CHICAGO – If you’ve never seen the farcical ensemble theater chestnut “Noises Off,” you will see no better version than on the Steppenwolf Theatre stage, now at their northside Chicago venue through November 3rd. For tickets and details for this riotous theater experience, click NOISES OFF.
HollywoodChicago.com DVD Reviews
DVD Review: David Fincher’s Incredible ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’
Submitted by BrianTT on March 27, 2012 - 11:19amCHICAGO – David Fincher’s “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” is an absolute masterpiece, one of the best films of 2011 and one of the best thrillers of the new millennium. After I saw it in December of 2011, there was some question of its quality when compared to the original Stieg Larsson books, the Noomi Rapace-starring foreign version, and even Fincher’s previous work, the amazing “The Social Network.” Ignore all that comparison and just view “Dragon” on its own merits. It’s spectacular.
DVD Review: ‘Senna’ Salutes Astounding Career of Titular Racing Icon
Submitted by mattmovieman on March 20, 2012 - 8:31amCHICAGO – Here’s one of the smartest documentaries to come around in a good long while. Director Asif Kapadia tackles subject matter that begs to be told with immediacy and he ends up succeeding every step of the way. His masterstroke in the Sundance prize-winner, “Senna,” is at once simple and ingenious: the entire picture is told purely through archival footage, allowing the subjects to tell their own story as it unfolded.
DVD Review: Felicity Jones, Anton Yelchin Prove Young Love is ‘Like Crazy’
Submitted by BrianTT on March 8, 2012 - 3:06pmCHICAGO – Young love isn’t just crazy, it’s also often pretty stupid. How else to explain a decision to break the law just to spend more time with the man you love? Such is the decision made by Anna (gorgeous newcomer Felicity Jones) when she sends her young love spiralling in “Like Crazy,” recently released on Blu-ray and DVD. The talented young cast elevate a daring-but-often-frustrating script. Whatever problems the film may have, see it for Jones, Anton Yelchin, and Jennifer Lawrence, giving three of the best performances of their generation in 2011.
DVD Review: Channing Tatum’s ‘The Son of No One’ Bound to Please No One
Submitted by mattmovieman on March 1, 2012 - 11:21amCHICAGO – With the right role and the right director, Channing Tatum manages to convince me that he is in fact a decent actor. He’s delivered enough solid work to illustrate that he’s more than just empty eye candy (in other words, he’s no Taylor Lautner). So why does Tatum continue to forge collaborations with Dito Montiel, a director who has a knack for making him look like an amateur?
DVD Round-up: ‘Answers to Nothing,’ ‘Bounty Hunters,’ More
Submitted by BrianTT on February 28, 2012 - 6:51pmCHICAGO – There is such a unique array of DVD titles this week that we couldn’t just let them get buried on our desk like so many minor titles do over the year. At least one of these has to be of interest to you. Maybe even the Dane Cook movie.
DVD Review: Beloved ‘Downton Abbey’ Returns With Second Season
Submitted by BrianTT on February 20, 2012 - 2:55pmCHICAGO – “Downton Abbey” became one of the most notable TV phenomenons of the last several years this season as the second installment of the multiple award-winning show became such a part of pop culture that it was even spoofed on “Saturday Night Live.”
DVD Review: ‘Project Nim’ Powerfully Chronicles the Tragic Life of a Chimp
Submitted by mattmovieman on February 20, 2012 - 8:56amCHICAGO – James Marsh’s much talked-about documentary, “Project Nim,” is one of the saddest films of 2011, charting the mishandling of a chimpanzee by well-meaning but misguided humans. Nim Chimpsky was the simian subject of a widely publicized ’70s-era experiment created by Professor Herbert Terrace. His goal was to discover if a chimp could speak in complete sentences via sign language.
DVD Review: ‘In Time’ Wastes Timely Premise With Unsatisfying Script
Submitted by mattmovieman on February 16, 2012 - 7:51amCHICAGO – During last year’s groundswell of Occupy protests, several films and television shows attempted to exploit the class divide for the purposes of entertainment. Only ABC’s irresistible soaper, “Revenge,” fared equally well with critics and audiences, who embraced it as a guiltily pleasurable fantasy in which the rich are brought to justice. Too bad that premise is so rarely a reality.
DVD Review: ‘Another Happy Day’ Plunges Headfirst Into Familial Hellhole
Submitted by mattmovieman on February 9, 2012 - 10:18amCHICAGO – “Another Happy Day” is essentially the inverse of “Rachel Getting Married.” Instead of an unstable, self-pitying girl wreaking havoc on an otherwise pleasant wedding, we have a sensitive, otherwise pleasant woman driven mad by her unstable, self-pitying family…at a wedding, no less. I’ve seen war enemies with less animosity than this group of miserable basket cases.
DVD Review: Rachel Weisz Delivers Oscar-Caliber Work in ‘The Whistleblower’
Submitted by mattmovieman on February 7, 2012 - 12:29pmCHICAGO – I have a sneaking suspicion that if The Weinstein Company had acquired this film and released it during the 2011 awards season, Rachel Weisz would currently be an Oscar nominee. After playing an assortment of vulnerable, photogenic damsels throughout her career, Weisz delivers her most potent and compelling work to date in Larysa Kondracki’s fact-based thriller.
