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.
Jennifer Jason Leigh
'The Woman in the Window' Offers a Muddled Yet Entertaining View
Submitted by JonHC on May 16, 2021 - 3:18pm Rating: 3.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – People in waste management have a mantra that seems to have been awkwardly adopted by the film industry: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. In the film industry’s case, ‘reduce’ doesn’t mean to create less waste, but to reduce the amount of money spent taking a chance on original content.
Consider the Meaning of Life Force in ‘Annihilation’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on February 23, 2018 - 8:19am Rating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Alex Garland, the standout creator/director of “Ex Machina,” is back with “Annihilation,” another science fiction story. And like the previous film, it explores implications of a sci-fi event, in this case an outer space incident that restructures a cellular code, that ends up destructive.
‘LBJ’ is Important American History Brought to Light
Submitted by PatrickMcD on November 3, 2017 - 9:22am Rating: 4.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – The circumstances surrounding the John F. Kennedy assassination on November 22nd, 1963, put a man into the presidential spotlight who never thought he would get there… Lyndon Baines Johnson. The story of that strange time and the man who “would be king” is told in ‘LBJ.’
‘Morgan’ Takes Out Intelligence in Artificial Intelligence
Submitted by PatrickMcD on September 4, 2016 - 9:08pm Rating: 2.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – 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.
Uneven ‘Anomalisa’ is an Animated Reflection Back to Us
Submitted by PatrickMcD on January 8, 2016 - 4:50pmRating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – There is directness in the reflective philosophy of “Anomalisa,” but there is also a sense of disconnection. From writer/co-director Charlie Kaufman (“Being John Malkovich”) comes another meditation on the life of life, and the twists of fate that inhabit the journey.
Quentin Tarantino Stays Familiar in ‘The Hateful Eight’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on December 25, 2015 - 6:09amRating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Story-wise, there is not much difference in “The Hateful Eight” – regarding themes and violence – that writer/director Quentin Tarantino hasn’t explored before. But it is also an outrageous and big western tale, and it’s presented in some theaters in a huge 70mm screen format.
Daniel Radcliffe Finds a Beat in ‘Kill Your Darlings’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on November 1, 2013 - 4:15pmRating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – The movies has been berry berry good to 1950s Beat Generation poet Allen Ginsburg. For the sixth time since 2009, his persona is actualized on celluloid – this time by Harry Potter himself, Daniel Radcliffe – in the coming-of-age part of the poet’s story, “Kill Your Darlings.”
