CHICAGO – Theatrical satires of the Star Wars Universe are like the number of TV series the universe has wrought … too many to figure out if anything is worthwhile. But “Trade Federation” (subtitled “Or Let’s Explore Globalization Through the Star Wars Prequels”), presented by Otherworld Theatre in Wrigleyville Chicago, gets it right on.
Stephen Root
Mellow Fellow Owen Wilson Channels Bob Ross in ‘Paint’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on April 6, 2023 - 10:59pm Rating: 2.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – The newly released “Paint” film offers an amiable enough premise that’s amusing in a two minute trailer, but entirely out of gas 20 minutes into the story, and then plods around for a whole other hour. While it’s hard to hate it, but I don’t think my time was very well spent either.
Value of Redemption! On-Air Film Review of ‘To Leslie’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on October 10, 2022 - 1:21pm Rating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Scott Thompson on WBGR-FM (Monroe, Wisconsin) on October 6th, 2022, reviewing “To Leslie,” a story of redemption featuring Andrea Riseborough, currently in select theaters and through Video On Demand.
Fixing a Hole! On-Air Review of ‘Four Good Days’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on May 1, 2021 - 9:25am Rating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Dan Baker on WBGR-FM (Monroe, Wisconsin) on April 29th, 2021, reviewing the new film “Four Good Days” in theaters (check local listings) beginning April 30th.
Relative Redemption! On-Air Review of ‘Uncle Frank’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on December 5, 2020 - 10:52am Rating: 4.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Scott Thompson on WBGR-FM (Monroe, Wisconsin) on December 3rd, 2020, reviewing the new film “Uncle Frank,” now streaming on Amazon Prime.
A Heroic Ruth Bader Ginsburg in ‘On the Basis of Sex’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on December 26, 2018 - 11:48am Rating: 5.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Many heroes of America toiled long behind the scenes to break the chains of oppression. For every Susan Anthony or Martin Luther King Jr. there were the activists, legal experts and volunteers who sought the justice denied to them by the archaic patriarchal society. One such hero is Ruth Bader Ginsburg in the film “On the Basis of Sex.”
Melissa McCarthy is the Charming ‘Life of the Party’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on May 11, 2018 - 2:06pmRating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Melissa McCarthy is a comedic force to be reckoned with, able to wring laughs improbably out of the stingiest of material. She always manages to find the funny, which helps elevate everyone around her, and so she slips easily in the durable friendly constructs of the campus comedy in “Life Of The Party.”
‘Get Out’ is Funny, Scary & Tells Us About Us
Submitted by PatrickMcD on February 24, 2017 - 11:08amRating: 4.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – When he got his chance, writer/director Jordan Peele (“Key & Peele”) completely understood what he had to do – combine his skewered hilarity, love of horror movies and true social conscience, and put them all into one great movie. Ladies and germs, “Get Out.”
‘Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates’ is Hilarious Joy
Submitted by PatrickMcD on July 8, 2016 - 10:21amRating: 4.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – In these difficult times, we flat out need a belly laugh. The timing of “Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates” couldn’t be better, because this group of comic actors and this movie provides a respite of hilarious joy. By simply exploiting the truth of the based-on-a-real-story premise, “Mike and Dave” is the type of farce that anybody can relate to, and laugh at gratefully.
Will Ferrell Seeks Recovery in ‘Everything Must Go’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on May 13, 2011 - 2:58pmRating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Alcohol mixed with the American Dream sometimes becomes a destructive chemistry. With every individual’s reaction to ethyl alcohol like a fingerprint, the general image of the party animal can easily morph into what John Cheever called “The Sorrows of Gin.” These sorrows are explored through Will Ferrell in “Everything Must Go.”
