CHICAGO – Excelsior! Comic book legend Stan Lee’s famous exclamation puts a fine point on the third and final play of Mark Pracht’s FOUR COLOR TRILOGY, “The House of Ideas,” presented by and staged at City Lit Theater in Chicago’s Edgewater neighborhood. For tickets/details, click HOUSE OF IDEAS.
Chris Cooper
Choke Hold! On-Air Film Review of ‘Boston Strangler’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on March 20, 2023 - 9:21pm Rating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Scott Thompson on WBGR-FM (Monroe, Wisconsin) on March 16th, 2023, reviewing “Boston Strangler,” another film version of one of the most notorious crimes of the 1960s. Streaming on HULU beginning March 17th.
‘Cars 3’ Puts Series Franchise Back on Right Track
Submitted by PatrickMcD on June 16, 2017 - 7:41amRating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – The Cars movies continue to be the kiddieland of Pixar Animation franchises. Kids adore them, parents tolerate them. Unlike the best of Pixar’s output, the Cars films are lovingly crafted cartoons aimed squarely at kids with far more attention detail than the average fare you’d find scrolling through Netflix. The best that can be said is that “Cars 3” represents a considerable step up from “Cars 2”.
Ben Affleck Shoots Nothing But Blanks in ‘Live by Night’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on January 12, 2017 - 11:11pm Rating: 2.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Movies released in the first weeks of January are invariably either awards hopefuls trying to gain momentum or studio dreck being buried in the dead of winter, and quickly forgotten by Valentine’s Day. “Live By Night” aspires to be the former, but ends up being the latter.
‘Demolition’ Describes the Way They Treated the Story
Submitted by PatrickMcD on April 8, 2016 - 5:17am Rating: 2.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – The attempt to make a European-style “journey of emotional morality” between four characters in New York City kept getting flatter and flatter as the tale emerged. It’s amusing that they called it “Demolition,” because as cinema, it’s basically a teardown.
Family Secrets, Fine Acting in ‘August: Osage County’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on January 10, 2014 - 10:02am Rating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – There will be inevitable comparisons to the Pulitzer Prize-winning stage version of “August: Osage County” from the thousands of people who have been touched by the stage play. But in giving the film version a chance, there is the same passion, drama and heat of family dysfunction within it, with a dream cast.
Robert Redford Focuses on ‘The Company You Keep’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on April 13, 2013 - 1:44amRating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – The golden age of the great Robert Redford occurred in the 1970s, when he participated in making passionate political statements with “All the President’s Men,” “The Candidate” and “Three Days of the Condor.” Redford stars in and directs a throwback to those times, the equally passionate yet softer-in-narrative “The Company You Keep.”
‘The Muppets’ is Hilarious, Joyful Entertainment
Submitted by BrianTT on November 22, 2011 - 11:17am Rating: 4.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – The Muppets stand on such a pedestal for an entire generation that there was an understandable amount of trepidation when it was announced that Jason Segel and Disney were moving forward with a reboot. How could it possibly live up to our expectations? Would they turn Kermit, Fozzie, and Miss Piggy into commercial commodities like “The Smurfs” and “Alvin and the Chipmunks”?
Ben Affleck, Tommy Lee Jones Are ‘The Company Men’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on January 21, 2011 - 11:32amRating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Dealing with an overall economic downturn, as the world is still experiencing, becomes the story of the individual. The frustration and insecurity that develops in a long dry spell is poignantly rendered in writer/director John Well’s “The Company Men.” Ben Affleck joins Oscar winners Tommy Lee Jones, Chris Cooper and Kevin Costner in telling the story.
Ben Affleck’s ‘The Town’ Proves ‘Gone Baby Gone’ Wasn’t Beginner’s Luck
Submitted by HollywoodChicago.com on September 18, 2010 - 5:35pmRating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Only three years since the Chicago Film Critics Association awarded Ben Affleck as our most promising filmmaker, he’s back in the director’s seat a second time with “The Town”. While the film dramatically centers on the business of robbery in his familiar streets of Boston, Affleck importantly proves that his 2007 Oscar-nominated film “Gone Baby Gone” wasn’t just beginner’s luck.
Robert Pattinson Anchors the Forgettable ‘Remember Me’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on March 12, 2010 - 9:47amRating: 2.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – The hottest actor of the moment, smoldering Robert Pattinson, gets the opportunity to ditch the “Twilight” fangs and sink his teeth into a drama about New York City and the splintering factions of family in “Remember Me.”
