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+.
Movie Review
Film Review: Brilliant ‘ParaNorman’ Delivers For All Audiences
Submitted by BrianTT on August 16, 2012 - 10:02amCHICAGO – “ParaNorman” is not only the best animated film of 2012 by a large margin but it’s better than anything that came out last year as well. The latest stop-motion gem from LAIKA (who made another one of the best animated films of the last several years in “Coraline”) is smart, funny, scary, imaginative, and, most surprisingly of all, moving. Don’t miss it.
Film Review: ‘The Odd Life of Timothy Green’ Misses Emotional Connection
Submitted by BrianTT on August 15, 2012 - 11:11amCHICAGO – Peter Hedges’ “The Odd Life of Timothy Green” has a warm, gooey center that’s admirable in a family movie way but what’s around it can’t hold together as the lack of focus in the narrative and the rather grating performance from the young man playing its title character causes it to annoy more than entertain.
Film Review: Predictable ‘The Campaign’ Hinges on Hilarious Newlyweds Ferrell, Galifianakis
Submitted by HollywoodChicago.com on August 10, 2012 - 11:35pmCHICAGO – Will Ferrell makes several new proclamations loud and clear: he’s a comic dream-team duo with Zach Galifianakis in “The Campaign,” punching a baby and then a dog are seriously funny and real-life politics should take a lesson from this over-the-top smear campaign.
Film Review: Rashida Jones, Andy Samberg in ‘Celeste and Jesse Forever’
Submitted by BrianTT on August 10, 2012 - 11:49amRating: 3.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Rashida Jones has been a reliable co-star for years in films like “I Love You, Man” and TV shows like “The Office” and “Parks and Recreation” but she gets her most notable role to date in a film she co-wrote, the romantic dramedy “Celeste and Jesse Forever,” opening this weekend in Chicago. Jones’ complex performance is the best thing about a film that ultimately feels a bit too unfocused, almost as if Jones and her co-writer Will McCormack took the opportunity to use every idea they had about the art of the break-up without streamlining their concepts into something more coherent and entertaining.
Film Review: Truth Trumps Fiction Again in ‘Searching for Sugar Man’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on August 10, 2012 - 8:46amCHICAGO – The old axiom “truth is stranger than fiction” is proved again in the unique story of a pop troubadour from the 1970s named Rodriguez, who produced two searing albums and then disappeared into oblivion. Unknown to the artist, he became huge in South Africa. The odd hope of Rodriguez is chronicled in “Searching for Sugar Man.”
Film Review: Jeremy Renner Propels Clever ‘The Bourne Legacy’
Submitted by BrianTT on August 9, 2012 - 10:24amCHICAGO – Tony Gilroy’s world of double crosses, super spies, and covert government programs returns in the writer/director’s clever expansion of the world he created as the writer of “The Bourne Identity,” “The Bourne Supremacy,” and “The Bourne Ultimatum.”
Film Review: Meryl Streep, Tommy Lee Jones Elevate ‘Hope Springs’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on August 6, 2012 - 9:32amCHICAGO – It can be argued that Meryl Streep is in the most fruitful period in her long and illustrious career, at least as far as the variety of character parts she has undertaken. She co-stars in “Hope Springs” with Tommy Lee Jones, as a mousy Omaha wife who is looking for a change in her marriage.
Film Review: Total Retread for ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on August 3, 2012 - 10:53pmCHICAGO – The month of August contain the “dog days” of summer, when the season lumbers to a hazy and hot conclusion. How appropriate that the third film of a popular series would be called ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days,’ because like summer’s end it feels lethargic. Zachary Gordon, Robert Capron and Steve Zahn star.
Film Review: ‘Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry’ Stands as One of 2012’s Most Important Films
Submitted by mattmovieman on August 3, 2012 - 10:10amCHICAGO – Every person who was mystified by the meaning of the “Free Ai Weiwei” shirts and petitions that in were vogue last year owe it to themselves to see Alison Klayman’s excellent documentary. Moviegoers will be hard-pressed to find a more riveting and vital film in theaters this year. It may not have a satisfying ending, but that’s because its real-life tale has (thankfully) yet to reach a conclusion.
Film Review: ‘The Queen of Versailles’ Takes Comedic Look at Riches-to-Rags Tale
Submitted by mattmovieman on August 3, 2012 - 9:33amCHICAGO – Whenever I hear someone complain about the inexplicable popularity of an obscenely rich and distressingly vapid non-celebrity, I’m reminded of the last scene in “Chicago,” when murderess-turned-superstar Roxy Hart blows a kiss to her adoring fans after exclaiming, “Believe us, we could not have done it without you!” No one maintains a celebrity status without a whole lot of help from the general public.