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+.
DVD & Blu-Ray Review
DVD Review: ‘Blindness’ With Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo Should Not Be Widely Seen
Submitted by BrianTT on February 12, 2009 - 12:51pmDVD Rating: 2.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – “Blindness” is one of the bleakest cinematic experiences of the last few years, shocking, violent, dirty, headache-inducing proof that what works on the page doesn’t always on the big or small screen and that even the most talented actors and director can sometimes stumble.
Blu-Ray Review: Cult of ‘Donnie Darko’ Extends to Two-Disc Director’s Cut
Submitted by BrianTT on February 11, 2009 - 6:53pmBlu-Ray Rating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Most movies come and go. Even some of the most critically and commercially acclaimed films of the last few years have essentially been forgotten already. I knew Richard Kelly’s “Donnie Darko” was a film that was not going to go away quickly the first time I saw it and the Blu-Ray “Director’s Cut” simply extends the shelf life of this riveting cult classic.
DVD Review: ‘60 Minutes Presents Obama: All Access - Barack Obama’s Road to the White House’
Submitted by BrianTT on February 11, 2009 - 4:04pmDVD Rating: 5.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – The first “60 Minutes”-branded DVD from CBS Home Entertainment and Paramount Home Entertainment is the surprisingly comprehensive account of the last two years of President Barack Obama’s life, “Obama: All Access - Barack Obama’s Road to the White House,” a great DVD for political junkies, historians, news fans, and everyone in between.
Blu-Ray Review: Spike Lee’s ‘Miracle at St. Anna’ Disappoints in Every Way
Submitted by BrianTT on February 11, 2009 - 3:23pmBlu-Ray Rating: 1.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – There is a great film to be made about the African-American experience during World War II. Spike Lee’s “Miracle at St. Anna” is not that film and the below average Blu-Ray of it should make this once highly-anticipated epic one of the more easily forgettable releases of the month.
Blu-Ray Round Up, Feb. 10, 2009: ‘Pretty Woman,’ ‘Street Fighter,’ ‘Tales From the Darkside’
Submitted by BrianTT on February 10, 2009 - 5:50pmCHICAGO – The Round-Up is in flashback mode this week. Enter our time machine and travel back to an era when an anthology series created by the legendary George A. Romero could actually get a network time slot, Jean-Claude Van Damme was still a star, and Julia Roberts wasn’t quite one yet.
Blu-Ray Review: ‘Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa’ Continues DreamWorks Blu-Ray Dominance
Submitted by BrianTT on February 10, 2009 - 11:26amBlu-Ray Rating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – The DreamWorks Blu-Ray releases for “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street,” “Kung Fu Panda,” and “Transformers” are some of the most technically remarkable titles on the next-gen format and you can now add “Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa” to the list of Blu-Ray discs that you can use to show off your HD TV and surround sound system.
Blu-Ray Review: Oscar-Nominated ‘Frozen River’ Has Gripping Dramatic Power
Submitted by BrianTT on February 9, 2009 - 2:50pmBlu-Ray Rating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Courtney Hunt’s “Frozen River” is easily the most unlikely double Oscar nominee of 2008, scoring nods for Best Actress and Best Original Screenplay and now available on Blu-Ray from Sony Home Entertainment.
Blu-Ray Review: High Definition Makes ‘The Rock Collection’ More Appealing
Submitted by BrianTT on February 9, 2009 - 12:55pmBlu-Ray Rating: 3.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Dwayne Johnson, the artist formerly known as ‘The Rock,’ has a new movie hitting theaters next month, “Race to Witch Mountain,” so the time seems right to revisit the action extravaganzas that almost made this former wrestler a massive star with the release of three of his early films on Blu-Ray in “The Rock Collection”.
Blu-Ray Round Up, Feb. 8, 2009: ‘Little Miss Sunshine,’ ‘Office Space,’ ‘Sideways,’ ‘Napoleon Dynamite’
Submitted by BrianTT on February 8, 2009 - 5:19pmCHICAGO – Welcome back to the world of the Blu-Ray Round Up, a safety net for all the Blu-Ray titles hitting store shelves that might otherwise slip through the cracks. Every week seems to see more and more catalog releases and new titles hitting the next-gen format and it’s shockingly easy to miss a title that you’d like to add to your collection. That’s why we’re here.
Blu-Ray Review: Kevin Smith Makes a Good Blu-Ray With ‘Zack and Miri Make a Porno’
Submitted by BrianTT on February 5, 2009 - 3:28pmBlu-Ray Rating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – The inevitable merging of the Judd Apatow-verse and the View Askew-verse headed by Kevin Smith happened in the underrated and under-seen “Zack and Miri Make a Porno,” new on Blu-Ray this week and joined by a Special Edition release of “Clerks II”.