CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com audio review for the doc series “Charlie Hustle & the Matter of Pete Rose,” about the rise and bitter fall of the major league legend, the MLB’s all-time hits leader, only to be banned from the sport because of gambling. Streaming on MAX and on HBO since July 24th.
HollywoodChicago.com Arts & Entertainment News
Blu-Ray Review: Cult of ‘Serenity’ Will Grow With Great Release
Submitted by BrianTT on December 30, 2008 - 10:10amCHICAGO – The regular flow of imports from standard DVD and HD-DVD to the champion of the format war, Blu-Ray, continues with this week’s release of an HD-DVD hit, Joss Whedon’s excellent “Serenity”.
Blu-Ray Review: Romantic Comedy Lives in ‘Ghost Town’
Submitted by BrianTT on December 29, 2008 - 8:07pmCHICAGO – With three of the most charming and enjoyable leads in any romantic comedy released in 2008, David Koepp’s “Ghost Town” should find a steady and satisfied audience on Blu-Ray this winter.
Blu-Ray Round Up: ‘Ghost,’ ‘The Truman Show,’ ‘Event Horizon,’ More
Submitted by BrianTT on December 29, 2008 - 7:30pmCHICAGO – The second wave of catalog titles from Paramount Home Video hits this week, just in time for buyers to put their gift cards to use. HollywoodChicago.com covered the first wave, including “Into the Wild” and “Old School,” a few weeks ago.
Blu-Ray Review: ‘The Duchess’ Looks Great, Ultimately Hollow
Submitted by BrianTT on December 26, 2008 - 12:05pmCHICAGO – Every year produces a movie or two that dazzles with beautiful costumes and lavishly recreated period settings but falls flat when it comes to character.
Blu-Ray Review: ‘Death Race’ Movie Loses, Blu-Ray Wins
Submitted by BrianTT on December 26, 2008 - 12:00pmCHICAGO – The Blu-Ray release of “Death Race” with Jason Statham and Tyrese Gibson tests the critical concept of reviewing the movie itself or purely its home presentation.
Bryan Singer’s ‘Valkyrie’ With Tom Cruise Mistakes Morose For Intense
Submitted by BrianTT on December 25, 2008 - 11:07amCHICAGO – Tom Cruise can be a powerfully vibrant actor in the right material but he’s horrendously miscast in Bryan Singer’s “Valkyrie,” a casting decision amplified by poor direction that drains this true story of an assassination attempt on the life of Adolf Hitler of its inherent power.
Kate Winslet, Ralph Fiennes Make ‘The Reader’ a Worthwhile Adaptation
Submitted by BrianTT on December 25, 2008 - 10:56amCHICAGO – Two of the best actors working in film today, Ralph Fiennes and Kate Winslet, offer enough to make “The Reader” a cinematic book worth reading, even if it’s not the masterpiece it could have been with a few different choices by its director and writer.
Interview: Taraji P. Henson of ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ on Playing Brad Pitt’s Mother
Submitted by HollywoodChicago.com on December 25, 2008 - 2:11amCHICAGO – It turns out that skipping a “blowout” garage sale she was planning paid off for up-and-coming actress Taraji P. Henson after all, she told HollywoodChicago.com’s Adam Fendelman in a Chicago interview.
Video Game Review: ‘Prince of Persia’ a Mesmerizing, Addictive, Near Masterpiece
Submitted by BrianTT on December 24, 2008 - 5:21pm Video Game Rating: 4.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Ubisoft’s “Prince of Persia” does more than just take the opportunity to update a last-generation classic franchise on the next-generation format, just in time for the movie starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Gemma Arterton, Ben Kingsley, and Alfred Molina to start building buzz for its Memorial Day 2010 release. “Prince of Persia” is that rare game that’s good enough that fans will still be playing it when the Gyllenhaal movie version hits theaters in seventeen months.
Blu-Ray Review: Criterion Launches Blu-Ray Division With 1990s Independent Hits
Submitted by BrianTT on December 24, 2008 - 4:37pmCHICAGO – Criterion made their debut on the next-gen format this month with a series of imports from standard to Blu-Ray, the first film by a regular for the Collection, Wes Anderson’s “Bottle Rocket”, and the movie that introduced Wong Kar-wai to the world, “Chungking Express”.
HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: 10 DVDs of David Zucker’s Comedy ‘An American Carol’
Submitted by HollywoodChicago.com on December 24, 2008 - 2:56amCHICAGO – In our latest edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 10 DVDs up for grabs for David Zucker’s new comedy “An American Carol”. Zucker has brought us films including “Airplane!,” “The Naked Gun,” “Scary Movie 3,” “Scary Movie 4” and “BASEketball”.
Interview: ‘The Wrestler’ Director Darren Aronofsky on Mickey Rourke’s Comeback
Submitted by PatrickMcD on December 23, 2008 - 4:53pmCHICAGO – In his excellent new film “The Wrestler,” director Darren Aronofsky brings back the heyday and underbelly of the 1980s professional wrestling world in the character of Randy “The Ram” Robinson.
The 10 Best Blu-Ray, DVD Releases of 2008
Submitted by BrianTT on December 23, 2008 - 4:43pmCHICAGO – For audiences increasingly accustomed to watching movies at home instead of at the multiplex, it was an interesting year for DVDs and Blu-rays.
