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+.
Brad Pitt
Film Review: ‘The Counselor’ Disguises Lackluster Storytelling in Philosophy
Submitted by BrianTT on October 24, 2013 - 2:59pmCHICAGO – “That’s not what greed does; that’s what greed is.” Cormac McCarthy’s script for “The Counselor” is so weighed down with allegedly insightful philosophy like this that it collapses into a heap of laughable, unbelievable exchanges between characters who simply don’t exist in the real world.
Film Review: Relentless Artistry of ‘12 Years a Slave’
Submitted by BrianTT on October 17, 2013 - 11:01amCHICAGO – A man is chained to the floor in a dark, barren room. He has been ripped from his family and his freedom, and we watch as he’s whipped with amazing brutality. It goes on well past the point that most films with similar human suffering would have cut to a less stressful image.
HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Free Double-Feature Tickets to ‘Star Trek Into Darkness,’ ‘World War Z’
Submitted by HollywoodChicago.com on August 25, 2013 - 5:37pmCHICAGO – What’s better than two blockbusters for the price of one? HollywoodChicago.com readers will score 20 pairs of guaranteed pick-your-showing double-feature tickets plus 10 prize packs to “Star Trek Into Darkness” and “World War Z” for free!
Film Review: ‘World War Z’ Reminder of 1950s Apocalyptic Films
Submitted by PatrickMcD on June 21, 2013 - 4:03pmCHICAGO – Earnest family man, check. Somber, ineffective bureaucrats, check. Monsters in nature created through mankind’s hubris, check. Unintentional laughs, check and checkmate. That describes every plot of a 1950s end-of-the-world movie treatment, and the latest Brad Pitt film, “World War Z.”
HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: 40 Pairs of Passes & Custom 3D Glasses For Brad Pitt’s ‘World War Z’
Submitted by HollywoodChicago.com on June 14, 2013 - 7:02pmCHICAGO – Highly anticipated! In the latest HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film with our unique social giveaway technology, we have 40 pairs of advance-screening movie passes up for grabs to the highly anticipated new zombie film “World War Z” with Brad Pitt!
Blu-ray Review: Talented People Falter in ‘Killing Them Softly’
Submitted by BrianTT on April 11, 2013 - 3:59pmCHICAGO – Andrew Dominik delivered one of the best movies of the ’00s the last time he worked with Brad Pitt when the two made “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.” And so there was intense anticipation for their follow-up collaboration, “Killing Them Softly,” recently released on Blu-ray and DVD. Call it a sophomore slump but “KTS” is a film with tons of style and some interesting ideas that nonetheless feels like a dirge and plays like a film twice as long as its running time.
Film Review: Metaphor is Message in Violent ‘Killing Them Softly’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on November 30, 2012 - 1:53pmCHICAGO – If there ever was an industry that deserved a good metaphor bashing, it would be the financial sector. “Killing Them Softly” does a hit-over-the-head with the symbolism, but at the same time delivers a gritty and literate parable, featuring Brad Pitt, James Gandolfini and Ray Liotta.
Trailer Tracking: ‘World War Z,’ ‘Warm Bodies,’ ‘The Last Stand’
Submitted by BrianTT on November 13, 2012 - 10:06amCHICAGO – Blame the recent popularity of “The Walking Dead,” but zombies have never been more mainstream consumer-friendly and, as such, Hollywood is taking advantage of the trend. And one of the many great things about zombie movies is that they’re scalable.
Blu-ray Review: ‘Happy Feet Two’ Stands in Shadow of Superior Original
Submitted by BrianTT on March 26, 2012 - 5:29pmCHICAGO – Pick your pun — “Happy Feet Two” stumbles, trips, and has two left feet when compared to the Academy Award-winning original. Cluttered with characters, poorly paced, and tonally inconsistent, George Miller’s follow-up to his massive hit barely registered in theaters, but comes home with a pretty strong Blu-ray release from Warner Bros.
Slideshow: 26-Image Gallery of Celebrities at 84th Annual Academy Awards
Submitted by BrianTT on February 27, 2012 - 11:08amCHICAGO – This 26-image slideshow contains a selection of ABC-provided red carpet arrival images from the 84th Annual Academy Awards, which were handed out on February 26th, 2012 on ABC. Celebrities featured include Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Nick Nolte, Shailene Woodley, Rooney Mara, Michelle Williams, Meryl Streep, Berenice Bejo, Natalie Portman, Sandra Bullock, Jennifer Lopez, and many more.