CHICAGO – In anticipation of the scariest week of the year, HollywoodChicago.com launches its 2024 Movie Gifts series, which will suggest DVDs and collections for holiday giving.
HollywoodChicago.com Blu-Ray Reviews
What to Watch: March 25-April 11, 2014
Submitted by BrianTT on April 1, 2014 - 11:52amWhat to Watch is back in two-week form this time around, hitting the most important Blu-ray, DVD, and streaming offerings from both March 25th and April 1st. No April Fool’s Day jokes here. We’re above that. Sorta. What you will find is one of the best movies of last year, a fantastic comedy series, a foreign film you really should see, and further proof that John Cusack is merely slipping into straight-to-DVD oblivion like that damn horse in “The Neverending Story”. Pick one of the six. What the Hell, pick two.
Blu-ray Review: Office Comedy ‘Welcome to the Jungle’ Has a Case of the Mondays
Submitted by NickHC on March 31, 2014 - 1:18pmCHICAGO – Without rescue of a creative joke in sight, “Welcome to the Jungle” eventually devolves into an unsavory mash of “The Office” meets “Lord of the Flies”. Adam Brody’s Chris Myers is the lead character in a cube monkey’s generic fantasy, of which this film treats with a checklist. The attractive and amiable office mate (played by Megan Boone of Chicago Film Critics Festival favorite “Leave Me Like You Found Me”) is to be wooed, a manchild boss (Rob Huebel) is to be dethroned from his ego, and a world of freedom is to be revealed for those who have imprisoned themselves to 9-5 pressures.
Blu-ray Review: ‘The Best of Bogart Collection’ Highlights Four Must-Owns
Submitted by BrianTT on March 26, 2014 - 6:06pmThere are handful of actors who will forever be ingrained in the canon of film history. John Wayne, Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart, James Dean, Gregory Peck, to name just a few. One of the most iconic actors of all time, Humphrey Bogart, gets his own four-movie Blu-ray collection this week. This is the kind of release that usually hits near Father’s Day. Get your shopping done early this year.
Blu-ray Review: Gorgeous Journey of Oscar-Winning ‘The Great Beauty’
Submitted by BrianTT on March 25, 2014 - 9:04amWe love to go on and on when the Academy gets it wrong, especially in the notoriously flawed Documentary and Foreign Language categories. And so we should give them a pat on the back when they get it right. Yes, “Blue is the Warmest Color” deserved more attention but my vote still would have gone to Paolo Sorrentino’s masterful “The Great Beauty,” released today on Blu-ray and DVD from The Criterion Collection. It’s one of the best films of the last several years; a mesmerizing ode to the diversionary quality of excess. Don’t miss it.
What to Watch: Mar. 11-24, 2014
Submitted by BrianTT on March 18, 2014 - 3:47pm- American Hustle
- Amy Adams
- Blu-ray Review
- Bradley Cooper
- Brian Tallerico
- Christian Bale
- David O. Russell
- Disney
- DVD Review
- Emma Thompson
- Frozen
- HollywoodChicago.com Content
- Hulu
- In Fear
- iTunes
- Jennifer Lawrence
- Jeremy Renner
- Kill Your Darlings
- Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
- Netflix
- Saving Mr. Banks
- The Visitor
- Tom Hanks
- VOD
- What to Watch
- Theater, TV, DVD & Blu-Ray
An Oscar winner, a major Oscar nominee, two more pieces of Oscar bait, and a few movies that never got anywhere near Oscar. Welcome to What to Watch. We don’t play favorites. Oh, wait, yes we do. You should definitely rent or buy the titles on this first page. The second page is more optional.
Blu-ray Review: ‘George Washington’ Re-Release Recalls Introduction of Great Director
Submitted by NickHC on March 13, 2014 - 10:18amCHICAGO – Before “Snow Angels”, “Prince Avalanche”, or even “The Sitter”, director David Gordon Green flexed his film school muscles in his unabashed inauguration, “George Washington”. Eying its body, the 2000 film shares qualities other first-timers huff when trying to be taken seriously by the arthouse crowd. Especially with the films that were assuredly motivated by Green’s work like 2012’s “Beasts of the Southern Wild”, “George Washington” celebrates storytelling instruments like whimsical young voiceover, shots that are equally distinct & questionable, and the raw potential of non-actors.
Blu-ray Review: Even Villainous James Franco Can’t Save Dull ‘Homefront’
Submitted by NickHC on March 12, 2014 - 10:03amCHICAGO – Jason Statham has become an amorphous blob in the action genre, but an amorphous blob who is his own archetype, nonetheless. With the “Expendables” movies he began to take the genre torch from Sylvester Stallone, and now working from a script by Stallone in “Homefront”, his Americanization is nearly certified. That being said, watching Jason Statham tattoo a bald eagle on himself might be more enjoyable than his latest addition to a bloated filmography, “Homefront”. That, or staging a debate with Stallone and Statham about gun control.
What to Watch: Feb. 25-Mar. 10, 2014
Submitted by BrianTT on March 5, 2014 - 9:21pmWe’re back! Did you survive the Oscars? Are you looking for something to watch on Blu-ray, DVD, or streaming service? We have a few options for you released right at the end of February or the beginning of March, including a couple great animated shows, a Best Picture nominee, an FX sitcom, and a mega-blockbuster. Pick your favorites. All five are worth a look.
Blu-ray Review: Insightful, Candid Steven Soderbergh on New Criterion Release
Submitted by BrianTT on February 28, 2014 - 9:23amSteven Soderbergh’s film “King of the Hill” is an essential one to understanding his career simply for the way it displayed the range we would come to admire in one of our best filmmakers. Soderbergh is one of the most important directors of the last quarter-century, in no small part due to the incredible range he has displayed throughout his career. His current-century work has been defined by an incredible attention to detail but his 3rd and 4th films, “King of the Hill” and “The Underneath,” which is included on this Blu-ray in its entirety, bear the mark of a man still honing his craft. And he’ll be the first to tell you that.
Blu-ray Review: ‘Gravity’ is Elegant, Nail Biting at the Same Time
Submitted by DaveHC on February 26, 2014 - 4:10pmCHICAGO – Some films fundamentally change what you expect from cinema. “Star Wars” (1977), “Jurassic Park” (1996), “Avatar” (2007) all pushed those boundaries. In my first of a whopping eight theatrical viewings of “Jurassic Park” for instance I never once felt the illusion of watching real dinosaurs was interrupted by suddenly realizing how ‘they did it’ I was simply watching real dinosaurs.