June 2010

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Joan Cusack at the Disney Store, Chicago, June 16th, 2010

CHICAGO – “Toy Story 3” has held onto the top spot at the box office for two straight weekends, and Joan Cusack – the voice of Jessie in the film – lent her star power to the debut of the doll based on her character. She appeared at the Disney Store on Michigan Avenue in Chicago, and was photographed by HollywoodChicago.com’s Joe Arce.

Rating: 3.0/5.0

CHICAGO – Easily the best entry in the franchise, “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse,” finally allows those of us unfamiliar with the books by Stephenie Meyer to understand why the saga of the vampire, the wolf, and the sullen girl in the middle has become an international phenomenon.

CHICAGO – When the first four episodes of the new season of “Rescue Me” allows the actors to merely live in the shoes of these characters they know so well after five seasons on the air then the show finds some of the magic that it produced more consistently in its superior early seasons. Sadly, the writers know they can’t just shoot a drama about guys hanging out in a firehouse and the scripted drama often doesn’t click.

CHICAGO – I often find that the most interesting characters in a ghost story are not the ghosts themselves, but the humans who encounter them. Ghosts are reflections of a past we are unwilling to depart from, even if it halts us from entering the future. It’s a consolation for us to believe that our departed loved ones view us as their “unfinished business.”

Video Game Rating: 3.0/5.0

CHICAGO – Being hopelessly addicted to the great “Zen Pinball” and a fan of golf games from the realistic (“Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11”) to the cartoonish (“Hot Shots Golf”), I was more than a little excited for Zen Studios’ “Planet Mini-Golf.” If they could capture the creative fun of an old-fashioned game as they did with “Zen Pinball,” I figured my new summer obsession had arrived. Sadly, it turned into my summer frustration.

CHICAGO – Proving that what Judd Apatow has brought to the comedy genre in the last decade is much harder than it looks, “She’s Out of My League” has an extremely likable cast but writers and a director who mistake gross-out humor for genuine laughs. It’s one of those disappointing comedies for people who can’t say the word ejaculation without laughing like Beavis.

Rating: 3.5/5.0

CHICAGO – Michael Winterbottom’s ’50s-era neo-noir “The Killer Inside Me” creeps up on you in the creepiest possible way. Just as I was ready to write it off, I ended up caving in to its charms, or lack thereof. This film often seems as utterly cuckoo as its central antihero, and that’s what makes it so darn mesmerizing. Sure, it’s sort of a mess, but boy is it engrossing, with a strong emphasis on the gross.

CHICAGO – How does one of the trendiest shows on television stay hot in its seventh season? It’s a question that the writers of “Entourage” must answer as cable’s beloved bad boys return tonight for another season of celebrity cameos and insider drama.

CHICAGO – We dig discovering sprouting artists at the phase where they’re just talented enough to keep their humility. That’s where we found 21-year-old singer, songwriter and guitarist Sahara Smith on Friday night at Chicago’s Lincoln Hall.

CHICAGO – There are moments of true clarity in John Patrick Shanley’s “The Big Funk,” presented by Rodez Productions at the Red Tape Theater in Chicago. Characters who find themselves trapped in a metaphoric morass work through the issues that bind them, and expose themselves to a bigger sense of life’s intention.

Rating: 4.0/5.0

CHICAGO – “I Am Love” is the type of visceral tone poem that requires its audience to feel more than think. As the end credits roll, viewers may find themselves going over the plot in their heads, and discovering its inherent shallowness. It’s only after we wake up from a dream that we discover just how silly or inexplicable it all was.

CHICAGO – It may be called “Grown Ups,” but too much of the new Adam Sandler ensemble comedy feels like it was written by an eight-year-old boy. The believable friendship chemistry that Sandler has with co-stars Kevin James, Chris Rock, David Spade, and Rob Schneider significantly ups the entertainment value, but “Grown Ups” could have and should have been much better.

CHICAGO – HBO’s “Hung” doesn’t quite live up to the incredibly high standards of the best network on television but the sporadic writing on the show and very strong ensemble did produce enough interesting dramatic and comedic moments to warrant a look on the excellent Blu-ray release of the first season, timed to coincide with the premiere of season two on Sunday, June 27th, 2010.

CHICAGO – Most adolescent boys do away with their freshly-acquired Bar Mitzvah money before you can say “Haftorah”. But not David Schwimmer. Instead, the Lookingglass Theatre Company co-founder and “Friends” superstar mounted what was to become his theatre company’s most illustrious and withstanding production, “Lookingglass Alice”, based on the cherished novels of Lewis Carroll. The company’s Artistic Director David Catlin recently caught up with HollywoodChicago.com to discuss the adaptation and production process for Alice’s latest journey (now playing through August 1, 2010 at the Water Tower), and why this fourth trip down the rabbit hole just may be the best yet.