Don Johnson

CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Dan Baker on WBGR-FM (Monroe, Wisconsin) on May 11th, reviewing “Book Club: The Next Chapter,” the sequel to the popular film from 2018. In theaters on May 12th.

CHICAGO – Let’s get this over with … Rian Johnson directed “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” in 2017. Let’s let that fanboy quiver die down and note the talented filmmaker has produced a Thanksgiving treat, his new film “Knives Out.” The old fashioned “whodunit” flicker with an all-star cast was put together in the spirit of fun at the movies.

CHICAGO – If your impression of a book club is one of staid pseudo-intellectuals creating pithy symbolism out of nothingness, then your impression is about to change. Jane Fonda, Diane Keaton, Candice Bergen and Mary Steenburgen star in the new comedy “Book Club,” co-written by Erin Simms and director Bill Holderman.

CHICAGO – Cameron Diaz has a firm grasp on her…image. She has carefully transitioned throughout her career from ingenue to comedienne to voiceover to the new film “The Other Woman.” But what begins as a sharp revenge comedy collapses into a bonding-sticky-sweet dullness.

CHICAGO – In the latest HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 40 pairs of advance-screening movie passes up for grabs to the new romantic comedy “The Other Woman” starring Cameron Diaz and Kate Upton!

CHICAGO – It’s been a year of updatings that has seen venerable characters like Norman Bates and Hannibal Lecter solidly re-envisioned by the small screen. So how fare the Gecko Brothers? Not all that great sadly. This overly slick redux of the fantastic film “From Dusk Till Dawn” (1997) not only suffers from pretty people syndrome but borrows so heavily from the original film that it feels less like homage and reboot than redress and reshoot.

CHICAGO – Some people take L.Q. Jones’ adaptation of Harlan Ellison’s “A Boy and His Dog” very seriously. When Jones begins his new discussion with the author talking about how there are people who consider his film the best science fiction movie of all time, it raises an eyebrow for a second, but he’s right. There are people who bow at the altar of this kinky tale of survival. Not me. I’ve always found it a bit clunky and too episodic in its narrative but if you think I’m crazy for that opinion, the Blu-ray is a beauty with a gorgeous transfer and illuminating special features.

CHICAGO – Adam Sandler lost a bet. How else to explain the existence of “Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star,” a movie that no one but the man behind Happy Madison would possibly finance? If you took this script (co-written by Little Nicky himself) to any sane film producer, they would assume you were pulling a prank.

CHICAGO – “Machete” may be one of the most wonderfully-conceived films of 2010. The idea that one of the fake trailers from “Grindhouse” could ever become a full-length film is a movie lover’s dream come true (and it’s so ironic that “Machete” grossed more domestically than the movie that spawned it). While I love the very existence of “Machete,” the movie itself is something of a disappointment, and it’s not helped by a mediocre Blu-ray that barely has any special features.

CHICAGO – Not everything should be filet mignon. Sometimes you just want a greasy, delicious cheeseburger. Now imagine eating ten of those cheeseburgers in a row.