HollywoodChicago.com Arts & Entertainment News

DVD Review: ‘Breaking Bad: The Complete First Season’ Features Gripping Performance

Breaking Bad
HollywoodChicago.com DVD Rating: 3.5/5.0
DVD Rating: 3.5/5.0

CHICAGOAMC’s “Breaking Bad” is not one of my favorite shows on television but the lead performance by Emmy Award winner Bryan Cranston is one of the most riveting I’ve seen in the last few years. He is pitch-perfect and everything that works about this unusual series comes from his great star turn.

Blu-Ray Review: ‘Sex Drive: Unrated and Cream-filled’ Edition Delivers What Title Promises

Sex Drive
HollywoodChicago.com Blu-Ray Rating: 2.5/5.0
Blu-Ray Rating: 2.5/5.0

CHICAGO – The Blu-Ray for the raunchy teen comedy “Sex Drive” is simply ridiculous. And I think I mean that in a good way. As a DVD critic, I’m constantly faced with “Unrated” editions that don’t really live up to their name. You can say a lot about “Sex Drive,” but the Blu-Ray is undeniably “Unrated and Cream-filled”.

Video Game Review: ‘F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin’ Both Terrifying, Addictive

FEAR 2
HollywoodChicago.com Video Game Rating: 4.0/5.0
Video Game Rating: 4.0/5.0

CHICAGO – Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment’s “F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin” is not a perfect game but it is the most addictively playable action titles released so far this year. Like a great horror movie, it will suck you in, keep you on the edge of your seat through the majority of its playing time, and spit you out on the other side, exhausted but with a huge smile on your face.

Blu-Ray Round Up, Feb. 26, 2009: ‘Futurama,’ ‘Ronin,’ ‘Vanishing Point’

Futurama

CHICAGO – Still trying to get over an Oscar hangover? There’s no better way to deflate the pomposity of awards season than with a wicked car chase. Of course, one of the best of all time hit Blu-Ray this week in the controversial Blu-Ray release of “The French Connection,” but the same studio also released another pair of movies dedicated to automobile aficionados and an animated sci-fi comedy when all the metal destruction gets too much to take.

DVD Review: Two John Cassavetes Classics Are Inducted Into Criterion Collection

Shadows
HollywoodChicago.com DVD Rating: 4.5/5.0
DVD Rating: 4.5/5.0

CHICAGO – Entries number 251 and number 252 in the most important and impressive series of DVDs in the history of the format, The Criterion Collection, come from the same influential writer/director, one of the godfathers of the independent film industry, John Cassavetes. Both are worthwhile additions to any serious film collector’s shelf.

The Morning After: Upcoming Projects For 2009 Oscar Winners

CHICAGO – The legacy of Oscar winners following their wins with horrible career choices is long and well-recorded. Perhaps the best piece of news about this year’s Academy Award winners is that they are unlikely to produce a “Snow Dogs,” “Gothika,” or “Aeon Flux” any time soon. The upcoming projects for 2009 Academy Award winners is a more promising slate than most years.

The House Theatre Stages Comeback With ‘Rose and the Rime’

Rose and the Rime
HollywoodChicago.com Comedy/Tragedy Rating: 4.0/5.0
Play Rating: 4.0/5.0

CHICAGO – While most of America’s eyes were glued to the television screens Sunday night to catch Danny Boyle’s “Slumdog Millionaire” nab its gold, the celebrated underdog of Chicago theatre companies shyly began to spout its new wings.

Tricia Helfer Makes Fans Melt on USA’s ‘Burn Notice’

CHICAGOTricia Helfer would have been famous just for her sexy and stellar work on the Sci-Fi Channel’s “Battlestar Galactica” but she’s also become an essential part of the hit USA Network show “Burn Notice” as the mysterious and deadly Carla, the woman who holds the secrets to Michael’s (Jeffrey Donovan) past and future.

Blu-Ray Review: ‘The French Connection’ Loses None of Its Power, But Video Disappoints

FC
HollywoodChicago.com Blu-Ray Rating: 3.0/5.0
Blu-Ray Rating: 3.0/5.0

CHICAGO – “The French Connection” is one of those rare movies that’s always better than I remember it to be. Not that I think poorly of William Friedkin’s masterful procedural, a multiple Oscar winner and game-changer in the world of detective cinema, but that it’s a film that blows me away every time see it. So why did William Friedkin have to mess with the picture?

Taking the Oscars Home: How to See the 2009 Academy Award Winners

Milk DVD

CHICAGO – Believe it or not, a lot of people heard about some critically acclaimed 2009 films for the first time on Sunday night, when they won or were nominated for 2009 Academy Awards and are now wondering how they can see winning films like “Milk,” “The Reader,” “Vicky Cristina Barcelona,” and shorts like “La Maison en Petits Cubes” and “Toyland”. Let us guide the way.

‘Watchmen’ at Chicago’s Navy Pier IMAX Adds Morning Screening on March 6, 2009

CHICAGO – If you’re like many others who crave braving the opening-day crowds to see the highly anticipated new “Watchmen” film, HollywoodChicago.com has learned that Chicago’s Navy Pier IMAX theatre has just added one additional screening at 7 a.m. on Friday, March 6, 2009.

‘Slumdog Millionaire,’ Kate Winslet, Heath Ledger, Sean Penn Win 2009 Academy Awards

CHICAGO – Fox Searchlight’s “Slumdog Millionaire” was the huge winner at The 81st Annual Academy Awards on Sunday, February 22nd, 2009 taking home an amazing eight Oscars, including the trophies for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay. The film also won Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Score, Best Song, and Best Sound Mixing.

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