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
Nothing Magical About ‘The Incredible Burt Wonderstone’
Submitted by BrianTT on March 15, 2013 - 9:50am Rating: 2.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – It’s this simple – “The Incredible Burt Wonderstone” just isn’t funny. Sure, there are a few laughs here and there and some of the supporting cast works but the leads are woefully miscast and most of the jokes hit with all the awkward silence of a Bennigan’s tableside magician who guesses the wrong card.
‘Beyond the Hills’ Entraps Audience in Claustrophobic Nightmare
Submitted by mattmovieman on March 14, 2013 - 3:47pm Rating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – There is an excellent 90-minute film hidden somewhere within the two-and-a-half-hour ordeal that is Cristian Mungiu’s “Beyond the Hills.” It’s far from a bad film, and offers many sequences of entrancing power, but simply doesn’t have enough material to justify its sprawling running time. Instead of probing deeper, the picture merely becomes repetitive.
Guilt, Grief Wrapped Up in Mystery of ‘The Silence’
Submitted by BrianTT on March 14, 2013 - 11:32am Rating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – With echoes of “The Vanishing” and “Memories of Murder,” Baran bo Odar’s dread-filled “The Silence” is a character-based thriller that focuses more on the people wrapped up in its web of perversion and murder than the crimes themselves.
Colin Farrell Can’t Let Go in ‘Dead Man Down’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on March 9, 2013 - 11:24amRating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Nothing like a high concept crime story to compliment “spring forward.” Colin Farrell plays the revenge card to the nth degree in the unusual and slowly paced “Dead Man Down,” and takes Noomi Rapace (of the Swedish “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”) along for the ride.
Nick Offerman Stars in Episodic ‘Somebody Up There Likes Me’
Submitted by BrianTT on March 8, 2013 - 5:29pm Rating: 3.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – At the start, I’ll admit to kind of hating Bob Byington’s truly unusual “Somebody Up There Likes Me,” playing this weekend at the Music Box Theatre in Chicago with local actor and “Parks and Recreation” scene-stealer Nick Offerman in attendance. It’s such a mannered, unique piece that it verges on grating.
Taut, Witty ‘No’ Celebrates Unorthodox Marketing of Freedom
Submitted by mattmovieman on March 8, 2013 - 10:30amRating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – The controversy swirling around Pablo Larraín’s Oscar-nominee “No” is typical of the outrage garnered by many a historical drama. Since the film focuses solely on one crucial segment of the activism that ousted Chilean dictator Pinochet during the 1988 plebiscite, some viewers will complain that not every hero in the tale is represented. Of course, that’s what encyclopedias are for.
Story Dims Visionary ‘Oz the Great and Powerful’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on March 8, 2013 - 9:35amRating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – “Oz the Great and Powerful” is a great and powerful visual and 3D experience. It expands the landscape of what cinema can produce in a visceral and evolutionary way. But a great film also needs a great story, and this Land of Oz tale is not equivalent to the awe-inspiring imagery.
Horror Anthology ‘The ABCs of Death’ Wastes Clever Concept
Submitted by BrianTT on March 7, 2013 - 10:43pm Rating: 2.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – “The ABCs of Death,” now playing On Demand and opening in select theaters, tomorrow, March 8, 2013 features a few notable short films buried in an anthology of disappointing misfires. The idea for this horror feature is super clever, as are the best of the shorts within it, but the bad far outweighs the good.
Drinking ‘The Hangover’ Formula, ‘21 and Over’ is a Poor Man’s ‘Animal House’
Submitted by HollywoodChicago.com on March 3, 2013 - 11:08pmRating: 2.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – When Jon Lucas and Scott Moore (the writers of “The Hangover” and its sequel) decided to go back in time to college with the same drunk movie formula, their resulting “21 and Over” neglected two major ingredients: being consistently funny and making bold new choices.
Mia Wasikowska Finds Trippy Mystery in ‘Stoker’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on March 1, 2013 - 11:01pmRating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – There is cause and effect in life, and there are times when random acts of circumstance rinses it all away. Those emotions are realized in the strange yet compelling composition of the new film “Stoker,” featuring Mia Wasikowska, Nicole Kidman, and Matthew Goode.
