CHICAGO – Playwright Hannah Ii-Epstein is a Hawaiian native who is bringing her unique point of view regarding that U.S.“State of Mind” to the Chicago stage. The theater group Nothing Without a Company presents her latest, “Pakalolo Sweet.” through October 5th, 2019, at the Berger Mansion in the Edgewater neighborhood. Click here for more details, including ticket information.
George Clooney
‘Suburbicon’ is the Cinematic Equivalent of a Soccer Mom
Submitted by JonHC on October 27, 2017 - 2:20pm Rating: 2.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Having lived in both the suburbs and in major cities throughout my lifetime, I can say without hesitation that the suburbs tend to be dull, boring and bereft of creativity. To be fair, it’s not their fault since they’re built for efficiency and with placidity in mind. “Surburbicon” is made in much the same way, becoming the one thing a film shouldn’t be: boring.
Approach of ‘Money Monster’ is Pure Fraud
Submitted by PatrickMcD on May 12, 2016 - 8:46pm Rating: 1.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – In our society there is one eternal truth…the rich will ALWAYS win, that’s one of the reasons that they are rich. So when “Money Monster” attempts to take them down a peg with a ridiculous fantasy story, it’s as fraudulent as what they pretend to be fighting. An oligarch watches this, and laughs at us.
‘The First Monday in May’ Confirms That Life is Beautiful
Submitted by PatrickMcD on April 18, 2016 - 11:10am Rating: 5.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – The moral of the story of “The First Monday in May” definitely is “there is heaven on earth if the right angels come together.” The film is stunningly beautiful, as it chronicles the development of the annual costume exhibit and gala at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art.
‘Hail, Caesar!’ is Coen Bros. Excellence for Movie Lovers
Submitted by PatrickMcD on February 5, 2016 - 11:12amRating: 5.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Writer/directors Joel and Ethan Coen love the movies, and that love is magnificently played out in “Hail, Caesar!” As they riff on religion, geopolitics and 1950s morality, while wonderfully celebrating and spoofing an era in movies that will never be again, the Coens abide and deliver.
Awe Factor is Sorely Lacking in ‘Tomorrowland’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on May 21, 2015 - 8:31pmRating: 2.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – For a movie all about the awesome power of inspiration, innovation and wonder, “Tomorrowland” has precious little of its own. “Tomorrowland” the title promises a kind of retro futuristic world where anything is possible, but “Tomorrowland” the movie rarely delivers anything approximating joy.
‘The Monuments Men’ Has Been Drained of Personality
Submitted by BrianTT on February 6, 2014 - 10:03am Rating: 1.5/5.0 |
George Clooney’s “The Monuments Men” is processed cheese. It is a film that has been rewritten, edited, and refined until it has lost all sense of purpose or identity. There’s no flavor left. It is a film that defies genre; not quirky enough to have a comedic personality despite a cast that almost always supplies edge and not engaging enough to work as drama or thriller.
‘Gravity’ is a Visionary Expansion on Our Humanity
Submitted by PatrickMcD on October 5, 2013 - 6:23pm Rating: 4.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Space looks like a vast, dark ocean in the new film “Gravity,” with the sparkling blue orb of our planet Earth beckoning the voyagers on that ocean homeward. Co-writer/director Alfonso Cuarón fashions a metaphoric dreamscape that places the small molecules of human beings within the vast expanse, fighting to understand the value of their place in that sea of cosmos.
Alfonso Cuaron’s ‘Gravity’ Rekindles Wonder of Cinema
Submitted by BrianTT on October 3, 2013 - 10:28amRating: 5.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – There used to be a stronger sense that films could take us someplace new. From the days of audience members screaming at the train coming at the camera because they didn’t understand that they wouldn’t be run over to Dorothy’s trip to Oz to young Skywalker’s family problems, movies captured a sense of wonder that’s been lost in an era when CGI is in KFC commercials and it feels like Hollywood has run out of new places to take us.
George Clooney Stars in Stunning ‘The Descendants’
Submitted by BrianTT on November 17, 2011 - 10:21amRating: 5.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – If one looks solely at the central male characters, it can seem remarkably easy to classify Alexander Payne’s movies under the subgenre heading of “mid-life crisis comedies”: Jim McAllister (“Election”), Warren Schmidt (“About Schmidt”), Miles (“Sideways”), and now the memorable protagonist of his stellar new dramedy “The Descendants,” Matt King.
Ryan Gosling, George Clooney in ‘The Ides of March’
Submitted by BrianTT on October 7, 2011 - 9:35am Rating: 3.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – George Clooney’s “The Ides of March” is a star-studded political thriller of the variety that was made much more commonly in the ‘70s and would therefore seem like a perfect vehicle to restart for today’s controversial times. We could use more political thrillers with complex dialogue aimed at adults to offset the fact that a vast majority of motion pictures are aimed at children.
