Dave Eggers

CHICAGO – Tom Hanks is using his golden years as a vehicle to stretch his performance skills, and his role as a sort of “Death of a Salesman” spin in “A Hologram for the King” gives him an opportunity to keep stretching. The stylish film floats within the focus on his character, and he delivers.

CHICAGO – In the latest HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film with our unique social giveaway technology, we have 40 pairs of movie passes up for grabs to the advance screening of “Promised Land” with Matt Damon from “Good Will Hunting” director Gus Van Sant!

CHICAGO – The “Lost Boys” of Sudan in African history has carved a place in culture representing extreme acts of terror in the midst of civil war. Malachi Leopold, a Chicago producer/director, will debut his documentary profiling one of those Lost Boys – Kuek Gurang – in “22 Years From Home,” April 27th at the Music Box Theatre here.

CHICAGO – Spike Jonze’s “Where the Wild Things Are” is a beautiful, moving, daring, complex, gorgeous piece of filmmaking that was underappreciated during its theatrical release but that I can guarantee you will have a long, beloved life on Blu-ray and DVD. With well over 200 films seen in 2009, “Where the Wild Things Are” rose to the top for this critic. It may not win any Oscars on Sunday, but history will regard it as the best film of last year.

CHICAGO – Filmmaker Sam Mendes has always been drawn to telling stories set in a dysfunctional America where the sanctity of marriage is anything but “sanct.” For the past decade, he has specialized in brutally frank social satires about the deterioration of the American family. His work is nearly always riveting, but could never be described as “feel good”…until now.