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+.
Patrick McDonald
Circumstances of Life, Truth Exist in ‘Boyhood’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on July 18, 2014 - 5:01pmRating: 4.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Life is made up of moments, as the philosophy of the new Richard Linklater film wants to convey. What formulates a person’s ideals and soul, born in a certain place and time? Over 12 years, the writer and director created a fictional family using the same actors in “Boyhood.”
‘Wish I Was Here’ Will Make You Wish You Weren’t There
Submitted by PatrickMcD on July 18, 2014 - 11:43amRating: 2.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Writer, director and lead actor Zach Braff has put it on the line for his latest feature, “Wish I Was Here.” He infamously used a crowdfunding Kickstarter campaign to maintain creative control of the film, but he needn’t have bothered. The movie result is a sappy, high concept emotional manipulator with no basis in authenticity, and that might be the best thing that can be said about it.
‘The Purge: Anarchy’ Can’t Decide What it Wants to Be
Submitted by PatrickMcD on July 17, 2014 - 8:26pmRating: 3.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – “The Purge: Anarchy” is a cake-and-eat-it film. On one hand there is a monotonous display of firepower, courtesy of a suspension of laws for one night a year, but it also wants to temper this lawlessness with indictments of government, the rich and the law itself.
Nothing But Fear, Anger in Dinesh D’Souza’s ‘America’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on July 12, 2014 - 9:03amRating: 1.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Dear Dinesh D’Souza: Why are you afraid of alternate narratives in American History? History, as we know, is written by the winners, and you seem all sad and angry that one man, Howard Zinn, wrote a History of the United States by defining the desperation of the people left behind in the American dream. Why is that so awful? You define it as “progressive left wing” narrative, but what is your propaganda film – blithely called “America” – but a distillation of your view of history?
It’s Been ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ Then, Now & Forever
Submitted by PatrickMcD on July 5, 2014 - 10:37amRating: 5.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – If you are lucky enough to have the 50th Anniversary edition of “A Hard Day’s Night” playing in your area, drop everything and go see it, especially if you’ve never seen it before. The Beatles – John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr – are ageless and timeless in a new print restoration and sound remastering of their 1964 debut film.
‘Snowpiercer’ is a Wild Ride, One-of-a-Kind Dystopia
Submitted by PatrickMcD on July 4, 2014 - 1:35pmRating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Travelers. We are travelers in this life, and metaphorically we’re mostly in coach, but sometimes manage to get some first class treatment. What if all this traveling were confined to one vehicle? Imagine a future world contained in a constantly traveling train, and the premise for “Snowpiercer” realizes a one-of-a-kind dystopia.
Roger Ebert’s Treasure of a Journey in ‘Life Itself’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on July 4, 2014 - 8:40amRating: 5.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – We will never see the likes of his kind again – the influential arbiter of cinematic taste, whose magic thumb could make or break the dreams of both filmmaker and film fan. The journey of Roger Ebert, the most influential film critic of our times, is told in the new documentary, “Life Itself.”
Unfunny ‘Tammy’ is a Melissa McCarthy Misfire
Submitted by PatrickMcD on July 2, 2014 - 11:53amRating: 2.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Melissa McCarthy has jumped the shark. Or if she hasn’t, she’s strapped on the skis and is contemplating the ramp. Going once more to the same character well – this time with a script co-written with her husband Ben Falcone and directed by him – McCarthy shows little originality or gumption as the title character in “Tammy..”
‘Third Person’ an Intriguing Yet Foreseeable Labyrinth
Submitted by PatrickMcD on June 28, 2014 - 8:48amRating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Don’t you hate it when you figure out where a film is going long before it gets there? That could be a problem with “Third Person,” but writer/director Paul Haggis (“Crash”) also adds enough secrets to chew on and enough multiple pathways to explore. Enter at your own risk.
‘They Came Together’ Sharply Skewers the Rom-Com
Submitted by PatrickMcD on June 27, 2014 - 6:14pmRating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – If there is any genre of film that needs a good blasting, it is the romantic comedy. These silly fantasies practically seem like satires anyway, so when the comic genius of writer/director David Wain ponders them, and casts Paul Rudd and Amy Poehler as the “couple,” the funny will fly.