Kat Dennings

CHICAGO – For me and the subculture as a whole, so much of science fiction came from “Star Trek”. If creator Gene Roddenberry were alive today to witness “Thor: The Dark World,” he’d tell it to focus on being a superhero film rather than failing to dabble in science fiction.

CHICAGO – Few major films have felt less creatively inspired and more commercially conceived than Alan Taylor’s dull “Thor: The Dark World,” a wannabe blockbuster with all the personality and ingenuity of a straight-to-DVD sequel.

Previous | Image 1 of 21 | Next

CHICAGO – This 21-image slideshow contains a selection of red carpet images from “The 64th Annual Emmy Awards”. Celebrities snapped include Kat Dennings, Jimmy Fallon, Bryan Cranston, Christina Hendricks, Elisabeth Moss, Max Greenfield, Sofia Vergara, Claire Danes, Julianne Moore, Juliana Marguilies, Cat Deeley, Matthew Perry, Jim Parsons, and many more.

CHICAGO – CBS’s “2 Broke Girls,” which recently had its first season released on Blu-ray and DVD courtesy of Warner Bros., isn’t about to break the mold of TV comedy. There are some sitcoms that try something new and there are others that merely fit a pattern. There’s nothing wrong with that. We’ve had buddy comedies since they started making sitcoms and while “2 Broke Girls” may be little more than a “Laverne & Shirley” update, it is well-done enough to make its familiarity easy to overlook.

CHICAGO – CBS’s “2 Broke Girls” doesn’t reinvent the formula but it certainly provides laughs within it. The new program most likely to be a consistent hit on any broadcast network makes a perfect fit on Monday nights and should work for audiences loyal to “How I Met Your Mother” and “Two and a Half Men.”

CHICAGO – This summer saw the release of two movies that were basically just appetizers for next year’s full meal in Joss Whedon’s “The Avengers” — “Thor” and “Captain America: The First Avenger.” Both were surprisingly well-received although both fall short of being considered among the best Marvel movies (“Iron Man,” “X-Men: First Class,” “Spider-Man 2”) in part by virtue of so obviously being set-ups for something yet to come. “Thor” works best when one considers where this franchise will go in “Thor 2” and “The Avengers” but is merely average when judged on its own. It’s a decent movie with a decent Blu-ray release that promises more-than-just-decent material to come.

CHICAGO – Michael Goldbach’s little-seen quirk-fest is a feature filmmaking debut like many others. It feels less like a final draft than an overcrowded sketchpad. There seems to be no end to the amount of intriguing ideas that Goldbach wishes to tackle, but he has little idea of how to string them together. His various stylistic conceits distract from the narrative rather than enhance it, resulting in an ungainly picture.

CHICAGO – When big-budget films set their sights on being the next Hollywood blockbuster, they’re almost always built on a formulaic groundwork of proven ingredients.

CHICAGO – In our latest special edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 30 admit-two advance-screening movie passes plus one VIP grand prize pack up for grabs to the new film “Thor” with Chris Hemsworth, Anthony Hopkins and Natalie Portman!

CHICAGO – Robert Rodriguez is a one-man moviemaking machine. He’s always looking for the fastest and most cost-effective ways for getting his work out to the public. His success story, memorably chronicled in the book “Rebel Without a Crew,” is genuinely inspiring, yet his films often fail to resonate as anything other than exercises in design.