CHICAGO – Playwright Hannah Ii-Epstein is a Hawaiian native who is bringing her unique point of view regarding that U.S.“State of Mind” to the Chicago stage. The theater group Nothing Without a Company presents her latest, “Pakalolo Sweet.” through October 5th, 2019, at the Berger Mansion in the Edgewater neighborhood. Click here for more details, including ticket information.
Robert De Niro
It Hurts Trying to Laugh at ‘The Comedian’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on February 3, 2017 - 11:54am Rating: 2.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Mention this possibility…Robert De Niro portrays an aging stand-up comic who once had a popular sitcom in the 1980s…and 99% of filmgoers are in. Add that he beds a woman 25 years his junior, does community service, roasts Cloris Leachman and becomes a reality show host, and suddenly 80% of that 99 are out. That’s just part of the over-extension and dread in “The Comedian.”
Two Old Stars Roast Their Images in ‘Grudge Match’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on December 25, 2013 - 8:57am Rating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Sylvester Stallone and Robert De Niro – between them they have over 150 film credits in careers stretching back to the 1960s. Two of their most famous roles, boxers Rocky and the Raging Bull, get the full make-fun-of treatment in the Christmas Day Film “Grudge Match.”
‘The Family’ Whacks Obsession with Mafia Movies
Submitted by PatrickMcD on September 12, 2013 - 7:55pm Rating: 1.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – “The Godfather” saga, “Goodfellas,” “Donnie Brasco,” “The Departed” – the list of America’s obsessive adoration of organized crime and mafia movies goes on and on. Finally, one film comes along to virtually kill the genre, the almost-unwatchable “The Family.”
Turn Down the Invitation to ‘The Big Wedding’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on April 26, 2013 - 8:09am Rating: 2.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – “The Big Wedding” begins with Robert De Niro performing a particular love making maneuver on Susan Sarandon, and is caught in the act by Diane Keaton. What could have happened in a cutting-edge indie feature in 1981 is the basis of a lame bit in 2013, and so it goes for the rest of the film.
Cillian Murphy, Robert De Niro in Messy ‘Red Lights’
Submitted by BrianTT on August 2, 2012 - 2:35pmRating: 2.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – “Red Lights” is a mess. And yet it’s also not messy enough. Allow me to explain. Rodrigo Cortes’ follows up his vastly superior “Buried” with this supernatural tale filled with plot contrivances that would make M. Night Shyamalan call bullshit and yet he does so with a direct, straightforward style when a bit less polish would have given the piece the character it is missing.
Robert De Niro Triumphs Again in ‘Being Flynn’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on March 9, 2012 - 6:09pm Rating: 4.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – The intensity that Robert De Niro puts into his movie characters had slackened a bit, as he bent his reputation on more commercial roles. But Director Paul Weitz has revived the old legend with a meaty, purposeful character, and De Niro delivers it with his old fire. ‘Being Flynn’ is not a comeback, but a gratefully received reboot.
Shallow, Garish ‘New Year’s Eve’ Ruins Your Holiday
Submitted by BrianTT on December 9, 2011 - 10:51am Rating: 1.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – “New Year’s Eve” is so garish and manipulative that it doesn’t really qualify as a film – it’s a product, no more an actual movie than a Hallmark card is a piece of poetry. It is corporate junk at its worst, so shallow that it’s almost remarkably thin, as if director Garry Marshall were trying to win a contest for lack of subtlety.
‘Killer Elite’ Mistakes Cliché For Action
Submitted by BrianTT on September 23, 2011 - 9:15amRating: 1.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – “Killer Elite” is an exhausting, nonsensical, illogical, loud collection of action clichés masquerading as a modern action film. It features characters less three-dimensional than most cartoons doing and saying things that are only done and said in movies. Bad movies. Really bad movies.
Bradley Cooper’s ‘Limitless’ Unlocks 100% of Hollywood’s Ridiculousness
Submitted by HollywoodChicago.com on March 18, 2011 - 4:39pmRating: 2.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – If you’re not easily susceptible to vertigo and can survive the intro cut scene, “Limitless” proceeds to treat you to one part thrill ride and one part exercise in ridiculousness. While we often go to the movies to escape, “Limitless” manipulatively exploits our deepest and darkest desires for wealth, power and Google-like global conquests.
Robert De Niro, Ben Stiller Seem Bored in Tepid ‘Little Fockers’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on December 22, 2010 - 11:27amRating: 2.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – The Law of Diminishing Returns is alive and well in the “Meet the Parents” Franchise, as the third film in the series, “Little Fockers,” has a lazy, we-did-it-for-the-money veneer. They got the gang back together, Robert De Niro, Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Barbra Streisand and the rest, but with few exceptions they all seem bored with it all.
