Matt Fagerholm

‘L’amour Fou’ Explores Key Relationship in Fashion History

HollywoodChicago.com Oscarman rating: 3.5/5.0
Rating: 3.5/5.0

CHICAGO – At the heart of Pierre Thoretton’s melancholy documentary is a story of lost love, lost art, and the ever-present aura they leave behind. Pierre Bergé is often credited as co-founder of the couture house headed by world famous designer Yves Saint Laurent. Yet “L’amour Fou” allows Bergé to set the record straight on just how large a role he played in Saint Laurent’s phenomenal success.

‘Nuremberg [The Schulberg/Restoration]’ Preserves Vital Footage

HollywoodChicago.com Oscarman rating: 5.0/5.0
Rating: 5.0/5.0

CHICAGO – In the opening moments of Stuart Schulberg’s invaluable 1948 documentary, “Nuremberg: Its Lesson for Today,” shell-shocked men, women and children emerge from the wreckage of what appears to be a post-apocalyptic landscape. A street lamp juts out from the carnage, twisted out of all recognition, much like the human bodies later viewed in the footage.

Keanu Reeves Sleepwalks Through ‘Henry’s Crime’

HollywoodChicago.com Oscarman rating: 2.5/5.0
Rating: 2.5/5.0

CHICAGO – Keanu Reeves is the sort of actor who succeeds in spite of himself. His best work remains in the late ’80s and early ’90s, when he specialized in playing hazy-brained man-children, the best of which may have been Tod Higgins, the goofy race car driver in Ron Howard’s timeless 1989 comedy, “Parenthood.” Reeves transcended the silliness of his character with a performance of disarming warmth.

‘Miral’ Succeeds as Historical Drama, Falters as Character Study

HollywoodChicago.com Oscarman rating: 3.5/5.0
Rating: 3.5/5.0

CHICAGO – No matter how many films he makes, Julian Schnabel may always consider himself a painter first. Watching one of his cinematic efforts is akin to being pulled headfirst into the vivid and visceral canvas of a true neo-expressionist. His work aims to engulf the viewer. It shatters the barriers between a contrived character’s existence and that of the flesh-and-blood audience.

Searing Performances Elevate David Schwimmer’s ‘Trust’

HollywoodChicago.com Oscarman rating: 4.5/5.0
Rating: 4.5/5.0

CHICAGO – There’s an unsettling potency to relationships that are born online. They take place entirely within the mind, which is capable of producing idealized images never to be equaled by reality. With the right stroke of keys, a savvy writer could potentially seduce a susceptible victim into emotional entrapment. That’s why the Internet is a predator’s playground.

‘Undertow’ Provides Poignant Metaphor For Closeted Life

HollywoodChicago.com Oscarman rating: 3.5/5.0
Rating: 3.5/5.0

CHICAGO – “Undertow” is a title that has been used so often by so many different filmmakers that it now threatens to submerge a picture’s individuality. Fortunately, first-time writer/director Juan Fuentes-León’s Peruvian drama (originally titled “Contracorriente”) has already proven to be a film utterly incapable of drifting into obscurity.

Abbas Kiarostami’s ‘Certified Copy’ Tantalizes, Delights

HollywoodChicago.com Oscarman rating: 5.0/5.0
Rating: 5.0/5.0

CHICAGO – Nothing transfixes me quite like transcendent acting and writing when viewed under a cinematic lens. My favorite films of early 2011 have been Tommy Lee Jones’s stunning adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s play, “The Sunset Limited,” and Abbas Kiarostami’s beguiling new masterwork, “Certified Copy.” Both films derive their dramatic power from the differing philosophies of two articulate characters who may or may not be what they seem.

‘Elektra Luxx’ Offers Middling Showcase For Carla Gugino

HollywoodChicago.com Oscarman rating: 2.0/5.0
Rating: 2.0/5.0

CHICAGO – Sebastian Gutierrez is the sort of filmmaker who thrives best on the festival circuit. His work is just quirky and distinctive enough to garner overenthusiastic praise from jaded festival goers in the mood for markedly lighter fare. Yet when screened out of the celebratory atmosphere at SXSW, Gutierrez’s films fail to register as anything more than mediocre trifles.

‘Even the Rain’ Takes Preachy Approach to Powerful Story

HollywoodChicago.com Oscarman rating: 3.5/5.0
Rating: 3.5/5.0

CHICAGO – Actress-turned-filmmaker Icíar Bollaín has an important story to tell in her fifth directorial feature, “Even the Rain.” The film is drenched in self-importance, nearly all of it justifiable. Historical events are eerily and poignantly re-enacted against a fascinating modern backdrop, drawing parallels between past and present corruption. It’s regrettable that this great idea was given such a workmanlike execution.

Gregg Araki's ‘Kaboom’ Merrily Enters the Ontological Void

HollywoodChicago.com Oscarman rating: 3.5/5.0
Rating: 3.5/5.0

CHICAGO – Rarely has the apocalypse appeared as trivial as it does in “Kaboom,” a disarmingly lovable mess of a picture that manages to work in spite of itself. It’s the tenth feature film directed by Queer New Wave icon Gregg Araki, who seems to be in an infinitely better mood than he was fifteen years ago, back when the Reagan era’s ignorance of the AIDS crisis was still festering like an open wound.

Syndicate content

User Login

Free Giveaway Mailing

TV, DVD, BLU-RAY & THEATER REVIEWS

  • Manhunt

    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+.

  • Topdog/Underdog, Invictus Theatre

    CHICAGO – When two brothers confront the sins of each other and it expands into a psychology of an entire race, it’s at a stage play found in Chicago’s Invictus Theatre Company production of “Topdog/Underdog,” now at their new home at the Windy City Playhouse through March 31st, 2024. Click TD/UD for tickets/info.

Advertisement



HollywoodChicago.com on Twitter

archive

HollywoodChicago.com Top Ten Discussions
referendum
tracker