December 2011

CHICAGO – “The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim” passes the ultimate test of the best role-playing games — entertaining tedium. RPG fans have to be willing to spend hours grinding away to upgrade their character or sometimes just trying to get from point A to point B. There’s a fine line between repetition that feels worthwhile and that which feels boring. Even doing the most mundane tasks in “Skyrim,” one knows they’re playing a near-miracle of a game, one of the best RPGs of all time.

CHICAGO – Excluding its rather unnecessary epilogue, Fred Cavayé’s latest thriller, “Point Blank,” clocks in around one hour and fifteen minutes. It’s a fast paced film, but it oddly never feels rushed. All of the set-pieces and dramatic revelations are present and executed to perfection. What’s lacking here is the extra padding so often found in bloated Hollywood blockbusters.

CHICAGO – J.C. Chandor’s CFCA-nominated “Margin Call” is the kind of film that makes me concerned about the lack of mainstream audience for adult drama. There’s no reason at all that this excellent drama with several major actors shouldn’t have found a much-larger audience. Lionsgate needs to go back to the drawing board and figure out what’s going on with their marketing and promotions since it’s total nonsense that a critically-acclaimed work like this and their even-better “Warrior” both flopped at the box office. “Warrior” was at least given a chance. “Margin Call” never went beyond 199 screens. So you probably haven’t seen it. You should.

Rating: 2.5/5.0

CHICAGO – Being a huge Steven Spielberg fan and a pretty big aficionado of Peter Jackson (who produced) as well, I was pretty psyched to see what these two undeniable geniuses could do in the world of motion-capture animation with their collaboration on the adaptation of the hit Herge cartoon “The Adventures of Tintin.” That’s why it hurts me to say that, excepting a few stand-out action scenes, this is a shockingly dull affair, something that lulled me to sleep far more often than it inspired my imagination to life.

CHICAGO – HBO has such a limited amount of series and so many critical darlings that when they announce a renewal or a cancellation it carries more weight than most networks. They announced four today with no major surprises as we all expected that Golden Globe-nominated “Enlightened” would return for a second season and even fans of “Hung,” “Bored to Death,” and “How to Make It in America” could have guessed that those series were headed in the other direction.

CHICAGO – Like a lot of video game critics my age, the original Sega Genesis “Sonic the Hedgehog” games hold a special place in my heart and my gaming history. Nearly as much as the adventures of Mario and Link, the time I spent with that speedy blue hedgehog impacted the way I would judge games like it forever. I was woefully addicted to “Sonic the Hedgehog 2.”

CHICAGO – Here is an alleged family film made with all the heart and invention of a cynical business deal. Not a single person involved in the production appears to have any concept of what constitutes quality family entertainment. It’s essentially 103 minutes of product placement, with the biggest product being the Smurfs. There’s also room for Rock Band, Google, M&Ms, the Blue Man Group and every single business located on Times Square.

Rating: 5.0/5.0

CHICAGO – “The Artist” is the kind of film for which a critic feels an added responsibility. The fact is that I know that a large number of readers won’t go anywhere near a movie that is described as “a black & white ode to silent films.” Eek. Sounds like torture. And yet, I also know for a fact that a vast majority of those same readers would LOVE “The Artist.” This is a stellar piece of filmmaking, one of the best of the year. Jump on the bandwagon early for what will surely be one of the major players of the upcoming awards season.

CHICAGO – Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Lady Vanishes” isn’t one of his most heralded films. You don’t hear it mentioned on most lists of the best works of arguably the most influential director who ever lived. And yet it was the third film chosen for The Criterion Collection and has now been given the upgrade and joined the esteemed Blu-ray ranks of the most important collection in the history of home entertainment. If you’re unfamiliar with this witty, delightful gem of a thriller, there’s no other way to experience it for the first time. And if you’re a fan of Hitchcock’s more famous films, do yourself a favor by checking out one of his earliest.

CHICAGO – In a weekend box office that had a little more life than the previous weekend, “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows” reigned supreme. The detective thriller starring Robert Downey Jr. made an estimated $40 million in its opening three days.

CHICAGO – In our latest live solo album edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Music, we have 3 special-edition CD and DVD combo packs up for grabs for Slash’s first-ever live solo album “Made in Stoke 24/7/11” from the iconic, Grammy-winning rock guitarist and songwriter!

CHICAGO – The production team of “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows” – designers, crew, writers, director and actors – should be proud of the level of respect they have given and embodied in delivering an updated Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson, Professor Moriarty and the like. They take liberties, of course, but they also make sure that the truth of the characters are always intact.

Rating: 3.5/5.0

CHICAGO – There are glimpses of actual danger in David Cronenberg’s divisive “A Dangerous Method” with Michael Fassbender, Viggo Mortensen, and Keira Knightley, and the film has a lingering power as it’s easy to roll around your brain and contemplate its themes, but I wanted a bit more actual risk to the filmmaking. Easily the masterful director’s most straightforward work in some time (possibly ever), this is a worthwhile piece that nonetheless disappoints in the context of the rest of his filmography.

CHICAGO – Rockstar Games has given fans of the Max Payne series everywhere a chance to be a part of the game more than ever. A Twitter contest created by the video game company will pick out eight lucky fans to have their likeness rendered as eight gangsters in the multiplayer version of “Max Payne 3.”