Liam Neeson

CHICAGO – Her ceiling-breaking Oscar win for Best Director and Best Picture for “The Hurt Locker” is likely to send many movie watchers into the back catalog of the great Kathryn Bigelow, a fact that has driven Paramount to release her least accomplished film, the truly mediocre Harrison Ford vehicle “K-19: The Widowmaker” on Blu-ray.

CHICAGO – “Five Minutes of Heaven” is a good film with the potential to be a great one. Though it garnered prizes for its writing and direction at Sundance, it’s precisely the work of screenwriter Guy Hibbert and director Oliver Hirschbiegel that makes the film occasionally falter. This material may have worked better as a two-man play featuring the same two stars, whose brilliant performances help the picture succeed in spite of itself.

Rating: 1.0/5.0

CHICAGO – “After.Life” is one of the first truly awful films of 2010. Its aggressive solemnity combined with its head-slapping silliness will cause most viewers to simply laugh it off the screen. There’s at least two possible ways to interpret its murky story, and they’re both ludicrous. The only mystery guaranteed to linger in moviegoers’ minds is the inexplicable motivation of Christina Ricci and Liam Neeson to take part in this direct-to-video dreck.

CHICAGO – The unjustified remake of the ’80s camp-fest “Clash of the Titans” may have been re-purposed for the trend of 3-D but its performances are still tragically 2-D and its plot practically see-through.

CHICAGO – In our latest horror/thriller edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 50 admit-two passes up for grabs to the advance Chicago screening of “After.Life” starring Christina Ricci, Liam Neeson and Justin Long!

CHICAGO – Atom Egoyan makes memorable films, examinations of the human psyche that create intuitive philosophy. His newest film, “Chloe,” is no exception, as Julianne Moore and Amanda Seyfried play characters that forge a complex connection.

CHICAGO – Hayao Miyazaki has made some of the most magical, wonderful films in the history of animation. He is easily one of the medium’s most influential and talented filmmakers and one need look no further than this week’s special edition releases of “Castle in the Sky,” “Kiki’s Delivery Service,” “My Neighbor Totoro,” and “Ponyo,” the last of which comes in a Blu-ray/DVD combo. Pick them all up.

CHICAGO – The Blu-Ray Round Up is back with two HD music releases, a beloved holiday movie from a director with a new comedy on the horizon (Richard Curtis, “Pirate Radio”), and a release that’s a must-own for fans of one of the most popular shows of the ’00s. This informative column is designed to let you know synopsis, technical specs, and features for titles that may have slipped under your radar. Pick your favorite.

CHICAGO – Bringing the same screen presence and gravity that he has to more serious roles like those in “Schindler’s List” and “Kinsey,” Liam Neeson turns the relatively generic “Taken” into an above-average action movie that should prove a surprising alternative for movie goers looking for a break from Super Bowl coverage this weekend.

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In Taken, Liam Neeson stars as Bryan Mills, an ex-government operative who has less than four days to find his kidnapped daughter - who has been taken on her first day of vacation in Paris.

CHICAGO – This 8-image slideshow contains a selection of official press images from Twentieth Century Fox’s “Taken,” which opens stateside on Friday, January 30th, 2009.