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+.
Sony Pictures Releasing
‘The 5th Wave’ Crashes, Then Slowly Dissipates
Submitted by PatrickMcD on January 22, 2016 - 7:51pmRating: 2.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Is there ever an end to the Young Adult Dystopia genre (“Hunger Games,” “Maze Runner,” etc.)? Or are we cursed with the end of the world every year, if it weren’t for those meddling kids? “The 5th Wave” is the latest adaptation, and if you haven’t read the source novel, good luck following it.
Not Too Many Good Reasons to Experience ‘The Walk’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on September 30, 2015 - 11:32amRating: 2.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – I am not opposed to dramatic retellings of true events from history, but I think the drama should at least be as entertaining as a PBS documentary on the same subject. “The Walk” tells the true story of a French wire walker and the twin tower World Trade Center in the mid-1970s…when he strung a wire between them, and then proceeded to walk from one tower to the other without a net more than a thousand feet in the air.
Drac Pack Still a Drag in ‘Hotel Transylvania 2’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on September 25, 2015 - 8:57am- Adam Sandler
- Andy Samberg
- Columbia Pictures
- Dana Carvey
- David Spade
- Fran Drescher
- Genndy Tartakovsky
- HollywoodChicago.com Content
- Hotel Transylvania 2
- Jon Lovitz
- Keegan-Michael Key
- Kevin James
- Megan Mullally
- Mel Brooks
- Molly Shannon
- Nick Offerman
- Robert Smigel
- Selena Gomez
- Sony Pictures Releasing
- Spike Walters
- Steve Buscemi
Rating: 2.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – For the younger set unable to experience the mystique of Dracula, Wolfman and Frankenstein in their original creations, “Hotel Transylvania 2” may prove to be an introduction to the legendary bloodsucker and his band of movie monsters – and for that Adam Sandler deserves a stake through his heart.
Adolescence Boldly Drawn in ‘Diary of a Teenage Girl’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on August 14, 2015 - 3:42pmRating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Real boldness, real truth, is hard to fine in teenage stories. The confusing and hormonal time is often trivialized, or used as a prop for unlikely situations. “Diary of a Teenage Girl” pulls no such punches, in a tale of a 15 year old girl having her first love affair – with a 35 year old man.
Consciousness Morality for Robots in Odd ‘Chappie’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on March 6, 2015 - 10:15amRating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Who would think a robot movie would teach us about being more intuitively “human”? “Chappie” is a very peculiar film – with fighting robots, violence and grit on one side, and the tenderness of finding a nurturing source and a consciousness on the other. It is worth experiencing.
Kevin Hart Takes a Plunge in ‘The Wedding Ringer’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on January 16, 2015 - 1:10pmRating: 1.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – “The Wedding Ringer” is a Wedding Stinker. It’s a misogynistic trip through a barren land of hackneyed premises, stock characters, female stereotypes and strained physical gags that exemplifies everything that is wrong with big studio comedies today. The sheer fact that it even lunges out of the starting gate is a credit to the whirlwind of activity from star Kevin Hart. But the little man’s riffing can’t shock this film to life.
‘Sex Tape’ a Comedy Sorely Lacking in Laughs
Submitted by PatrickMcD on July 18, 2014 - 9:56amRating: 1.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Jason Segel is usually fun to watch in just about anything, but he sure isn’t fun in “Sex Tape,” a big studio summer comedy with a fatal flaw - it doesn’t seem to know what’s funny. So like a stand-up comedian on a bad night, it feverishly and desperately throws anything it can think of at the screen in the vague hope that it might be funny even incidentally.
‘About Last Night’ Remake Suffers from Lack of Focus
Submitted by PatrickMcD on February 14, 2014 - 10:36amRating: 3.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – The 1986 Chicago-based movie, “About Last Night,” has potential for a thematic redo. That opportunity seems squandered in this 2014 version, as the focus is just on casting and crudeness, as practiced by co-stars Kevin Hart, Michael Ealy, Joy Bryant and Regina Hall.
Nothing New in ‘The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on August 21, 2013 - 2:49pmRating: 2.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – The last time I checked, I am not a swoony teenage girl, looking to be romanced by a hunky-but-shadowy demon hunter. Thus the margin for enjoying “The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones” falls off like a leaf on an autumn tree. Even Kristen Stewart, I mean Lily Collins, can’t save it.
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