CHICAGO – The Steppenwolf Theatre of Chicago continues to provide different viewpoints on the American stage, and their latest “Little Bear Ridge Road” is no exception. Featuring ensemble member Laurie Metcalf, it’s the resonate story of a family at the crossroads. For tickets/details, click LITTLE BEAR.
Film Review: ‘Real Steel’ Overcomes Harebrained Premise With Heart, Quenching Hollywood Wizardry
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CHICAGO – Try selling a friend on paying to see a movie with you about machine-operated boxing where humans control robots for money.
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Just call your friend on his Motorola DynaTAC retro brickphone and say: “Hey, Billy! Remember all those swell nights we had as kids when I smoked you every time in Rock’em Sock’em Robots with our two dueling robot boxers mechanically manipulated by us? There’s a new movie out that pays homage to all those times you wasted trying to decapitate my robot’s head.”
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From that vapid premise alone, you’d likely have better luck snagging a date to a film about vaginal dentata.
But fret not, friend: there’s hope yet for Disney’s sci-fi sports movie “Real Steel,” which is a sovereign testament to the power of the absurd. What if instead you were pitched to see a high-tech “Rocky” starring Hugh Jackman (Wolverine in the “X-Men” movies) from executive producer Steven Spielberg and producer Robert Zemeckis (the “Back to the Future” movies) with original music by Danny Elfman? Now’s your interest piqued?
It should be, because big Hollywood names aside, this Michigan-filmed family movie overcomes an initially harebrained-sounding story line with just enough thrill, modern-day ocular wizardry and even fragments of heart-warming emotion to convert most initial skeptics into believers.
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Image credit: DreamWorks
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