CHICAGO – If you’ve never seen the farcical ensemble theater chestnut “Noises Off,” you will see no better version than on the Steppenwolf Theatre stage, now at their northside Chicago venue through November 3rd. For tickets and details for this riotous theater experience, click NOISES OFF.
Baseball
Film Review: Clint Eastwood Whiffs in ‘Trouble with the Curve’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on September 21, 2012 - 11:33amCHICAGO – Clint Eastwood keeps going and going. His reputation as an actor is secure in a long career, and his power as a director is Oscar worthy. His ability to recognize a limp script? Not so much, if “Trouble with the Curve” is a gauge. Amy Adams and Justin Timberlake are along for the pitch.
Interview: Director Robert Lorenz Pitches ‘Trouble with the Curve’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on September 19, 2012 - 8:21amCHICAGO – Baseball gets the metaphor-for-life treatment once again in “Trouble with the Curve,’ starring Clint Eastwood and Amy Adams. Eastwood plays an aging baseball scout estranged from his daughter (Adams) and seeks redemption in both arenas of his life. Making his directorial debut is Robert Lorenz, who has worked with Eastwood since “Bridges of Madison County.’
Video Game Review: ‘Major League Baseball 2K11’ Commits Too Many Errors to Compete
Submitted by BrianTT on March 21, 2011 - 9:59amCHICAGO – I have defended the 2K Sports baseball games in the past, even personally preferring the “Major League Baseball 2K10” edition for gameplay during last year’s baseball season over Sony’s “MLB 10 The Show,” but this year my denial defenses have fallen to an incredibly faulty release, one full of glitches and generally annoying design decisions.
Video Game Review: Amazing ‘MLB 11 The Show’ Improves on Greatness
Submitted by BrianTT on March 8, 2011 - 10:08pmCHICAGO – Sports games are like automobiles — every year produces a new release but it’s bound to drive in much the same manner as last year’s model. It’s especially rare for a bestselling, highly-acclaimed franchise to make radical changes in an attempt for an even higher level of greatness. And yet that’s exactly what’s happened with Sony’s “MLB 11 The Show,” one of the best sports games ever made.
Blu-Ray Review: Ken Burns Returns to National Pastime With ‘Baseball: The Tenth Inning’
Submitted by BrianTT on October 11, 2010 - 7:50pmCHICAGO – Steroids, interleague play, expanded playoffs, the Red Sox finally winning, McGwire vs. Sosa, Bonds vs. the world, the strike, the influx of Hispanic players, The Yankees, The Braves, and, of course, the continued futility of the Cubs — the last two decades of baseball have been two of the most notable in the history of this timeless sport. It only makes sense that the great documentarian Ken Burns would update his 18.5-hour opus about the sport with “Baseball: The Tenth Inning,” now available on Blu-ray and DVD.
‘The Perfect Game’ Proves That Baseball Fiction is Duller Than Truth
Submitted by PatrickMcD on April 19, 2010 - 1:47pmCHICAGO – The 1957 Little League team from Monterrey, Mexico, was the first non-U.S. team to win that league’s World Series. That is a fact. “The Perfect Game” creates a story based on that fact that is as improbable as a team from Mars winning the big game.
DVD Review: ‘The Essential Games of the Detroit Tigers’
Submitted by BrianTT on April 7, 2010 - 11:15amCHICAGO – Timed perfectly for both the start of the 2010 Major League Baseball season and with Father’s Day only a few months away, MLB’s “The Essential Games of the Detroit Tigers” box set is the perfect gift idea for the member of your family who follows America’s pasttime, even if they’re not the biggest fan of one of the most popular sports teams of the last century.
Blu-Ray Review: Fantastic ‘Sugar’ Deserves Wide Home Audience
Submitted by BrianTT on September 8, 2009 - 11:40amCHICAGO – As the baseball season winds to a close, take some time to catch up with one of the best dramas of the year and one of the best movies made about the changing face of the sport in Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden’s fantastic “Sugar”. This is a film that gets better with each viewing and as it lingers in the memory. Now on Blu-Ray and DVD, don’t miss “Sugar”.