CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com audio review for the streaming series “Emily in Paris” the adventures of Emily Cooper and her fanciful/fashionable Paris friends and lovers, now in its fourth season. Episodes 1-5 currently on Netflix.
December 2010
Blu-Ray Feature: The 10 Best Blu-Rays of 2010
Submitted by BrianTT on December 9, 2010 - 6:33pmCHICAGO – As more and more homes become HD-enabled, the Blu-ray market has finally started to expand to the point that it’s getting difficult to narrow a list of the best releases down to only ten. But that’s what we’re here for — to do the difficult jobs. These are the ten best Blu-rays of 2010.
Blu-Ray Review: ‘Shrek: The Whole Story’ Offers Entire Franchise in One Set
Submitted by BrianTT on December 9, 2010 - 5:19pmCHICAGO – With “Shrek Forever After” also being billed as “Shrek: The Final Chapter” and being pitched as the final film in the “Shrek” franchise, it only makes sense that DreamWorks has put together a lavish box set of this billion-dollar franchise that captures the entire saga of Shrek, Donkey, Fiona, and the rest of the lovable creatures of arguably the most influential series of films of the last decade.
Blu-Ray Review: David Cronenberg’s ‘Videodrome’ Still Has Disturbing Power
Submitted by BrianTT on December 9, 2010 - 4:42pmCHICAGO – They just don’t make movies like “Videodrome” all that often. Well, there just aren’t that many filmmakers like David Cronenberg out there, especially not those working in the psycho-sexual milieu that typified the work from the first half of his career. Arguably the best film from the early period of one of our best filmmakers, “Videodrome” has been granted the Blu-ray treatment from The Criterion Collection.
DVD Review: ‘Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel’ Celebrates Icon
Submitted by mattmovieman on December 9, 2010 - 12:57pmCHICAGO – The duality of “Playboy” reflects the duality of the man who created it. On one hand, the magazine notoriously fetishizes female sexuality with all the airbrushed idealism of a horny adolescent. On the other hand, it’s a reputable publication of great sociopolitical depth, with a history of voicing unpopular views at the times they were most needed.
TV Review: NBC’s ‘Community’ Premieres Very Special Christmas Episode
Submitted by BrianTT on December 9, 2010 - 11:50amCHICAGO – NBC’s “Community” continues to climb the charts of what must be considered the most creative programs on television with a brilliant Christmas episode tonight inspired by the Rankin-Bass stop-motion animated classics like “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” and “Frosty the Snowman.”
HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: 30 Pairs of Chicago Passes to ‘The Fighter’ With Christian Bale
Submitted by HollywoodChicago.com on December 8, 2010 - 5:25pmCHICAGO – In our latest boxing edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 30 admit-two advance-screening movie passes up for grabs to “The Fighter” with Christian Bale and Mark Wahlberg!
DVD Review: Jeff Bridges Sticks to Old Tricks in ‘A Dog Year’
Submitted by mattmovieman on December 8, 2010 - 9:04amCHICAGO – “A Dog Year” flew under everyone’s radar when it debuted on HBO in September 2009, mere months before its lead actor went on to win the Oscar for Best Actor. Now headlining two of the most anticipated films of the 2010 winter movie season, Jeff Bridges is bigger than ever. But will that make audiences any more interested in checking out this forgotten “Dog”?
Interview: Director Tanya Hamilton on How ‘Night Catches Us’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on December 8, 2010 - 8:23amCHICAGO – In the 1970s, there was a period in history when the civil rights movement began to splinter and disintegrate. Government infiltration, internal divisions and lack of direction especially hurt organizations like the Black Panthers movement, a focus of Writer/Director Tanya Hamilton’s new film, “Night Catches Us.”
Blu-Ray Review: Gorgeous Edition of Disney’s Timeless ‘Fantasia’
Submitted by BrianTT on December 7, 2010 - 5:43pmCHICAGO – Disney has been slowly opening their vault doors to the world of Blu-ray with amazing releases for “Sleeping Beauty,” “Pinocchio,” “Snow White and the Seven Dwarves,” and “Beauty & The Beast.” The slow release pattern is about to become more of a steady flow as “Fantasia,” “Alice in Wonderland,” and “Bambi” all hit HD in just over three months. “Fantasia” is the first and it’s another beauty.
Blu-Ray Review: Christopher Nolan’s ‘Inception’ Rewards Repeat Viewing
Submitted by BrianTT on December 7, 2010 - 11:52amCHICAGO – Summer 2010 was filled with some of the laziest mainstream product in the history of the blockbuster season. Creative bankruptcy ruled almost every weekend and audiences wisely turned away from most of it.
HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: 5 Blu-Rays, 5 DVDs to National Geographic War Film ‘Restrepo’
Submitted by HollywoodChicago.com on December 7, 2010 - 11:50amCHICAGO – In our latest war edition of the HollywoodChicago.com Hookup, we have 5 Blu-rays and 5 DVDs up for grabs to “Restrepo” from National Geographic Entertainment!
Blu-Ray Review: ‘Knight and Day’ With Tom Cruise Should Have Been Better
Submitted by BrianTT on December 7, 2010 - 10:23amCHICAGO – “Knight and Day” is a leaky tire of a movie. It starts off spinning as it promises a delightful action/adventure flick with two stars at their most-charismatic. By the middle of the film, it’s clear that something has sprung a leak. By the end, it’s just flat.
Blu-Ray Review: Absorbing Acting Strengthens ‘The Pillars of the Earth’
Submitted by mattmovieman on December 7, 2010 - 9:45amCHICAGO – Ken Follett’s “The Pillars of the Earth” is in the great tradition of old-fashioned adventure serials. The line between good and evil is clearly drawn and there is little doubt which side of the line each character belongs. This story is a battle between heart and hierarchy, nobility and debauchery, light and darkness. It’s fraught with clichés, melodramatic in the extreme, and entertaining as hell.
Video Game Review: Incredibly Addictive ‘Pac-Man Championship Edition DX’
Submitted by BrianTT on December 6, 2010 - 8:39pmCHICAGO – There are very few companies as talented at taking retro properties and making them new again as Namco Bandai and they’ve worked wonders again with the excellent “Pac-Man Championship Edition DX,” a totally-addictive variation on the arcade classic that merely proves once more that sometimes downloadable titles can be even more satisfying than some of the most-publicized disc-based games of the season.
Midwest Independent Film Festival to Announce Best of the Midwest Awards
Submitted by PatrickMcD on December 6, 2010 - 7:53pmCHICAGO – Tuesday night, December 7th, marks the 2010 edition of the Best of the Midwest Awards, honoring the achievements of local filmmakers who participated in the Midwest Independent Film Festival this year. The festivities will take place at Rockit Bar & Grill in Chicago beginning at 7pm.
Video Game Review: ‘Splatterhouse’ Goes For Bloody Overkill
Submitted by BrianTT on December 6, 2010 - 7:09pmCHICAGO – Just as home gaming was gaining popularity in the late ’80s and early ’90s, Namco released an ultra-violent variation on the hit platforming games of the day called “Splatterhouse” (and followed it with two sequels). In the world of video games, nothing ever really dies, it just goes away until it gets remade.
Blu-Ray Review: Amazing Criterion Box Set of ‘America Lost and Found: The BBS Story’
Submitted by BrianTT on December 6, 2010 - 3:15pmCHICAGO – BBS Productions changed cinema. As the sixties were coming to a close, they jumped on the revolutionary bandwagon and took the cultural zeitgeist to the cinema. With a few other visionaries, they ushered in the most important era of film history and several of their best works have been collected in the amazing Criterion box “America Lost and Found: The BBS Story.”
TV Review: Shocking Mid-Season Premiere of TNT Hit ‘The Closer’
Submitted by BrianTT on December 6, 2010 - 2:42pmCHICAGO – It’s nearly impossible to write about the details of the season premiere of “The Closer” as TNT has asked us not to discuss the shocking events that open the episode so we will have to talk around the specifics more than usual. You may wonder why or how we can review an episode with no details? We’ll give it a shot because this is excellent television and we wouldn’t want to leave it un-reviewed.
TV Review: Talented Stars Carry ‘Men of a Certain Age’
Submitted by BrianTT on December 6, 2010 - 11:55amCHICAGO – It has yet to approach the writing standards of the best television on the air right now but the stars of “Men of a Certain Age” continue to make it one of the more interesting programs on cable.
HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: 3 DVDs, Posters to Provocative Art Film ‘Exit Through the Gift Shop’
Submitted by HollywoodChicago.com on December 5, 2010 - 4:54pmCHICAGO – In our latest documentary edition of the HollywoodChicago.com Hookup, we have 3 DVDs and limited-edition theatrical posters up for grabs to “Exit Through the Gift Shop”!
Interview: Filmmaker Ruba Nadda Captures Beauty Amid Chaos in ‘Cairo Time’
Submitted by mattmovieman on December 3, 2010 - 1:58pmCHICAGO – “Cairo Time” may be a serene and intricately nuanced romance between an American woman (Patricia Clarkson) and an Arab man (Alexander Siddig) in Cairo. But behind the cameras, the atmosphere felt more like an action movie, as filmmakers outwitted government censors by finding endless creative ways to capture their desired footage, in the midst of a bustling city that was largely out of their control.
HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: 50 Pairs of Chicago Passes to ‘Night Catches Us’ on Black Power
Submitted by HollywoodChicago.com on December 2, 2010 - 11:56pmCHICAGO – In our latest drama/romance edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 50 admit-two passes up for grabs to the advance Chicago screening of the new film “Night Catches Us” with Anthony Mackie (“The Hurt Locker”) and Kerry Washington (“Ray”)
Film Review: Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Darren Aronofsky Stage Mesmerizing ‘Black Swan’
Submitted by BrianTT on December 2, 2010 - 8:17pmCHICAGO – Darren Aronofsky’s “Black Swan” pulses with the kind of energy and life that we only see from cinema a few times a year.
Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Darren Aronofsky Stage Mesmerizing ‘Black Swan’
Submitted by BrianTT on December 2, 2010 - 8:14pm![]() Rating: 5.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Darren Aronofsky’s “Black Swan” pulses with the kind of energy and life that we only see from cinema a few times a year. With creative expression rarely seen in American film and one of the best performances by an actress that you will ever see, “Black Swan” is a film that resonates for hours and even days after you see it. You won’t easily shake this masterpiece. And you won’t want to.
Blu-Ray Review: ‘The Twilight Saga: Eclipse’ Delivers For Franchise Fans
Submitted by BrianTT on December 2, 2010 - 1:53pmCHICAGO – One of the biggest films of 2010, “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse,” comes home to Blu-ray and DVD this weekend and the release is a surprisingly-complete set for the best film yet in the blockbuster franchise.
DVD Review: ‘Parks and Recreation: Season Two’ Tries to Keep NBC Sitcom Alive
Submitted by BrianTT on December 2, 2010 - 11:20amCHICAGO – Amy Poehler’s “Parks and Recreation” had the serious problem of trying to find an audience on NBC during the destruction of the network by “The Jay Leno Show.” Debuting in April of 2009, it struggled to find a following and then barely hung around through the disastrous times at NBC during the 2009-10 season. To everyone’s surprise, it was renewed and will return on a revamped Thursday night lineup in January. To try and ignite interest in the show one more time, Universal has released the second season of this better-than-average show.
Blu-Ray Review: ‘The Sorcerer’s Apprentice’ Conjures Little Magic
Submitted by mattmovieman on December 2, 2010 - 9:43amCHICAGO – On a good day, Nicolas Cage can be one of the most exciting and enjoyable actors in the business. Whether he’s angrily reciting the alphabet in Robert Bierman’s 1988 satire “Vampire’s Kiss,” or hallucinating about iguanas in Werner Herzog’s 2009 comic masterpiece “The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans,” Cage has proven to be the most fun to watch when granted the opportunity to cut loose.
Video Game Review: ‘Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit’ Connects Racing Fans
Submitted by BrianTT on December 1, 2010 - 5:45pmCHICAGO – After a few missteps, EA has handed the development reins for the new “Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit” to Criterion Games, the company who hit racing gold with the great “Burnout Paradise” and they’ve delivered an addictive, expertly-designed game that should captivate car fans not entrenched in “Gran Turismo 5” through the holiday season and beyond.
DVD Review: Odd Release of ‘Strictly Ballroom: Special Edition’
Submitted by BrianTT on December 1, 2010 - 4:57pmCHICAGO – A few weeks ago, we acclaimed the beauty of the Blu-ray releases of Baz Luhrmann’s “Moulin Rouge!” and “Romeo + Juliet.” Oh what a difference a studio can make. While Fox treated those Luhrmann films with HD respect, Disney has decided to release his first film, the great “Strictly Ballroom” in a lackluster standard DVD special edition that would have been great in 2006 but times have changed.
DVD Review: Mesmerizing ‘Cairo Time’ Quietly Achieves Greatness
Submitted by mattmovieman on December 1, 2010 - 11:21amCHICAGO – While “Sex and the City 2” and “Eat Pray Love” failed to impress their female target audience this summer, a small art house treasure flew under practically everyone’s radar. It brilliantly delivered precisely what moviegoers expected from those mainstream turkeys, without a trace of cultural insensitivity or superficial excess. That film was “Cairo Time,” and it deserves to be discovered on the small screen.