CHICAGO – It began with a boy and his dream (nightmare?). John LaFlamboy, to be exact, as he took an idea he had in college and made it his life’s work. He owns and operates the HellsGate Haunted House in Lockport (Illinois), which was designed, built and put together by Haunted House experts expressly for the spookiest month of the year. For info on how to purchase tickets, click HellsGate.
HollywoodChicago.com DVD Reviews
DVD Review: Andrea Arnold’s ‘Wuthering Heights’ Puts ‘The Great Gatsby’ to Shame
Submitted by mattmovieman on May 9, 2013 - 9:19amCHICAGO – First Joe Wright sucked the life out of “Anna Karenina” with his meticulously choreographed, self-conscious pageantry. Then Baz Luhrmann proved that while heavy-handed spectacle may have appealed to Jay Gatsby himself, it was a recipe for disaster when applied to F. Scott Fitzgerald’s prose. Nothing kills off the power of a metaphor more than a large neon sign erected to underline its significance.
DVD Review: ‘Gate of Hell’ Gets Extra-Free Criterion Release
Submitted by mattmovieman on April 29, 2013 - 8:28amCHICAGO – Beneath every honorable warrior is a cold-hearted opportunist hell-bent on dominating his victimized prey at all costs. That’s a theory indelibly illustrated by Teinosuke Kinugasa’s revered 1953 classic, “Gate of Hell,” a melodrama populated by such frustrating characters that it nearly loses the viewer’s interest before its admittedly splendid finale, when the tale takes on grand dimensions of Greek tragedy.
DVD Review: Second Season of FOX Comedy ‘Mad TV’
Submitted by BrianTT on April 19, 2013 - 1:10pmCHICAGO – Will “Mad TV” get a cultural comeback? Once positioned as the first show that could really compete with “Saturday Night Live,” it never quite fulfilled its potential but I think it’s the kind of thing that audiences could find and respect in the future. It’s too bad that none of the “Mad” players became huge stars — movie fame helped propel the respect for those early days of “SNL” — but there were some undeniably talented players here and the show holds up better than you might expect. There’s a part of me that wishes it was still on, especially during this truly horrendous season of “SNL.” Lorne Michaels could use some competition.
DVD Review: ‘Best of Warner Bros. 20 Film Collection: Romance’
Submitted by BrianTT on April 16, 2013 - 2:26pmCHICAGO – With Mother’s Day around the corner, Warner Bros. has released another one of their stellar DVD box sets built around their 100th anniversary — “Best of Warner Bros. 20 Film Collection: Romance.” It may not be the best gift set for everyone but it does offer a strong package for those who like a little emotional manipulation with their popcorn. There are some undeniable classics in this set (along with some questionable choices) but it’s the sheer “something for everyone” quality of the release that makes it memorable.
DVD Review: Kathryn Bigelow’s Incredible ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ Deserves More
Submitted by BrianTT on March 30, 2013 - 7:41pmCHICAGO – At one point in awards season, right after it won five Chicago Film Critics Association Awards, including Best Picture, Actress, Screenplay, and Director, it really looked like Kathryn Bigelow’s “Zero Dark Thirty” was going to be the most award-winning film of 2012. When all was said and done, it only won a single Oscar for Sound Editing and Bigelow wasn’t even nominated.
DVD Review: Great Performances Anchor Smart Drama of ‘Smashed’
Submitted by BrianTT on March 20, 2013 - 2:51pmCHICAGO – I’m upset I didn’t see “Smashed” in time to produce my year-end lists for 2012 (Sony Pictures Classics inexplicably never sent a screener and I missed it in theaters). Mary Elizabeth Winstead’s stellar lead performance and Aaron Paul’s pitch-perfect support would have been included in both of my performance pieces. They’re so good here, balancing the truth of youthful addiction in ways that we rarely see in film.
DVD Review: ‘In Their Skin’ Rips Off Michael Haneke, Tacks on Sentimental Finale
Submitted by mattmovieman on March 20, 2013 - 9:35amCHICAGO – I may never know how “In Their Skin” came into being, but I have a pretty good theory. Screenwriter/star Josh Close was so appalled by the unapologetic bleakness of Michael Haneke’s “Funny Games” that he took it upon himself to make the exact same movie, more or less, but with a much happier ending. It’s a noble effort but every bit as pointless as Rod Lurie’s proudly non-misogynistic remake of “Straw Dogs.”
DVD Review: Tedium Overtakes Journey of ‘The Loneliest Planet’
Submitted by BrianTT on March 15, 2013 - 11:30amCHICAGO – “The Loneliest Planet,” recently released on DVD, will try even the most patient and adoring of art movie lovers as its deliberate, plodding pace pushes out all possibilities of character involvement. To be blunt, by the time I felt like I was asked to care, it was too late. There’s some stunning cinematography and Gael Garcia Bernal is simply one of the most interesting actors of his generation but this effort is dull to the nth degree.
DVD Review: ‘How to Survive a Plague’ Makes Old Fight Feel Current
Submitted by BrianTT on March 4, 2013 - 7:21pmCHICAGO – Few films have more notably put viewers in the middle of a health crisis than David France’s Oscar-nominated “How to Survive a Plague,” recently released on DVD. With a ton of archival footage of the battle to increase the speed and severity of the drug trials that would help battle AIDS, France’s film captures something important about the war against one of the deadliest diseases of the last century. How do you survive? You fight.
DVD Review: John Cusack Fans Should Steer Clear of ‘The Factory’
Submitted by mattmovieman on March 1, 2013 - 3:51pmCHICAGO – John Cusack is in a very bad mood. Not even a home-cooked Thanksgiving dinner can melt his icily grim disposition, as he speeds through traffic, shouts expletives at random extras and takes part in several terse phone conversations (hopefully with his agent). Of course, if I was an A-grade actor trapped in Z-grade dreck, I’d be peeved too.
