Charlie Day

CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Scott Thompson on WBGR-FM (Monroe, Wisconsin) on April 6th, 2023, reviewing “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” a modern animation of the video game legend in its third on-screen version. In theaters since April 5th.

CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on The Eddie Volkman Show on WSSR-FM (Star 96.7 Joliet, Illinois) on February 11th, 2022, reviewing the new Amazon Prime Video streaming release, “I Want You Back,” beginning on February 11th.

CHICAGO – There are two things I love as a film observer. The pretty colors of modern animation … and to laugh. I got both in the appropriately titled “The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part.” Picking up where the first first left off, the gang of Lego brick figures, including Emmet, Wyldstyle and Batman, have a new adventure.

CHICAGO – The giant robot film genre is in trouble. It wasn’t enough that “Transformers” has ground it to dust, but now the “Pacific Rim” sequel is going the same direction. There is action-a-plenty in the followup to Guillermo Del Toro’s fun and light first film, that lightness is missing in “Pacific Rim Uprising.”

CHICAGO – “Fist Fight” is such a thin premise it can’t even sustain its own two minute trailer, much less a feature length film. That premise, what there is of it, is simple – English teacher (Charlie Day) and History Teacher (Ice Cube) get involved in an altercation with a student on the last day of class, at a failing high school known for senior pranks.

CHICAGO – Any story involving family interactions is ripe for exploration, and John Krasinski (“The Office”) performs in and takes the director’s chair for the new film, “The Hollars.” This is his second directorial effort, looking at the somewhat dysfunctional title family during a medical crisis involving the mother (Margo Martindale).

CHICAGO – Retreads from classics are often as weary as having to write that they are almost never as good as the original. And here we go again with the Ed Helms-led “Vacation,” which fails to capitalize on the beloved Chevy Chase film “National Lampoon’s Vacation” from 1983.

CHICAGO – In the latest HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 50 pairs of advance-screening movie passes up for grabs to the new comedy “Vacation” starring Ed Helms, Christina Applegate and Chris Hemsworth!

CHICAGO – In the latest HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 50 pairs of advance-screening movie passes up for grabs to the highly anticipated comedy sequel “Horrible Bosses 2” starring Jason Bateman, Charlie Day and Jason Sudeikis!

CHICAGO – The funniest movie in a long while features no human beings, just animated bland faces among interlocking plastic bricks, the toys which inspired the film. “The LEGO Movie” never takes itself seriously, which means huge laughs for the audience.