Dave Franco

CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Scott Thompson on WBGR-FM (Monroe, Wisconsin) on February 9th, 2023, reviewing “Somebody I Used to Know,” created by husband and wife team Dave Franco and Alison Brie. Streaming on Prime Video beginning February 10th.

CHICAGO – How about a precisely done comedy of romance in time for Valentine’s Day weekend? Prime Video presents “Somebody I Used to Know,” a collaboration between a real-life married couple … director/co-writer Dave Franco (“The Rental”) and co-writer/lead actor Alison Brie (“GLOW,” “Mad Men”).

CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Scott Thompson on WBGR-FM (Monroe, Wisconsin) on July 23rd, 2020, reviewing the new Video-On-Demand film “The Rental” and the infamous 2019 film, “Cats” (Digital & DVD).

CHICAGO – The screenwriting team of Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber have had many adventures plying their trade, ever since their breakthrough “500 Days of Summer” in 2009. Their latest assignment was adapting “The Disaster Artist” for director and lead actor James Franco.

CHICAGO – “The Room” is a post-millennial cult movie that plays the midnight and college movie circuit, entertaining audiences with its sheer badness. Its story is told in the “The Disaster Artist,” featuring James Franco as the director of “The Room,” and he also directed the film. Very meta.

CHICAGO – It occurred to me in assessing “The Little Hours” that the basic premise is somewhat like “The Beguiled” – a man is taken in, rooster-like, into a henhouse where there are women with “needs.” Except this time, instead of a girl’s boarding school, it is a 14th Century nunnery. Get thee to it, if thou wants to laugheth.

CHICAGO – The only film festival in the U.S. programmed by a film critics group is right here in the Windy City, with the 5th Chicago Critics Film Festival (CCFF) taking place at the historic Music Box Theatre from May 12th through May 18th, 2017.

CHICAGO – Separately, you love all these movie star icons and funny people – Daniel Radcliffe, Michael Caine, Mark Ruffalo, Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Morgan Freeman, Lizzy Caplan and Dave Franco. Together, they add up to a terrible sequel, “Now You See Me 2.”

CHICAGO – Comedy is what makes Dave Franco tick, and recently he’s taken on some prime funny roles in “Neighbors” and “Unfinished Business.” He also was in the very successful “Now You See Me” in 2013, playing a rogue street magician. The sequel was inevitable, and Franco will reprise his role in “Now You See Me 2.”

CHICAGO – The original “Neighbors” was a funny enough movie, that still boasted at least a couple of big laughs. “Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising” only manages the occasional chuckle here and there. As far as big budget studio comedy sequels go, it’s not as bad as “The Hangover 2.” It’s more in line with “Ghostbusters 2”.