CHICAGO – The Steppenwolf Theatre of Chicago continues to provide different viewpoints on the American stage, and their latest “Little Bear Ridge Road” is no exception. Featuring ensemble member Laurie Metcalf, it’s the resonate story of a family at the crossroads. For tickets/details, click LITTLE BEAR.
Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood Moseys Into the Sunset in ‘Cry Macho’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on September 17, 2021 - 3:56pm Rating: 3.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Clint Eastwood’s return to the western is an amiable-but-relativiely-minor mosey south of the border. The 91-year-old doesn’t embarrass himself, but this small stakes story is far from Clint’s finest hour. In “Cry Macho” Eastwood is a former rodeo cowboy and horse trainer named Mike who has run into hard times after a devastating heartbreak.
Strange ‘15:17 to Paris’ Can’t Make the Connection
Submitted by PatrickMcD on February 11, 2018 - 12:48pm Rating: 2.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – What’s up with Clint Eastwood, and why in the Sam Hill did he attach himself as director to this film? Also, why was the decision made to use the actual rescuers as the actors in a true terrorist train incident? Nothing adds up in the strangely disconnected “15:17 to Paris.”
Sofia Coppola Creates a Masterwork with ‘The Beguiled’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on July 6, 2017 - 10:42am Rating: 5.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – The human-ness of being human never changes, fundamentally. The mating season arrives, and the effect makes for both great connections and bad decisions. Director Sofia Coppola emphasizes this in a reverent film production of the story called “The Beguiled.”
Tom Hanks is Solid, But ‘Sully’ Never Really Soars
Submitted by PatrickMcD on September 9, 2016 - 2:15pm Rating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – “Sully” is a solid effort from Director Clint Eastwood, but it never really soars the way its supposed to. It’s a good story, helped immeasurably by Tom Hanks low key performance, but it feels unnecessary. The problem may be that the story of the pilot who pulled off the so-called “Miracle on the Hudson” is so well known, the movie can’t really add anything to it.
Bradley Cooper’s ‘American Sniper’ is Entertaining, One-Sided American Propaganda
Submitted by HollywoodChicago.com on January 18, 2015 - 7:22pmRating: 3.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – I understand why they did it. But that doesn’t make it right to do.
In order to earn sign-off from Chris Kyle’s family and the U.S. Navy – and to appease the patriotic American public – “American Sniper” needed to make the U.S. military’s most lethal sniper nicer than he actually was and generalize a people as people you should hate.
Lack of Full Disclosure Trips Up ‘American Sniper’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on January 15, 2015 - 11:27pm Rating: 2.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – A straightforward story about the military marksman Chris Kyle is pretty much told in “American Sniper,” by director Clint Eastwood. But what is left out of the movie – Kyle’s right wing politics and a depiction of his fate – is more curious than what is actually presented.
‘Jersey Boys’ Can’t Escape Its Broadway Roots
Submitted by PatrickMcD on June 21, 2014 - 6:17amRating: 2.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Director Clint Eastwood’s “Jersey Boys” suffers from the same inherent fundamental flaw in all of these so-called Jukebox Musicals – their stories are mere afterthoughts. You come for the songs, and suffer through the story. They have the narrative equivalent of chicken wire and chewing gum, patchwork filler to tie the songs together.
Clint Eastwood Whiffs in ‘Trouble with the Curve’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on September 21, 2012 - 11:28amRating: 2.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Clint Eastwood keeps going and going. His reputation as an actor is secure in a long career, and his power as a director is Oscar worthy. His ability to recognize a limp script? Not so much, if “Trouble with the Curve” is a gauge. Amy Adams and Justin Timberlake are along for the pitch.
Leonardo DiCaprio Embodies the G-Man in ‘J. Edgar’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on November 9, 2011 - 11:04am Rating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Much of history is determined by the petty quirks and strange psychosis of “great leaders.” J. Edgar Hoover, FBI director for 48 years, worked hard to hide his very nature by squelching the nature of others – enemies, friends and perceived enemies. Leonardo DiCaprio is Hoover in “J. Edgar.”
Clint Eastwood, Matt Damon Deliver Poignant ‘Hereafter’
Submitted by BrianTT on October 20, 2010 - 9:27am Rating: 4.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Clint Eastwood’s “Hereafter” is a dramatic examination of a subject rarely dealt with in American cinema with even an ounce of honest emotion: What happens after we die.
