Hugo Weaving

CHICAGO – In the latest HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 60 pairs of advance-screening IMAX movie passes up for grabs to the new film “Mortal Engines” starring Hugo Weaving, Hera Hilmar and Robert Sheehan!

CHICAGO – Though he’s never been called it before in scientific speak, I’m saying it now: Peter Jackson is a master of mitosis. He’s one of Hollywood’s best in splitting up the cinematic cellular DNA of one story into three because, apparently, he can’t do epics unless they’re in groups of three.

CHICAGO – To celebrate the release of “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies” in cinemas, HollywoodChicago.com, Warner Bros. Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and New Line Cinema are giving away 30 pairs of advance-screening passes to the highly anticipated “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies”!

CHICAGO – There’s a large part of me that wants to wholeheartedly recommend and embrace “Cloud Atlas” for two reasons. One, it’s based on arguably the best book of the millennium so far, David Mitchell’s stunning masterpiece. And if more people see the movie, more are likely to read a book that everyone should experience.

CHICAGO – Not all great works of literature make great works of film. David Mitchell’s “Cloud Atlas” is a masterpiece but Tom Tykwer, Andy & Lana Wachowksi’s “Cloud Atlas” is definitely not. It is an ambitious work with many of Mitchell’s fascinating ideas about the ripple effect of emotion through time left intact but it is a work that frustrates as often as it thrills.

CHICAGO – Pick your pun — “Happy Feet Two” stumbles, trips, and has two left feet when compared to the Academy Award-winning original. Cluttered with characters, poorly paced, and tonally inconsistent, George Miller’s follow-up to his massive hit barely registered in theaters, but comes home with a pretty strong Blu-ray release from Warner Bros.

CHICAGO – Even the name makes it sound like a prequel. There are definitely elements of Joe Johnston’s “Captain America: The First Avenger” that work and the film is certainly worth a rental and certainly better than “Green Lantern” (although nowhere near the entertainment value of “X-Men: First Class”) but I can’t shake the feeling that this blockbuster won’t stand the test of time on its own. It’s an introduction to next year’s “The Avengers,” a way to get the character into the modern Marvel vernacular, that gets less interesting as it goes along. It is very likely that both Joss Whedon’s film and the inevitable sequel to this one will be superior pieces of entertainment but this “First” chapter is a bit of a disappointment.

CHICAGO – With mammoth special effects budgets carelessly puked into blockbuster films these days without story or heart, it’s effortless to wow audiences with beguiling explosions and one or two trademark, “The Matrix”-like innovations.

CHICAGO – In our latest blockbuster edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 22 admit-two passes up for grabs to the advance Chicagoland screening of the highly anticipated film “Captain America: The First Avenger”!

CHICAGO – A great Blu-ray can come from the most unexpected places. Who would have guessed that the relatively disappointing “The Wolfman” with Benicio Del Toro, Emily Blunt, and Anthony Hopkins would result in one of the best Blu-ray releases of the year to date? With a superior version of the film, perfect HD, and amazing special features, this is a spectacular release.