CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Dan Baker on WBGR-FM (Monroe, Wisconsin) on March 21st, 2024, reviewing the new streaming series “Manhunt” – based on the bestseller by James L. Swanson – currently streaming on Apple TV+.
Michelle Yeoh
Film Review: Stylish ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ is a Bit Too Soap Opera
Submitted by PatrickMcD on August 16, 2018 - 7:25amCHICAGO – “Crazy Rich Asians” is not meant to be anything but glitzy fun, but in the midst of the glamour, excessive wealth and beautiful people, there is a plot that ventures into Soap Opera land, and eventually becomes a distraction for the reason an audience goes to this show… to fantasize about living large.
Film Review: ‘Morgan’ Takes Out Intelligence in Artificial Intelligence
Submitted by PatrickMcD on September 4, 2016 - 9:12pmCHICAGO – There is nothing like the feeling of watching a completely immersive sci-fi film that delivers the complexity of technology in a modest package, and uses elements of nature to create a beautiful contrast. Unfortunately, “Morgan” doesn’t deliver on the enlightenment it promises.
Blu-ray Review: ‘The Lady’ Takes Unimaginative Look at Extraordinary Life
Submitted by mattmovieman on October 17, 2012 - 9:04amCHICAGO – “The Lady” is a textbook example of a missed opportunity. It assembles a talented cast and crew to tell the story of Aung San Suu Kyi, an extraordinary woman who sacrificed everything—including her own freedom—in order to bring democracy to her homeland of Burma. Her life story deserves far more than an episodic biopic, but that’s exactly what it receives here.
Film Review: Great Performances Nearly Save ‘The Lady’ From Remarkable Convention
Submitted by BrianTT on April 12, 2012 - 3:58pmRating: 2.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – I love every decision made by the great Michelle Yeoh and David Thewlis in Luc Besson’s historical biopic “The Lady” and yet I cannot recommend the film. It is a wild understatement to call the film conventional and those who did not know that it was from the director of such personality-heavy films as “La Femme Nikita” and “The Fifth Element” would never guess that the man behind it was anything more than a director for hire. To be fair, Besson does draw the best out of his two leads but “The Lady” is a film about an extraordinary woman. So why is it such an ordinary film?
Blu-Ray Review: Vin Diesel’s ‘Babylon A.D.’ Passable Only in High-Definition
Submitted by BrianTT on January 13, 2009 - 2:21pmCHICAGO – When did Vin Diesel go from “the next Bruce Willis” to the “the current Steven Seagal”? Diesel’s half-asleep, apathetic performance in the sci-fi action flick “Babylon A.D.” is only one of the problems with a film that was ignored in theaters but has been given a respectable treatment on Blu-Ray.
Blu-Ray Review: ‘The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor’ an Awful Movie, Great Blu-Ray
Submitted by BrianTT on December 15, 2008 - 10:56amCHICAGO – The divide between the quality of a film itself and the Blu-Ray presentation it has been given has arguably never been wider than with Universal’s “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor”. The special features are as comprehensive as any released this over-crowded holiday season and the transfer is one of Universal’s best of the year but the film itself is a complete disaster, one of the most excruciating theatrical releases of 2008.
Despite Jet Li’s Would-Be Resurrection, ‘The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor’ Still Flops
Submitted by HollywoodChicago.com on August 1, 2008 - 1:23amCHICAGO – The threequel that culminates with “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor” is so hackneyed that even the main star of the previous two films – Brendan Fraser – wasn’t enough to sell audiences on a third return. Universal Studios needed to enlist co-star Jet Li to stand a fighting chance and take the mood the Asian way.