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+.
Matthew McConaughey
Miscast Crew Spoils Christopher Nolan’s Epic ‘Interstellar’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on November 5, 2014 - 10:17am Rating: 3.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – “Interstellar” is easily director Christopher Nolan’s worst film. It contains much of the ambition and striking visuals that have endeared him to audiences, but for large chunks of the movie his own worst tendencies towards bombast, self-importance, and hippy dippy dialogue threaten to overwhelm his dandy space sequences entirely.
Scorsese’s ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ a Deliciously Gluttonous Inspection Into Our Demons
Submitted by HollywoodChicago.com on December 26, 2013 - 5:29pm Rating: 4.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – No matter how painfully bad it may be, I never walk out of a screening. It’s a professional rule I’ve set and keep it at all costs. But with Martin Scorsese’s latest stroke of genius, I experienced a kind of pain I don’t usually wrangle with: the survival of my bladder.
Martin Scorsese’s ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ is Cinematic Adrenalin
Submitted by BrianTT on December 23, 2013 - 11:01am Rating: 5.0/5.0 |
Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio) lives completely, entirely in the moment. It’s not that there’s no tomorrow, there’s not even “later that same day” in his world. People who make their living on the minute-to-minute fluctuations of the stock market are inherently going to be inclined to live in the small spaces between those quick deviations but Belfort was even more so given the fact that his first day as a legit money maker was on the day the entire economy collapsed in 1987 known as “Black Monday.”
‘Dallas Buyers Club’ is Highly Romanticized Yet Effective
Submitted by PatrickMcD on November 8, 2013 - 9:18pm Rating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Matthew McConaughey’s performance as a 1980s-era HIV positive man in the drama “Dallas Buyers Club” is a gangbusters piece of acting. However, some highly exaggerated characters and soft soaping of reality creates a more gauzy romance of the situation than true grit.
Jeff Nichols’s ‘Mud’ Will Cause Cinephiles’ Hearts to Swell
Submitted by mattmovieman on April 25, 2013 - 1:12pmRating: 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.
Nicole Kidman is Unique in Fluttery ‘The Paperboy’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on October 5, 2012 - 2:37pmRating: 3.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – With all the steamy heat, and the thick, gluey southern accents from mostly non-southern actors, the audience for “The Paperboy” might need to wear lawyer-like suspenders and flap a funeral home fan to take it all in. The sweaty new film features Nicole Kidman, Matthew McConaughey and John Cusack, all chewing the scenery.
Matthew McConaughey Delivers in Searing ‘Killer Joe’
Submitted by BrianTT on August 2, 2012 - 9:52am Rating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – William Friedkin’s film of Tracy Letts’ “Killer Joe” takes no prisoners. One of the central characters is introduced from the waist down and to say that the film climaxes in violent, sexual oddity would be like saying “The Avengers” features a few superheroes. However, it would be a mistake to allow the controversy or the shock value to become the story of this excellent noir comedy that takes black humor to a new level of darkness.
Channing Tatum Reveals the Male Stripper in ‘Magic Mike’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on June 29, 2012 - 9:19amRating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – It turns out that Channing Tatum did a bit of male stripping on the way up the show business ladder, which adds some spice and verisimilitude to “Magic Mike,” a backstage tale about the masculine side of theatrical disrobing, supported by Matthew McConaughey and Alex Pettyfer.
Tour de Force for Jack Black in Fact-Based ‘Bernie’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on May 18, 2012 - 5:27pmRating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Jack Black is a smart and interesting actor. Not content to ride on the modern day John Belushi-type roles that might have pigeonholed him, Black portrays “Bernie,” a convincing conniver in Texas, based on a true story. Veterans Matthew McConaughhey and Shirley MacLaine add spice to the brew.
Matthew McConaughey Nearly Saves Problematic ‘The Lincoln Lawyer’
Submitted by BrianTT on March 18, 2011 - 9:11amRating: 3.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Proving yet again that he can deliver when he avoids horrendous romantic comedy cliches, Matthew McConaughey does his best work in years in “The Lincoln Lawyer,” but the film doesn’t quite come together like one wishes that it would due to the common traps that befall big screen adaptations of best-selling thrillers.
