June 2010

CHICAGO – John C. Reilly, the star of “Chicago,” “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby,” “Step Brothers,” and “Magnolia” gives one of the best performances of his career in this weekend’s excellent “Cyrus” and the actor sat down with HollywoodChicago.com a few weeks ago to discuss the process behind this unusual film.

CHICAGO – In a summer where even the most mainstream sect of the moviegoing public has begun turning its back on lazy mass-marketed mediocrity, it’s especially refreshing to be faced with the 17th Annual Chicago Underground Film Festival. The edginess, unpredictability, and even sporadic clumsiness of this festival’s offerings sharply contrast with the slick, routine pictures that often pass for “independent” filmmaking these days.

CHICAGO – Whenever there is a audacious and entertaining action thriller like “Knight and Day,” how do the characters stay so calm? Cameron Diaz and Tom Cruise are shot at, nearly blown up, asked to drive and leap around like lunatics, yet remain perfectly white-toothed calm. A normal human reaction would be ‘Oh my gaaaaaaaaaawd!”

CHICAGO – Michael Hoffman is not a director renowned for operatic drama. The closest he ever got to staging Shakespeare onscreen was in his problematic 1999 adaptation of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Emotional outbursts in a Hoffman picture are often tinged with offbeat humor, a fact well-illustrated by his his under-appreciated 1991 comedy “Soapdish.”

CHICAGO – A disturbingly small number of people were given the chance to see Adam Elliot’s brilliant and moving “Mary and Max,” one of the most notable releases in arguably the best year in the history of modern animation. While “Coraline,” “Up,” “The Princess and the Frog,” and even “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs” made headlines, a beautiful little film about an unusual friendship went under the radar. Don’t miss it.

CHICAGO – There have been TV cops in New York, Miami, Chicago, Los Angeles and even Hawaii, 5-0, so it stands to reason that Memphis, Tennessee, would get its turn. Jason Lee (“My Name is Earl”) and Alfre Woodard are on the “Memphis Beat,” premiering June 22nd on the TNT Network.

CHICAGO – Just when you thought Hollywood’s recent slate of romantic comedies couldn’t get any worse, along comes “When in Rome,” a film so deplorable that it should be arrested for cinematic harassment. The filmmakers seem hellbent on systematically humiliating each member of its gifted ensemble, while insulting moviegoers with the very notion that this exercise in laziness could be passed off as entertainment.

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As the danger escalates during their global adventure, June Havens (Cameron Diaz) finds herself increasingly drawn to the mysterious Roy Miller (Tom Cruise).

CHICAGO – This 7-image slideshow contains all of the official press images for the highly anticipated “Knight and Day,” starring Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz, Peter Sarsgaard, Viola Davis, Jordi Molla, and Paul Dano. The film was written by Patrick O’Neill and directed by James Mangold. It will be released on June 23rd, 2010.

CHICAGO – The most recent season of one of the sexiest and most stylish shows on television was released on DVD this month and the show itself is still entertaining enough to warrant a look but the home release for it is a bit mediocre. USA’s “Burn Notice” has loyal fans who would undeniably appreciate a more extensive home release than this average one.

CHICAGO – It’s been some time since HollywoodChicago.com’s beloved Blu-ray Round-Up column made an appearance to highlight a few recently released HD titles that may have slid just a bit below your radar while you were busy seeing “Toy Story 3” this weekend. We try but can’t devote the time for a full-length review to every title but we wanted to make sure you knew these potential purchases were out there, waiting for your hard-earned paycheck.

CHICAGO – Few but the most professorial of Broadway aficionados recall with clarity the short-lived “Sugar,” which is one of the first film-to-stage transfers that premiered on the Great White Way in 1972 to lowly acclaim and even lower financial prowess. Though serving as a harbinger for the soon-to-be endowed trend of film derivatives, “Sugar” debuted in the throws of an era thirsty for the provocation of Michael Bennett and the insight of Stephen Sondheim.

CHICAGO – After years of simply giving up to cable networks like AMC, USA, and TNT, the broadcast networks are trying to reclaim summer viewers; none more aggressively than ABC with three new shows debuting this week — “Scoundrels,” “The Gates,” and “Rookie Blue.”

CHICAGO – The just-opened Mayne Stage on Chicago’s north side was the setting for “The Not Inappropriate Show,” featuring comedians Bob Odenkirk and Robert Smigel. Both are in town as part of the TBS network’s “Just for Laughs Chicago,” playing through Saturday, June 19th.

CHICAGO – Very few recent films are as purely entertaining or thematically satisfying as Pixar’s “Toy Story 3,” not only one of the best films of the year but one of the best in the history of animation. Brilliantly tying up the two films that came before in a way that so many sequels fail to do, the geniuses at Pixar have done it again. It’s another masterpiece.