CHICAGO – John Michael epitomizes the art of the monologue. The Chicago transplant, by way of Dallas, is moving on (he says temporarily) from the city that inspired his last show, “Meatball Seance,” after notorious and successful runs of his other one-man shows, “John Michael and the Order of the Penix” and “Dementia Me.” His farewell performance is his latest, another laugh riot, “It’s NOT ALL About You John Michael,” and will take place at Mary’s Attic in Chicago’s Andersonville neighborhood on March 1st, 2019. Click here for details, including ticket information.
HollywoodChicago.com Arts & Entertainment News
Exclusive Photo: In Memoriam for Broadway Legend Carol Channing, Dead at 97
Submitted by PatrickMcD on January 16, 2019 - 9:21pmCHICAGO – Carol Channing was always, seemingly, full of sunshine. With her unique voice and “back row” Broadway singing chops, the eternal ingenue sparkled through a remarkable seven decade show business career. Ms. Channing died on January 15th, 2019, at the age of 97, at her home in Rancho Mirage, California.
Podtalk: Director Richard Yeagley Observes ‘The Sunday Sessions’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on January 15, 2019 - 4:06pmCHICAGO – The film ”Boy Erased” was released in November, a star-studded “based on real events” memoir film about the topic of “gay conversion therapy” (the rejected-by-the-medical-world notion of using techniques to convert a gay individual to straight). Director Richard Yeagley has produced a documentary on the same subject, “The Sunday Sessions,” which has more authenticity because it’s completely real. One more screening of the film will take place on January 16th, 2019, part of Gene Siskel Film Center’s “Stranger Than Fiction” series. Click here for tickets and details.
Podtalk: Mike Kwielford on Midwest Independent Film Fest’s ‘Best of the Midwest,’ Jan. 17, 2019
Submitted by PatrickMcD on January 14, 2019 - 7:07pmCHICAGO – Local Awards Season is coming up with the Best of the Midwest, honoring the 2018 film year of the Midwest Independent Film Festival. The Gala is on Thursday, January 17th, 2019, click here for tickets and information.
Film Review: Unsettling View of Evil in Lars von Trier’s ‘The House That Jack Built’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on January 14, 2019 - 5:14pmCHICAGO – With director Lars von Trier, who is a mad f**king genius of a filmmaker, it’s always make or break (or both). He breaks in his latest, “The House That Jack Built” which is all too much of evil everything, until it morphs into a last act that has an intriguing and unsettling sense of weird purpose. The story of a serial killer and the meticulous realizations of his killings is like a sound meter that is constantly going into the red zone, until the damn thing shatters.
Film News: ‘The Sunday Sessions’ at Gene Siskel Film Center on Jan. 16, 2019
Submitted by PatrickMcD on January 11, 2019 - 4:21pmCHICAGO – The art of the documentary film gets a different spin in the Gene Siskel Film Centers January series, Stranger Than Fiction. As part of this series, the Chicago Premiere of “The Sunday Sessions” – a film about so-called “gay conversion” therapy from the inside – will screen on Friday, January 11th, 2018. For more information and to purchase tickets, click here.
Interview: Recording Artist Jennifer Zhang Debuts Video for ‘Flying High’ on Jan. 12, 2019
Submitted by PatrickMcD on January 11, 2019 - 3:05pmCHICAGO – Asian American musician, model, actress, influencer, producer and entrepreneur Jennifer Zhang, based in Chicago, is making waves in the U.S. and global music scene with the premiere of her latest single and video, “Flying High.” The song is East meets West, with Chinese instruments and sounds blending with an energetic contemporary beat.
Film Review: ‘The Upside’ Works Because of Kevin Hart & Bryan Cranston
Submitted by PatrickMcD on January 11, 2019 - 11:50amCHICAGO – In 2011, there was a notable French film called “The Intouchables,” based on the true story of quadriplegic Phillippe Pozzo di Borgo and the relationship with his caregiver. Leave it to the U.S. film industry to get its sticky fingers on the story, and seven years later Bryan Cranston portrays “Phillip” and his caretaker is portrayed by Kevin Hart. Instead of story, this version relies on its lead actors.
Film Review: De-Glamorizing Nicole Kidman Can’t Save ‘Destroyer’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on January 11, 2019 - 10:22amCHICAGO – If you are in a particular frame of mind you can kinda see why someone thought “Destroyer” would be a good idea. It’s got an Academy Award winner, doing a physical transformation, and has a hard-boiled detective story. All of these elements in the right hands could have added up to awards show adulation.
Feature: Top 20 Celebrity Photos of 2018, by Joe Arce of HollywoodChicago.com
Submitted by PatrickMcD on January 10, 2019 - 4:39pm- 10
- 2018
- 25
- Al Roker
- Best
- Bob Mackie
- Bob Odenkirk
- Carey Mulligan
- Carol Burnett
- Chance the Rapper
- Entertainment News
- Ethan Hawke
- Ginger Zee
- HollywoodChicago.com Content
- Joe Arce
- Leave it to Beaver
- Liam Neeson
- List
- Megan Mullally
- Nichelle Nichols
- Nick Offerman
- Patrick McDonald
- Photography
- Photos
- Pictures
- Portraits
- Sean Hayes
- Ten
- Terrence Howard
- Thiffani Thiessen
- Top 20 2018
- Viola Davis
CHICAGO – 2018 was a killer year. I lost both my father and my childhood guitar idol|/mentor Ed King (of Lynyrd Skynyrd) within four days of each other. Both men played instrumental roles in starting and supporting my chosen photographic journey.
Film Review: ‘Bathtubs Over Broadway’ Revives a Forgotten Art Form
Submitted by PatrickMcD on January 8, 2019 - 2:16pm- Bathtubs Over Broadway
- Broadway
- Chita Rivera
- Corporate
- Dava Whisenant
- David Letterman
- Dead Kennedys
- Fiddler on the Roof
- Florence Henderson
- Focus Features
- HollywoodChicago.com Content
- Jello Biafra
- Martin Short
- Movie Review
- Patrick McDonald
- Presentations
- Records
- Sales Force
- Sheldon Harnick
- Shows
- Steve Young
- Susan Stroman
CHICAGO – There are cultural heroes, and then there is comedy writer Steve Young. Through sheer happenstance, he began a journey that ended up with a rediscovery of an art form that without Young’s intervention would have died. The U.S. corporation Broadway-style “industrial musical,” which highlighted products or sales meetings in a song and dance presentation, were at its peak popularity from the 1950s through the ‘70s. “Bathtubs Over Broadway” is Young’s documentary of appreciation for those shows and and his intervention to revive them.
Feature: HollywoodChicago.com’s Overrated & Worst Films of 2018
Submitted by PatrickMcD on January 8, 2019 - 10:54amCHICAGO – It’s easy to bohemian rhapsodize about the best films in any particular year… it’s why we go to the movies. But what about those times when 1) everybody loves something, and you think, “huh?” or 2) the film is just plain “the worst”? Jon Lennon Espino, Spike Walters and Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com can relate.
Interview: Local Band whitewolfsonicprincess Releases ‘The Alternate Boot’ on Jan. 8, 2019
Submitted by PatrickMcD on January 7, 2019 - 4:12pmCHICAGO – The album premiere is a cause for celebration, and the local Chicagoland band whitewolfsonicprinces (wwsp) is debuting their third album, a double set release called “The Alternate Boot Vols. 1 & 2” on January 8th, 2019. For more on the album release and all things wwsp, click here.
Podtalk: Director Nadine Labaki Creates ‘Capernaum’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on January 4, 2019 - 11:44pmCHICAGO – One of the best films of 2018 is “Capernaum.” The title means “Chaos,” and co-writer/director Nadine Labaki certainly created a form of that action in the crazy quilt journey of the main character of Zain, an undocumented immigrant boy in Lebanon. From a story that takes us from his street survival to a court of law… suing his parents, “Capernaum” is a multi-layered masterpiece.
