CHICAGO – YIPPIE! It’s back, in the neighborhood of its roots. YippieFest 2023 will be August 4th-6th in the Lakeview/Buena Park venue of PRIDE ARTS, 4139 North Broadway in Chicago. The space is less than a half mile from the former Mary-Arrchie Theatre, whose “Abbie Hoffman Festival” was the template for the three-day performance celebration. YippieFest currently has slots for theater acts, including one-act plays, monologue, sketch, improv, vaudeville and other stage performance arts. Artists get free admission to the rest of the festival, so click YiPPIE FEST 2023 to sign up.
Angela Bassett
Dawn After Darkness! On-Air Film Review of ‘Wakanda Forever’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on November 11, 2022 - 4:25pm Rating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Ben Thompson on WBGR-FM (Monroe, Wisconsin) on November 10th, 2022, reviewing “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” the latest chapter in the Black Panther superhero saga, in theaters beginning November 11th.
What is Being There? On-Air Review of ‘Soul’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on December 25, 2020 - 10:28pm Rating: 5.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Scott Thompson on WBGR-FM (Monroe, Wisconsin) on December 24th, 2020, reviewing the new animated film “Soul,” from Disney/Pixar and streaming on Disney+ on December 25th, 2020.
Tom Cruise Outruns Time in ‘Mission Impossible: Fallout'
Submitted by PatrickMcD on July 27, 2018 - 7:16am Rating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – By any reasonable account, Tom Cruise should be entering into a phase in the “Mission Impossible” series not unlike the latter James Bond films of Roger Moore… appearing in closeups and letting the stuntmen do the rest. However, Cruise continues to outrun the ravages of time, and his stunts only seem to get crazier in the sixth film, “Mission Impossible: Fallout.”
All Forms of Heroism Available in ‘Black Panther’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on February 15, 2018 - 10:50amRating: 5.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – The fortune of the latest Marvel Studios superhero epic, “Black Panther,” lies in its solid foundation in African mythos and intelligent storytelling. And with Ryan Coogler (“Creed”) as director, there are still major confrontations and battles, intertwined into the soul.
Inventive ‘Chi-raq’ is an Authentic Plea for Sanity
Submitted by PatrickMcD on December 4, 2015 - 10:48am Rating: 4.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – A spotlight on Chicago, in the context of guns and violence, is never a good thing for the overall community. But using Chicago as a metaphor for all violent insanity, and making a plea for peace, is the purpose of director Spike Lee’s new film, “Chi-raq.”
Gerard Butler Stars in Violent, Stupid ‘Olympus Has Fallen’
Submitted by BrianTT on March 19, 2013 - 2:37pm Rating: 2.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Antoine Fuqua’s “Olympus Has Fallen” (or “Die Hard in the White House”) is a stupid, exploitative movie that wants to be “Call of Duty: Black Ops” in film form but ends up more like one of its countless, ineffective rip-offs. There are moments of goofy, B-movie fun (certainly more of them than in the much-worse “A Good Day to Die Hard”) but not enough to get over the brutal nonsense that makes up most of this action flick.
‘This Means War’ With Reese Witherspoon is an Attack on Movie Decency
Submitted by BrianTT on February 17, 2012 - 9:12am Rating: 1.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – McG’s “This Means War” with Chris Pine, Tom Hardy, and Reese Witherspoon is an aggressively annoying movie. It isn’t just bad. It grates. It frustrates. It baffles with its incompetence. The charm of the cast helps off-set the complete failure of the horrendous script and the lackluster eye of its director, but it’s not enough. This isn’t just another romantic comedy that’s neither funny nor romantic it’s almost the direct opposite of those qualities. It’s anti-humor, anti-romance, and anti-movies.
Ryan Reynolds in ‘Green Lantern’ is Spectacle Over Story
Submitted by PatrickMcD on June 17, 2011 - 7:58pmRating: 2.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – The tipping point is close approaching in the super hero movie aura, especially as the B-list get their moment in the projection machine. “Green Lantern,” featuring Ryan Reynolds, stays true to its comic book roots, but lacks any cohesive passion within the main story.
No Leap of Faith to Enjoy ‘Jumping the Broom’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on May 6, 2011 - 5:36amRating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – There is a tradition within the African American community during weddings. It stems from the past, when marriage was deemed illegal for the race, and provides the title for a new film, “Jumping the Broom.” The now symbolic gesture is the basis for a clash between families and social classses in one seriocomic marriage weekend.
