air Film Review of ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on April 1, 2022 - 11:19amRating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Scott Thompson on WBGR-FM (Monroe, Wisconsin) on March 31st, reviewing “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” written and directed by “The Daniels” (Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert), in theaters beginning April 1st.
'Shang-Chi' Proves to be a Master of Multiple Genres
Submitted by JonHC on September 4, 2021 - 4:36pm- Awkwafina
- Ben Kingsley
- Benedict Wong
- Destin Daniel Cretton
- Disney
- Fala Chen
- Film Review
- Florian Munteanu
- HollywoodChicago.com
- HollywoodChicago.com Content
- Jon Espino
- Kim's Convenience
- Marvel Studios
- Meng'er Zhang
- Michelle Yeoh
- Movie Review
- Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
- Simu Liu
- Tony Leung
- Wah Yuen
 Rating: 4.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – There is an undeniable pleasure in watching films that don’t take themselves too seriously. Nothing against the Nolans and Snyders of the comic book universe because they provide an essential service to the film community with their more grounded, dramatic approach.
Stylish ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ is a Bit Too Soap Opera
Submitted by PatrickMcD on August 16, 2018 - 7:19am Rating: 3.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – “Crazy Rich Asians” is not meant to be anything but glitzy fun, but in the midst of the glamour, excessive wealth and beautiful people, there is a plot that ventures into Soap Opera land, and eventually becomes a distraction for the reason an audience goes to this show… to fantasize about living large.
‘Morgan’ Takes Out Intelligence in Artificial Intelligence
Submitted by PatrickMcD on September 4, 2016 - 9:08pm Rating: 2.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – There is nothing like the feeling of watching a completely immersive sci-fi film that delivers the complexity of technology in a modest package, and uses elements of nature to create a beautiful contrast. Unfortunately, “Morgan” doesn’t deliver on the enlightenment it promises.
Great Performances Nearly Save ‘The Lady’ From Remarkable Convention
Submitted by BrianTT on April 12, 2012 - 3:42pm Rating: 2.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – I love every decision made by the great Michelle Yeoh and David Thewlis in Luc Besson’s historical biopic “The Lady” and yet I cannot recommend the film. It is a wild understatement to call the film conventional and those who did not know that it was from the director of such personality-heavy films as “La Femme Nikita” and “The Fifth Element” would never guess that the man behind it was anything more than a director for hire. To be fair, Besson does draw the best out of his two leads but “The Lady” is a film about an extraordinary woman. So why is it such an ordinary film?
Despite Jet Li’s Would-Be Resurrection, ‘The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor’ Still Flops
Submitted by HollywoodChicago.com on July 31, 2008 - 11:35pm Rating: 2.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – The threequel that culminates with “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor” is so hackneyed that even the main star of the previous two films – Brendan Fraser – wasn’t enough to sell audiences on a third return. Universal Studios needed to enlist co-star Jet Li to stand a fighting chance and take the mood the Asian way.
