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+.
HollywoodChicago.com Content
Ken Loach Misfires with Generic ‘The Angels’ Share’
Submitted by BrianTT on April 26, 2013 - 2:19pm Rating: 2.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – “Once you’re involved in the shit, you can’t get out.” Ken Loach, filmmaker of the working class and longtime supporter of people who are just trying to better their lives knows this kind of statement isn’t true. We can all climb out of the shit. And his latest, “The Angels’ Share,” is yet another tale of a young man who has made some mistakes in his life beginning that climb to adulthood and responsiblity. While it has some likable characters, particularly its charismatic lead, it’s impossible to shake the feeling that we’ve seen this movie before. To be blunt, I never had a reason to care, which is not something that can be said about most of Loach’s films. This one is just bland.
Turn Down the Invitation to ‘The Big Wedding’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on April 26, 2013 - 8:09amRating: 2.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – “The Big Wedding” begins with Robert De Niro performing a particular love making maneuver on Susan Sarandon, and is caught in the act by Diane Keaton. What could have happened in a cutting-edge indie feature in 1981 is the basis of a lame bit in 2013, and so it goes for the rest of the film.
Sensual ‘Renoir’ Fails to Explore Titular Giants’ Genius
Submitted by mattmovieman on April 26, 2013 - 6:35amRating: 2.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Naming a picture after two of the great artistic minds in human history is quite a high bar to set. Director/co-writer Gilles Bourdos attempts to tell the tale of both impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir (Michel Bouquet) and his son, the future filmmaker Jean Renoir (Vincent Rottiers), who would go on to helm controversial masterpieces such as 1939’s “The Rules of the Game.” These are fascinating people, but the script doesn’t even begin to do them justice.
Jeff Nichols’s ‘Mud’ Will Cause Cinephiles’ Hearts to Swell
Submitted by mattmovieman on April 25, 2013 - 1:12pm Rating: 5.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Sometimes it’s difficult to pinpoint the precise moment when one falls in love with a movie. Other times, it’s as effortless and intuitive as the day one stumbles upon a soul mate. That moment struck me like a bolt of lightning early on in Jeff Nichols’s “Mud,” the most richly satisfying and purely enjoyable moviegoing experience I’ve had thus far in 2013.
‘Eddie: The Sleepwalking Cannibal’ Doesn’t Have Enough Bite
Submitted by BrianTT on April 25, 2013 - 10:34amRating: 2.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – There’s something deeper going on in “Eddie: The Sleepwalking Cannibal,” opening tomorrow at Music Box. I think. It’s about a struggling artist who finds inspiration in a small town when he’s forced to serve as guardian for the title character. Don’t all artists have something in common with cannibals given the way they turn their own (or other people’s) insides into fuel for their creativity? While that’s an engaging and interesting starting place for a horror-comedy, Boris Rodriguez’s movie sadly ends up being neither an effective horror movie nor a memorable satire. It just kind of, pardon me for going there, sleepwalks through its clever set-up.
Clever Cast Can’t Quite Save Crazy ‘Pain & Gain’
Submitted by BrianTT on April 25, 2013 - 9:43am Rating: 3.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Michael Bay’s “Pain & Gain” tells such a ridiculous story that it has to be true. Based on the infamous case of the Sun Gym Gang, a trio of bodybuilders who committed some unspeakable, bizarre crimes, “Pain & Gain” nearly works through the sheer charisma and talent of its A-list cast.
‘The Numbers Station’ Feels Made by a Computer
Submitted by BrianTT on April 24, 2013 - 9:12am Rating: 2.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – John Cusack’s new spy thriller is so routine, predictable, and dull that they could have called it “By-the-Numbers Station”. Too easy? How about “Paint-by-Numbers Station”? OK, I’ll stop now before @FakeShalit comes after me.
Amy Seimetz Offers Startling Debut in ‘Sun Don’t Shine’
Submitted by BrianTT on April 23, 2013 - 4:10pm Rating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Every once in awhile, a year feels like it just belongs to a certain actor or actress. 2011 was the year of Jessica Chastain. It looks like 2013 could be the year of Amy Seimetz.
‘No Place on Earth’ Puts Human Peril Underground
Submitted by PatrickMcD on April 20, 2013 - 8:11pm Rating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – The human face of the Holocaust – the Jewish genocide by Adolph Hitler and the Nazi Party – has been reflected through many incredible accounts of horror and survival. A new film focuses on another amazing story, set in a cave in the Ukraine, where five Jewish families hid underground from German soldiers in 1942. The survivors give their witness in “No Place on Earth.”
Eyegasmic ‘Oblivion’ With Tom Cruise Wins Your Optics, But Loses Your Brain
Submitted by HollywoodChicago.com on April 20, 2013 - 2:21pmRating: 3.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – “Oblivion” is a Pyrrhic victory that wins its battle, but loses the overall war. While this is the kind of visual production value you’d expect on a $120 million budget, an ostentatious steak dinner in the special effects department never makes up for a story that tastes more like cheap ramen noodles.
