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.
Dave Canfield
TV Review: Premiere of ‘From Dusk Till Dawn’ Lacks Originality
Submitted by DaveHC on March 10, 2014 - 4:03pmCHICAGO – It’s been a year of updatings that has seen venerable characters like Norman Bates and Hannibal Lecter solidly re-envisioned by the small screen. So how fare the Gecko Brothers? Not all that great sadly. This overly slick redux of the fantastic film “From Dusk Till Dawn” (1997) not only suffers from pretty people syndrome but borrows so heavily from the original film that it feels less like homage and reboot than redress and reshoot.
Film Feature: HollywoodChicago.com 2014 Oscar Predictions
Submitted by PatrickMcD on February 28, 2014 - 6:11pm- 12 Years a Slave
- 2014
- 86th
- Academy Awards
- American Hustle
- Best Actor
- Best Actress
- Best Adapted Screenplay
- Best Director
- Best Picture
- Best Screenplay
- Best Supporting Actor
- Best Supporting Actress
- Brian Tallerico
- Dave Canfield
- David Fowlie
- Entertainment News
- Film Feature
- Gravity
- Her
- HollywoodChicago.com Content
- Nebraska
- Nick Allen
- Oscars
- Patrick McDonald
- Wolf of Wall Street
CHICAGO – Get your scorecards and pencils out, because this is the last stop you’ll need for all your 2014 Academy Award predicting needs…except for the 10 million other media outlets in the age of information. Why is HollywoodChicago.com better? Because our experts have insider information that we completely make up!
Blu-ray Review: ‘Gravity’ is Elegant, Nail Biting at the Same Time
Submitted by DaveHC on February 26, 2014 - 5:10pmCHICAGO – Some films fundamentally change what you expect from cinema. “Star Wars” (1977), “Jurassic Park” (1996), “Avatar” (2007) all pushed those boundaries. In my first of a whopping eight theatrical viewings of “Jurassic Park” for instance I never once felt the illusion of watching real dinosaurs was interrupted by suddenly realizing how ‘they did it’ I was simply watching real dinosaurs.
Blu-ray Review: ‘Haunter’ Does More Than Simply Haunt
Submitted by DaveHC on February 14, 2014 - 5:08pmCHICAGO – Director Vincenzo Natali’s name always gets my attention. You always get the sense tha the’s trying to do something new. He first came to prominence with “Cube” (1997), which is a gorily stylistic bit of cheap psychological horror masquerading as science fiction. “Nothing” (2003) put two men in a literal void reminiscent in some ways of the classic and surreal Chuck Jones Looney Tune “Duck Amuck”. “Splice” (2009) offered an updated Frankenstein myth mixed with sexual politics and a critique of profit-driven genetic engineering.
Blu-ray Review: ‘All is Lost’ Finds Heart & Soul of One Man’s Journey
Submitted by DaveHC on February 10, 2014 - 7:37pmCHICAGO – All is lost. It’s is a phrase uttered by countless adventurers across human history. It speaks of resignation and despair. We hear it in voiceover during PBS documentaries when the narrator reads someone’s diary or letter to explain the last little bit of a fellow human’s final stand against nature or the ardors of travel.
Video Game Review: ‘Aliens: Colonial Marines’ Fails in Every Way
Submitted by BrianTT on February 25, 2013 - 5:02pmCHICAGO – How can something this hyped feel so rushed and blasé? Gearbox Software must be counting on the strong “Alien” franchise fanbase to carry sales but word of mouth is going to kill “Aliens: Colonial Marines” quicker than a Xenomorph can kill an unarmed civilian.
Video Game Review: Agent 47 is Aging in ‘Hitman HD Trilogy’
Submitted by BrianTT on February 19, 2013 - 3:58pmCHICAGO – Is there anything sadder than an aging assassin? In this case, no. Agent 47 has been upgraded to HD when he should have been upgraded in other ways. Unless you’re a total virgin to the series, you are likely to wonder what the heck you’re paying for. Even if you are a virgin you’ll probably walk away wondering why anyone would bother rendering these been-there-done-that titles in HD. The games have just plain aged that badly.
Video Game Review: ‘Call of Duty: Black Ops 2’ Brings Changes But Keeps Strengths
Submitted by BrianTT on November 26, 2012 - 10:26amCHICAGO – Entering a freshly crowded field of first-person shooters, “Call of Duty: Black Ops 2” had a lot of buzz behind it. The good news is that the game virtually matches the hype. This is absolutely on the upper end of the get-it-while-it’s-new list. Those who have criticized Activision for turning “COD” into an annual cash cow simply have little to complain about here. Almost everything has been given the once over and improved upon.
Video Game Review: Good Luck Bonding With ‘007 Legends’
Submitted by BrianTT on November 19, 2012 - 11:25amCHICAGO – It starts with a moment from Skyfall in which Bond is shot by a sniper as he fights on top of a train. Falling helpless into a river he has a series of flashbacks which form the basis of the rest of the game. It’s an apt setup for a game that suffers from loss of vision and ultimately has all the energy of a project that is in desperate need of rescue.
Video Game Review: ‘Darksiders II’ Offers Death-Dealing Destruction
Submitted by BrianTT on August 15, 2012 - 3:02pmCHICAGO – I’ll get right to it. Overall this is one of the best games of 2012. “Darksiders II” has already gotten some very good marks from reviewers and I can’t say I found much to challenge their observations. This is a hugely involving game that offers a massive geography, a whopping 20-hour completion cycle and another few dozen hours for those who want to chase all the side quests.