June 2009

CHICAGO – Paramount Pictures has just released the HD teaser trailer for the new M. Night Shyamalan film “The Last Airbender,” which stars Jackson Rathbone, Nicola Peltz, Cliff Curtis, Dev Patel (from the Oscar-winning film “Slumdog Millionaire”), Noah Ringer, Jessica Andres, Seychelle Gabriel, Shaun Toub, Aasif Mandvi and Keong Sim.

CHICAGO – Like a lot of people, “Tom and Jerry” was a major part of my childhood. When I was younger, there weren’t nearly as many choices for children’s entertainment and I wonder if kids nowadays even know who Tom and Jerry are. We may not have had 500 channels, but when you have Tom, Jerry, the Looney Tunes gang, and the Muppets, you don’t need them.

CHICAGO – The advancement of medicine has brought about many things: longer life-expectancy, treatments for serious illnesses such as cancer, artificial conception, and genetic modification. Though there are positive aspects to each of these things, inherent within each are moral dilemmas we will have to face.

CHICAGO – Two intrepid HollywoodChicago.com reporters – Patrick McDonald and Alissa Norby – faced off against the “queen of mean” – comic Lisa Lampanelli – with the help of ace HC photog Joe Arce. Who will come out of this pit morally alive?

CHICAGO – Pardon the obvious metaphors, but when you name a show “Hung” and feature a motivational speech about the lead character finding “his tool,” it’s damn-near impossible not to fall into the same pattern.

CHICAGO – Actress Farrah Fawcett, who rose to fame by starring in 29 episodes of TV’s “Charlie’s Angels” from 1976 to 1980, has died of anal cancer in the ICU at St. John’s Hospital in Santa Monica, Calif., according to her representative.

CHICAGO – Ari Folman’s amazing “Waltz With Bashir” defies easy description. It may sound cliched but it is literally unlike anything you’ve ever seen before. Folman’s amazing film should have won Best Foreign Language Film (it lost the Oscar to the inferior “Departures”) and should have also been nominated for Best Animated Film and Best Documentary. Don’t miss it.

Rating: 1.5/5.0

CHICAGO – There are often many reasons sequels should not be made. “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” is one of them.

Seeking that “Allspark” exhilaration pumped into many of us from the original “Transformers,” moviegoers will flock to the sequel with anticipation.

CHICAGO – “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen”, opening June 24th, is the second film in the series based on the Hasbro toy/cartoon. Scott Farrar, whose long career has roots in the first “Star Wars”, supervised all the complex visual effects.

CHICAGO – Ballots for the 61st Annual Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Emmy nominations are due on Friday, June 26th, 2009, and we’re here to offer some advice for all of you Emmy voters still holding a ballot in your hands and trying to make those tough TV decisions.

CHICAGO – It turns out the revolution will be televised and you’ll be able to blow a lot of stuff up during it. THQ’s clever and incredibly deep “Red Faction Guerilla” is one of the most intense and exhaustive experiences of the season.

CHICAGO – “The Hunger” is one of the more unusual entries in the history of the TV anthology series, a personal favorite sub-genre of this writer raised on “The Twilight Zone,” “The Outer Limits,” “Tales From the Crypt,” and “Amazing Stories”. It has amazing star power, a loose relation to a great ’80s horror movie, and enough thrills to entertain, but has been largely forgotten by TV history.

CHICAGO – Andrew R. “Andy” Dick is one of the most brilliantly infamous and misunderstood comic forces in the last twenty years. Appearing at Superstation TBS “Just for Laughs” Festival in Chicago, he combined farce, music and pure Andy in his show.

CHICAGO – At some point in our lives, most of us have had to reach slightly above our job descriptions to appease a demanding boss. Common themes from making coffee to picking up dry cleaning are familiar and often tolerated as one strives to “get ahead”.