September 2011

CHICAGO – In our latest action/crime/drama edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 40 admit-two movie passes up for grabs to the advance Chicago screening of the new film “Drive” starring Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan and Bryan Cranston!

CHICAGO – You’re probably going “Huh? There was another Captain America movie? Before Chris Evans?” Believe it or not, yes. Before people like Bryan Singer and Sam Raimi turned the Marvel-verse (and really all of Hollywood) on its head by proving that superheroes could not only be profitable but critically viable as well, there were some honest train wrecks, including an incomplete version of “Fantastic Four” and an awful adaptation of “Captain America,” recently released on DVD to tie in with the success of “Captain America: The First Avenger.” Don’t get them confused.

CHICAGO – In our latest thriller edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 35 admit-two passes up for grabs to the advance Chicago screening of the new film “Straw Dogs” starring James Marsden, Kate Bosworth, Alexander Skarsgård and James Woods!

Rating: 0.5/5.0

CHICAGO – Adam Sandler lost a bet. How else to explain the existence of “Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star,” a movie that no one but the man behind Happy Madison would possibly finance? If you took this script (co-written by Little Nicky himself) to any sane film producer, they would assume you were pulling a prank.

Rating: 3.5/5.0

CHICAGO – Power is a strange, corrupting force. Human beings manufacture power based on governments, money and religion. Oftentimes an element of humanity must be sacrificed to obtain power. In Iran, that element is women, as religious and governmental oppression conspire to create “Circumstance.”

Rating: 2.0/5.0

CHICAGO – There are few sights more depressing than a game cast all dressed up with nowhere to go and no good jokes to share. “Burke and Hare” is the sort of comedy Mel Brooks was making in the ’90s. All the ingredients are on hand for a promising comedy, and yet something’s missing—namely, laughter. The timing is off, the punch-lines are obvious and the actors are bored beyond belief.

CHICAGO – Some movies don’t just use cliches, they practically bathe in them, finding little other way to tell their story. Despite yet another strong performance from Oscar winner Melissa Leo (“The Fighter”), “The Space Between,” being broadcast uncut on the tenth anniversary of 9/11 this Sunday, is such a movie. She keeps it interesting but the film takes a potentially resonant story and deflates it with paper-thin storytelling.

CHICAGO – The CW is an interesting story for a TV critic. If you just look at their numbers, they shouldn’t even be able to pay the electricity bill to transmit a signal. And yet numbers no longer tell the entire tale. The CW attracts loyal viewers through new delivery systems including On Demand, iTunes, and DVD/Blu-ray. Two of their most notable shows, “Nikita” and “The Vampire Diaries,” hit the market last week. Catch up before they return for new seasons.

Rating: 4.5/5.0

CHICAGO – A few weeks ago saw the release of the R-rated “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark,” a gore-free creature feature that was given the MPAA stamp of 17-plus due to “pervasive scariness.” This week sees the PG-13-rated “Contagion,” a film SO much more pervasively scary than the movie about goblins in a distant mansion because, well, it’s about the fact that the world is pervasively scary.

CHICAGO – This is usually the time of year where we bemoan the months that have just passed and talk about the quality to come in the Fall. The fact is that if the upcoming season is half-as-good as the previous three, 2011 is going to be the best year in film in ages. It’s been a VERY strong year at the cinema and there’s every indication that we ain’t seen nothing yet.

CHICAGO – Few directors have ever kickstarted their career more confidently than Joel and Ethan Coen. And they did it with such an array of genre and subject matter from the gritty noir of “Blood Simple” to the subversive comedy of “Raising Arizona” to the gangster epic “Miller’s Crossing” to the heavily-symbolic drama “Barton Fink” to the whimsical charmer “The Hudsucker Proxy” and head-first into one of the best movies ever made — “Fargo.” Four of their first six films have been collected in the “Coen Brothers Collection” and while Fox was, very sadly, only able to send over one of them individually, we didn’t want this stellar collection to go unmentioned.

CHICAGO – Like most instances in Hollywood these days, one gun-filled, explosive, action-packed film is never enough; not when a sequel can be made that promises the same exciting sequences and macho heroes. That is why it is no surprise that Lionsgate has given the green light to a sequel for the 2010 film “The Expendables,” titled “The Expendables 2,” and two of the biggest action stars of all time will join the fun.

CHICAGO – On the menu screen for “POM Wonderful Presents The Greatest Movie Ever Sold,” director Morgan Spurlock promises that the movie you’re about to watch will “impregnate your brain with awesome.” That’s quite a promise and the movie doesn’t exactly live up to it. Once again, it’s a decent documentary made by a very-smart man that still has frustrating flaws — like all of Spurlock’s work.

CHICAGO – An intriguing, highly unusual premise is brought to life by fine performances in “Sympathy for Delicious,” but the film’s aim to inspire is undercut by the shallowness of its one-note characters. Scene after scene veers between a genuinely absorbing morality play and a feature-length “Touched by an Angel” episode riddled with f-bombs.