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+.
HollywoodChicago.com Arts & Entertainment News
Blu-Ray Review: ‘Shorts’ Long on Comic Chaos, Short on Charm
Submitted by BrianTT on December 3, 2009 - 8:57pmCHICAGO – Robert Rodriguez is a one-man moviemaking machine. He’s always looking for the fastest and most cost-effective ways for getting his work out to the public. His success story, memorably chronicled in the book “Rebel Without a Crew,” is genuinely inspiring, yet his films often fail to resonate as anything other than exercises in design.
DVD Review: Excellent ‘Thirst’ Deserves Better Treatment
Submitted by BrianTT on December 3, 2009 - 8:27pmCHICAGO – Easily one of the most interesting and original films of 2009, “Thirst” deserves at least the basic Blu-Ray treatment being given nearly every theatrically released film in the current market or, failing that, at least a special edition DVD. Instead, Focus/Universal has gone the baffling route of releasing a bare bones disc featuring only the film. The movie itself is great enough to warrant a look, but that’s in spite of its home release.
Interviews: Armand Assante, Lori Petty, Richard Roeper at the 2009 BMAs
Submitted by PatrickMcD on December 3, 2009 - 6:30pmCHICAGO – The 2009 Best of the Midwest Awards, at Rockit Bar and Grill in Chicago on December 1st, had many notable attendees. Actors Armand Assante and Lori Petty, along with film critic Richard Roeper, were among them.
DVD Review: ‘The Limits of Control’ Sinks Under Weight of Pretension
Submitted by BrianTT on December 3, 2009 - 5:44pmCHICAGO – Jim Jarmusch’s latest film experiment “The Limits of Control” is another example of a once-intriguing filmmaker becoming bogged down by his own self-aware style, delivering easily the worst film of one of the most important careers in the history of independent film. Jarmusch changed indie cinema in the ’80s. Now, he doesn’t even seem interested in his own films.
HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: 50 ‘Me and Orson Welles’ Chicago Passes With Claire Danes, Zac Efron
Submitted by HollywoodChicago.com on December 3, 2009 - 4:33pmCHICAGO – In our latest drama edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 50 admit-two passes up for grabs to the advance Chicago screening of “Me and Orson Welles” with Claire Danes and Zac Efron from director Richard Linklater of “School of Rock”!
Interview: Jason Reitman Takes Personal Journey With ‘Up in the Air’
Submitted by BrianTT on December 3, 2009 - 3:14pmCHICAGO – Following up the massive critical and commercial success of “Juno” would be a daunting task for anyone and writer/director Jason Reitman admits that he was nervous coming off that film.
BMA Winners Announced at 2009 Midwest Independent Film Festival
Submitted by PatrickMcD on December 3, 2009 - 6:43amCHICAGO – The 2009 Best of the Midwest Awards were given out on Tuesday night, part of a huge celebratory event at the Rockit Bar and Grill in downtown Chicago, capping another successful year at the Midwest Independent Film Festival.
Blu-Ray Review: Wordy ‘Angels & Demons’ Fails to Illuminate
Submitted by BrianTT on December 2, 2009 - 8:45pmCHICAGO – Give Ron Howard an intimate character study like “Frost/Nixon,” and he’ll knock it out of the park. Give him a sprawling plot-driven thriller like…well, let’s face it: anything written by Dan Brown, and he’ll be consumed by the enormity of his subject. Yet while Howard’s “The Da Vinci Code,” failed on a human level, it did succeed in highlighting the tantalizing questions raised by Brown’s text, particularly the implications of historical distortion throughout the centuries. When the characters were allowed to simply analyze the story’s inherent mysteries, the film took flight.
DVD Review: ‘Life on Mars: Series 2’ One of the Best of the Decade
Submitted by BrianTT on December 1, 2009 - 1:19pmCHICAGO – The concluding eight episodes of the great “Life on Mars” have now been collected by Acorn Media, making a two-box set (“Series 1” was released earlier this year) that is a must-own for fans of British television. Perhaps the biggest failing of the recent ABC remake of the show is that it may have sullied the reputation of the original. Even though I believe it was better than given credit, forget the remake and don’t let its rating failure dissuade you from seeing where it all began.
DVD Review: ‘Andy Barker, P.I.’ Deserved More Time to Grow
Submitted by BrianTT on December 1, 2009 - 1:01pmCHICAGO – Created by Conan O’Brien and Jonathan Groff, NBC’s “Andy Barker, P.I.” was barely given even the slightest chance to develop a following when it debuted a few years ago. Andy Richter had the worst luck as a sitcom lead, failing to find an audience for the brilliant-but-canceled “Andy Richter Controls the Universe” and then getting the axe again after only six episodes of the promising “Andy Barker, P.I.”. No wonder he returned to the loving embrace of Conan O’Brien when he went to “The Tonight Show”.
Blu-Ray Review: ‘Gomorrah’ Galvanizes With Raw Portrait of Crime
Submitted by BrianTT on December 1, 2009 - 12:33pmCHICAGO – Matteo Garrone’s revelatory crime picture joins the esteemed group of worthy foreign film Oscar contenders (like “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days”) inexplicably snubbed by the Academy. But such accolades are meaningless compared to the reaction it has received, breaking box office records in its limited release, while acquiring the passionate support of film icons like Martin Scorsese.
TV Review: ‘Scrubs’ Returns For Awkward Season-Nine Premiere
Submitted by BrianTT on December 1, 2009 - 12:18pmCHICAGO – With great comedies often being cancelled before their time, how many TV writers and producers look at the trajectory of “Scrubs” with awe?
Video Game Review: Epic ‘Dragon Age: Origins’ Sure to Satisfy RPG Fans
Submitted by BrianTT on November 30, 2009 - 5:50pmCHICAGO – When I told a friend I was getting sucked into the world of the epic-length “Dragon Age: Origins” and worried about the time commitment and how much it would take away from the rest of my life, he used a phrase that I had never heard before: “the RPG hole”. Like a black hole, role-playing games have a way of sucking players in, and when the experience is as immersive, well-designed, and entertaining as “Origins,” it’s easy to see why.
