Rose Byrne

Rating: 2.5/5.0

CHICAGO – I have written over a thousand reviews and have rarely been as conflicted as I am about my response to James Wan’s “Insidious.” It comes down to this question — do you judge the effort or the execution? I love what Wan and co-writer Leigh Whannell (the team behind “Saw,” working this time with the producers of “Paranormal Activity”) are attempting with their unique ghost story, one that clearly pays homage to an old-fashioned style of horror filmmaking, but I don’t think they quite pull it off. Ultimately, a movie doesn’t exist in theory, only up on the screen, and that’s where “Insidious” doesn’t quite work as well as this classic horror fan truly wished it would.

CHICAGO – In our latest horror/thriller edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 35 admit-two passes up for grabs to the advance Chicago screening of the new film “Insidious” with Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne from the “Paranormal Activity” and “Saw” makers!

CHICAGO – Patrick Wilson (“Little Children”) and Rose Byrne (“Damages”) play a truly terrified couple in James Wan’s “Insidious,” opening this Friday, April 1st, 2011. Produced by the team behind “Paranormal Activity” and written and co-starring Leigh Whannell, the man who did the same double duty on “Saw,” “Insidious” hopes to be the haunted house movie of 2011 with a twist.

CHICAGO – Like a lot of comedies, “Get Him to the Greek,” now available on Blu-ray and DVD, actually plays better at home than it did in theaters. It doesn’t hurt that the Universal Blu-ray is a beauty, a package with excellent, hilarious special features that enhance the film instead of serving as mere filler. It’s one of the best comedy BD releases of the season.

Rating: 3.5/5.0

CHICAGO – Taking a character who was created as an obnoxious supporting one and giving him his own spin-off movie sounds like a recipe for disaster. Despite generally liking its stars and enjoying “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” I was dreading the quasi-sequel “Get Him to the Greek”. There were just too many screenwriting pitfalls in which the film could have and should have fallen in.

CHICAGO – People who have been diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome, which is on the autistic spectrum, are sometimes described as being “mind blind”. In other words, they often don’t understand what people are thinking.

CHICAGO – The second season of ‘Damages,’ recently released on DVD, was still quality television but felt like a bit of a letdown after the spectacular first season of this amazing show. Naturally, expectations are high for the premiere of season three.

CHICAGO – FX’s award-winning legal thriller “Damages” is adding four new actors, Campbell Scott (“Royal Pains”), Martin Short (“Primetime Glick”), Lily Tomlin (“Desperate Housewives”) and Keith Carradine (“Dexter”), to the cast for the upcoming season which premiers in January. Production on the series 13-episode season begins in New York tomorrow.

CHICAGO – In our latest edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 25 admit-two run-of-engagement passes up for grabs to the new film “Adam” in Chicago.

CHICAGO – “I want to make movies that touch people in unique ways and affect people in unique ways. And, you know, that’s what I’ve tried to do with this film.”