Boogie Nights

CHICAGO – The 9th Chicago Critics Film Festival (CCFF) is on DAY FIVE, and will feature two significant films from women directors … “Straighten Up and Fly Right” by Kristen Abate (with co-director Steven Tanenbaum) and “Palm Trees and Power Lines” by Jamie Back. The Fest continues through May 19th, click CCFF for schedule and ticket info.

CHICAGO – The 9th Chicago Critics Film Festival (CCFF) is on DAY FOUR, and will feature the film “Boogie Nights” – directed by Paul Thomas Anderson – in a special 25th Anniversary screening. The Fest continues through May 19th, click CCFF for schedule and ticket info.

CHICAGO – The lines were out the door, the buzz was in the air and the Opening Night film of the 9th Chicago Critics Film Festival (CCFF) was “Cha Cha Real Smooth.” The Fest continues through May 19th, click CCFF for schedule and ticket info.

CHICAGO – Another great film festival is back, as the full Chicago Critics Film Festival opens on May 13th, 2022, with “Cha Cha Real Smooth” at the Music Box Theatre. The Fest runs through May 19th, click CCFF for schedule and ticket info.

CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Ben Thompson on WBGR-FM (Monroe, Wisconsin) on December 2nd, 2021, reviewing the latest film by director Paul Thomas Anderson (“Boogie Nights”), the back to the 1970s relationship epic “Licorice Pizza,” currently in select theaters.

CHICAGO – The Bandit. Gator. The Man Who Loved Women. Jack Horner. Burt Reynolds played all these roles, in a roller coaster career that encompassed three eras of film and television. Reynolds died last month at age 82, taking with him a different breed of movie star, one that stole a scene with a self assured wink, mischievous smile and high pitched laugh.

JUPITER, FLA – When I met Burt Reynolds in 2011, I knew I was meeting Hollywood royalty… he filled the room as a Movie Star King. He was frail at that time, complaining of the injuries he endured in the over 90 films in his career, but nothing stopped his stardom until it was over. Reynolds died on September 6th, 2018. He was 82.

NEW YORK CITY – Philip Seymour Hoffman, Best Actor Oscar Winner for ‘Capote,’ was found dead in his New York City apartment early Sunday morning. The 46-year-old Hoffman had struggled with heroin addiction, and police suspect an overdose, but the cause of his death is yet to be determined.

CHICAGO – You’re going to be reading a lot about “The Sessions” in the coming weeks as it expands from its already-successful art house run and weaves through an awards season in which it will likely be nominated more than once. John Hawkes leads the film as man who lives in an iron lung and longs to feel human contact.

CHICAGO – Paul Thomas Anderson’s “The Master” screened publicly last week in Chicago for only the second time in the world. It was shown in glorious 70mm, the format in which the film was shot, but in which most people will never get the chance to see it. While much of the conversation surrounding the screening seemed to hinge around the technical specifications, the increasing dearth of actual film projectors in the city, or the aspects of the plot related to Scientology, those aren’t the elements of the film that have been rolling around my head for the last four days.